More Christmas Ornaments

I know it looks like I've been slacking for Art Every Day Month, but I really haven't. I've been working on a custom switch plate order, my entry for the Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy monthly challenge, and more Christmas Ornaments.

I'm experimenting with some prototypes and each one gets better than the last. Hopefully next year, I'll have some done in time to get them in my shop before Christmas. This year friends and family will enjoy the benefits of my "play"  time.

Snow Babies Take 4

More snow angel experimentation! I've moved from babies to bears--using my custom cinnamon blend of course! My husband is so disappointed that rarely does my pulling out spices mean that I am baking something.

Trial, error, and progress

Snow Baby: Take 3

Day 17 Art Every Day Month:Trail and Error...and Progress

Good news on the Oompa Loompa snow baby front. I followed some advice I got when I first joined the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy:

"If you don't love it before you bake something, you won't love it after."

Well, I loved this weird little thing too much to smoosh it, but not enough to bake it.

Snow Baby: Take 2

 So I kept experimenting. I started shaping and carving until I got the more slender version at the top of the post. I'm starting to like where this is going. In fact, this iteration is leading to innovation. Wait until you see "Try 4"!

To Be Young

In my day job as a marketing communications director, my creative energy is focused on figuring out how to let other people's talents shine. This week I had the honor of creating a web page to highlight Saint Francis University's first Literary & Visual Arts Magazine.

It is a collection of the best of more than 80 writing entries and 160 visual arts entries submitted for the 38th Annual Gunard Berry Carlson Writing Contest at SFU.

So for Day 16 of Art Every Day Month, I submit to you the artistic work of the talented undergraduate students of Saint Francis University:
http://francis.edu/tapestries/

Trial and Error

Day 14 AEDM:Trail and Error...and Error

Let's just say this is is a work in progress. Actually this is more of a prototype than a "work." It still needs to be baked and painted, but I don't think it will magically become a keeper after that.

I know that something isn't quite there with a piece when my usually supportive husband, Rob,  snickers when I ask him what he thinks of something. Remember my exploits with Alice.

He referred to this one as an "Oompa Loompa." Not what I was going for, but maybe that's a thing: "Oompa Loompa snow angel babies."

Who knows, perhaps the 3rd time will be the charm. This little guy is try number 2, and I do think I've made some progress. I submit into evidence "Creepy Circus Freak"  as Rob likes to call my first try.

AEDM Day 7

Fleur de lis ornaments

I knew that I would struggle with low energy periods during Art Every Day Month, so I decided to focus on experimenting with textures and color palettes without always having a finished product as the goal.

Part of that process has been creating blank "tiles" out of scrap clay that I can use as my experimentation canvases. Not very exciting stuff to showcase for the rest of you, but necessary for me as a growth tool. So basically I have lots of uninteresting blank tiles done, although I did finish one project this week.

I had these metal jewelry rounds that I thought would make cute Christmas ornaments. I cut a circle of clay to fit inside and baked it in the frame over an oval glass piece (below) to give it the domed shape. Once it cooled, I popped out the clay center and glued it back in place. I still want to play a little bit at adding some depth to the color.

  

Iteration Versus Innovation

Music Light Switch Plate Iteration  "A"

Iteration Versus Innovation

Both iteration (building on a design theme) and innovation (exploration of the unexplored) are solid paths for creativity, and I bounce back and forth between the two in my work. These switch plate covers are an example of my iterative process.

The top one (Iteration "A") is one of my best sellers. It features a stamped image on a polymer clay sheet with a black polymer clay frame. The "antiqued" color scheme is achieved through alcohol inks.

In Iteration "B" (below), I experimented with more of a picture frame style. Like the first, it is still created from hand-cut strips of clay, not painted, but I added more dimension in the sculpt. I also added some gold clay to the black to create a bronze frame. 

Another subtle change is in the "canvas" look that I tried to achieve by adding texture to the center stamped sheet. This version also has more sheen to it because I started with a pearl clay sheet for the alcohol ink base rather than pure white.

There are aspects of both that I like, so I image there will be an Iteration "C" at some point.

The Problem with Iterations

Iteration is a great way to hone your technique and really improve your work, but I find that Iteration becomes my go-to process when I'm stressed. In iteration the chance of failure is reduced. If I'm not careful, I could remain in iteration's comfort zone forever, and I'll miss the next "big" thing.

How do you balance iteration versus innovation in your work?

Music Light Switch Plate Iteration "B"

The Creative Equation

Reaching into the creative well: full or empty?

Most of us struggle with the same basic artistic challenge: limited time and limited energy.

The creative equation:

Define your 24/7 week.
Subtract your must-dos.
Isolate creative peaks.

