Change Your Perception

 These tickled my fancy to no end. Saw them on Instagram. 

Love her "explorations of the day" posts.

Then of course I had to go down yet another rabbit hole to investigate their origin. 

The Wander Society. Whoa! 

The "menu" is  so different. I dare you to take a look & poke around. 

What else have you got to do?

There is definitely some book binding background here. 

Lots of little projects to try.  It took me a bit to find the page where I could join. 

I have submitted a request. 

Sure hope I'm accepted! 

 There was a PDF with instructions for the goggles. 

I've already started to make my own. 

What else have I got to do?

This would be fun if you have kids at home. A good science project. Distortion goggles. As our perceptions have been altered of late all this seems timely to me.
We could all use some help in altering our perceptions.

I feel I need to add this as:

The Difference Between Perception and Perspective

The A to Z this year is helping me to find new, interesting, funny, engaging things.
It always does but it's more important now.
Go out there & find some good stuff to play with, share, or just enjoy.

Noticing Everything

This little book was recommended on a site I follow. The Art of Noticing.

I procured a copy from the library then decided I needed my own to 

dog ear, mark up & refer to for inspiration.

It's right there with Keep Going on my table.

Rob has a website as well and a newsletter that is a nice
companion to the book with current thoughts.

This latest post from his newsletter
has some great ideas to get you Noticing things
 around you while being in your home.

I especially like this tid bit.

Make Bad Art

The Washington Post recently offered “5 tips to spark your creativity while working alone, from artists who do it all the time.” Lots of good practical ideas, but my favorite bit is a side comment quote from the always-entertaining artist and writer (and friend of TAoN) Dean Haspiel: “A lot of bad art is going to come out of this nightmare — including my own — and that’s okay.”

I'm working on that in earnest. Why not?

Try to notice good stuff everyday.

B is for Bee House

Mason Bee

Isn't he gorgeous?

 This is a Mason Bee House.

 A friend made this for us as a Christmas present. Since Spring is almost here in Northern Michigan we can put it up outside soon. He spent loads of time on these  (he's made several) and they are delightful. Not only their natural appeal but the fact they help pollinators to stay safe. 

The link is the Michigan State Extension's instructions for building your own 

as well as how to manage these "bee hotels".  Interesting stuff. 

Without intending to the first two posts have been insect related. Hummm.

 Tomorrow will be different.

A to Z Day One A is for ala

   ala plural

    n a flat wing-shaped part of an organism

   “the alae of the nose”

   “the alae of a maple seed”

   “the flat petals of a pea blossom are alae”

a winglike part, process, or expansion, as of a bone, shell, seed, or stem.

either of the two side petals of a flower in the legume family, as the pea.

(in an ancient Roman house) a small room, as an alcove, 

opening into a larger room or courtyard.

 

Away we go. The 2020 installment of the A to Z challenge begins. 

For my theme Inspiration, I can blend my love of words along with 

a print I recently created in a great class I took (more on that later) for the letter A.

 

 

 

 I first ran across this word via Word Smith. I subscribe to their word a day.  The etymology

is always interesting. Not what you may expect in many cases. 

This is where my weirdness shows up in my search & capture of items that inspire me.

 

 

This little guy lay dead in my studio last summer. It's about 1 inch long. I saved it...not kidding.  I used it for the details of the print at the top of the page I made in a wonderful class I took recently (more on that later). It helped me get the veining in the wings to look correct. 

See you tomorrow!

 

Look Down

Happy Autumn everyone.  It is my favorite season. perhaps it's the colors. I'm partial to 

reds & yellows to begin with. Ask anyone who has been in my house. 

The brilliant Staghorn Sumac fruit always grabs my attention this time of year. 

If you look closely the individual little nodules are beautiful in themselves. 

 So much beauty in my neighborhood park. You need to pay attention to the details 

and look down while you are walking. I just happened to spot these. 

They are pearlescent with some smokey sooty areas. I took loads of pictures of them.

Two days later they were liquefied. Glad I caught them at their prime. 

