Digital-Grace

2011-09-18T20:18:00.002-04:00

It has definitely been awhile - reading my last post reminds me that I need to post a new collage of Jamie's and my trip to Pennsylvania.

It wasn't exactly what we had planned but we made the most of it and had a great time. The car is the one we rented for our trip - 2011 Ford Fiesta, mind you I'm used to cars from the late '90s, this one had many bells and whistles for Jamie and I to play with! As you can see the countryside was beautiful and we had a GREAT time driving around. It was hot just as most of the summer had already been - but just loved the AC in the car.

We came home a little earlier than planned but spent our late afternoon at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollow's Part 2 - What an awesome movie!!!

Get-away weekend...

2011-07-13T21:04:00.000-04:00

...Jamie and I are heading out for 3 days for a get-away and to celebrate her graduation. In 2009 she and I went away just as Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was released. We went to see it and then headed for Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater!

So...this weekend we are going to see the last installment of the Harry Potter series - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part II. So looking forward to getting away!

Is it really summer?

2011-06-14T20:33:00.001-04:00

I've been busy the past few weeks - my daughters Prom, graduation from College and High School and Family in from out of town - it has been a whirlwind of fun. Still playing with my photo's and just realized I need to upload the photo's from the past few weeks events, a collage should do it!

There's a rumor that Spring has sprung...

2011-05-03T21:18:00.000-04:00

I know Spring is somewhere around here under all this rain - beautiful warmth one minute, cold and rainy the next. I did have an opportunity the other day to venture out and snap some photo's. I had fun editing them in "picnik".

I had dinner with my sister this evening she is up from Florida. It was so good to be with her, I've missed her so much. Nothing like a "Big Sis" by your side.

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.
~Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Afternoon on a Hill"

Spring is around the corner...

2011-04-01T21:57:00.001-04:00

I was wandering around through some of my old photo's and found these Forget-Me-Nots. These tiny blue flowers have always been a favorite of mine and this time they seemed to say. "Don't forget, Spring will be here soon!"

I've been working and helping my daughter pick out colleges. She will be graduating with her Associates Degree in the Sciences and Arts in May, and in June she will graduate from High School. We are looking for a four year college for her to get her Bachelors Degree.

I haven't been taking very many photo's lately but have been playing with Zentangles:

I think I will start to "Fail Better" (Thank you Laure from Painted Thoughts ... http://paintedthoughtsblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/are-you-failing-fail-better.html) and start posting some of my drawings!

2011-01-15T19:26:00.000-05:00

Creativity!

Found this Post @ Kate Voegele's blog today and it really struck a chord for me http://blog.katevoegele.com/ I wanted to share it on my blog because I thought it was worth it. I hope you enjoy too!

Fearless Creativity

Story by daniellexo

Published on January 6, 2011 in Seller Handbook

Photo by allicoate

This post by Daniellexo, Etsy’s Seller Education Coordinator, was originally published on Scoutie Girl — the blog with a penchant for the passionately handmade. Scoutie Girl promotes the handmade lifestyle and emphasizes thoughtful design, unique materials, and "indie thinking" as well as indie style.

One morning I woke up to a Facebook message from one of my favorite college professors. I was excited to hear from her; she taught me so many lessons about creativity, and I often think about her when I’m sketching or working on new designs. Soon after we connected on Facebook, I caught one of her updates, “Even if they seem like good solutions, avoid ‘clenching’ ideas. Hold them lightly, let them evolve and swim. Good ideas often transform into great ones if you give them enough room to play!” I think I’ve had good ideas, but I know I often don’t give my ideas enough room to play. I wondered why that was, and I set out to write my own plan of attack. Here’s that plan.

Image by Lilco Letterpress

Part 1: Forms of Fear

Seth Godin says, “The enemy of creativity is fear.” Creativity has other opponents, but fear is definitely at the top of creativity’s sh*t list. So be a warrior, and know your enemy. Here are the forms fear comes in when you are trying to be creative:

Image by funnelcloud

Snobbery

Observe your thoughts throughout your creative process. What does that inner snob have to say? When I’m sketching, mine says, “That’s been done before.” It drives me crazy. My inner snob expects genius right out of the gate. How can I live up to that?

Take notice of that inner snob and shut it up. How do you do that? Give yourself permission to brainstorm, sketch, build and create without having to hear from the inner snob. Tell yourself there’s a time to step back and be harsh, but that time isn’t during the first stages of brainstorming. Giving yourself permission to unleash the inner snob later on in the process, this should free you up during your brainstorming session.

