"Courage" for A Cause

Our greater Rochester community suffered a tragic event on Christmas Eve 2012. While not on the scale of the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, it certainly brings those memories and images too close to home, especially since this occurred only 10 days after Sandy Hook.

The Story: A man set fire to a house up by Lake Ontario, then opened fire on the first responders. Two firefighters, nineteen-year-old Tomasz Kaczowka and Michael Chiapperini, were killed in the ambush and Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino were injured. One police officer had minor injuries related to a bullet-shattered windshield. The gunman fled the scene so the burning homes could not be secured. The fire spread and eventually seven homes burned to the ground and two more have been deemed uninhabitable. The gunman was found dead a few hours later from suicide. His sister was later found dead inside the shooter's home. 

The killed and injured firefighters were from the West Webster Fire Department. Many, many fundraisers have been started to aid the families of the deceased, injured, and those who lost everything in the fires. 

You know me... I can't sit back and do nothing when people are suffering from senseless violence like this. So I sat down and created this piece of artwork to donate to this cause: Fundraising Raffle for the Families of the West Webster Firefighters.

The fundraising event is tonight - sorry for the short notice. You can still buy $5 raffle tickets at the door from 5:00 - 5:45 pm at the Applebee's on Empire Blvd. in Webster. Please contact Walter MacDonald IV at 585-269-4761 for information.

"Courage"
acrylic monoprint on paper, ink, collage
4" x 6"
© 2013 Victoria Porter

I wanted to honor the fallen as well as those who keep our community safe everyday. It is  their COURAGE that make them special. 

This piece started as a monoprint made with my Gelli Printing Plate. I used stencils,  some store-bought and some of my own design, and lots and lots of layers of paint, which created this texture that I'm in looooove with. 

The lettering was stamped and altered a bit to make it thicker. The stars, hearts, hand, and wings are paper and were collaged onto the piece after I did all the drawings on it. Then I went back and outlined things in white to make them pop. 

I worked on this piece here and there over the course of the past few weeks. The work has fit in nicely with my {be creative everyday} practice. 

Of course, I would have liked to post this sooner, but it took me a few extra days to complete as I had to do my own framing. I drew right to the edges of the 4"x6" paper so a traditional standard mat for a piece this size would have covered the edges. That left me with a fussy sized mat window to cut. I got it right on my first try! I wanted to keep the frame size small so the organizers weren't storing and transporting large glass pieces. Plus I knew the Rochester Artisans would be donating a lot of work (62 pieces in total thanks to Stefani Tadio!).

I can only hope my work brings some measure of peace to this community and to those directly affected by this event.   

- Vickie

{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

It's My Birthday, Too!

Time to party! It's my birthday! Best of all, I get to share my birthday with my beloved twin sister! Neat fact: I was born first so I'm four minutes older.

She and I are pretty much inseparable. We have the best friendship. No one knows me like she does. No one. Mr. M and I bought a house exactly 7 blocks away from her so we could be close by. She has the two best kids ever. I'm very blessed.

I must show you this card my 5 year old niece made for me. It's delightful! 

That's a picture of the two of us making art - with my gelli printing plate! She absolutely loved seeing a video of the gelli plate in process and begged me to help her make prints.

The text reads: "You are the best becase you let me bo progex."

becase = because

bo = do

progex = projects 

How cute! 

It took me a few long moments to figure out that last word! My niece reported it was too hard to make a "j" so she went with the "g". I'm actually a big fan of creative spelling for kids her age because they can still learn neat things about letters and words even with mistakes.

I hope your day is filled with magic, too! 

- Vickie

Paper Roses Have No Thorns

My mom's birthday was last week. I always like to decorate her gifts so she knows how special she is to me. Plus she then gets some of my art! 

I made these roses out of plain copy paper soaked liberally with spray inks - I haven't figured out these spray inks yet. The edges of the roses have a little glitter on them. The color from the spray inks lifted when I put the wet glitter glue on, which resulted in the glitter colors matching exactly to the rose colors. Happy accident!

I added some loose fake leaves I had around, twisted them together in the back, and made curly-Qs with the stem ends. A little sparkly, sheer ribbon added a nice touch and allowed for tying the decoration to the gift.

To be honest, I was not expecting the reaction I got from my mother and twin sister about these roses. They LOVED them! The two of them immediately imagined many uses for them - from hair clips to wreaths. How lucky am I that I have the two best cheerleaders ever in my family for my work?!

(We were all gathered for The December Birthday Bash where we celebrate mom's birthday as well as my and my twin sister's birthday at one party. December just gets too busy with that many birthdays to party for.)

Mom has asked me to sew a little felt piece and a pin back to her gift decoration so she can wear it as a brooch!

Then my nieces (5 & 8) wanted some! They insisted on coloring their own if I would cut the roses and roll them. How could I say no - even though it was about 10 minutes to bedtime? 

The roses below were made by my youngest niece. The yellow yarn was her idea as she wanted to wear the roses in her hair. A heavier cardstock was used for these roses and you can see they end up a bit larger and fuller. 

The roses are rather fun to make, and I imagine I will be developing a line of art to use them on. Maybe even some hair accessories and what-not. I'm intrigued by where these will take me!

- Vickie

In Which I Am Mentioned! Honorably, Even!

I failed to post about Artist Row 2012? How did that happen?! Oh, yeah. That busy thing called LIFE. 

Artist Row 2012 was great. Tons of people showed up to look and shop. The Rochester Public Market is a fabulous venue in our city. It always draws the crowds! 

This was the first year I did this show even though this was the eighth (or ninth?) annual show. I didn't even know they gave awards until I saw several judges hanging around my booth. 

Then they walked over and gave me an "Honorable Mention" award! Can you believe it?! I still cannot believe it. 

This show is filled with the best artists in town - names that are well known in the big art circles - artists who show in the galleries - artists whose work I adore. And I am not in their league - no way, no how. 

Yet, they gave me an award. One of only 10 for the whole big show. How cool is that?! The award came with free booth fee to next year's show! Yay!

These are new BINGO marker pendants, very vintage Anagram game pendants (these are from the 1940's), and a few mahjong tile pendants. 

This is half my booth set-up with my domino pendants up front. That's me in the back, with my certificate. My mom made me pose for a bunch of photos with the thing. Way to make me feel like an elementary school girl - kind of fun, though! Thanks, Mom! 

It was nice to do an outdoor show for once. The Public Market has wonderful covered space, and I didn't have to fuss with a real show tent. A friend helped me put up a small canopy just to keep the late day sun off my work.

I'm so looking forward to next year at Artist Row 2013! What a delight to feel I really earned my spot!  

- Vickie