Tag: Creativity

olw| colors of august …

Published on by Honoré14 Comments

..already, signs of meteorological autumn/fall are beginning to display in the trees and of course the flowers in my and neighbors’ yards – my crazy azalea is blooming yet again.  Black-eyed Susans, mums, add their  pop of color to the landscape.  This morning I saw a yellow school bus making its way to or from a school – yes! Kids in DC started school yesterday.  (Chris, my 7 years’ old great grand nephew, starts Tuesday – he lives in MD- and will also be going to school, virtually, yet again. I noticed Sunday – on a Target  run – all the children were  wearing colorful masks.) 

Yesterday’s mail brought a colorful collection of scrapbook papers, an order from The Paper Curator (how could I resist?) and an acrylic stamp set, depicted by the colorful geometric shapes on the left side of the picture. (The stamps are made by Ali Edwards and Laura Wonsik; more info here ). The colorful pencils I picked up from Barnes and Noble and the mini composition books from Walgreens – I couldn’t resist. Occasionally I use a composition book for a specific project’s notes. I am still making colorful Confetti Quilt blocks…and tho’ I’ve yet to master the  process of foundation paper piecing, I do like the final result. I’ve decided to make my final quilt a wall hanging – approx 24” x 36 .“ Which means perhaps  I’m half-way there? I plan to share a progress photo before the week’s end.

We’re slated for fallout from Hurricane Ida; slowly yet surely the sky is turning from blue to grey as the rain clouds start to move in.  At least it will be cooler and that’s always welcomed! 

Joining Carolyn and others for another look at our 2021 One Little Words. 

See you in September!

Cheers~

make life simple | 8.4.21 …

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Sitting on my computer shelf is a quote from Buddha: each morning we are born again; what we do today is what matters most. I’m astonished – too strong a word? – well, maybe amazed – that it is already 4 August. Where does the time go -when you’re having fun … or not? Each day I plan to publish a post and then the next thing I realize, the day is over. So, I tell myself: tomorrow. And here t’is… tomorrow! The question: How did that happen… 24 hours every day, the sun rises/sets … seasons come and go … For sure there is a lovely rhythm to the days of our lives, tho’ sometimes, the days seem to be just one long endless continuum…

Drafting this post has taken me all afternoon – with a few long breaks interspersed: Zoom sessions with storytelling scrapbooking friends and another with a quilting friend – then a walk on a most pleasant afternoon, the last of ? until? The weather forecast for the next nine days and counting: H-O-T! Besides that side activity, I had to connect with Word Press for assistance with the new block editor.  I do not like. Currently I’m reading a few assorted other titles, old and I started Anne Lamott’s newest:  Dusk, Night, Dawn.

So far, I’m enjoying the change of pace. Deep sigh: I’m still aiming to conquer making Confetti Quilt blocks. Daily, I tell myself: “this is the day” and then, “well, there’s tomorrow … fingers crossed, I hope.” Today I found this fabric remnant from a quilt I made for niece Chris when she left for Rutgers in 2010.  I can’t believe it’s been 6 years since she graduated! I think the fabric is a perfect bit of advice for an Unraveled Wednesday. Hope your day’s been less frustrating!

Cheers~

welcome summer 6.21.21 …

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Summer arrived with a vengeance ! Temps are in the 90s – even in Washington state! Yesterday, Norman’s son was visiting and as they are wont to do: solved all the world’s problems – I wish – in between watching baseball games and other TV events.

I took my sister to Laurel and decided, since I was near, to make a quick run to Savage Mill. I needed help with a couple fountain pens that were not writing ( probably becuz the ink had dried, duh!). It was very quiet, i.e, I didn’t hear any cicadas; perhaps their time is over – or at least winding down. I was delighted to see my friend Patti, owner of The Queen’s Ink; I’ve know her easily 10 years and last saw her Dec, 2019. She looked great; her hair was especially delightful – you know color – my 2021 word. And the t-shirt she was wearing was stamped with outlines of cicadas – her cicada had a crown! If you look closely, you can see the tips of the crown on her shirt …

In addition to ink, I bought a couple 3.75 x 5.25 sketch book journals – the paper is ideal for drawing, sketching & journaling with pencil, ink, crayon, markers, pastels, etc – and the eight signatures are sewn! I also bought a 3″ x 5″ GELLI printing plate. Playing with it, the sketch journals and my fountain pens is going to be sooo much fun!