Taskmaster

The taskmaster gets uneasy when you don’t follow your daily routine. The taskmaster is a stick-in-the-mud and fears the unknown. It sees the first flicker of a creative idea and wants to file it away for later. Don’t let it. Put down the dishes, take a break from the To Do list and give yourself a free hour to brainstorm. Here’s the trick, set a timer and don’t let guilt creep in. This is important and you need it. Find a quiet place and think, think your thoughts! And as the brilliant John Cage said, “Be open to whatever comes next.”

Image via Sass & Bide

Apathy

Apathy sounds like this:

“What’s the point?”

“I’ll never be as good as (fill in the blank).”

“I’ll work on this later.”

And here’s the one I hear the most and want to slay, “I’m not creative.”

My biggest weapon towards apathy is curiosity. Let’s say there may be no point, you may not ever be as good as blank, and maybe you are not “creative” (not true), and what if you did it anyway. Aren’t you curious to see what might happen? What if you sat down and made yourself sketch right now. Don’t you want to see what you might come up with? Not everything you create needs to be shared or consumed, sometimes we can create just to give form to our own weird inner beasts!

Image by Mark Andrew Webber

Fear kept me stuck from moving forward. Curiosity helped me crush the line of work that I was creating and selling for years and was thoroughly bored with. I got over the fear by letting myself play with a new material. I spent an entire weekend sculpting my new line, just because I wanted to see what I might come up with. I didn’t set out to create new work, I just challenged myself to master this new material and process.

Image by dismountcreative

Part 2: How to Beat Your Opponent

Teach (but don’t be an expert)

Every single time I lead a workshop I’m incredibly inspired to create. When a beginner approaches a new technique or material, they’re not bound by years of experience. They don’t yet know what the limits are (or supposed limits). Each time I work with a new student, I am inspired by their enthusiasm and open mindedness. Here’s the trick though, you can’t be an Expert (with a capital E). You should know your stuff, but if you think you know it all, you won’t evolve in this environment.

Image by HelloJenuine

Practice

Be creative, in your own way, every single day. Schedule it. Make yourself. Sounds boring and counterintuitive, but you’ll never live up to your full creative potential without practice. I love the daily projects out there, and a good place to start would be picking up Noah Scalin’s new 365: A Daily Creativity Journal. If you think you’ll have a hard time sticking with it, make yourself accountable to your significant other, friend or colleague.

And If All Else Fails, Fail Big

The worst part of failing is that moment of shock — things were supposed to go a certain way and they didn’t. That moment of the unknown is what’s so frightening. Picking up the pieces is the easy part. We know where they landed, now all there is to do is clean up this mess and move on.

Keep that in mind as you create. Why fail a little? Make a splash, if you fail, you’ll have to get out the mop either way, right?

I Love Coffee by GemmaBear

Study

I’m no expert (wink!). So I’ll make sure to leave you with a few of my favorite resources so you can study up.

1. Living Out Loud by Keri Smith

2. The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp

3. The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander

4. 12 Fantastic Ways to Bring More Creativity Into Your Life by Blacksburg Belle

5. Coffee

Halloween Pumpkins!

2010-11-01T20:19:00.000-04:00

Finally!

2010-10-28T21:29:00.000-04:00

Well I finally got a job! I started working October 6, only 5 minutes from my house. Wouldn't you know that the next day I was offered another job and on that Friday I found out about another job where I would be working with an old partner from a previous job - when it rains it pours!

I've been mildly depressed lately...I keep thinking about my age and how I have let my life slip through my fingers - how I haven't "lived" the way I had imagined - life, kept getting in the way!

Winery!

2010-08-08T15:11:00.002-04:00

Went to Harpersfield Winery on August 1st with family in from Texas! Besides blowing out my tire half way there we had a wonderful time and it ended up being one of the few "cooler" weather days in a long time.

While we were there we ran across this little guy:

Seems he had too much to drink - actually it was a set-up...honest!
; )

Bird Food Bandit...

2010-07-11T21:36:00.000-04:00

...found this guy (girl?) thinking it was a bird and trying out the bird feeder. He/She came so often that eventually the feeder broke and all the seed ended up in the flower bed - his/her dastardly plan worked!

Soul Mate

2010-07-01T10:43:00.000-04:00

As I wander through the days of unemployment I am having a wonderful time observing my cats. One of my cats; Boo, seems to stand out. From day one she seemed to "get" me. She is quiet, sweet, sensitive, etc., etc., etc., she follows me around and meows at me when she wants me to hold her or lay down on my bed with her for "alone time". She loves her belly petted and will often fall asleep laying on her back after a "rub down"! She has the most unique fur, when she was a kitten the tips of her fur were black and then as you went down the hair-shaft it turned silver, as she grew up it turned all black.In 2004 she was diagnosed with Feline Leukemia and I was devastated. When they shaved her neck to do the Leukemia test, her fur grew back silver and she looked like she had silver stole around her neck (I had a picture of her but it was on my other cell phone - which bit the dust). The other wonderful thing about her is that she senses when I'm sad, she will come over to me and nuzzle my face and stay by my side.

