Fifth Year Blogiversary

Just this morning I realized that I’ve been blogging for five years today. Obviously not always faithfully or with consistent quality, but I’ve never thought seriously of it giving up.
It was Carmi who encouraged me to start a blog, and who could ask for a better cheerleader or mentor? Frankly, her enthusiasm, energy and willingness to try something new gave me the courage to try it myself. I have to admit I needed that push because my tendency is go inside rather than outside, and keeping a blog is a good way to stay connected to the big picture. True, I wish I had the drive to post original art several times a week and to write something transformational, but when you get right down to it, you have to blog in the way that’s best for you and groove to your own inner timing, even if is kind of hit and miss.
One of the good things about blogging is that you become accountable to yourself and others. Three or four years ago, I was posting a digital ATC here on a regular basis. That activity, more than anything else, helped me to develop my Photoshop skills. But developing your creativity is just one of the benefits of blogging. For me, the most important thing has been establishing important friendships with people I would probably never have met in the pre-blogging universe. It’s exciting to know there are so many kindred spirits out there to share the world with, so thank you for stopping by and being one of my readers!

The Sketchbook Project

If you’re interested in artist sketchbooks, there’s a big exhibit on right now at the The Brooklyn Art Library that will also travel to Portland (Maine), Austin, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and Winter Park in Florida. (See locations and dates below). I have a sketchbook in the exhibition—along with a ton of other artists including my good pals, JK Gent and Jennifer Pearson Vanier—although I would have to use the word “sketchbook” with some latitude in my own case.

Because the topic I chose was Secret Codes, I fully intended to invent my own arcane language, and then draw on every page. But when the reality of what I intended to do sank in, I remembered the saying: Don't let perfection get in the way of good. In other words, there was no way I was going to finish (or even get started) without drastic compromise.

I ended up using rubber stamps and adding to them with pen (see above). Saul Steinberg included stamps in his drawings and I always loved the effect, except I started from the other end. And since I didn’t have time to work on every page, each image showed through on the opposite side ...not an effect I would normally go for, but sometimes it’s just a relief to finish something without stopping to critique it along the way.

P.S. The purplish textured background I used to display my pages on is from Lennie Locken’s set of textures on Elemenopea, a new blog of custom brushes, textures and photography by digital gurus Nancy Donaldson, Marie Otero and Lennie herself. Check it out!

Click map to enlarge.

More about inspiration…

I’ve always thought being inspired meant that Spirit was activating something wonderful inside you that wanted to come out. When I actually looked up the etymology of the word inspire, I discovered it means, “to influence or animate with an idea or purpose.” Presumably inspiration can be activated by anything from a sunset to a person with a clear vision of how things could be. At the heart of it, though, Spirit is always there, always available; the challenge is aligning ourselves with It.
One of the things that inspire me is making Artist Trading Cards. Because they are so small, you don’t tend to over think what you’re going to do and can be more spontaneous. I find this whether or not I’m doing them digitally or puttering around with paints and collage bits and pieces. The same feeling extends to making backgrounds. Because you’re basically playing and don’t have an endpoint in mind, you’re freer to express yourself and you don’t worry about making mistakes.
While it’s true that expectation can paralyze the creative drive, strangely enough, it can also motivate you. I sold the pink shadow box sample I did last year for my workshop to a woman who wanted a second one, so that both her young nieces could have their own piece of art in the bedroom they share.
I’ve never been comfortable with commissions, and this one was no exception. My client wanted the shadow boxes to be different, but to still compliment each other. I wasn’t sure I could do this since I’d had so much trouble getting the first one together. But sometimes it’s good to move outside your comfort zone. Rather than second guess what my client would like, I decided to just do something all in one go, and she loved it. So did the two little girls. The six-year-old asked me how I did it because she wants to make one herself!

What Inspires You?

