inspiration

I love the timer on my iPad Mini. I can trick myself into action by setting the the 20 minute timer.

I say to myself,

“Ok let’s see what I can do in 20 minutes. Then I can quit or go have some fun.”

Usually about one hour later, I have done three 20 minute sessions and have my task done. I use this timer trick for anything that I want to do but for some reason I am resisting doing it.

• testing new printing tools
• writing blog posts
• cleaning my studio
• even playful printing

The thing I love about my iPad timer is that it has fun tunes to choose as “alarms.” So after 20 minutes, I heard this pleasant rewarding sound, and I feel good about what I have just accomplished. Usually it is really easy to continue on for another 20 minutes.

Do you have ways to motivate yourself into action? Try the 20 minute timer trick and see if it helps.

Happy printing!

 

Try this:

Pause in your day and see the awe that is right before you.

My goal is too notice the awe in the everyday and let it inform my art practice.

I think that is the magic of living creatively.

To do it daily,

even if it is only for brief moments.

These things above are probably trash to most people. But to me they are:

• a stick with an intricate pattern that I would love to print somehow
• a smashed twig that might paint some cool marks
• used tea bags that would be great for transparent prints and books
• delicate dried flowers that inspire simple line drawings

I challenge you to pause and notice the inspiration that is right in front of you.

Could it inform your art?

One tool I use to help me pause is daily journaling and a bit of meditation. Here’s a free Meditation Experience with Oprah and Deepak Chopra No affiliation, just sharing what works for me.

One of the things, that I hope to do is inspire you to see the beauty that is before you.

I was looking out the window on the dirty parking lot below and at the abandoned building but that is not what I saw.

1. I saw the shadow cast by the scrub tree that manages to grow in the inner city.
2. The shadow is what feeds my art making.
3. Now the shadow can become a photo, a sketch, a stencil, a tool to make a print.
4. Then I wonder if everyone would see the shadow or would they just see the dirty parking lot

The other thing is that shadow is temporary. Tomorrow it will be different or not even there.

• Awareness of what is before you
• Willingness to SEE it
• Ability to choose what to do with that new awareness

Sometimes, I do nothing more than SEE the thing of beauty. Seeing it builds my awareness for the next thing. Sometimes, I run for my camera and sometimes, I will sketch it.

This awareness, willingness and ability to choose it one skill that I hope to foster in the folks who take my printmaking courses. If this sounds like something that you would like to add to your art making skills then join us in Monoprinting on Fabric. Read the details on the printmaking workshops page. Class starts soon, so join us today.

As mixed media artists we love lots of different media and methods. We love to explore and combine tools and materials in a myriad of ways. That is what makes our art work unique.

But for me that love of “everything” finds me wandering around my studio from one idea to the next and never quite finishing anything.

I made a decision that is helping me to complete some work. This one boundary actually gives me just enough structure to create some freedom to play.

This is the one boundary that I have given myself with my mixed media printmaking projects:

1. I am working in a fixed size, 5″ x 7″.
2. This gives me freedom to play and low risk because is it just an inexpensive piece of paper.
3. It also frees me up because I know that when I do finish the piece it will be a easy to frame standard size. Finishing and framing is often a hurdle for me.
4. I now know that any stencils that I cut will be cut to fit on that 5″ x 7″ paper.

What about you? Do you use boundaries to set yourself up for success?