I Love ... Simple Kindnesses

It's often very small things that bring joy to my life.

Valentine by MaryAnne Durr

For instance - the people in my neighborhood wave to each other as they drive by. I haven't seen it out and about in my town and it didn't happen in the neighborhood we lived in before this. But it happens on the streets where I live. It makes me happy.

Postcard by Hannah Koch

On a day when I received two rejection letters from art shows I also received this beautiful piece of art in the mail, a postcard with a little thank you note on the back from the lovely and talented Hannah.

When one of my children says "thank you" for a task that is usually invisible it makes me just go all twittery and happy. Smiles make me happy. Surely I can return the favor and perform some simple kindness for the world. Yesterday I bought a bouquet, took out one flower at a time and handed them to everyone I saw until the ran out. With a smile and a "Happy Valentine's Day". It went well this time.

What SIMPLE KINDNESS will you give to the world today?

Creative Wisdom from Pixar's John Lasseter 3 of 7

John Lasseter’s 7 Points (by way of Scribble Junkies)

3. Quality is a great business plan. Period.

“There is a crucial rule: no compromises. No compromises on quality – regardless of production constraints, cost constraints, or a deadline. If you get a better idea, and this means that you have to start again from scratch, then that’s what you have to do.

In any creative industry, quality is the sole business plan that prevails in the long run. Many managers fail to understand that, but the spectators understand it. The process is only finished once the creative professional in charge says it’s finished. That does not mean that there isn’t to be any pressure – there’s pressure all the time anyway – but the individual creator always needs to have the last word.”

How this might relate to my career as an artist?

Don't settle for less than my best effort.

Now you know by now that I'm firmly in favor of making BAD ART!

I do not, however, send BAD ART out into the world.

BAD ART is a necessary stepping stone into the wonderful world of GREAT ART! The bad stuff is just a way to let yourself go, to freely play with new ideas and spark creative juices and let them flow in unexpected directions. 

When it comes time to settle down and work on the good stuff - do the best you possibly can.

Strive for excellence in your technique, beauty in your composition, quality in your craftsmanship and just plain DO YOUR BEST. 

(yes, I was a cub scout den mother, thank you very much)

What areas of your art need work?

Where can you improve your QUALITY?

Here is the rest of the series:

1. Never come up with just one idea.

2. Remember the first laugh.

3. Quality is a great business plan. Period.

4. It's the team, stupid. 

5. Fun Invokes Creativity, Not Competition

6. Creative Output Always Reflects the Person on Top

7. Surround Yourself With Creative People Whom You Trust

I Love ... YOU!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I Love ... On-Line Students!

May I tell you how much I love my on-line students? The Artist's Toolbox (new session opens this friday) is an especially wonderful class for me to get to know these lovely people. 

Angela - value study

So many of them come in saying "I can't draw" or have real reservations about their abilities to create original art but by the end of class you see their confidence just blossom. 

Dahlia - depth study

 I truly DO believe that everyone is creative in some way.

If you give yourself time to learn and permission to be imperfect it is amazing what you can do.

Cindy - shape study

 Art CAN be taught. You can learn to draw through some simple steps and exercises if you are willing to put in the effort. You CAN learn to understand the basic elements and principles of design. 

Uliday - texture study

 If you want to be and artist, if you are willing to put in the time and the effort....

YOU CAN BE AN ARTIST!

Lorelei - movement study

I'd love to share the journey with you. I feel an attachment with each one of these students.

Join me for

The Artist's Toolbox

www.QuiltUniversity.com

four lessons, $36.00 beginning

February 17, 2012

Yes ... I'm shamelessly begging.

(but it's for a good cause)

(update: you all are absolutely amazing. I do mean AMAZING! Both kidlets have surpassed their goals and are very excited to send out some fun drawings. They've got their work cut out for them. Thank you, thank you, thank you! From the bottom of our healthy hearts - the the hearts of those you've helped to survive - we thank you.)

Could you do me a GREAT BIG favor? 

My little ones are doing a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. They are raising money through a jump-a-thon at school for children who need heart surgery.

If you have a minute could you click on each link and help them out? Even one dollar will help. Their deadline is coming up TOMORROW and the only one who has donated is me and one of you amazingly kind readers. They've been drawing valentine pictures to send out to their sponsors but they don't have any (other than me) yet. If you donate then reply here with your address we'll mail you a delightful piece of their original art.

http://honor.americanheart.org/site/TR/JumpforHeart/MAA-Mid-AtlanticAffiliate?px=3147521&pg=personal&fr_id=1683

http://honor.americanheart.org/site/TR/JumpforHeart/MAA-Mid-AtlanticAffiliate?px=3147281&pg=personal&fr_id=1683

pretty pretty please?

Creative Wisdom from Pixar's John Lasseter 2 of 7

John Lasseter’s 7 Points (by way of Scribble Junkies)

2. Remember the first laugh.

“A big problem in the creative process is related to the enhancement of your ideas. Revising, retouching, refining is very important, but it carries a danger. If you have a story, a joke, a thought, which you write down, it loses its effect over time. It wears itself out. When you hear a joke for the second time you still laugh heartily, on the third or fourth occasion already less so, and when you hear it the hundredth time, you hate it.”

“I say to my authors: ‘Take notice of the first laugh, write it down if necessary. This may at times be bothersome, but it is important. Many times, good things got lost because people could not remember anymore how it felt when they heard the idea for the first time.”

To me this means keep your ideas fresh. 

How? It's probably different for every artist.

I keep a sketchbook.

• Write down all of your thoughts and ideas and inspirations.
• Journal a bit to capture your thought processes.
• Include test samples for when you are trying out new techniques.

When you get too close to a piece you're working on, gain some distance.

• Put it away for a day or two - there is an art fairy that visits at night an makes things look good again.
• Put it on the wall, walk as far away as you can before turning to view it.
• Turn the piece upside down or look at in in a mirror.
• Go back to your sketchbook and remember what it was you loved about it at the beginning.

How do you keep your ideas fresh?

How do you stay in love with your work?

Here is the rest of the series:

1. Never come up with just one idea

2. Remember the first laugh

3. Quality is a great business plan. Period

4. It's the team, stupid

5. Fun invokes creativity, not competition

6. Creative output always reflects the person on top

7. Surround yourself with creative people whom you trust

Up Close and Personal

The Sketchbook Challenge theme for this month is Close-Up.

RIGHT UP CLOSE is the way I really like to see things.

I focus in so close on the details that sometimes we'll be traveling and my husband will take the camera away just to take one picture of where we are.

I'll take a tiny thing and blow it up huge in a work of art. When one of nature's tiny gems fills your entire frame of vision it gains a grandeur and beauty that can be shared.

Dream by Lyric Kinard

The ocean is gorgeous - but so are the ripples right under your feet.

Leftovers by Lyric Kinard

UP CLOSE is one of the reasons I love hand work. The slowness, the concentration on detail, feeling the thread and the cloth in your hands.... it's all about the details.

Family Ties III by Lyric Kinard


Now - pick up your sketchbook and look around. I'm sure there is something RIGHT  THERE that is worth drawing.
There is inspiration everywhere if you look CLOSELY!