I can’t honestly say that a lack of inspiration prevents me from doing something creative. In fact, it’s probably just the opposite. I have so many ideas that it’s hard to choose what I’d like to work on especially since my creative time is limited at the moment. Still, I’ve noticed that when I do have the opportunity and start vacillating, there are things I can do that put me in a more creative frame.
Here are just a few:
Looking at books: These can practically based like Digital Paint Techniques, which my friend JK Gent sent me for Christmas, or a book on a particular artist like Joseph Cornell and Astronomy (another current favorite). I believe books open the door to that part of you that’s big, colorful and bursting with possibilities.
Looking at Photographs: Lennie’s blog on Vivian Maier a month or so ago was really inspiring to me. Not because I wanted to go out and start taking pictures, but because the revelation that there must be thousands of unrecognized artists out there doing brilliant stuff right now really moved me. We tend to think that if we’re not recognized, we don’t have talent or the right to create. Vivian obviously wasn’t concerned about this. Her attitude seemed to be: “I love taking pictures and I’m just going to keep doing it no matter what.”
Watching TV: I’m sure a lot of people would disagree with me on this, but I find watching TV and doing art at the same time energizing. My theory is that I don’t obsess about how good a “job” I’m doing on a particular piece of art because I’m too distracted by the TV. Plus I’m getting in guilt-free junk time, which I seem to need. Maybe this is a weird kind of multi-tasking?
Loving my dog: When I cuddle Lily I feel this clear, beautiful sense of love. There’s nothing complicated this. It’s cleansing and liberating. Loving your pet enables you to see how you complicate things when simplifying them would be much healthier and more creative. Nothing gets to the heart of what’s important like Love, the source of true inspiration.

The Word for 2011 is Focus

For the first time in ages, I decided to set some goals for the New Year. I usually avoid doing this because I don’t want to disappoint myself when I fail to achieve what I’ve promised myself I’ll do. However, the reason I changed my mind for 2011 is that not setting goals hasn’t been working for me either!
I accomplished very little last year. This was understandable given the challenges and circumstances, but still hard to deal with anyway. I’d like to feel better about myself at the end of 2011 than I did in 2010, so I know I need to focus to tackle some of the things on my list—like starting an Etsy shop, doing more with Photoshop and working on different writing projects.
Bob Proctor says you should only work on one or two goals at a time and I’m sure if he looked at my list he’d probably burst out laughing. Nevertheless, I think the way to accomplish some of this stuff is to Focus and to Put in the Time. The good thing is that I still have 362 days left to accomplish a number of my goals (and come up with a fool-proof system of beating procrastination).

The Heart of Things

In my last post of 2009, I wrote about a much-loved heart ornament that mysteriously broke apart. My sister Pam has given me a deluxe replacement (see photo to left)—probably to get me in the mood to put up the Christmas tree. When we changed to an artificial one, I was thrilled to have a tree that looked realistic. The only problem is that each one of the 10 zillion branches has to be inserted individually into the trunk. It’s a lot more fun shopping for the ornaments that’s for sure.
Speaking of shopping, the annual Holly Jolly Sale is being held tomorrow in the Toronto area. Mary Ambrose, Sharon Ginsberg, Carmi Cimicata, Karen Arts and Marissa Decepida-Wong are all participating, so I’m sure you’ll find some unique gifts for those special people on your list.
Check Marissa’s blog for details.

Although I won’t be at Holly Jolly this year, there’s still time to order my book for Christmas.

Creating from the Inside Out: Motivational Strategies for Artists and Writers is 177 pages: 6.5 x 6.5" and coil bound. It’s filled with inspiring quotations, mini essays on the creative process, over 75 black-and-white digital collages. It also comes with a Thank You CD of 10 collage sheets to use in your art.

The cost is $25.00 CAD plus postage and you can use PayPal to pay online.
To order: email me at wordandimage@hotmail.com.


P.S. Because I am starting to run low on copies of Creating from the Inside Out, I will probably start offering my book as a digital download when they run out. If you’re interested in being notified when I do this, just let me know.


To read reviews of my book in recent issues of Somerset Memories and RubberStampMadness—and to see some sample pages—click here.

