Creativity...

I recently finished reading Sonia Choquette's book, The Answer is Simple...Love Yourself, Live Your Spirit!, and I have just come across a quote that I love...

One of the problems that distances so many of us from our creative Spirit is the notion that being creative is synonymous with being a professional or aspiring artist. It's not. It simply means making something new out of something that presently exists.

When we look at creativity that way, who among us can say they're not creative? We are always altering our world. Anyone who has ever cooked a meal has made something new out of something that presently exists. Or anyone who has ever written a letter. Or wrapped a gift. Or torn a page out of a magazine. We are in the constant act creating and re-creating our world.

So go create something...
(I would like to create a nap right about now).

Above: Carborundum print-heart with wing on scrap paper.

Images & words...

"Images and words are such fortunate cousins."

Those were the first words in a book I found at a thrift shop last summer. A book about monotypes created by artist Bruno Leti, the foreward (and that wonderful quote) were written by poet Chris Wallace-Crabbe. I am enamoured with words and images combined. I cannot resist putting a well chosen word or quote in my paintings and collages.

Even though visual images are often just as powerful on their own, perhaps it is my need to imbue a specific meaning rather than leaving a piece entirely for interpretation that compels me to add them. Sometimes it is the graphic shapes of the letters chosen for pattern and texture rather than for description. Lately, I've been inspired by my friend Marilyn's collage swap, based on the techniques of artist Kelly Rae Roberts - well chosen affirmations that motivate and uplift both the artist and the viewer.

Today, digital art allows even more exciting combinations of words and images. From digital collage artists to families capturing and recording memories with both handmade and digitally rendered scrapbooks, images and words have never been so fortunate.

My November Ta Da List

Wow. November came and went and I completely forgot my Ta Da List. This month has been busy with just about everything but art. I've discovered over the past couple of months that I'm doing a lot of reading and less of other things. While reading fills my imagination and is wonderful creative entertainment, it is also-- for me-- a form of avoidance. It fills my head with other people's ideas so that I can avoid making decisions... an making art... and making decisions about my art. I've been avoiding my studio lately, because I am feeling a certain loss of direction, or more accurately, I am heading in too many directions, and I'm still not sure on what I'd like to focus. I want to be able to combine my painting and mixed media with digital collage, but haven't quite worked it out in my head yet. I also want to continue with some writing projects which incorporate my art.
That said, these are the things I did accomplish on the creative front this month, beginning with the books I read, of course!...
The Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble
Ada Blackjack... A story of survival in the Arctic by Jennifer Niven
Dry by Augusten Burroughs
Dave Barry is from Mars & Venus, by Dave Barry
Sula by Toni Morrison
I've discovered that I like to mix up heavy, emotional books with some light reading. I get very "into" the books I read, and they affect my moods, so Dave Barry was the perfect antidote to the rest of my picks.

When I wasn't reading, or raking leaves,
I initiated an altered art challenge, and I have lots of ideas for mine, but I have not yet done much, because I keep changing my mind!

I had an artist's date with my friend Debbie, but it had been so long since we've gotten together that we spent most of the day catching up and eating, with just a brief sojourn to her studio. We did get together again for a couple of hours later in the month, and I helped her to design and post a blog header, as well as to familiarize her with "new" blogger. (She is quite brilliant, and surpassed my technical expertise within minutes).

I designed a freelance brochure for my husband's company, which was a self-mailer with a CD pocket. I actually love taking on a few freelance jobs during the year because they're usually quite different from the materials I design in my "real" job; oh, and because I get paid too!

My October Ta Da list...

So here it is folks. The list you wait all month to read. This is where I've spent my creative energies this month. I do not include the endless mundanities (is that a word?) of life, like cleaning, yardwork, laundry etc., but I do include cooking, if it's my recipe and I enjoy it, as cooking can be a wonderful creative outlet.
Wow, I can't believe it's November already. Where in the world did this year go?? I really felt quite productive this month, although from the looks of this list, all I did was sit around and read. I actually have no idea how I managed to read this many books in one month. I usually only get through one or two. Of course, if you were to take a look at my yard, I think you'd find the answer to that question.

So, without further ado...
--I painted four acrylics on canvas - this was by far the most fun I've had just making art for me in a very long time. I really do love the process of painting. It is so meditative to apply brush and paint to a canvas and see what emerges.
--I made Halloween-themed ATCs for a monthly swap.
--I began a new writing journal.

--I read 6 books!! Reading is one way in which I fill the well and feed my imagination, so I always include it on my list:
- Through the Narrow Gate by Karen Armstrong
- The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong
- I feel bad about my neck by Nora Ephron
- The Italian Girl by Iris Murdoch
- Within Arm's Reach by Ann Napolitano
- Light on Snow by Anita Shreve

My favorite book quote of the month, from Through the Narrow Gate:
"As soon as I stopped trying to exploit my literary skills to advance my career or enhance my reputation, I found that I was opening myself to the text, could lose myself in the beauty of the words and in the wisdom of the writer. It was a kind of ekstasis, an ecstasy that was not an exotic, tranced state of consciousness, but in the literal sense of the word, a going beyond the self."
..At its best, that is what making art means to me. If I manage to make some kind of success of myself with my art, it is secondary to the process of losing myself in the act of creating.

--I also re-designed my blog header (again).
--Created this digital house quilt.

That's about it for October. I am hoping that as the yard and garden work comes to an end for this year, I can redirect some of my energies to my art studio and nestle in for winter. I do not love the extreme cold, but I welcome the change of seasons for the way they make us shift our priorities.

My May Ta Da List

A humble ta-da list this month...

I begin each month with a reference to my first ta-da list for anyone who may be stumbling upon my blog for the first time..
http://kerriposson-artist.blogspot.com/2007/01/my-ta-da-list.html

This month, I am feeling a bit humbled and cautious about what I choose to reveal on my list. I did not make the kind of progress that I have been making steadily this year, and I am in a bit of a funk about a project that I announced on a previous list that might not work out as I had expected. This has taught me about the chance you take when you reveal yourself in a public forum. I won't say anymore about it now, because I don't have a definitive answer yet. I am also just in one of those moods, the kind where I am a sponge for the troubles of those around me and I realize I can't make the whole world happy. Not the best mental place to be in while writing this list, which is supposed to make me feel that I am not spinning my wheels as an artist.

These are the creative pursuits I accomplished this month...

read book - Life of Pi by Yann Martel (heartbreaking and beautiful)
read book - S is for Silence by Sue Grafton -- I've read every one of her alphabet mysteries.. if you remotely like this genre, it's like candy ... and I love her detective - Kinsey Millhone, who cuts her own hair and owns one black dress - a good entertaining read. I hope to own a first edition collection someday.
planned & taught class for the local senior center
participated in ATC swap (sea dreams theme)
submitted journal pages for possible publication in a book about art journals
helped my soap-making friend with packaging for an upcoming event
designed a fan & teabag sleeve for my sister, who's planning "fif-tea" birthday party for a friend
designed a wedding program/fan for my stepdaughter's upcoming wedding