Come along...take a look...art really IS magical!So, what is this Art is Magic Creative Retreat?Simply put, one of the highlights of my summer so far! Artist Galia Alena gathered an amazing group of fellow artists to teach a series of workshops, which were shared with hundreds of fellow creative spirits from around the globe, throughout the weekend of July 8-9. The video I just shared is made from the Instagram Stories that I posted on the second day of the retreat. So much art in so little time! Even though each artist's session replayed for 24 hours after the first viewing, for many of us, that simply was not enough time to take it all in. Fortunately, we were offered an opportunity to purchase the Ongoing Creative Retreat at a very reasonable cost! I have just scratched the surface, and can't wait to dive in and revisit the retreat sessions...and the new lessons to come each week for the next several months!Click here to learn more about Art is Magic. You can sign up to join us in the Ongoing Creative Retreat. I'd love to meet up with you on the retreat FB page and see the magic you are creating!
Recently, I spent two weeks in Pittsford, NY, visiting family and helping with my grandchildren. I didn't have a lot of "me time", but was able to spend one incredibly gorgeous early July morning walking the Eric Canalway Trail that runs through this quaint New York town. "Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow." Henry David ThoreauSo true, at least for me! There is nothing quite like a long walk in solitude, Nikon and iPhone is hand, to fire up those creative brain cells. Here are a few unedited photos from my walk on the Erie Canal Trail... And here are a few that have been tweaked a bit using one of my favorite iPad apps, Photoshop Express... Playing with photos is fun, however it's the not the end of this story. My photos are all part of the prep for the next step...painting. I'm still not sure whether I'll use watercolors or acrylics, but either way, I'll be sharing my work in progress here on the blog and on Instagram. Meanwhile, stay creative, my friends! Take a walk in the woods with your camera or smart phone, capture the beauty that surrounds you while you breathe in the fresh air and sunshine, and then share your photos on Instagram with #creativity_crusader.  The combination of intermittant showers and storms, along with a schedule of baseball games and family activities, put the skids on my plans to introduce my young artists to the art of tie-dye. After all, this is not an ideal activity even for the back porch! Fortunately, this Mimi always has a backup plan! Here are three easy activities to chase away those rainy day blues with the elementary-age children at your house...1. Roll and Draw Games Roll and Draw games were a big hit with grades 1-3 in my elementary art classroom. I kept them in a center for students who finished our art class projects a little faster than others. Each roll of the die adds a new piece to the drawing. Once the basic form is complete, encourage your little artists to add details to the picture in order to make it uniquely their own. Many of my classroom students made entire families of Monsters using the different variations possible with the five different Monster Roll and Draw sheets! This activity is adaptable to any art materials you have on hand: crayons, markers, colored pencils, paints, and even modeling clay. You can download your own set of Roll and Draw games from Expressive Monkey. Mine are laminated since they were used repeatedly by so many children, but that isn't necessary for home use. The large foam dice are great since they don't make so much noise on the floor or table top, but regular dice are fine, too. A piece of felt or a kitchen placemat will muffle the sound equally well. 2. Air Dry ClayWhen I did this activity with my grandsons, age seven and not-quite-five, we used Crayola brand air dry clay. It's a no-mess product that comes in white, which can be painted with tempera colors once it is completely dry. I spread waxed paper on the back porch table to keep the clean up super simple. The only tools we had on hand were toothpicks, some plastic needles (from our weaving project last spring), plastic beads, feathers, and a few twisty ties from the kitchen drawer. Aiden, the older grandson, found a YouTube video demonstration to make his puppy. There are lots of those at a variety of skill levels! After that, he and his little brother used a how-to-draw book from the local library to gather inspiration for their bears and toucans. All in all, a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. Now we just need a drop in the humidity to allow the clay to dry enough for painting! 3. Glue and Salt Painting Credit for this activity goes to mommy-blogger Jackie, who published it as Jellyfish Salt Painting. I had never gotten around to trying it out in my art classroom during the school year, so I decided to let my two grandsons, ages 7 and not-quite-five, be my activity testers. Of course, being two sports-minded little artists, our models were baseballs, footballs, and basketballs instead of sea animals! All you need for this activity is some white glue (we used Elmer's), a box of table salt, paints and brushes, and a sturdy cardboard to work on. Jackie recommended liquid watercolors, which we didn't have on hand, so we used regular pan watercolors, which worked just fine. I lucked out and was able to purchase some wrapped canvas at Michael's Crafts at a 70% discount, so we used the 6" squares and the 5x7" rectangles. Using the canvas panels was really