Checking In

One good thing about blogging regularly is that you not only feel like you’re keeping in touch with your friends, you also find it’s easier to come up with topics to write about. You simply launch your word boat into the online flow and rev up your motor. But when you leave it for a while as I have been doing, you tend to ponder too much about the possibilities – especially when there are so many interesting topics to write about …like the difference between butterflies and moths, or why some people put up their Christmas lights the day after Halloween.
When I was teaching creative writing I would give my students a sheet of words and ask them to pick one out randomly, and then write about it for ten minutes to focus their mind(s). As I recall I got the idea from one of Roger Von Oech’s books and it always worked like a charm.
My brother Robin and I used to play a lot of writing games too. My favorite was where we would each write a paragraph and then swap, but we could only read the last sentence and then had to carry on from there before we traded again. Robin has been a much more prolific writer than I will ever be because he jumps right into things and is disciplined as well. You can check out Robin’s poems, plays and fiction on his website, and catch a brief video of him talking about his work.

Lily turns fifteen

Leigh took this picture of David and me with Lily recently. It’s hard to believe our doggie is fifteen years old today because she raced down the stairs and out the door like a shot chasing after a couple of squirrels this morning. Not that Lily is a threat to them, or to any cats or rabbits invading her territory for that matter. No, her barking is basically a lot of hot air. Well, I guess there were those two skunking episodes a few years ago, but I like to think Lily's maturity has brought with it a good measure of canine wisdom. I could be wrong there though.

According to Stanley Coren who wrote The Intelligence of Dogs, Cavaliers like Lily rank number 44 out of the 80 breeds he surveyed, so she has "an Average Working/Obedience Intelligence." For example, in order to understand new commands, a Cavalier needs 25 to 40 repetitions, and he or she will obey your first command 50 per cent of the time or better.
I’m not a big fan of statistics myself, but just to let you know: if you have a Border Collie, a Poodle, a Doberman or a Golden Retriever, your dog is way smarter than mine. Nevertheless, I think it’s interesting that while Coren might have a couple of smart dogs himself, he also has Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Banshee (see below) who is referred to as “old” (whatever that means) in Coren’s online biography.

P.S. What I’d really like to read is a book on disgusting food that your dog loves to eat and nevertheless thrives on. Aside from the virtuous home cooked meals of steamed broccoli, string beans, lean ground beef and chicken, Lily loves toast and peanut butter (breakfast),  grilled cheese sandwiches (lunch), and her all time favorite: Kraft Dinner, which she will be chowing tonight for her birthday dins. (You go girl!)

Julian Schnabel

Ever since I visited Buffalo’s Albright Knox Gallery in 1998 and saw a giant “broken plate” painting by Julian Schnabel, I’ve been curious about him, and I really enjoyed his retrospective, which is on at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto until January 2, 2011.
His work won’t be to everyone’s taste because it’s so free and individualistic. Some of the paintings are 22 feet high, but whether large or small everything seems to be on a monumental scale. Schnabel says he was inspired to become an artist after seeing a Rembrandt. It was the glow emanating from the painting that inspired him, and now as a practicing artist, he says, “I know how to lean towards the light” (adding that while he always knows how to start a painting, he doesn’t know how he’s going to finish).
There are paintings done on giant tarpaulins and in the photo of Schnabel with two of his pieces (see above), the one on the right is painted on a sail he bought right off a guy’s boat on the Nile. To the left is a “Big Girl” painting, a rendition of a small picture he bought in a thrift shop, which is also on display at the gallery.
The curator also chose several portraits painted by Schnabel, including one of Gary Oldman as a matador and the twin daughters of Steve Nash, the basketball player. Schnabel describes the shiny finish he applied to their portraits as “liquid glass.” Obviously Carmi isn’t the only one crazy about resin!
Schnabel spends most of his time in his pajamas and slippers even when he’s going out for dinner or shooting one of his movies. I can totally relate to this habit because I’ve worn my nightgown to go shopping on several occasions, although I always wear a coat to cover it up.
You get the feeling that Schnabel really doesn’t care what anyone else thinks about his painting, and that’s very liberating and inspiring …to me at least. I came out of the show feeling that I’d never really let go in my own work because I’ve barely scratched the surface of who I am creatively. But instead of feeling overpowered by this insight, I felt energized to go deeper into my imagination and see what happens.

Below: Schnabel with two of his surfer paintings.