Limited Time & Limited Creativity
I have a great, but demanding job as the director of marketing at a private university. It consumes mental energy and requires a commitment of the majority of the hours in my week.

Add to that an amazing husband with whom I want to spend another big chunk of my time.

Then groceries, cleaning etc., etc., etc...

That doesn't leave many pockets of time for creativity. And even when a pocket of time opens up, it doesn't mean I have the creative energy for art. Unfortunately for my art, mornings are my peak high energy time and 5 out of 7 mornings  go to my day job.
 
This seems to be an impossible equation. So far I've been to trying to better focus the limited time high energy time I have, but more often than not I am finding myself stuck.

I read a simple post on Seth Godin's blog, The best way to get unstuck, that may help me unstick the creatively stuck ideas in my head.

How do you unstick creative blocks?

About the photo:
This jar is part of a project that came together in one of my "creative flow" times. You can read about it here: http://www.creativesprinkle.blogspot.com/2012/07/teddy-bear-picnic.html

Alien Parts and Pieces

It's November 2: Day 2 of AEDM, but I'm still back on Halloween. We are going to a "Cowboys and Aliens" themed party this weekend and these parts and pieces hopefully will come together for my costume.

Peacock Light Switch Cover

Peacock Light Switch Plate Cover

Today kicks off two great things for me:

1. The start of Art Every Day Month
2. The first day of voting in the Polymer Artists Guild of Etsy's November Challenge

So I offer up to you my creative endeavor to celebrate both, a peacock-themed gold light switch plate cover.

The theme for the PCAGOE challenge this month is Asian-inspired. It is a theme that I could have taken in so many directions, but I love antique Japanese screen paintings so I decided to use that as my springboard.

One of my favorite memories from my art history grad school days at the University of Maryland was a "field trip" my classmates and I took to our professor's home. We drank sake in front of his gorgeous screen collection. I can't claim that this piece is in that same league artistically, but that's my inspiration none the less.

The textured gold clay serves as the canvas highlighted with peacock-colored mica powders. The frame is created from hand-cut strips of a bronze-colored polymer that I shaped on the plate. No molds, no paints.

Vote and win:
Public voting is open through November 7. Vote and you could win a mini-shopping spree in one of our stores. Vote here: http://polymerclayartists.blogspot.com/2012/10/november-challenge-asian-inspired.html

A Month of Creativity

November is almost here and that means Art Every Day Month.

The challenge
Art Every Day Month is the brainchild of artist Leah Piken Kolidas. Here is how Leah describes the low-pressure challenge that marks the event.

“ I encourage people to make something every day, but my goal is to foster more creativity, so if you make just one piece of art per week or just one for the whole month, that's fine with me. The idea is to bring more creativity into your life, not to make you feel overwhelmed, pressured or guilt-stricken.”

But I'm not an artist!
She defines art as anything creative, whether that be painting, drawing, knitting, sewing, cooking, decorating, writing, photography, clay, jewelry-making or whatever.

Sign-up
You can sign-up now to participate, or any time during the month. And don't worry about the pressure of "creating" every day. You can flow in and out as you need to. I have to admit, I didn't do a good job keeping up last year, but I have a better game plan for this time around.

Find out more: http://creativeeveryday.com/art-every-day-month

In the studio

Works in Progress

It is Art Every Day Month and I haven't been doing a great job of physically creating anything. But that's okay. AEDM isn't about strict perfection. It is about infusing creativity into your day in whatever way you can. So on that front, I feel pretty good. And today, after a week of being pulled in a different direction, I am back in the studio with a few works in progress.

Most of my art creation procrastination this past week is because I attended the American Marketing Association's Higher Ed Marketing conference in Chicago for my day job at Saint Francis University. It was a much needed break from day-to-day tasks. Nothing like a conference to recharge the batteries.

The other thing that has kept me from actively creating is not positive. This week my alma mater became engulfed in scandal. Yes, I am a Penn Stater. My husband, my sister, my brother-in-law, and I all graduated from Penn State. I also worked there for 10 years. I still have many dear friends there.

Like so many Penn Staters, I spent the greater part of this week glued to the TV, hoping someone would say something that  made sense.It is hard to find the words that express what I'm feeling. I am ashamed. I am crushed. Yet my bond to my Penn State family has somehow become stronger through tragedy.

It is probably difficult for anyone on the outside to understand. I imagine it is what family members must feel when they find out that someone they love and trust did something horrific. In the pubic eye, your loved one's shame becomes your shame. The family name that brought you pride is now tarnished, yet your family is still filled with great people that played no role in all of this.

I came across this Facebook post that has gone viral. I'm not sure who wrote it, but it says it better than I can.

