Student Spotlight: Palmetto Quilt Guild

What a wonderful place - Hilton Head Island is absolutely beautiful.

What a wonderful group of students!

I am SO lucky to get to do what I do!

Apli-Punto to Go

9:30am on the beach

Work In Progress: Beaded Brooch

6:30am at the airport

12:30pm waiting for my lecture to begin

Palmetto Quilt Guild, Hilton Head Island SC

For Your Inspiration: Suess-land

but first ... go check out the goodies I'm offering in conjunction with 

Virginia Spiegel's fundraiser for the American Cancer society! 

I'm also offering her readers a little - or maybe a big - sale offer on my Bead It DVD.

Now - wouldn't you love to be a designer for a Dr. Seuss amusement park?

Fiberart for a Cause

Some of us find small ways to make the world a better place.

Some of us do so in a BIG WAY!

Once again the lovely and talented Virginia Spiegel is raising funds for cancer research.

She is hoping to raise $7,000.00 to add to the $215,000.000 she has already raised for this cause.

You read that right. This woman knows how to make a big difference. She gathers people

we to her who also care deeply about fighting cancer and organizes them so that wonderful things happen. Here is how the fundraiser will work - and I'll let you know how you can help down below.

Foto/Fiber 2012
90 Photos AND 90 Fiber BONUSES Gold Donor Day - February 15, 2012
Make a minimum donation of $100, choose a photo by
Virginia A. Spiegel, Karen Stiehl Osborn, or Cynthia Wenslow
and choose a Fiber BONUS by a specific artist
from the following list of fiber artists.

Regular Foto/Fiber - February 16, 2012
Make a minimum donation of $50 and choose a photo by
Virginia A. Spiegel, Karen Stiehl Osborn, or Cynthia Wenslow.
Your Fiber BONUS will be chosen at random for youfrom the following list of generous fiber artists.
Artists donating Fiber BONUS include: Natalya Aikens,
Frances Holliday Alford, Pamela Allen, Liz Berg, Sue Bleiweiss, Nancy G. Cook, Jane Davila, Vivika DeNegre, Diane Rusin Doran, Jane Dunnewold, Jamie Fingal, Leonie Hartley Hoover, Leslie Tucker Jenison, Lyric Kinard, Susan Brubaker Knapp, Lynn Krawzcyk, Jane LaFazio, Susan Lenz, Jeanelle McCall
Linda Teddlie Minton, Karen Musgrave, Gail Myrhorodsky
Karen Stiehl Osborn, BJ Parady, Cate Coulacos Prato, Yvonne Porcella
Wen Redmond, Sue Reno, Lesley Riley, Cynthia St. Charles,
Susan Schrott, Suzanne Silk, Lura Schwarz Smith (with Kerby C. Smith),
Sarah Ann Smith, and Terri Stegmiller

Drawings for Fiber Art throughout the event.

All patrons of Foto/Fiber 2012 will also have multiple chances throughout Foto/Fiber to win fiber art donated by:
Leonie Hartley HooverLyric Kinard
Lynn Krawczyk
Yvonne Porcella
Susan Schrott
Mary Ann Van Soest

Crescent by Lyric Kinard

If you'd like to help out we'd love for you to help spread the word. There's something in it for you too.

Win one of these great prizes:

Inside the Creative Studio,
donated by its author, Cate Coulacos Prato.

A $25 Gift Certificate from Fiber on a Whim
A pack each of TAP and ExtravOrganza donated by Fiber on a Whim

Just e-mail Virginia(at)VirginiaSpiegel.com each time you share the news about

Foto/Fiber 2012 by using a logo, adding a signature,

posting to FB, your blog, or your fav lists, tweeting, etc. Multiple entries encouraged.

here is a link to images and info for you to include!

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/FotoFiber2012MediaRoom.html

New Year's Resolutions: One Word

I try to keep my goals for the year as simple as possible. Last year I wanted to begin each day with a prayer of gratitude and practice discipline. I did OK but not great on the first goal but not well at all on the second.

ah well.

First the success. My mantra has been "it's ALL good!" Even when I'm crazy I remind myself that the things making me crazy are all GOOD things. I'm very blessed to have a wonderful family, stable finances, and to have art in my life!

I still procrastinate then get completely stressed out over every deadline. I still fritter away my art-making time - usually by getting sidetracked on the computer. I'm doing important things - but not the MOST important things.

When I analyze my shortcoming (notice I didn't say "when I beat myself up about failures") I think the "practice discipline" thing is too big, too nebulous. 

This year I'm going to keep the same simple goals but I'm going to rephrase it into something that will help me with the practical application - both of being grateful and of learning to practice discipline.

It boils down to one word.

Wake up each morning and do what is most important FIRST!

For me that means:

1. getting the kids off to school.
2. spiritual practice (reading, prayer, meditation)
3. exercise (gym or running 3 days minimum)
4. MAKE ART (1 hour minimum)

Before I answer email. Before I write blog posts or articles. Before I ship stuff out. One hour to make art. If I put the most important things first the rest will certainly take care of itself. 

I played around on http://www.wordle.net/ to make a pretty word-cloud of my priorities. 

I'm going to print one of these and post it on my bathroom mirror to remind myself. I'll probably need to post other reminders all over the whole house. New habits can be difficult to implement for me so I need all the help I can get.

What are your goals?

What is your word?

The Sketchbook Challenge: January Theme

I am happier than a little puppy dog with two tails to wag to be involved in The Sketchbook Challenge again this year. It's been a wonderful way to challenge my abilities and to be involved in some small way with your lives and artwork. Sometimes I struggle with a theme - and that's good. You don't learn much if you don't struggle - if you don't try things that are beyond our current abilities our outside of your comfort zone.

But this month?

I absolutely LOVE this month's theme!

I doodle ALL the time. 

I have my sketchbook with me pretty much all the time and I tend to have trouble paying close attention to something if I need to sit still. I end up fidgeting enough to bother other people. I seem to listen better if my hands are busy. 

I'll doodle while I'm waiting for a meeting to start, or during the meeting. During church I pay better attention if I doodle something about what is being said.

I doodle on the airplane or at home or any time I am trying to wait patiently for something or somebody. 

Hey, maybe doodling makes me a better person? Or at least makes me tolerable to be around. I used to simply simmer and fume while I waited for people who were late. Not any more.

 

So I'm wondering - what is the difference between a doodle and a sketch? I think doodles are time killers, aimless wandering with a pen in hand. But sometimes my doodles are very purposeful. Sometimes they are looking out the window at a crazy little group of Cardinals. But that could be called sketching - maybe trying to capture the essence of the thing you are observing?

Sometimes doodling is playing with a new tool. I'm in love with my japanese brush pen - learning to control the flow of ink and make thick luscious lines or tiny delicate ones with the same tool. Or is that a learning process as I master a new technique?

Sometimes something I see will capture my attention and imagination and I quickly sketch it in. Is it a doodle because it is quick? Or perhaps because it has not end purpose? It's not necessarily trying to be something.

Sometimes I doodle what I see out my window as I'm talking on the phone. It's a sketch of a landscape through a window but it's also killing time so it might be called a doodle. I don't think it really matters.

What do you think the difference between a doodle and a sketch is?

Does it matter?