The Book of Life

I wouldn’t say I’ve been suffering from writer’s block for the last few months, but it’s something akin to it I’m sure. Even though I always have lots of ideas, wrestling them into shape verbally is often a problem. It’s so much easier to express and understand things visually.
For example, you know those before-and-after pictures in a magazine like People? The ones where you have to spot the ten little things that are different between them? Well, I’d rather do that than a crossword puzzle because I can usually pick up the things that have been Photoshop-ed in right away. Unfortunately the only time I’m successful with a crossword puzzle is when I Google most of the clues.
When I think of a word, a picture almost always comes up—even if that word is an abstract one. For example, I know I’d like to “write” another “book” and the first thing that that popped into my mind was one filled with random pictures that didn’t seem to be connected to each other in any obvious way. Apparently it would be up to the reader to unite things visually and come up with a story.
I did get a title though: The Book of Life.
Naturally I went straight to Google, and it turns out that The Book of Life is mentioned in Christian and Jewish spiritual teachings, and is also the title of by a 1921 novel by Upton Sinclair. You can’t copyright a title of course, but I think I’d shy away from using something someone else has already come up with.
I’ve heard writers like Wayne Dyer, Dean Koontz and Neale Donald Walsch all say they can’t start writing until they have a title. In Wayne Dyer’s case, he even visualizes the cover and has a mock-up done by his publisher to inspire him during the writing process. As for me, there’s no cover yet, but there’s already something inside.

Recent Publications

When Emma and I went to Indigo just before the wedding, I headed straight for the magazines on everything digital. I usually pick up Advanced Photoshop and Photoshop Creative because they include a CD with free clip art and brushes. In my opinion, anyone doing digital work can never have too many brushes to choose from.
I also buy Somerset Digital Studio because it’s always jam-packed with a wide and inspiring selection of art. This issue—Fall 2010—has one of my collages on page 121. (See above). When I got home, I compared my original print with the one in the magazine and the color was spot-on. This actually surprised me. If you’ve ever had any of your art published in a magazine, it can be upsetting when you see how it’s reproduced. Sometimes you don’t even recognize it.
Daniza emailed me on Thursday to say that the current issue of Somerset Memories has a review of my book Creating From the Inside Out. I haven’t read the review yet, so I don’t know what was said. But the fall issue of RubberStampMadness has one too. The reviewer, Barbara Blanks, says: “I think her most important advice is: create in spite of your moods”—advice I should be taking to heart right now!

Emma & Bryan’s Wedding

Emma and Bryan got married on Saturday at my sister and brother-in-law’s cottage in Meaford, Ontario, and it was such a joyous day. The ceremony was performed by the Reverend Doctor Brian Goodings at 4 p.m. under a tent overlooking Georgian Bay. There were 150 people in attendance from age 6 months to 89 years old, and the violin selections were performed by my friend Andrea Currie Jefferson.
John gave Emma away, and David did a reading, which made everyone—including David—teary. It was a very romantic service, and I have to say that I’ve never seen two people happier about getting married than Emma and Bryan.
Afterwards there was a fantastic dinner (lots of comfort food like fried chicken, beef tenderloin and Emma’s favorite—mac and cheese, plus home-baked pies instead of the traditional wedding cake). Then there was lots of dancing—and more dancing—until 2 a.m. It was a splendid day and the perfect start for my dear Emma and her new husband Bryan.

Playing with Pictures

If you’re interested in vintage photos and collage, and you’re in the Toronto area, you might want to catch the exhibit Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage before it closes on September 5th. Not everyone will love this AGO show because it’s not large, flashy or painterly (things I admit usually appeal to me when I visit an art gallery). However, it’s fascinating what these Victorian artists did with pen and ink, and watercolor …incorporating photos that couldn’t be resized.
They didn’t have our cornucopia of tools and materials to work with, but given their work, you get the feeling most of them would have loved the digital. For example, the collage I did above incorporates a cabinet card, one of my own photographs and several pieces of vintage line art all altered and layered together in Photoshop. I didn’t pick up a pen or brush, and I played with colors, sizes and effects until I got what I wanted.
I’m not the only person who recognized some kindred spirits in this show. Just look at all the people who submitted digital art to the Playing with Pictures Flickr group below.

