Be Creative Everyday

Being creative every day is a way to keep our brains charged and ready for the infinite possibilities that come our way. (in other words – to stay sane).

It's important and not as hard, or time consuming as you may think. How? 5 minute quick sketches, is how? That is sketches, not stretches - though you will be stretching your mind and imagination. I've been using these 5 minute sketches myself, over the last several years as a tool to kick start -- well, myself. They have proven to be effective and fun, and some have made their way into quilt designs - in fact there's at least one quilt designs that came about from this exercise that became a quilt in my latest book.

They are not meant to be pretty finished drawings --
just quick sketches that get things out of you head and onto paper.

So are you ready to let your imagination take flight, and you're ready to get a jump on creativity, I'm ready to be your work-out buddy!

Join me for the
21 Day Springtime Creativity Warm-Up Challenge!
In 5 minutes a day you’ll:

• improve your drawing skills
• loosen up-get your mind open for the day
• increase your creativity
• get your imagination stirring
• and, possibly produce new concepts

Here's how the challenge will work.

Each day there will be a new WORD (or phrase)
I will post them on my blog and also on our FaceBook Group page.

That’s your queue to grab your sketchbook or some paper & a pencil
1. Then draw anything/ everything that comes to mind when you think about the WORD.
2. STOP at 5 minutes.
3. (optional but highly desired) Snap a picture of your drawing and post it to our group page on Facebook.

Join in by sending me an instant message on FaceBook–
I’ll then send you an invite-and you’re in!

Are you needing a NUDGE?

How about a book give-away?!?

Join me on this challenge,
and for every time you post a picture of one of your own 5 minute work-out drawings to our group FaceBook Page,
your name will be entered to
win a copy of my book Design, Create, Quilt

(After all, it was in this book that
I first suggested these ‘artifying’ exercises).

The challenge begins
March 21st
and runs through April 10th
The drawing for my book Design, Create, Quilt
will be on April 11th.

Infinite Possibilities

Bouquets of sharpened pencils...

a line from You've Got Mail that always strikes home.
Admittedly I am an office supply junkie -- I love walking the aisles and finding all the new & old favs tucked away on the shelves.
Infinite Possibilities.

Last week as I shopped for new computers I was held captive in the school supply section.
So much color,
so many fun designs -
empty notebooks, with untold blank pages waiting to be filled!

 

 

 

these are the ones I just couldn't live without!

With stuff calling my name from every direction I still managed to get out pretty clean.

Though, there was an item that just screamed -
take me home --
turn me into a 'BACK TO SCHOOL SPECIAL'
for ... all of YOU!

So, stay tuned --
the BTSS will 1st be making its appearance in my August Newsletter!

'til then

Beyond the 5-Minute Drawing

Welcome to Monday! A new week...
I'm ready for a clean start this week, for last week was filled with techno ups & downs.

My phone, seemingly on it's last breath was resurrected...
Then Friday my desktop computer refused to start - turned out to be DEAD,
This changed a play-filled weekend of fabric transformation, with tech shopping.
While I love 'the stuff' shopping for new 'stuff' just has never been fun. Luckily things came together and somewhere in the house (as I type) a new desktop is finding its home.

The fabric plans for the weekend --
they'll be slowly worked in to bits of time over the next few days.

I did manage to get to creating the drawing that I envisioned from one of my 5-minute drawings.
Boardwalk - from a couple of weeks ago - got me wandering along in the Caribbean
I had purchases some fun fabrics while cruising in March --
and found perfect (really perfect) fabric to go with it from Cherrywood in April......

well, you tell me --
do you think I might be on the right track
Here's my more extensive drawing --
and the fabrics!

Next step -- enlarge and prepare the pattern.
(I think I can sneak in time for that)

Wishing you a creatively, productive week!

~Rose

It's time to PLAY!

This year my blogging has been about sharing about the basic art elements, finding inspiration and sources -- Personally I am ready for some playtime...
Put some of those ideas into practice...

Give myself some time to pick & choose what will fun - expanding...

Being in a new state, a new home & a new community with a whole month in front of me that I don't have to travel... well, it is time to PLAY!
Wanna join in?!?
Hope you have a chance to follow along and find time to explore and create with me.

There's no telling exactly what I'll be trying,
but, I will be sharing along the way
AND,

I'm jumping into the summer-words;
taking all those words and throwing them into a hat.
then I'll be picking one each day for a 5 minute sketching.

I'll be sharing some of these each Friday this month.

so push the play button

jump for the joy of it

pull out all aritfying supplies

and let the PLAYTIME begin!

Venture: A Nudge in the Right Direction

Pun intended...
today's source generator is all about MAPPING IT!
Even though our world has turned to GPS - and we all have been grateful to that little voice that comes on to guide us (at least once)... there is still a wonderful world of maps to be discovered...
maybe even collected.

Those paper things with color, line, scales
and info to get us from one place or another,
or from one idea to another.

As you start looking around for maps you may want to keep a few questions in mind.
Can I...stitch it? glue it? film it? collect it? dye with it? draw on it? cut it? leave it?

Then begin the hunt for maps...
All kinds! 
driving maps, flight maps, mind maps, color maps, project maps, life maps
& of course the best map of all a 'treasure map'!