"We are… sad. We are… grieving with the families and the victims. We are… brokenhearted. We are… trying to make sense of things. We are… confused. We are… over 94,000 students strong. We are… ranked among the top 15 public universities. We are… the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. We are... over 8,500 top-ranked faculty. We are… hard working student athletes in many sporting events with NO connection to former events. We are… more than 2 university officials and 2 athletic department members. We are… more than this scandal. WE ARE PENN STATE. We have always been more than just a football team"

Challenging Myself

One of the best benefits of membership in the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy is the fact that we can participate in a themed challenge each month. The challenges are a great way to grow creatively, although I must admit not every theme excites me. This month's theme, caning, is one of those themes that I wasn't really looking forward to.

Caning is a cool technique, and I love to see the complex designs that my fellow PCAGOE members create, but personally I haven't been drawn to trying it. I gravitate to textured and sculptural techniques. Given the fact that caning "isn't my thing," it would have been easy for me to opt out of this one. Obviously anything I create for this one is never going to measure up to the experts in the guild. But these challenges are about competing with myself. Whether it is trying something I've never done before or taking something I love to do to a new level, the challenges provide a forum to push myself.

This snowflake cane is my first cane. It is a VERY simple pattern created from a free tutorial. Am I happy with the result? Well, not entirely, but I am happy that I gave it my best shot.

 I encourage you to head over to www.pcagoe.com to see some of the amazing work of true cane artists. Public voting is open in the challenge until Nov. 7. You could win a prize just for voting.

Oh, and today is the start of Art Every Day Month. I can't wait to start exploring what everyone is working on!

Art Every Day Month

"Betwixt and Between" by Leah Piken Kolidas

Yesterday I watched the snowfall outside my window. It was a beautiful white fluffy snow; the kind they show in Christmas specials. Beautiful, yes, but for me, the first snow is a harbinger of the long, dark months. I think it was even more sad because it is only October. Far too early.

It is always a struggle for me to create once the days grow shorter and the temperatures fall, yet one thing that helps me prepare for the winter doldrums is Art Every Day Month. The low-pressure challenge, held each November, is the brainchild of artist Leah Piken Kolidas.

Here is how Leah describes Art Every Day Month.

“ I encourage people to make something every day, but my goal is to foster more creativity, so if you make just one piece of art per week or just one for the whole month, that's fine with me. The idea is to bring more creativity into your life, not to make you feel overwhelmed, pressured or guilt-stricken.”

This will be my third year participating. Of course I am under no illusion that I will be producing great stuff every day or that I won't come home from work exhausted and fling myself on the couch. This challenge is more of a reframing effort for me. It is a time to honor nature's rhythms and find a way to ease into winter without surrendering to total hibernation.

Stay tuned and I will share what the month brings. How do you feel about winter's approach?

Inspired by Steichen

My husband's uncle often gives us delicious Christmas gifts that feed our bodies such as delicately crafted marzipan fruits, but my favorite gift from him is one that feeds our souls, a subscription to Smithsonian magazine. Visiting the Smithsonian museums regularly is one of the things I miss since we moved from Washington D.C.

One of my favorite articles was about  fashion photographer Edward Steichen. It was illustrated by his glamorous black and white photography from the 20s and 30s. Such and elegant period! When I finished reading the magazine, I couldn't bring myself to recycle it. The photographs called to me. I clipped them to store in my "idea file" to wait for an idea to arrive.

An idea eventually arrived, probably one that Steichen would greet with displeasure, yet one that made me smile. I decided to combine the refined elegance of the black and white photos with airy, vibrant tissue papers. In my first try, I tore random pieces of paper and began to decoupage them onto a canvas, but the pattern was too distracting so I shifted my focus to large squares of color. I'm happy with the end result and I get to enjoy Steichen's work with my own twist on it.

Have you ever taken liberties with a master's work?

Cold Weather Skin Care Treat

"Mermaid and Scallop" by Mandarin Moon

Here in Central PA warm ocean breezes are miles away, but a little coconut oil has me in a beach mood. My 40-year-old-skin is already feeling winter's wrath so I decided to treat myself to a little spa day. I melted a couple tablespoons of  coconut oil and rubbed the warmed liquid onto my dry skin. It feels heavenly and smells like a day at the beach.

I read a good post by Katlupe of Homesteading on the Internet about coconuts that gave me the idea:   Coconut is one of Nature's Healthiest Remedies.

About the photo: This is an Artist Cards Editions and Originals (ACEO). ACEOs are small, affordable, collectible works of art and can be made of any material. The only rule is their size which is 2.5" x 3.5" or the size of a baseball trading card. This one "Mermaid and Scallop Shell," by Mandarin Moon, one of the artists in the Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy, is available in her store.