I am eager to resume my WANDER journaling/sketching dates to the National Museum of Art’s Sculpture Gardens. When I do, guess what’s coming along with me?

Trust it’s cooler in your part of the country .

Cheers~

one little word/oct 2020…

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Two months left in this year for time with my word: habit. This is my second go-round with the word and even tho’ 2020 is soon to end, I’m sure my relationship with habit will live on…how could it not? One thing I’ve learned – or at least had underscored this time: habits are made without one’s really realizing that’s happening. Some are good; others, not so. Some are easy to establish; many – and perhaps these habits are the most important to cement – are difficult if not just plain elusive.

Thirty days ago, I announced a plan to create an art activity following the 12 noon Daily Pages session, thinking to so do would make a natural progression. In theory, yes. In actuality, no. It didn’t happen. Something or someone (as in moi ) generally upended my momentum. This time around, I think I’ll try before rather than after.

My agenda for these next 65-66 days of 2020 is full – in addition to just the stuff of life. Plans and ideas conceived in 2019 abruptly cancelled by Covid-19. Some may still come to fruition. Others abandoned. New ones imagined. Usually, this time of year, my word for the new year has arrived; this year, not yet.

In the meantime, I shall continue with finding the sweet time for creating art.

How has your word shown up in your life this month ? Please share via the link up and if for any reason you have a problem, do include a link to your post in the comments. Thank you for joining in and sharing your one little word experience.

Cheers~

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!Click here to enter

unraveled wednesday |7.8.20…

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In early April, I started a noon time practice : Daily Pages, led by rukristin of the Awesome Ladies Project. We meet via Zoom and have a virtual creative party for about 20-45 minutes… each of us makes some type of art page in a journal of our choice on a technique/topic of our choosing. We can choose to share or not! No pressure. Just a lovely way to spend time during Covid-19, +++

Over the past two months, I’ve shared about 6 of my pages on this blog. The photo above shows the pages I made yesterday and today; the top half also features the little art zine booklet by Malaka Gharib that appeared in npr’s Jan 7 Life Kit (and also shared by Bonny on her blog, Highly Reasonable). I find that I really enjoy this noontime break and have at least 3-5 pages in various stages of make… No pressure. No illusions. Just fun!

Today, I went to the dentist and my hygienist inquired about my quilting. I admitted I’ve not really done any quilting. I’m not sure why – other than I’ve just not been so inclined or inspired or both.  In fact, I’ve barely stitched anything – other than mask making – since I finished Kayla’s quilt (pictured above in the lower photo) when she graduated high school June 2019!  Funny that she asked that question for just earlier this morning, before my appointment, I began again – for the first time-  a book from my personal library: Why We Quilt: Contemporary Makers Speak Out about the Power of Art, Activism, Community and Creativity by Thomas Knauer,  Storey Publishing, ©2019. Perhaps I was feeling the desire to resume quilting. I suppose time will tell.

I find it interesting that on the one hand I’m buoyed by a new creative practice and on the other, rather out of sorts with an older one … for both have in common creating something new and whole out of pieces.

Joining Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesday.

 

sometimes mondays | 7.6.20…

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It is Monday and post to blog is always a staple. Most Mondays I do… As the day moved on, I found my energy fizzling, my list of must do projects/tasks growing and several creative projects forwarded to tomorrow ~ which is probably already overbooked. Ah, such is life.

I shall blame my inertia on the heat – low 90s. As I look out the window, I see a darkened sky, moving trees, a flash of lightning and off in the distance, hear the rumble of thunder. A summer storm … an invitation to bring this post to a close and to play some with the creative project I paused earlier this afternoon. Yep, I think that’s what I’ll do. Fingers crossed we don’t lose electricity!

