Monday, May 31, 2010

Good Advice - Round 7






















I can't believe I'm up to round 7 of Good Advice with no end in sight. Wouldn't the world be such a lovely place if everyone followed these suggestions? Have a wonderful Memorial Day and let me know if you hear any snippets of good advice while hanging out at the family cookout.

Friday, May 28, 2010

IF - Slither





































Life was good until you-know-who slithered in and introduced the world to temptation. Try it...you'll like it! There's no going back, so I hope you enjoy some tempting good fun this long holiday weekend.

Friday, May 21, 2010

IF - Early


I am not an early bird and this is my morning antidote.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Seeing Spots


I wanted to post another photo of the painting that I worked on a few weeks ago because I'm not always good on the follow up when a project is complete. Now I remember why. It's because I don't have a decent camera. I tried shooting it in the house. Then I went outside. I stood it up. I laid it down. I tried every setting on the camera. Pretty soon I was seeing spots. Plus, I think I photographed the thing upside down! Not that it really matters, right?


There's a lot more detail than I was able to capture in these pictures but they'll just have to do for now. On to the next step...getting it hung on the wall.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Good Advice - Round 6























It's time to share with you another round of good advice. I tend to work on these postcards in batches and I'm just about to start making a brand new batch. The watercolor paper is cut. The borders are drawn. Tonight I'll start lettering while I'm watching/listening to a little television. The painting takes the longest and will be done over several nights. Last comes the addressing and stamping. This is a good project for the evening when I'm usually too tired to do much else. The small size lets me feel like I've accomplished something--even if its just a little postcard.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Creativity Happens When Inspiration Meets Opportunity

If there's one thing that I'm really good at--no, make that great at--it's coming up with ideas. Great ideas. Awesome ideas. Cool ideas. The ideas never stop. They're like popcorn--constantly bouncing around in my brain spawning even more ideas.

And they're not just little ideas either. They're usually huge, grand, make-people-roll-their-eyes kind of ideas.

So why is it that 99.9% of my great ideas never make it to fruition? It's because when that little spark of inspiration ignites, opportunity isn't there to fan to flame. For me, opportunity usually comes in the form of time. But sometimes it comes in not having the right materials or not having the right tools or the skills to use those tools. Or the time to get the materials, tools, and skills. You get the idea. So the idea goes on my list of future projects and keeps rattling around in my brain until something happens. Until inspiration meets opportunity.

The opportunity: An entire week off work. Thank you bad economy. Thank you budget cuts. Thank you employer for giving me days off when you cut my pay. What to do? What to do? Which of those hundreds of ideas should I focus on this week?

The inspiration: Glancing at the ad for fabric on the back cover of a magazine. Bam! That pattern is exactly what I've been imagining for a painting I've been wanting to do.


Quick! Run to the art store for canvas and paints. Hurry! Get started before the spark fades.


Get Moving! A week is only a week. And a 24 x 30 canvas is huge (especially when you've been making a lot of little postcards!). And the design is intricate (of course because my ideas usually are)

But the extreme pleasure of getting an idea out of my head and onto a canvas is PRICELESS. And it feels good, too!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Good Advice - Round 5























I hope you enjoy the latest installment of good advice. There's plenty more to come!