Thanks to a friend who saw my Instagram post of these I now know they are 

Shaggy Mane  Coprinus comatus.

They are edible . Good to know. 

 

 A view from above on a flight to see the colors at their peak last week. 

These gorgeous lichen look like white roses. 

Now I need to get busy in the studio & put some of this inspiration to good use. 

Thanks for stopping by. Leave me a comment. Would love to hear from you.

 

Zig Ziglar's Motivational Empire #AtoZChallenge

  Motivation, inspiration, get past the inertia.  

That's what this month long blog challenge is all about.

 A quote from Zig Ziglar appeared in my 5 Minute Journal recently. 

I'd heard the name but knew little about him. Quite an empire he created based on motivation. 

 We humans need so much help in that area. Why is that?

The last day of the A to Z Challenge. I made it!  How about you?  I'm tired.

I wonder what comes next?

It's been a fun month with lots of comments, looks at other blogs,

 new connections made. I'll be back next year for a fourth round.

I'm gonna go make some stencils & paint fabric now. 

Travel Always Inspires

A recent trip to Asheville NC and the Biltmore Industries art community 

 provided some inspiration.  The message above says a lot. The link takes you to the site of

 Daniel Essig, a book artist I've admired for years. His studio in in one of the historical buildings. The history of the fabric, tailoring & wood carving that took place there in it's heyday is worth a read.

The car museum had wonderful specimens ripe for photos. 

 

 The Grove Park Inn was a masterpiece of Arts & Crafts architecture, furniture, rugs, & light fixtures.

We spent a day in Asheville in galleries, shops & eateries. In a gallery of  the now defunct Black Mountain College they had several pieces by Ruth Asawa.  I had recently learned of  her wire sculptures in an Improvised Life post & was enthralled with her work. To see them up close in person was a real treat!

I have been busy in my studio with more fabric vessels, being a vendor in a local art fair, & an attempt to stay engaged while recovering from a little foot surgery. Photos of the vessels and art fair comments to follow soon.

Reflections on the April A to Z Challenge

Time for me to share my "Reflections" on the A to Z Challenge from 2017. 

It came at a very busy time for me, but when I set a goal for myself I seem to make it happen. 

The  Alphabet  is a great starting point. I always keep an ongoing list of thoughts & topics, 

even when there is no challenge to push me. I'm set for the next several years of the challenge. Made it through with no missed posts,enjoying it the entire month. 

Some folks didn't like the fact there was no list of participants this year. I was fine with the new arrangement.  I created a copy of the link we needed to share our posts on the Blogging from A to Z site in a word document. It was easy to share my post each day by copying & pasting while I had my post up in another window.  I received many more comments this year as opposed to last. I also worked at commenting on more blogs myself. It was fairly easy to find other participants at the A to Z site linked above. Posting to Facebook is a great way to generate more viewers in my experience.

Some of my favorites from this year:

Mail Adventures    Lots of fun artsy envelopes.

Envelope 100   Another snail mail inspired blog. 

My Virtual Vineyard   One woman's daily musings. 

Black and White  Great images of print makers work.

Reel Focus  The theme was food in film. Fun posts!

My Life in Retirement   As I retired during April I had to see what this gal had to say. Theme: travel.

Sara C. Snider   Magical & Medicinal Herbs, her theme, so interesting & well done.

 There were many more.  My hat is off to all of you who took this on & made it all the way through.

During the challenge the most popular 3 posts of mine were:

Oblique Strategies

Lettering Arts

Graphite  

My most popular post of all time is Gorgeous Pacific North West.

I arrived back home a few days ago from a trip to Denver with college room mates.
 The Denver Botanical Gardens were wonderful. They have several Alexander Calder works on loan from the Smithsonian. The 2 images above are different views of the same piece.
Cause for "reflection".

Travel to Warm Weather & Sun

 

We are on the island of Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos. Our airbnb is wonderful! 

When you live in Northern Michigan it seems imperative to get out of Dodge to recharge your solar batteries. It can be so grey and dark foe what seems like forever in winter. My husband & I love the Caribbean. Our main activity is snorkeling. We have found a great spot in Providenciales. 