I'm blessed to have her - she's got my back...

Enjoyed...

2010-06-22T18:35:00.001-04:00

...Holden Arboretum with my son the other day. It was excruciatingly hot but what a rare chance that I got to spend some time with my 19 year old. I couldn't believe how overgrown the ponds were with plant life I could barely see the water! It was great to see dragonfly's, frogs and miniature frogs though.

Feeling Blue...

2010-06-14T21:07:00.002-04:00

I've been in a funk lately, my self-esteem has been low. I heard a comment on a preview for the show Intervention - "I love life...I just don't like mine!" Sometimes I feel that way and sometimes I don't. I get it...I know that I am responsible for my own happiness - I am my own change. Depression is evil though, it creeps into every crack and crevice of your being and makes it very hard to rise above it. All I know is that I have to pull myself up and above it before it sucks me under.

Happy Memorial Day!

2010-05-31T11:06:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful day it is. It has been one fantastic week of weather...they say it is going to rain today, but that's okay...I love rain too. I've been studying to be a Certified Business Analyst, at least I'm doing something as I look for a new job - I feel like I'm accomplishing something. The cats have been amusing, Bella (the baby of the bunch) loves to help me when I do the laundry. She hops into the dryer and plays tug-of-war with me as I take the clothes out to fold them.

Monday, Monday...

2010-05-24T09:31:00.000-04:00

Monday used to mean going back to work - half excited to be back there and half not wanting to go back. Don't have that problem now though, still looking for a job. I feel depressed about this, I try not to, but I think I just have working ingrained into my soul!

Went out for a ride with my daughter yesterday, it was so pretty - the countryside was glowing under the sun. I like going for rides and imagining that I live somewhere else - I wonder how many other people do this? I count my blessings, but I usually ask myself "What If?"

Sunshine!

2010-05-19T12:13:00.001-04:00

Yay! Finally sunshine after days of rain...it feels soooo good!

Best Shot Monday - The Path Ahead

2010-05-17T09:06:00.001-04:00

Finally...my second shot posted for Best Shot Monday! I'm realizing; now that I'm unemployed, that perhaps there is a reason for this hiatus...maybe The Greater Power wants me to forge a new path for myself...does it include my photography? Maybe a true beginning in defining who I am? I'm not sure...but I do know that I need to keep an open mind, open eye's and an open heart and keep listening.

It's been awhile...

2010-05-16T12:20:00.001-04:00

...since I've posted anything, was kind of in a funk. This being out of work is really killing me. Good news though is that both kids are done with school for the year and thus...summer begins! Being unemployed has at least given me time to concentrate on artistic endeavors and this at least had brought some peace into my life. I plan to post some of my artwork soon - need to take pictures of them first! I can't believe how cool it's been lately though I'm not complaining - if summer weather would stay between 65 and 75 degree's I would be a happy camper.

Best Shot Monday...

2010-04-26T10:07:00.002-04:00

...Today is the first day that I am going to post to Tracey Clark's "Best Shot Monday". It's a rainy day outside so I thought that I would post a "rainy" picture!

Played with GIMP Software today

2010-04-25T17:35:00.002-04:00

Rainy cool day today so I decided to play with my pictures in GIMP today. I have a lot to learn yet, but was very happy with what I created.

Yesterday was beautiful!

2010-04-23T15:41:00.003-04:00

Went to the park yesterday before I picked up my daughter. It was an awesome day, I took over 250 pictures! I have been trying to get a picture of the wild turkeys that roam around here, but I never seem to be prepared when I actually do see them. So wouldn't you know? I'm walking through the park, turn around and there not more than 5 feet in front of me is a turkey...just staring at me...go figure!

So many tree's were blooming and I really love the pinks and pale pinks!

I don't know...

2010-04-22T10:10:00.022-04:00

...it seems to me that you just have to love "Magnetic Poetry":

A giant winged dragon surfaced on a whisper

A green crayon dragon sparkled on the surface of the sea

A wild, wet lake make's mud pie's

Imagine...peace from juice together, like bright bubble friends

Well...here I am...

2010-04-18T16:19:00.003-04:00

Today is the first day on my new blog. I'm not quite sure why I decided to do this except perhaps to meet all the wonderful creative people out here in cyberspace.

I am recently unemployed after 31 years of working and I am really hating it. I love photography and it seems to be the one thing that is saving my sanity at this time. Photography helps me to STOP and really see what's around me - helps me realize what is important. I really like macro photography and am probably way too detail-oriented! The big picture is okay but I truly believe that it is all the little pieces that make the Whole and so we should focus at times on all those "little pieces".