{be creative everyday} 2013

Last year, although many, many wonderful things happened, I didn't feel I was doing my best work or giving my creative life the room it needed to bloom. I was left feeling empty and aimless when I thought I was doing the right things. I kept asking myself what I was missing. I finally figured it out. I was missing a plan. I didn't have a specific enough quest. 

My creative life needs challenges. It needs attention or it withers. It needs planning and brainstorming. We all know that nothing comes from nothing. And I'm sick of all this nothing. 

What does my uncontainable need to create cry out for? 

TIME. ROUTINE. FREEDOM TO PLAY. COMMUNITY. 

Above all: PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE. 

I need art more than I need oxygen. I want to fill my days with awareness and find the creativity in the world around me. My creativity needs to be a part of my daily routine. I've been taking my creativity for granted, which prevents me from seeing it as infinite potential. 

I am on a mission. A [wide-open] secret mission. Since I like you very much, I will let you in on the [wide-open] secret mission. I am going to {be creative everyday} in 2013. Yup. Every. Single. Day. For 365 days. As of today (01/12/13) I am on track for all 12 days of January. Woot! This blog post counts! 

I am embarking on learning something new and creating new habits. Right now the novelty of {be creative everyday} hasn't worn off and I've attacked my projects like wildfire these past 12 days. Some mornings I can't wait to get up and get creative. (Remember, creativity come in many forms: doodles, music, painting, writing, cooking, brainstorming, doing puzzles, teaching, blogging, etc.) 

I know at some point that novelty will wear off a bit. That's ok. In learning a new habit, at the start it's ok to kind of stink at it. That's how this learning and practice thing works. So my plan is simply to show up. Be there in my studio and bridge the gap from crap to "I MADE THAT?!?!" with sheer volume. Maybe it will bring my muse tiptoeing around to see what all the fuss is about. 

I won't be sharing every single creative endeavor here. Some things are a little too mundane to post. My plan is to post weekly wrap-ups and highlight specific projects as they come up. Some months will be dedicated to other specific everyday projects like Index-Card-A-Day 2013 (ICAD3) at Daisy Yellow's blog in June and July. I'll be making cards for Operation Write Home throughout the year. Some art will be abandoned. I'll be entering shows like 6x6x2013 at Rochester Contemporary, and taking advantage of my Honorable Mention award at last year's Artists Row with free booth space in 2013. 


I am keeping track of my daily creativity with photos using an app on my phone called Photo365. It lets me post pictures for specific days to tell the story of {be creative everyday} 2013 in a calendar of images. 

Tons of everyday projects are starting up and it's never too late to join some. Hanna is doing 365 somethings in 2013. Tammy at Daisy Yellow is also joining in for 2013. If you want to join in on 365 Somethings go join the flickr group for #365in2013 

I'm looking forward to keeping you up to date on {be creative everyday} 2013. Please let me know in the comments if you have a project going on! 

- Vickie

Graffiti Art Painting

I have not really made anything in weeks. So I was getting a hard core art jones going. Inspired by the class I’m taking from Traci Bautista I sat down in a few spare minutes yesterday to make this.

It is created on 8 1/2" by 11" ivory cardstock with gel medium, acrylic paint, and Sharpie paint pens. The yellow decoration down the left side is paper tape.

I will be sending this along with some paper goodies for a swap. I suppose it could be used like a collage sheet and torn up and used in other artwork. Or it could be framed as is.

It was really fun to make and I thing I’ll do some more work in this style. I seem to be getting caught up in a lot of planning and that's starting to stifle me a bit. This page was just a big, fun doodle. I need to let go more and trust the process!

Orlando or Bust

My sister works for Booty Parlor and they had a convention a few weeks ago in Orlando, Florida. I jokingly asked if I could go with her, and she promptly got on the computer and started quoting me airline fares. She’s spontaneous like that. It was surprisingly cheap to fly there so I said “What the heck!” and bought tickets. I think the Universe was speaking to me and told me to go to Orlando!!

I had no idea what I might do for the weekend or where I would go. It turned out that the hotel where we stayed wasn’t that close to anything that I could get a free shuttle to. So I spent most of my time at the hotel, which is fine because I really like hotels.

I brought more art supplies with me than clothes or toiletries! Seriously! More than half of my suitcase and carry on were taken up with colored pencils, paper, glue, scissors, and collage materials! So I turned my trip into a mini creative retreat. And it worked out beautifully. I had a great time. It was surprisingly refreshing to be devoid of responsibility for three days. I didn’t know how much I needed that. I’m known for constantly underestimating time off.

On my creative journey this year I started working through The Creative Entrepreneur by Lisa Sonora Beam. This book is awesome! I cannot recommend it more highly. I’m having some trouble getting things done lately due to the chronic pain. This book actually covers stuff that I need for my personal life as well as the business. The part I worked on at the hotel was about sensing, thinking, feeling, and acting – all areas of my life that I’m struggling with personally and professionally.

The author lays it out for you – destructive and constructive ways to think, sense, feel, and act. I am doing way more destructive stuff than the constructive stuff! Yikes! A real eye opener! But the cool thing is that she writes, “Destructive thinking is remedied through constructive feeling and action.” Makes perfect sense, right, since they are all so interconnected? So that means that destructive feelings are remedied through constructive thinking and action. All related! When I read that, my mind opened up like a blooming chrysanthemum! I had a serious “A-ha” moment right there, let me tell you.

I came home feeling more positive than I have in a long time about things in general. My energy is restored, my attitude is better, and I’m not so dragged down by the pain like I have been for months. As I continue to work through this book, I am learning more about myself and my process and how I got to this place I’m struggling with. My plan is to continue to take a good hard look at things I do that affect my mood, thoughts and therefore the pain. It’s really nice to have my art to fall back on when words fail me as I explore a more productive way to do things. So you can expect to see some more art journaling here as well.

So thank you, Orlando, for giving me some space to work things out! And I must say that laying out at the pool also helped!!

Creativity and Process

I’ve been thinking about creativity and processes and patterns this week while I work. I’m trying some new techniques out and am having a lot of fun just playing. Plus I’m liking the results so that helps! Good results for me inspire more good ideas and things snowball from there. I’m getting a lot of work done, which is good because I have a three day show coming up on May 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

I read that Pikaland was giving a workshop on “Inspiring Creativity” in the Etsy Labs last night. The room was really crowded! It was a good presentation and I learned some neat things. Some of my favorite quotes:

“If you don’t stumble on mistakes, you won’t stumble on new things.”

“As an artist, your goal is to innovate.”

She also spoke about creativity and business. Having a small business puts you in the perfect spot to change direction quickly based on what kind of results you’re getting from your marketing and sales. Using creativity, we as artists, have an advantage over other businesses! We think more outside the box. If you’re struggling with your business try taking a more “off the wall” creative approach to the problem. Sit down and brainstorm with yourself. Write down even the crazy ideas and see what you can do with them.

Another thing she suggested was to get to know the person behind the blog before you send them an email asking them to promote your work. Read the blog. Make comments. Form a relationship and you might have better odds of getting featured. I intend to put this into practice. I know it will take time, but if I get featured on a well-known blog the work will be worth it.

Pikaland has a great blog going at Good To Know. The topic right now is "What is your biggest stumbling block to creativity (or expressing yourself artistically) and what works for you in overcoming these setback(s)?" You should really check it out.

I’d love to hear about your creative processes and patterns!