In Los Angeles, when I first moved there, you had to have a Thomas Guide --
more than a map it was a book of maps enabling you to find your way through
all the twists and turns of a city not designed, but one the grew together from all these other little cities and roads that changed names with the blink of an eye. They came out every year, and the multi-county books were HEAVY...

and many years later, as I packed up to move cross country I took the pages from my Thomas Guide-gave my friends the pages that had their homes-a bunch of art supplies and decorate it -- just for me.
Do you have a map somewhere in your home or car, right now?
Have fun!
~Rose

Sources: Venturing - Look Down

Sometimes we just need a bit of a nudge in a different direction to begin seeing new sources - new possibilities - ME included! So, that is a bit about what this week is all about.

Whether you venture near or far there is always something new for the finding.
To get us going, I chose any easy one.
LOOK DOWN

What may you find? Well, just on my walk I found feathers ( tons & tons) and even a poor abandoned goose egg...  just remember to LOOK DOWN!

interesting cracks? staircases?
or how many different colors of toe nail polish may you find today?

I'm off to wander!
~ Rose

Summer Words for Sources

Summer has officially arrived -
Summer Solstice the longest day of the year --
long, lingering days filled with light & possibilities.

We have 93 days to the Autumn Equinox...
How would you like to fill a sketchbook with ideas in that time?
Well, since we're talking about WORDs as source inspiration this week I came up with a

Summer Word Challenge
below is a list - a long list - a list of words that remind me of summer

It's easy to join in - grab a pencil & paper--
PICK A WORD
and let your mind explore that word for you
record your exploration!

I've talked about this idea many, many times...
why?  because it works - a bit of personal brainstorming
where you find yourself continuously surprised.

While using this technique along with the members of my design group I was always amazed with what I came up with, and how each of us came up with stuff that was very different from each other. In just 5 minutes!!

Click to see some our examples:

BLOOMING

SCREW
THRU THE DOOR
SUNDAY

The most important thing is to have fun!

Hmm, which word will I pick for today?

~Rose

Observation - A Month of LOOKING

There are some books that are very special to us.
They have worn pages from being pulled off the shelf and read over & over.

For me, one of these favored books is Learning By Heart --
for it contains the words,
teaching and general wisdom sharing from Corita Kent
- nun, and famed 60's art teach at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles.

She taught many, and shared through her many works the art of living. This book begins with a chapter on LOOKING, and talking about this seemed a great thing to share as we wind down our month of observation.

The LOOKING chapter begins with words from Corita --
"We don't understand the fullness of everything, of anything. Things constantly change and we may have seen and object only five minutes ago and thought we knew it-but now it is very different."

The chapter continues to give assignments to 'develop our seeing muscles' --
to capture what we see, when we see it --
in a 'sense diary'.

Stopping this month to pay attention -- 
to engage and see things anew has been powerful for me, and I plan to continue this process.

How 'bout you?

Color Discovery - A forever thing

Color is something that seeps into our souls
and seeps into our art in just the same way.

Of course there is a science of color, for the mere fact that we see color is in fact based in physical science.

There is only color, when there is light.
and, believe it or not but Sir Isaac Newton first studied light refraction and color in the late 1600s.
He is credited for our first color wheel after his experiments of light refracting through prisms produced rainbows of color.

Are you ready for a bit more color discovery on your own?

Find an photo of a scene or piece of artwork that you like.
Glue it onto a page in your color journal....
Look at it carefully and identify and note ALL of the different colors that you can see in your image
Now, using paint, magazines, or fabric find samples of all the various colors you identified and glue them into your journal, too. On-line a good source would be Color Scheme Designer.

Paying attention and seeing color is fun
and all the while it soaks into our souls.
Enjoy the process.

~Rose

Stand-by

I started with a quick sketch of some tree skeletons on Monday morning, and they have captured my attention. At the bottom of my sketchbook page that day I had written the following:

'against everchanging colors of winter skies--
morning pinks; cloudless clear blues;
soft greys; dark deep cold blues'

The lines of the trees were a way of seeing those amazing skies - everyday.

Little did I know that night I would have a bit of private tour of Helene Davis's studio here in Paducah.
She is an art quilter and hand-dyer...

and when I saw her latest work my mouth dropped for she had captured my skies!

Long story, short -- she agreed to let me come visit today--
maybe take a few pictures today, so I am jazzed!

My little set of four tree skeleton designs may be lucky enough to even find some amazing sky fabric just for them. In the meantime,  please stand-by....

With Exploration Comes Insight

Happy Monday everyone,
Time to be off and going --
always love the new beginning feel of Monday.
Maybe a time to start something new, or tweak something already underway...

though in either case I feel...
Curiosity and exploration create a direct path to discovery...
so, pull on the walking shoes and head out for a bit of wandering.

During my my own
5-minute word inspired sketch-wandering this morning,
I chose the words that have kept popping up as I wandered around my new hometown.

tree skeletons

here's a peek into my sketchbook,
can you see how my own mind turned almost immediately on making them into fabric sketches
-  why not?Go for your own wander today.
Share a word or words of your own...
or, give mine a whirl and share yours!

Meanwhile, wonder how I might use these as inspiration for some fabric line creating this week.

Stitching On!
~Rose