In attempts to declutter, I happened to glance through a bunch of my old drawings, watercolors and other such creative musings. I have to say it was quite nice to see all that I’ve accomplished so far, even if I still have a long way to go. It really helps to review your accomplishments and failures to see how far along you’ve really come. Along the way, I found an old acrylic painting of a little pink girl sitting on a tree branch…the first thing I painted after moving to Italy. She’s a bit disheveled and anxious looking, seemingly ready to say something – thus perfect for stationery! I thought it would be nice to share this with you as well.

Download Printable Pink Girl Stationery PDF (908kb)

Go ahead and download to print and use for whatever personal letters you might have to write.  Say hello to an old friend, stick a note in your child’s lunch bag or even a love note in your husband’s wallet!

This week has been pretty busy for me, besides mishaps, I’ve actually been occupied with freelance work and finishing up a set of baby paintings. I’ll have to prep the images and share when the show happens in October.  You can say my days have a certain regular routine, but even good planning doesn’t prevent the unknown from popping up and wreaking havoc at times. The idea is to not let the bumps bother you, I think. I could so relate to a recent blog post by Marisa from Creative Thursday.  It’s all about choosing to live a simpler life and it got me thinking about how much control we really have regarding the way we live and absolutely the way we feel.

You decide how to react and handle the various events of your life, so why not choose to do it in an orderly fashion? I try to go with the flow and ride the waves as they come, as much as possible.  We all do the best that we can!  I do have to remind myself to not worry over things I don’t have control over. Stay away from toxic people and keep friends and family close.  Declutter and do happy things!  I chose this lifestyle and I equally choose to make it calm, happy and simple. Punto e basta!  Have a great day blog friends!

Posted on September 10, 2009 at 11:34 pm | acrylic painting, free goodies | 8 comments

Triggered by the chair theme for this week at Inspire Me Thursday, I did a quick digital illustration of something pictured in my mind.  I suppose you might see this scene at a circus or maybe Sea World?!

My imagination quickly turned the seal into other animals balancing chairs and it got me thinking…what can you do with a chair?  Obviously sit on it…but there’s so much more if you open your mind a little.  The idea of creating other uses for a particular item was intriguing.  Although trying to balance a chair on your nose might seem crazy and pointless, if you can it would seem like a pretty cool ability plus you might have fun along the way. Okay, maybe you’ll also have a bruised nose, but it occurred to me that I wasn’t thinking literally of chairs.

The idea could apply to anything in life and should be applied accordingly I think.  You can follow the rules and probably be okay, but you’ll be missing out on a lot of hidden treasures – discoveries to be made.  You always have to follow your musings, no matter what others might think of you.  In the end, you’ll never know what you might find out from your open experimentation.

Applying this thought to my work, I started thinking about just going for it and not stopping to plan all the time.  I believe that I’m a big idea person, jotting down notes all the time whenever inspiration strikes.  But I do get stuck in the preparation, not-so-ready-yet and fear modes that make me less prolific than I would like to be when creating things.  I must be missing out on so much with all my second guessing and hesitation.

Then again, could imagery of balancing things simply mean I’m trying to find balance in my life? Oh, the analysis goes on…

Posted on September 10, 2009 at 1:06 am | designs, inspiration, thoughts + discussion | 2 comments

So I’ve been a bit down lately, but my lovely blog friends have helped to cheer me up and keep me going.  Thank you all for your kind comments and encouragement, it’s really been wonderful to have a place to share my adventures along this creative journey, even with the bumps that go along with it!

Speaking of bumps, I think my low mood has directly affected my motor skills as well.  I still don’t understand how I could have slipped, but I totally fell on the stairs and now have a bruised bum and leg.  Besides feeling like a total dork, the clumsiness carried on to yesterday when I spilled my entire cup of iced coffee.  It spread all over my desk, computer and onto the floor.  Sigh!  My computer went into a coma for a while and I was so devastated because I was just going to do a regular backup.  Thank the heavens because somehow it revived itself…but I figure it might be time to get a new iMac as well. I decided today to just stop all the madness and not let my clumsiness get to me.  It can be easy to spiral downward, but I can’t let it happen!

Thankfully I found this amazing collaborative website called Follow the Leader, created by the Sub-Studio folks.  They basically released a bunch of “seeds” – pages with a particular part of a drawing on it – that you can download and complete the drawing in any way that you want.  Then you send it back to them to post up!  It’s wonderful to see the creativity and variety of art created from the same little seed! I submitted my first drawing as you see below and so happy to see it posted.  I think you should definitely try it too, would love to see what you come up with!