A Review of Carmi's Book

I think it was Harlan Ellison who said that anyone who can make out a grocery list thinks he (or she) can write a novel. Ellison is well known in the sci fi community for his cynical bent on life, but my guess would be that most of us recognize that writing anything – even a grocery list – can be a test of our mental prowess.

Because I’ve written and illustrated a book myself, this gives me an instant bond with anyone who has gone through a similar process: like Carmi Cimicata, for instance.

Carmi has written and illustrated the Art Girl’s Guide to Paris which is chock full of her quirky charm. There are lots of great photos and suggestions on places to visit like shops, palaces and museums where you can have the complete Gallic experience. In other words, if you didn’t want to visit Paris before savoring this book, I guarantee you will afterwards.

I’m actually on my second copy now. The first I sent off with my brother Robin who was meeting my sister-in-law Wendy in Paris earlier this month. Like Carmi, Wendy makes an annual pilgrimage to the city, and her take on the book when she got back? “Oolala – it reminded me of places I’d adored but forgotten, and introduced me to new things to do and places to go. Loved it!”

Now you may think because “Art Girl” is in the title that it wouldn’t be of any interest to men. Wrong! John is Carmi fan too. “I think the book is really good,” he says. “Not only does she make me want to go back to Paris, but she inspires me to write a book too.”

For more information on an Art Girl’s Guide to Paris, visit Carmi’s book blog. To see the first few pages of the guide, check out her site on Blurb.

Work of Art

I have to admit I’m hooked on reality shows like Project Runway and So You Think You Can Dance because the people competing against each other are usually skilled at what they do. So when I read about Bravo’s Work of Art on Lennie’s blog, I knew I had to start watching it. After all: how could I resist a show about artists?
But it’s harder to make judgments about art. Somehow knowing what constitutes a good meal, a great dress or a fine singing voice seems much easier. What does make a work of art though? You could list all sorts of requirements like harmony, rhythm, balance, use of color, development of ideas, and so on, but in the end, it’s usually how you spontaneously react to a piece that convinces you whether or not it’s art—for you.
China Chow, the host of the show, says it best: “Art is one of the most authentic ways for a person to express themselves. Clothing has to be functional, food has to taste good – but art is the purest form of expression, existing without set boundaries.”
That lack of boundaries is what makes Work of Art so interesting. At first I was baffled by how the artists on the show struggle with the process of implimenting their creative ideas. Then I realized that what I was watching was normal. Most artists find art-making a challenge at times, and focus is often a problem. The advantage to being on this show is that you are pushed to produce art in a short period of time, so you can’t help but benefit from the creative stretch even if the work you produce isn’t that good. And a lot of it isn’t. As a viewer, I personally don’t think this matters because it’s fascinating to watch how artists really work.
On the other hand, a couple of the judges seem to have their own boundaries (read “prejudices”) firmly in place. Listening to them critique the artists makes me uncomfortable. They have a tendency to promote the slick, the sophisticated and the manipulative. In other words, if you’re cool, anything you do is basically cool. But if you happen to be odd in an unfunky way, well, you might as well just forget it.
To me, this cult of personality has created an emptiness at the heart of the mainstream fine art world, and I’m just happy we have blogs and the Internet to expose us to all sorts of amazing and inspiring artists—artists we would be denied acess to if those pretentious, professional windbags had their way. (Moral to this story? Go forth and create anyway!)

Who do you write like?

After having a chunk of his writing analyzed at a site called I Write Like, John informed me that his style resembles Kurt Vonnegut’s. Not too shabby I’d say. Then he mentioned that my brother Robin’s writing style alternates between Edgar Allen Poe and the sci fi writer William Gibson. I was almost afraid to ask who I write like. But he told me that Stephen King kept popping up when he entered some of my blog posts. I once stayed up all night reading The Shining, so I was quite pleased about being compared to SK.
What about my book though? Apparently here my style resembles David Foster Wallace, a writer I’d never heard of. But I wikipedia-ed him and plan to read some of his work. All I can say is that I’m glad I didn’t know my style resembled Wallace’s while I was writing Creating from the Inside Out. It probably would have intimidated me.
Now when it comes to my fiction, two names came up: Stephen King again—and James Joyce. I think that’s absolutely hilarious; my split writing personality might just be the reason why I’ve never managed to have a novel published.
If you want to find out which famous writer you write like, get some of your writing together (a few paragraphs at least) and visit this site.

