2020…a year for gratitude?

I know I have been on the emotional roller coaster this year. We have had so many changes and disappointments. It is very easy to sink into depression. I have fought to find things to be happy about. Some days it works, other days not so much.

One thing I have found appreciation for is my house. Many of you know I live in a historic bungalow, built in 1925. My husband and I have slowly renovated, gutted and rebuilt much of the house. I am lucky to have a husband with an engineering mind that can make sense of my sketches and make things come to life. I have always LIKED my house, but this year I truly appreciated it. Like most people, we have spent the vast majority of our time at home. Having a home that feels comfortable and cozy has been a great stress reliever.

One of my favorite spots is the garden window in my kitchen. The house originally had a typical window over the sink. When we decided to update the windows, I knew I wanted a garden window. Maybe I watch too much HGTV, but I could just see the window full of plants and bringing more light into a dark kitchen. I am happy to say that it did exactly that and I still love it years later. It even makes washing dishes a little enjoyable.

A few months ago I was inspired by fellow artist, Lindsay Ostrom, to create this small book documenting my favorite things in my house. Do you have spots in your house that you love?

Need a creative challenge?

Sometimes the easiest way to break out of a creative rut is to give yourself a creative challenge. I know right now may not seem like the right time to start something new, but I think there will never be the “right” time.

You can find many creative challenges online and one may work for you. If you want to start with something smaller, you can make your own creative challenge. I have given myself many creative challenges over the years. I have a few suggestions, if you want to try one of your own.

• Choose a shorter period of time. I am the person who likes to jump in with the “create a painting every day for the rest of my life” challenges. Sounds great, but has never worked for me. Set yourself a shorter time period to start (30 days, 60 days). If you are enjoying the challenge, extend the time. It’s your challenge so you can set and change the rules.

• Pick a smaller project to work on. One of my most successful challenges was when I decided to use a tiny Moleskine journal. Each page is about the size of an index card. I can work in it for just a few minutes and feel like I accomplished something.

• Limit your supplies. If you are like me and like ALL of the supplies, limiting yourself for a challenge can be helpful. My last challenge was working in a journal using only collage. I had a box where I kept smaller paper scraps, glue stick and scissors. Then each day I didn’t have to search for supplies, so one less excuse.

• Limit your daily time on the challenge. One of my favorite challenges is setting a time limit. I give myself 15 minutes a day to work on my challenge. I even set a timer so I stick to my challenge. A time limit forces me to stop overthinking and just do. I never expect to make a masterpiece in 15 minutes, but I have created some great journal pages.

Last year I recorded my 15 minute challenges. You can check them out on YouTube. The first video shows you how I created the journal I use.

In your groove or in a rut?

How do you tell the difference between being in the groove and in a creative rut? It’s all in the feeling. A groove feels like the creative ideas are flowing easily, you are excited about what you are making and you want to make more. A rut is the opposite feeling…uninspired, bored, unmotivated to make things. If you feel like you are in a rut, how can you get out?

Ruts happen to all of us. Sometimes I feel like I am just making the same thing over and over. I find myself grabbing the same colors because it is easy. I am making things, but not feeling inspired. Over the years I have found some tips that help me break through a rut.

I have found that the main reason I end up in a rut is because I found something I am good at and I stop challenging myself. Everyone likes to create “good” art, but the challenges are what make you feel inspired. So my first tip is to find a challenge. Try something new to you. I typically work in abstract, so challenging myself with some realism can break me out of a rut. I have tried perspective drawing recently. It is very hard for me, but I have already noticed how it make me think about shadows and light sources in my artwork differently.

My next tip is to limit your supplies. I sometimes find myself overwhelmed with all of the supplies on my desk. I feel that I have to try EVERYTHING and that can make it hard to work. Sometimes I will clean off my desk and only have a few supplies close by. I even like to pull out my forgotten supplies and put those on my desk. Seeing them out in front of me usually inspires me to find ways to use them.

You can also find a way to change your view. If you have a creative space, rearrange it to give you a fresh perspective. If you don’t have an assigned creative space, move to another spot. If you usually create at the dining room table, try sitting outside.

My last tip for today is to make a creative routine. Maybe you always make yourself a cup of tea or light a candle when you start creating. Make your creative time something special, not something you squeeze in when you can. Honor the time you give yourself and allow yourself to truly enjoy your time.

Ready for a fresh mindset?

For many of us, this year has been a struggle. Almost every aspect of our lives have been changed and we are all craving a little of the old. I have seen many posts about people just wanting the year to be over. Believe me, I would like to go back to some of our old ways but I have also realized some things that I should leave in the past. I have been trying to change my mindset about this year.