Posted on September 9, 2009 at 11:49 am | drawings, inspiration, thoughts + discussion | 4 comments

I’ve always been a big fan of rubber stamping, fascinated by the designs and creations that can come from them. I thought it would be to cool to create my own, especially as I am going through Lena Corwin’s book, Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens.  The very first project is about creating your own rubber stamp design and I was so excited to finally take the plunge!  I used my little owlie character and created a stack of owls to be made into a rubber stamp.  I just received it in the mail and so happy with the results.  There’s something amazing about seeing your own design being made into the real product, so darn cool!

Of course, here in Italy it is a pretty costly process.  I can’t even mention how much because it’s pretty ridiculous, but I had gone ahead with it for the first time just to try it out at least once.  There are other options online, but I seem to have problems receiving mail from outside Europe.  I had made some orders from the USA in June and still haven’t received them – probably lost in customs or Italian mail limbo.  Sigh.

I decided it would be better to carve my own stamps given the situation.  Just posted some photos of my first linoleum carving and printing attempt on my Flickr. Still learning, but it’s pretty darn cool to transform a piece of rubber into a cool design.  Now I’m thinking of what to carve next…

Posted on September 7, 2009 at 11:01 am | carving + printing | No comments

I’ve been in a very reflective mood all day and perhaps I often get into these moods because I’m working alone most of the time.  I think many of us might be in the same boat when it comes to freelancing and independent folks working from home.  With no one around to chit chat with, it’s easy to get lost in your own thoughts and even easier for them to go sour as well. We humans are social animals after all!

Sometimes I find myself going down a negative path and cascading into dark thoughts like a waterfall who can’t help itself.  I’m an optimist at heart, but it doesn’t mean I don’t think about and subsequently get bothered by sad things.  I was especially stuck today on my timid behavior when it comes to sharing my work.  I’m definitely proud of what I do, no matter how small it might seem to others.  I do my own little victory dance when a project is complete and I get that satisfied, happy and calming feeling.

However, sharing or rather, showcasing my work can be really difficult for me still.  First, I thought about how I didn’t want to impose on those close to me, to feel obliged to compliment.  They wouldn’t want to hurt my feelings and it made me think of childhood times.  Parents always love what their kids create and stick it on the fridge…it’s almost praise overload sometimes.  Second, I don’t expect everyone to like my style or what I do in general.  Some people just don’t like cute designs or patterns or art stuff…it’s just not their thing or they don’t understand it.  On my blog I seem to have less trouble, since it’s just there for those to peruse.  I thought how much more becoming it would be if people just noticed your stuff and liked it rather than you having to shove it in front of their faces.

I guess that is why creative types don’t like marketing very much.  It’s a lot easier probably to do it for someone else, I’m sure. It’s hard to toot your own horn, so to speak.  Then I thought, hey, if I don’t jump for joy and want to shove my work in front of everyone does that mean I don’t have enough passion?  Aren’t we supposed to be ecstatic to share our work and help bring people into the beautiful world of art and design?

Oh, lots of self doubt starts pouring into my mind and I knew that I’m just not confident enough. Even when I know the truth, I still get random swirls of thoughts in my mind.  I’m just starting out in my creative journey and when I don’t actually make a living from it and don’t receive any recognition, sometimes it’s hard to take yourself seriously.  Or at least, it’s difficult to present yourself in the same way because I feel like I haven’t earned it.  Plus I don’t want to come off as snobby – I’m an artiste – type of thing! What does the word artist mean anyway?  That it is your profession?  That you have technical skills like artisans of the past? As someone who had just a little taste of art school, I have to say I’m still intimidated by many aspects of the art world…artist…Art with a capital A!  I find it so uncomfortable to have to define and label everything.

All these excuses and thoughts…I know I have to remind myself that I can only keep doing what I enjoy and hope to find my audience and place in this big, wild world.  Perhaps I don’t need to be able to define Art with a capital A or even call myself an artist if I don’t feel like it.  They are just words and labels in our language anyway.  If I truly connect with my work – emotions from the heart and soul – do I really need anything else to be satisfied?  Well, next step is to get some other folks besides me of course!  I know I still have a ways to go, but I do have control over what I think of myself and how I feel. I have the power to go do a happy dance to cheer myself up, if nothing else! Will I still be doubtful and scared sometimes?  Probably…but it sure helps to have a happy dance…sigh.

Posted on September 3, 2009 at 11:37 pm | thoughts + discussion | 8 comments