Hey, y’all.  This summer has been fairly busy around here.

I canned some green beans - this is about half of what I canned.  Thank you to our friends the Stucki’s for bringing over a huge bag of green beans from their garden since they were going out of town.  Woo hoo!

Another small 5×5 painting.  The background is the wood panel with a layer or two of the translucent (clear) encaustic medium.  I will probably do some more of these as well.

The rest of my time has been taken up trying to figure out my school schedule, getting credits transferred, and AP credits applied, talking with advisors, applying to the art program, etc, etc!  I’m registered for 4 classes and on the wait list for one (I decided last-minute and got my registration in the LAST day).  If I get the one class, I’ll probably drop another one, because I’m not sure what the work load will be like.  I don’t want to over-extend myself… I still have to care for children (& their dad), help with homework, fix dinner and be a cauffer occasionally.  And yes, I still do design work!  I guess I’m going to have to sharpen my juggling skills.

Creativity Question:  Do you keep a notebook where you write your dreams?  What about a joy journal?
I have a joy journal, but I don’t use it as often as I should.  I do “morning pages” (which I’ve mentioned several times), and there I write my dreams, worries, thoughts, frustrations, hopes, joys and spill everything, work out ideas and spiritual insights.  I don’t think of it as a journal - I have a separate journal that I write for posterity - with the morning pages there are no rules, except that I shouldn’t think too much about what I’m writing, and that I usually write for about 20-30 minutes.  They aren’t meant to be read by anyone but me.  They aren’t a record of my life - they are just “brain drain”.   I’ve found that when I do this consistently, it really does help free up some of that cluttered space in the ol’ noggin.   When I don’t do it, I tend to stress out more easily and I have a harder time maintaining focus.  Three cheers for Morning Pages!!

You can find out more about Morning Pages in the book, “The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity” by Julia Cameron.   I highly recommend it.  I got a copy at Half-Price Books for $6.

I know I’m not usually on top of the holidays - but, hey! I’m here.  Everyone’s here (no school).  I hope everyone has a nice Memorial Day and that we take a moment to remember those who have fought for us so we could maintain our freedom.  Freedom isn’t free - it requires constant vigilance and much responsibility by those who hold it (us!).  I hope we treasure it, are careful with it, and are not so eager to give it away into the hands of those who would mis-use it.   Stepping off soapbox now.

I’ve been experimenting a little with encaustics - just a few more small paintings.  I’ll post those soon.  In the meantime, here’s a little drawing I did for my niece: 

You can download a free pdf copy for printing here.  Yes, I know the proportions are a little off… I’m not worried about it… I just did this while on the phone with family last night, and I just did it for fun.  I thought it would be a fun thing to share - maybe you know a little girl one who might like to color it.  Feel free to print a copy.

That’s all for today.  Hope your weekend is fabulous!

A little creative goodie I wanted to pass along…I was looking for something simple, inexpensive, yet thoughtful and (hopefully) unique to give to the kids’ teachers this year.  All those hardworking teacher’s deserve a little something, don’t they?  The solution: tiny potted succulents, oatmeal pinstriped wrapping paper, ribbon, a bit of wire twisted into a card holder, and little card to top it off.  I think they turned out nicely, and I’m told that they were well received (yay!).

I already had the wire, wrapping paper, card stock and ribbon, so I really only spent about $2.50 for each plant.  Not to shabby, eh?

A couple of notes: I hand made each card with ink and watercolor pencil, but this could easily be done on the computer.  The kids signed their names inside.  If you make yours, be sure to use waterproof ink so the watercolor doesn’t smudge it.  I put a dot of hot glue under the ribbons to keep them on, as they wanted to slip off.   Oh, and make sure the pots are not wet when you wrap them with the paper.  I modified this to my liking from this version (here).

Creativity Question (sort of): Are you kind to yourself?  Do you ever treat yourself to something fun?  Just because?

I don’t always allow myself this, but sometimes, I like to get lost in the fabric store, craft store or home improvement store for a few hours - and just daydream a little bit.  I guess it doesn’t take much for me to classify it as “fun”, haha.  Hmm… maybe I need to work on a “Fun things to treat myself to occasionally” list.