Artful Adventures

Getting ready for some summer fun!

Check this out!  This box of innocent looking jars are going to give me hours of fun dying paper, fabric & ribbon this summer-I feel like the mad scientist about to embark on a new experiment.  Actually, that pretty much describes it:)  Awhile back, I talked about Mixed Media Nature Journals written by L.K. Ludwig, rather than repeat myself too much, you can go back & read it here.  For once in my life, I wanted to be prepared, so I made sure that I had plenty of Fabriano watercolor paper on hand (love that stuff!) and then went on over to Dharma Trading Co to order dye.  Sounds simple enough, until I got over there and saw all the possibilities, amazing!  Look here and here and then just keep digging through the site, there are enough ideas to keep anyone busy for a very long time!  This morning we ran into Kewaunee for an estate sale, it's that time of year for all kinds of sales, so off we went.  Not quite sure just yet how or when I'll use this stuff, but it was too cool to leave behind.  See that's the problem at these sales, no time to think, because if you don't grab whatever it is that you're looking at right away, it's gone right before your eyes.  But I'm either going have to do some assemblage pieces soon or I'm going to run out of room in here!  The other thing that keeps me out of the studio for a bit this time of year, is playing in the dirt & potting up containers.  Here's part of one of a pair, to go on each side of the front door.  It's the north side, so not much sun, but by incorporating houseplants, I can still have color in the shade and even bring the container in for the winter and keep it for next year.  See, the old mind is always whirling:)  The violas will drop seeds on the ground beneath it for next year, and the dusty miller, strobilanthus, and streptacarpus all make good houseplants.  I've always said planning a garden (or container) is like collage-layering colors, texture, shape & form-maybe we could coin a new term & like "art gardening", well, ok we can probably do better than that, but it'll do for now.  In the meantime, our flower gardens have gotten out of control over the last few years, so I've got Gary digging up, splitting, & moving plants all over.  And then we keep finding new ones-can't win!  Like this beauty we found at The Flying Pig out in the greenspace.  Robyn does a great job on getting her hands on some different plants to keep our gardens interesting and fresh looking.  Now we need rain to keep the gardens looking good, so far we've had very little.  Hoping this isn't a repeat of last summer!  Ok, now go plant something, I'd love to see what you all come up with!

A "Must-Have" Book

A couple of weeks ago, armed with a couple of Amazon gift certificates and having made the decision to join Northlight Book Club (seems most of the books I want are published by them anyway) I painstakingly chose 8 books-4 from each place.  As I looked them through (or sometimes I just sort of skim through, looking at the pictures) I'll let you know how I like them.  But one that jumped out at me, that I did actually sit down and start reading, was The New Creative Artist written by Nita Leland .  Not only did I start to read it, I hauled out a notebook just to jot things down as I read.  She's teaching this summer at Peninsula Art School(scroll down on the page that this link takes you, to see the class description) which is about an hour drive from here, literally in my back yard.  I had pretty much made up my mind that I had signed up for enough classes this summer, but after getting this book, I may have to rethink that decision!  There are loads of things of try, ideas to keep you motivated, enough quotes & invaluable verbiage to convince all of us, even on our worst days when we question why we do what we do, that YES, we are creative, it's all worth it, and how to get over that hump.  But there was a statement in particular that hooked me, reeled me in and has made me a fan of hers forever, it's this sentence from her book "Your work should be your own.  When you copy, you deny your uniqueness.  Copying isn't creativity; it's just the business of making a picture."  Making it your own is a phrase that's been tossed around for awhile, but obviously everyone hasn't bought into it by everyone.  It's something that I firmly believe in, so was more than pleased to see it addressed in a book.  And that's one of the big reasons we all need this book, we need to make art & create, but we need to make it our own as we go along.  You won't regret buying this book, no matter what medium you work in!  And on that note, I leave you with a photo of a necklace I did a couple of weeks ago, like the rest, it too is for sale at The Flying Pig. 

A must read book!

This morning when I spotted the mailman driving up our very icy driveway instead of dropping off at the mailbox, I knew it meant my latest Amazon order had arrived, which always makes for a good mail day.  Little did I know just how good!  Four books were ordered, and I haven't gotten my nose out of one of them yet to even glance at the others!  This beautiful, wonderful, full of ideas that are right up my alley book is Mixed Media Nature Journals written by L.K. Ludwig.  For months now, I've had ideas that I haven't quite been able to get a firm grasp on as they just appear & then flit away into who knows where, products that I've wanted to try, techniques that I've wanted to learn, but not sure why or how, let alone what I'd do with them.  It's all here, within the pages of this book!  I'm convinced that this book will pull me right up & out of this winter blech that I've had, I'm excited again, anxious to make art again, I'm back!!

If you were shocked by Prince---

-----hang onto your hats for this one, I even surprised myself!  I bought a book, not just any book, but a book of poetry.  Those of you who really know me, you can quit giggling anytime now:)  For months, I keep hearing about & reading mentions of Mary Oliver's poetry.  To be honest, I never paid a lot of attention, because I just don't get poetry (Miz Tracie, don't hate me for this!)-I think I just heard a collective gasp!  Seriously, it's not that I never wanted to, it just never did it for me, although I can certainly respect those that write it, and even more so for those that "get it".  That said, last week I did a Google search for Mary Oliver, and ran across The Journey , and I was hooked-it's one of the coolest things that I've ever read!  So I went right on over to Amazon, and ordered this book , which arrived a couple of days ago.  It's been sitting on top of a stack of books to read, visible to keep reminding me, but I think this deserves a special setting, like taking it with me to the lake to read, while listening to the waves.  At least that scenario makes for a pretty picture in my mind.  Yep, I think that's what I'll do.  And by the way, why was everyone so surprised to hear that Prince was my favorite musician?  That just cracked me right up:)