Cheers~

 

 

hello today | 6.23.20 …

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this intro page in my art journal* 

  1. it’s tuesday and, and hot ~ a cool 90°!
  2. the new air conditioner is working just swell!
  3. the clock ticks, ticks, ticks, bringing my attention to the time of day: 3:15 pm. my time flies…and
  4. I’m rambling…
  5. interrupted by Norman needing help with the iPhone 6+ ( I gifted him my old iPhone when I upgraded to an iPhone XR just days before Covid-19 began to shut everything down, back in March. (Geez, it’s been that long?)…
  6.  he can never seem to get the phone to recognize his fingerprints; perhaps someday soon we can go to an Apple Store and get them to help make it easy for him to use the phone…
  7. t’is a source of frustration and consternation: the former for him; the latter, moi…
  8. this summer, I’m attending stay @home art camp, created by me for me. camp includes Daily pages, Haiku and a new activity: a summer art journal, and other creative pursuits, including more mask making…guess the latter is just going to be the case… and oh yes, the other item in the photo is the cover of a  2019 Happy Planner notebook of paper, most likely no longer available …
  9. and to wind up this post, a reminder that tuesday next, 30 june, is the monthly sharing of activity with our 2020 words – right here on this blog.

Stay cool and create on!

Cheers~

*is a collage I created from a quilting magazine article promoting a quilt – “Pine View” – created by Lori Mason using a fabric line, Shasta from RJR Fabrics; the butterfly shapes I made and I also used stick on letters and phrases…

unraveled wednesday | 6.17.20 …

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Things have been topsy turvey all day, starting at 7:30 am …work on installing the new air conditioner, at ruinous cost, began. Of course, the install requires more work . Why? Because the original space where the unit is installed  – the ceiling of the Great Room (aka as the addition) – needed to be widened. But the installers have made great progress and suggested, as they left for the day, that they’d be done noonish tomorrow. Just in time for we’re scheduled to welcome the season of summer with 90+ degrees heat on Friday.

I have spent the day upstairs in my craft room, creating pages in a 5.5 x 5.5 Field Book; I’ve come to call this little tool  – used to awaken my creative play – my analog version of Instagram. I think I need to come up with a catchy hashtag. Ideas welcomed. This is not quite how I envisioned I’d spend June or May or April or March …but then again, I, we,  the world never envisioned Covid-19,* either.

Last night, I completed joining the rows on one part of my Log Cabin 9 Patch lap robe…I have 5 more sections to join and then, for all intent and purpose, I’ll have completed the project. I suppose, if I pushed it, I could finish the project by the 100 day project end – July 15…but considering we’re about to enter the season of  hot, hot and hotter, there’s no rush…but then again, maybe the new A/C will be so cold I could use a lap robe. Something to ponder…

A painting is never finished -it simply stops in interesting places, a quote by Paul Gardner prefaces  Personality Isn’t Permanent, by Benjamin Hardy, PhD. Today is the release/publication date and my copy arrived bright and early this morning. I’ve been  somewhat in a reading slump lately so perhaps this book will get juices flowing… I hope so for I’ve a bunch of good-sounding titles in my TBR queue – print, ebook and audio.

Joining Kat and frieinds for Unraveled Wednesday!

Cheers~

*In my April 9 post, I shared a fun graphic on coping with Covid-19.  For more information, do visit Brandy’s blog, The Counseling Teacher.com where you’ll also find an editble version of the graphic.

unraveled wednesday | 5.20.20…

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My entry for the 20th day of LOAD – Layout A Day – May 2020 Challenge. Last December, I gifted myself some luscious  pearlescent water colours; I finally got around to taking them for a test spin today! In person, they’re more pearlescent and I think using smoother cardstock paper will make a difference.  It’s all fun…and to be continued.

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I am still reading Before We Were Yours and started the above – it’s non-fiction – Monday… Miter blocks are movin’ right along – two to go and this block will also be done. If I play my cards right, I may even finish the lap robe by the end of #the100dayproject. Time will tell…

Joining Kat and friends for another Unraveled Wednesday.