 

The view of the ocean from the patio at our lodging. 

 

We went to a local weekly food & art gathering Thursday. Caribbeans love fried food. We overinduldged in conk & lobster fritters and fried plantains. 

Hump back whales migrate through here this time of year in the thousands. We are doing a boat trip in a few days in the hopes of getting up close & personal with them. Marine biologists will be on hand. 

More TCI impressions to follow.  

Little Bits of Art

Before I head to PBI I had to get my May edition of Artist Trading Cards ready to ship out.

I painted Sumi & walnut ink onto muslin. Once dried I embellished with a gold oval using my trusty hand cut stencils & Inka Gold paste...new item for me that I love! Then used one of my kitchen/art tools, an apple corer, dipped in red acrylic paint for the little dots. 

For substance I stitched the muslin to heavy water color paper with a satin stitch. Voila, done. I try to make my little cards original and hand made each time. I find playing with techniques I've run across i this little pressure free format gives me lots of ideas for larger projects.

Ignite the Imagination

                                                      
                                                             
    
 What sparks your imagination? Creative ideas can come from anywhere. I happen to love listening to NPR on the radio. Book reviews, interviews with celebrities, "A Way With Words", "Science Friday" or "Radio Lab" might carry the ember that Ignites an idea.

                                            


Books, movies, Pinterest, there's the dangerous one! I can get lost for hours perusing images from other artists.




A site that offers an excerpt from a book every day can get me wandering as well.

 Brain Pickings is another favorite. 


 I could go on & on, but I need to work on J,K & L.

Hiking the Great Outdoors

  Hiking

 

Going for a hike seems to always provide a clarity of thought and often inspiration will seep into the stream of consciousness. Is it a cosmic thing? or a physical thing with our brains being freed up?  Artists often talk about being open to what the universe puts in front of us. We just have to be open to it.  Getting out doors acts like a conduit.

  

All the images in this post are mine from various outdoor adventures near & far. 

The image above is from the Porcupine Mountains in the upper peninsula of Michigan on Lake Superior. Mountains is a bit of a stretch, but it's the best we can do in Michigan for height, however they don't call them "the Great Lakes" for nothing. 

The Aran Islands off the coast of Ireland offered up stark beauty with some intervention by man over hundreds of years. Funny how we have to bring order to what appears as chaos in nature, or in this case define borders of what's mine and what's yours. Funny creatures we humans.

           Patterns, lines, and color in nature are what give us all the fodder we need for creating art.

                          Patterns in the sand look just like the design created when doing shibori.

                                        

                         We are drawn to water and green. It's good for us is my assumption.

Go take a walk outside, breathe deeply, think, and enjoy. Be inspired to create something.

Inspiration

It seems lately that inspiration is coming at me from many directions. Not sure why this is. Am I in a better place right now to be receiving them? Is it because the days are getting longer? Is it because I have a husband and friends who support & encourage me?

I picked up a book from the library, Elizabeth Gilbert's "Big Magic". Click the book for the NYT's review.

She refereneces the fact that ancient Greeks thought people HAD a genius, not they they were one. Like a spirit or guide that we listen to, who brings inspiration to us. I like that idea. This book came to me at just the right time to read and absorb it's message.

                                Nature has always been big in providing  me with inspiration

 I have lots of book & catalogs and publications I return to time & time again. This little gem is a favorite. I don't buy book to read for enjoyment, those almost always come from the library or swapping with a friend. but I'm a sucker for books with art techniques and prompts. Then are the endless blogs and videos and now a days on line classes...did I mention Pinterest?

The there is travel. We are on our way tomorrow for a mini vacation to Florida to visit a few sets of friends and hopefully recharge our solar batteries. They are very low at the moment from the Northern Michigan grey. Inspiration usually shows up as soon as I'm at the airport.

Hoping to post from the road. I have my journal, writing utensils, water color pencils, a brush. I'm ready.

What inspires you? I would love to here your experience. What do you do if you are stuck?