Update

Okay, so quick update.
Although I have been absent here, I have been busy...makin' a baby. Our little boy still isn't here yet, but the clock is ticking down. He is due in May and that ain't far away!
In the mean time, since I've been a little less mobile I have taken to learning to knit and to cook more at home. Which really isn't a bad thing at all.
Knitting is interesting to me and I've started picking it up fairly quick. Still working at it, but getting there.
Artwork itself has been more of a concept than anything for me as of late. I have had an idea here and there, but no real motivation as of yet. Last month Matt broke his musical silence and not only built a new bad, but also wrote and recorded an album in 3 weeks and had a kick-ass CD release show at a cafe. It was awesome, inspiring, and he makes me SO proud.
He also motivated me.
A week or so after his performance I received a call asking me to be the artist for the month of April (naturally). And even though that gave me a month, I don't have a lot prepared. SO what I decided to do is say yes. Now I have a few weeks to get this show together!!
Forever ago I created the 10 small pieces based on muscles (you can find that post in the past somewhere on here) and extend from that. Originally I wanted to do 50 similar small pieces, but I think it has evolved. I'm bored with the muscles now. At least, those ones. haha. I have somehow turned it into muscles/masculinity/biology vs organs/femininity/psychology  and overall body image. dum-dum-dum!
Yeah, we'll see how it works out.
So I have 10 small works. I am working on finishing one medium piece from the past, and I am doing at least 5 brand new pieces. woot!
How's that for motivation. All from my loving husband. :o)
And I'm hoping that this inspires me to do more once I am on leave from work. We shall see. . .
When I get more of these works together, I will post them up!
Welcome back me!

Need to get that Creative Genius going?

we are all gorgeous creative geniuses.
So get used to the idea of it, with the friendly and soothing help of Andrea of ABC Creativity.
Read her blog & get inspired, OR even better, sign up for her free workshop.
It's easy to do and we could all use the extra time for ourselves, couldn't we? And who better in our lives to pump up, but our own Creative Genius??!
 Whether creative is something you do all the time, or just something you're trying to tap into for the first time, this could be one of many ways in which you could get in touch with that part of you that's waiting to be discovered (more?).
I have only done the first exercise, but so far, so good! It will be good to see what else I can get from myself (and others) from another class to work on me. Shannon's class and blog were a great deal of my sanity and finding of myself as of late. It's good to have another contributor to my mental stability. 
Well, I hope that this looks good to some of you others out there and you are able to participate! I mean c'mon! It's for your betterment AND it's FREE. How often does this opportunity come along?

I'm always loving the quotes.

I am totally digging that book that I started last week? the week before? Can't remember. Anyway, I thought I would share some of the quotes that were shared within the book that I liked. Things I need to inspire. Reminders I need to heed. Perhaps you do as well?

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art."    - Andy Warhol

"How we spend our days is how we spend our lives."    - Annie Dillard

 "To be nobody - but yourself -- in a world in which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting."   - E.E. Cummings

"Anything can be art. All you have to do is change your mind."   - John Cage. 

 And since I haven't had time to post anything constructive in a few days, here are some things done at work...It's this program that is a little nerdy and tracks your mouse movement over a span of time. I "took pictures" at different time points on different days. One day I even turned the "blotter" off (the blotter option creates blots differing in size depending on the length of time your mouse is stationary in that spot).
So, here's to creativity at work, without even thinking about it and with remembering that ANYTHING CAN BE ART!!!

Progress Report of Inside-Out (days 2-4)

Okay, so I am lagging on posting my updates on my e-course "assignments". Here are the 2nd and 3rd days of work that I did.
The first was going through and finding words in magazines etc. that resonate with us and putting them on a page. So of course I broke a couple rules...and really there are no rules since there is no RIGHT way, so I'm okay. :o)
I used TWO pages! And I didn't stay strictly to words. There are a couple images. And of course, I couldn't do it at all if I didn't include some paint! So I have a yellow acrylic mixed with gloss medium layered with a brownish yellow type color reeaaallllly thinned out with gloss medium and kinda' all over. Then a little mica-chip acrylic in select spots and viola.

Anywho, this was the result:

The next day was the same idea...finding things that spoke to me...only with images. And of course I break rules again: TWO pages, a little paint, and oh yes, there's a word included.
And here this one is:

I feel that I really connected with this one. The picture didn't do it too much justice though. I found what I think are the perfect images for me. The lines, patterns, the inclusion of retro fashion and the aged look the paint lends, the pillow lava, the map of my favorite part of my city...perfection for me. :o) There are so many colors and shapes...and yet it is so subtle under the paint layering.

Lastly the 4th day was making "background pages" I was a little uninspired and inhibited when I started doing this, so I have only two (sorry for the poor picture quality). I will be making more later.
Here are my examples:

And that is it for now! More to follow at a later date!

Catch-Up

Okay, so I really haven't been into the blogging thing in QUITE a long time. I just wasn't inspired, or when I had time I had no thoughts. Worse yet, when I had things I really wanted to jot down...I failed to get it down somewhere. And of course, then I forget.
To catch-up let me just summarize by saying that changes have been made and I have vowed that this year I will be more productive with my creativity and aspirations that I can control.

I have already re-vamped my art space/room and now I plan on getting back into it. I have gone through magazines for inspiration of form, I have torn out pages for collage elements, I have started sketching again, although lamely I might add, and I have started brainstorming on themes.

Oh and in case you haven't noted, I've decided to push this "blog" more into the creative/artistic subject matter. Otherwise, I don't think that I will ever get anything done.

SO. Yeah. One project I am working on is that I have been researching books being used by the local colleges for art students and trying to find out their new/used/rental costs and comparing them to amazon's new/used pricing and experimenting with the idea of trying to start a small online e-bay store or something in cahoots with vendors who are able to provide reasonable drop-ship pricing. We shall see if this is a feasible idea. I can't do a real bookstore, so off I venture into the possibility of virtual entrepreneurship. Woot. I am very cautious of such a thing, but hey whatever. It's just something to fill the time.

Secondly...I am supposed to be working on writing a children's book that my brother has already kindly agreed to illustrate..but I am sucking at that. For some reason, the writing just wont come lately. I can vaguely picture the idea of who the characters are, what they look like...but all other inspiration is down the toilet. I can't place why.

Lastly, I have a bunch of blank canvases and papers and paints etc that are just WAITING for me to do something with them. I gotta get to it.
I started a series last year that I was enjoying. I finished 10 of them. They are framed and ready for a show. I've done a group show with them. I just feel like I want to do more of them, but I haven't. Argggggggggggggh.
If I can get a decent picture take of them/one, I will post. Perhaps someone out there can help motivate me to finish the series. I originally was aiming to do 50.

Well, that's a start to getting back into this blogging thing. I'll try to update once weekly at the very least.

If you have any ideas, please feel free to share.
10 down...40 to go.