P.S. Just analyzed this blog post and got H.P. Lovecraft. Hmmm. I may have to revise the split personality thing to include multiples.

Mind Implements

Last time I posted here I wrote about my favorite art implements. Since then I’ve been thinking quite a lot about implements of the mind. In other words, you can have all the nifty art supplies in the universe, but unless you’re actually using them, they won’t fulfill their potential. Or you either.
Why is it so difficult for some of us to use our stuff? A few weeks ago a friend told me the reason she doesn’t do much art is because she’s lazy. But I don’t buy that for a minute. Lazy is one of those judgmental words that’s just guaranteed to make you feel worse. I know when I think of myself as lazy, I tend to act that way which is always counterproductive.
From what I can see, there are plenty of reasons why people procrastinate. This can be anything from just needing to take a break to feeling you have to do things perfectly or you shouldn’t be doing them at all And of course, let’s face it: making art isn’t always easy—and sometimes we just need things to be undemanding.
I read somewhere that the pleasure of writing is never equal to the pleasure of reading, so that’s why it’s easy to suffer from writer’s block. It’s the same thing with art. When you look at a fabulous mixed media piece, you can be inspired to do something of your own. But then when you actually get down to work things are usually more complicated than you think they will be. So what to do about this?
Sometimes I feel that art is more about problem solving than anything else. It doesn’t really help to think about it as a problem though. I find that looking on it as a project is the most helpful to me. A project implies things like brainstorming, planning, playing, tinkering around, fine tuning, taking detours and so on. In short: if you look on your art as an on-going project there’s more room for fun.

My Favorite Art Implements

Brenda sent me and some of her other art homies a nifty little booklet called the Implements of Art Creation. A couple of her favorites? Tear by Hand Scotch Tape and a Pigma Micron Pen. Of course as soon as anything approaching a list appears in my mail or inbox, I have to sit down and make one up too …although I’ll admit that most of the time, the list stays inside my head (mind you, adding to it there is a great way to fall asleep, if you’re having trouble drifting off).
My list turned out to be a lengthy one: Golden Crackle Paste, and Titan Buff fluid acrylic; Liquitex Matte Medium and Black Lava; Pitt artist pens; a black Versafine dye ink pad; baby wipes; Zip Glue; E6000 glue; a miniature screwdriver kit; an X-acto knife, and cutting mat; a set square; Prismacolor pencils; and my two supply totes (not precisely implements but handy all the same).
The first time I ever taught a workshop at a stamp store, one of my “students” brought along her massive just-in-case supply tote that included every pencil, ink pad, paint, paper, marker, pen, pencil, punch etc. known to woman (or man). It was like being invited into an art circus. Because this contraption seemed to take up about 10 square feet of space, I vowed then that I would never ever have a tote.
But words are meant to be eaten, aren’t they? Eventually I fell in love with a mini journaling tote and a larger one that keeps most of my supplies handy. Not that I’ve been using them much these last few months. But truly—sometimes I think the satisfaction of keeping everything organized is almost on a par with making something.
Now where was I? Oh yes, what I realized when I started my list is that there’s one implement I absolutely couldn’t live without, and that’s Photoshop. Over the last eight years, Photoshop has gradually unlocked a whole world of creativity I always suspected existed and now I know actually does. Sure there’s a big learning curve, but that’s fine with me. Art mirrors life after all, and what is life but one long learning curve? Just when you think you’ve got something figured out, you realize you haven’t. C’est la vie.

Shadow Box Stamping

I’ve been stamping for about twelve years now and never lost interest in the medium. Unlike most of my art buddies, I prefer to stamp in my journal, so I’m not much of a card maker.
But I’ve always thought stamping is underutilized when it comes to doing creative projects, and since my turn to do a workshop for the Stampers of Southern Ontario is this Saturday, I decided I wanted to try something different. Instead of my usual approach (doing something stamp-ish with an origami book form), I came up with the idea of incorporating stamping into a shadow box. I guess I’ll find out on Saturday whether or not the members signed up for my workshop enjoy this approach.