nice because the paintings didn't curl up like they do even on heavy cardboard The steps are pretty simple: 1. Sketch the outline on the board or canvas 2. Go over the lines or fill in the space with glue. 3. Sprinkle with the salt, then tap off the excess salt. 4. Tap (don't brush) the paint onto the glue/salt mixture immediately. Don't let it dry. 5. Depending on the amount of glue, the painting may take 24-48 hours to dry completely. Go to Jellyfish Salt Painting for step by step photos and more inspiration. And above all, enjoy some crafty creativity the next time the rainy day blues strike at your house! I'd love to see your crafty creations! Use #creativity_crusader on Instagram to share. If the phrase "Let the Sun Shine" rings a bell with you, we just might both be Baby Boomers with ties to the 60's! Remember tie-dyed shirts, love beads, and Earth shoes? I had them all back in the days of macrame room dividers and patchouli incense! Earlier this month, a good friend invited me over for an afternoon of artfilled camaraderie over tubs and squirt bottles of liquid dye in her backyard. Since my tie-dye experience to date has been very limited, I was excited about the invite! I'd taken two fabric workshops with Cathy in the past, so I knew what to expect... a casual afternoon in the warm June sunshine, mixing a little of this and a little of that just to see what might be the result. No careful measuring, no particular rules, just playing with fabrics and dyes...kind of like being a kid again! At the end of the afternoon, I went home with bags filled with dyed cotton fabric and yarn. The hardest part was waiting at least 24 hours to allow the dyes to penetrate the fibers before rinsing the cloth and yarn. It was worth the wait when I was finally able to untie those lusciously colored fabrics! Later this week, I'll be heading out of state to visit with my daughter and her family. This got me thinking about how to adapt this tie-dye process for two little boys, one seven and the other not-quite-five. Soda ash and Procion dyes might be more than necessary for these two young artists, so I bought this kit at my local JoAnn's Fabric and Crafts. Looks simple enough...maybe...for a little bit of driveway art-making!  Check back next week for an update on how our tie-dye adventures turn out... and, quite likely, some tips for driveway tie-dye with kids!   Summer has always been a welcome time of renewal for those of us in the teaching profession...time to relax...visit friends and family...explore new places...and renew our spirit for the inevitable return to another school year. For forty years, I have looked forward to these wonderful, invigorating days of summertime. However, for me this year is different. Yes, I'll still have time to relax...visit friends and family...explore new places...and renew my spirit. But I will not be preparing for the inevitable return to another school year because..... I AM OFFICIALLY RETIRED!TIME FOR MY GARDENS!TIME FOR MY ART!TIME FOR FAMILY...FAITH...FRIENDSHIP!So many new paths to explore! This blog has taken many different directions since its beginning in July of 2015 and I've been absent since February of 2017, but I'm back and ready for the next adventures. Come along with me! I'd love to share this journey with other creative adventurers!  Although I don't always succeed in completing an entire month, I enjoy participating in brush lettering challenges on Instagram every now and again. One of my favorite challenge creators is Olivia, aka Random Olive, partly because I like her theme choices and even more because she posts awesome video demonstrations on her Instagram feed. February proved to be an especially enjoyable month because Olive chose gemstones as her theme and, as a jewelry designer and seller, I love those gemstones! I tried a variety of papers and inks, but in the end liked my Tombow dual tip brush markers on watercolored backgrounds the best. When I had the actual stones available, I added them to the photos as well. I used both the Canva and PicCollage apps to add photo backgrounds to some of my pieces. Here's a little slide show of my opal brush lettering project: For now, I've just been playing along with Olive, but I think some of these brush lettered gemstones are going to find their way to my Birthstone Blooms shop soon! Check out Random Olive and join me in her next challenge...and if you let me know that you're playing along, I'll check out your work!  One of my favorite February art lessons with my littlest students in first grade is our "Jim Dine Valentines" project. Dine, one of the premier American artists of the mid-20th century, is still a force in the art world today at the age of 81. Although most known for his images of colorful hearts, Dine produced a much greater variety of artworks in his long career, most notably carefully rendered drawings of common objects such as hammers, pliers, and other tools, colorful paintings of kimonos and the iconic character, Pinocchio, and large sculptured hearts. Although his friendship with Claes Oldenburg and gallery exhibitions with such artists as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol led to Jim Dine often being classified as a "pop artist", Dine did not consider himself to be a part of the Pop Art Movement. Nonetheless, his work is always a hit with my students, who love creating their own "heart art" using oil pastels and pan tempera paints! And, since I like to work along with my students, I now have my own collection of Jim Dine inspired art to share, along with a few of my favorite "love quotes".