What if this year is meant to be our preparation year? Like a caterpillar going into a cocoon and emerging next year as a butterfly. What can you be preparing for? Do you have some big goals? Things you have always wanted to do?

Every year I set goals and create a vision board. I usually do this in December or early January. I did this last year, but obviously, some things have not worked out the way I hoped for. In fact in July, things started to fall off of my vision board. Not figuratively, literally falling off onto the floor. In October, my vision board fell off of the fridge in the middle of the night, like it couldn’t take one more minute. If that isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is.

There is no magic to the timing, so why not set your goals now? I have a two part video series that will help you walk through your goals and intentions for the future. Will you join me in setting some new goals?

Grab those stencils!

You know the usual way of using stencils, but did you know there are several different uses?

If you have ever been in one of my workshops you have probably heard me say “Why not? What’s the worst that could happen?”. I sometimes think of myself as an art scientist and my art is an experiment. I enjoy seeing how products interact and different ways of using my tools. One of my favorite art tools are stencils. I have quite a collection now and I am adding to it all the time.

Of course I use stencils and paint through them or remove wet paint through them, but what else can you do? I have a few tips for you today to use those stencils in different ways.

Product review…

I have to start this review with a confession and an apology.

I have talked smack about Mod Podge for years. I would cringe when I saw jars of it in my workshops. I would tell people the reasons you should never use Mod Podge in your art journal. I would tell them horror stories of collages falling out of there journals, yellowed pages and pages stuck together. Now I have to eat a partial crow. I have found a Mod Podge product that has a very specific use in an art journal.

Mod Podge Ultra comes in a spray bottle and I have finally found a way to use up my water-reactive sprays. My style of art has never been conducive to using water reactive products, like Distress Ink or Dylusions sprays. I like to layer and layer and layer and then I might add a layer. I need permanent products, which is why I lean towards acrylics. I have a drawer full of water reactive sprays though. Why you may ask? Well, I love art products and I love both Tim Holtz’s products and anything by Dylusions. I buy them because I love the colors. I love how easy it is to use sprays. I love having gobs of supplies. Now ask me if I use them.

In the past I have experimented with adding gel medium or matte medium over the sprays to make them permanent. I have tried fixative sprays. I have tried one color family so I didn’t care if the colors reactivated. I have had minimal success with these attempts. That is why the sprays were still in my drawer. Then Mod Podge Ultra spray walked into my shopping cart.

Do you want to see how it works?

“But what do you do with it?”

I can’t tell you how many times I show someone a thing I created and they say “It’s beautiful, but what do you do with it?”. I realized that I don’t share my entire process with you. I have been sharing the start and the end, but not the in between. So today is about the in between. How do I get from a thing to a finished thing?

In this video I am working with the page I created during my One Sheet Challenge (check out that video here). I use a part of that page to create some cards for my deconstructed junk journal.

Why should you use an inspiration board?

Do you ever have time to be creative, you sit down, all of your supplies around you and then nothing? Nothing comes out. Either you don’t know where to start or how to pick up where you left off. Maybe you are a little scared of the blank page in front of you. Or you are afraid of “ruining” something you have already done.

I know all of these dilemmas because I have experienced them all. My creative time was always limited when my son was younger. I would be happy to have a few minutes to work in my journal or a canvas. Then I would just find myself staring at my table, time ticking away. Each time that would happen, I would become more discouraged. I got to a point where I didn’t want to set time aside for my creativity because it was so frustrating.

I was looking through a magazine one day and there was an article with a tour of an artist’s studio. Although it was a beautiful space, the one thing I marveled at was her inspiration board. It took up a huge section of a wall and had all of these photos, scraps of fabric, bits and pieces. In the article she talked about how she collected things that inspired her and put them on that wall. Then as she was working, she could look to the wall for inspiration when she was stuck. That idea really stuck with me.

Now I don’t have a huge wall I can use (at least not yet), so I had to figure out a solution. I use lots of online references, mostly on Pinterest, so I create a digital inspiration board that I print out. I change my inspiration board every month or two so I can rotate in new inspirations I have found. Here is my most recent inspiration board.

I tend to collect inspiration within color stories. Here you can see I am largely influenced by fall colors. I also like to collect color combinations I want to try. For example, the orange flowers set against a blue background. Some of this may directly inspire my art, other bits may inspire me but be unrecognizable. The main goal is to have a place to start.

So if I sat down and was feel uninspired, here is what I may do. In my art journal, I would paint a page light blue and when dry, start adding circles in shades of orange. Or I may paint alternating stripes in orange and pink. This may become part of the background or it may completely disappear under future layers, but it is a starting point. I think most of us struggle the most with the starting point.

Have you used an inspiration board before? Are you inspired to try one now?

For more inspiration, check out my Pinterest board.