Finding Beauty in Tub Hair

Cleaning Chore or Art?

The Art of Tub Hair
My friend Stacy sees beauty in almost everything. Even tub hair. "Tub hair?" you ask. Yes, hair that accumulates in the tub when you take a shower. Stacy gathers stray hairs that fall out during her shower and sticks them to the shower wall until she is ready to get out of the shower.

"Yuck!" you say. Well, I’m ashamed to admit that’s what I said when she started to tell me about how she sees art in her stray strands of hair. Who sees art in that? Well Stacy does. She sees possibilities where the rest of us see yuck.

Stacy has transformed a cleaning chore into a creative outlet. Want to see more? Check out her store, Pandora's Gallery, or visit her blog, Pandora's Compass, for additional doses of creative inspiration.

Lily Pads T-Shirt

For the Love of Sunshine

My Studio Space

My husband built me this beautiful (and functional!) studio space in our basement. It has a great work space and a quiet corner with a comfy chair, but I find myself gathering up supplies and hauling them upstairs. I sit on the couch and condition clay. I sculpt pieces standing at the kitchen island. And I ask myself, "Why aren't you in the studio?"

Part of the answer to why I keep moving upstairs is that I like to be on the same floor with my husband. I feel isolated in the basement, but the other reason is simply that I miss the sunshine. Upstairs the light pours in though skylights and a french door. Alas, my studio is too dark.

Do any of you have tips on how to make a basement space more artist-friendly?

Recipe Scrapbook Project

Recipe Scrapbook

So many of my favorite memories revolve around food:

• rooting in the “candy cupboard” at Grandma’s house
• sitting at the 50s Formica table sampling Great-grandma's egg custard
• learning fractions with Mom using recipes to make math more fun

Many of those memories found their way into a recipe scrapbook that I gave to my Mom as a gift last Christmas. The book highlighted the women in my family (they do most of the cooking!) and the recipes that tell my family story.

As my mom leafed through the pages on Christmas morning, her eyes welled up with tears. For a moment I felt bad that I had made her cry, then I realized she was touched by the memories. It is going to be a hard gift to top.

I started the project during Art Every Day Month last November, but I never shared the finished product here on my blog. With the Christmas gift-giving season almost upon us again, I thought it would be good time to give you a closer look at the project in case you want to make one of your own.

Great-Grandma and her Fried Fudge

The Project Overview
Each page or two was dedicated to a different woman beginning with my great-grandma and ending with my niece and nephew. Okay I cheated a little and included a couple guys: my nephew and my brother. Here's a look at the elements I chose to tell each of their stories.

Family Photos
Old photos played a big role in the scrapbook. I scanned in my favorites and printed them out so that I could cut them out in interesting shapes. I’m not fabulous with PhotoShop so I did everything “old-school” scrap-booking style.

Recipes
I also scanned in some of our recipes, like the old ones in my great-grandma’s handwriting. I typed up other ones that weren’t so visually interesting.

Heirlooms
Family heirlooms made up the other major visual element . My sister and I each photographed things we had inherited that were iconic to us, things like Great-Grandma’s china, a Pillsbury Doughboy doll, and the plastic Kool-Aid Cho-Cho-Cherry mug we used at Grandma’s house.

Stories
Written memories along with the visual ones accompanied each woman. I typed up a little blurb including favorite food related memories.

Including the Kids
My sister staged a photo shoot with the grandchildren baking. We included a “recipe” that my niece wrote in her 6-year-old handwriting. Of course the kids didn’t know why they were doing it because kids have a hard time keeping a secret.

Next Generation of Bakers: my niece and nephew

It took a lot of thought and planning, but everything combined beautifully to make a wonderful gift.  I hope this inspires you to try your own. What handmade projects have you given as a gift?

Words To Live By

Inside my Desk Drawer

Monday Pick-Me-Up: Office Desk Shrine
If you peek inside my desk drawer, you will find something that makes me happy, not only on Monday, but every day of the work week. It is a little vignette celebrating three simple words: Creative, Spiritual, Joyful.

The words serve as a  reminder of how I want to approach each day. When I'm stressed and I open the drawer, these simple post-it notes help me reframe things.

Work in Progress

From Desk to Wall
I thought it might be fun to take the idea of my desk shrine and turn it into some wall art. This is a "work in progress" polymer clay mosaic that I worked on this weekend. It is unbaked so the colors aren't as deep as they will be in the finished piece, but it gives you a pretty good idea of where the piece is going.

Some of the squares are touched with pearl powders so the mosaic will shimmer in the light. The browns and oranges (which will brighten up when baked) are made from my favorite spice inclusion recipes.

Share your Monday Pick-Me-Up
So what made you happy today?