 So here it is...January 1...2017... The tree is down to its lights and will soon be out to the curb for pick-up. The mantle is bare except for a simple wreath and lanterns. And the toys and games have been enjoyed by two little boys. Soon I will be heading home to put Christmas away in Ohio, but for now, I'm enjoying the first day of the new year with my daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons. Do you make resolutions to begin the new year? Put away the holiday clutter and give the house a thorough cleaning? Or just move on, business as usual?
 I first heard about the Word of the Year as we were rounding the corner into 2015. At the time, I was just beginning to explore my options for life and work after my eventual retirement after 40 years of full-time teaching. The idea of focusing on just one idea for an entire year seemed to make sense. At the time, I was struggling to maintain a balance between my personal life and my work life. And my personal life was suffering the most. Sometimes you just know that you need to put more effort into making time to take care of yourself...exercise, healthy meals, time with family and friends, and a decent bedtime. This was one of those times for me. Although I wasn't totally successful, and there were periods of time when I gave up on the idea completely, I did like the idea. So when 2016 rolled around, I was ready for a fresh start. Word of the Year... 2016 In December of 2015, I had just finished reading posts from the website "Becoming Minimalist" by Joshua Becker, and was inspired by his lifestyle dedicated to living with less in order to enjoy life more. Of course, inspiration and action are two entirely different things, at least in my world! Although my closets are a little less full, my kitchen has fewer unnecessary gadgets and utensils, and I have made cooking meals easier by having a rotation of family favorites, I cannot claim to having fully embraced the idea of minimalizing or simplicity, even after two rounds of participating in Joshua's Uncluttered course! Word of the Year...2017...Third time's charmed? This post appeared in my Facebook feed several weeks ago. At the time, I thought...hmmm....maybe ENOUGH should be my Word of the Year for 2017. After all, I certainly have enough stuff in my closets and cabinets...enough money to pay my bills and still have a little leftover for the fun things in life...enough love and friendship...and I have a hard time remembering all of that when I have an opportunity to add just "one more thing" to my very busy life. But ENOUGH just didn't resonate with me... a bland word...a word that implies standing still...not making changes...not doing things differently. I wanted...needed... more...  And then I found it! Since July, I've been a member of the Sunday Society, a group of amazingly creative women in business, led by April Bowles-Olin, author of the blog Blacksburg Belle. Our end of the year challenge was to reassess our lives and businesses as we lived them in 2016 and plan ahead for success in 2017. One of the exercises in our planner was to go through a list of words and circle the ones that resonated with us most. As I did this, the one that jumped out at me was MINDFUL. At first, I didn't circle it, but I found myself drawn back to it after several days had passed, so I knew in my heart that this was it! In a way, mindfulness (or the lack of it!) is most likely what kept me from achieving my goals of finding BALANCE and SIMPLICITY the previous two years...my a-ha moment! So for the next 365 days, my challenge-to-self will be to practice mindfulness in my daily life. To remain in the present instead of constantly looking backward and regretting decisions made in the past. To remain in the present a little bit longer instead of moving full speed ahead into the future before the present has been savored and lived.  What about you? What works in your life? Are you a resolutions maker? Or a Word of the Year fan? I'd love to hear from you, so leave a comment! Meanwhile, Happy New Year to you!  |
