Theme Thursday - Creativity

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I have to thank my friend Quinn McDonald, Creativity Coach and more, for the idea of Theme Thursday she started at the Creativity Incubator to which I belong (see the link to it on Quinn's blog in the sidebar).

Creativity has been on my mind a lot this year, what it is, how it works, what it does for us, etc. So today I'm sharing links with you to some blog posts and websites I've discovered either thru Twitter or from blogs and references as I have found time to travel around the internet.

I'm going to reference Quinn's blog once again to show you another example of my creativity. I created a stole for her to wear when she does weddings - see some wedding pics here. Quinn is in the sunglasses and the stole is that long blue fabric with the colorful waves on it. It is all hand-dyed rayon and I had a blast creating this for her. Ok, enough about me and on to more stuff about creativity.

1. I found Ken on Twitter where he is known as @mildlycreative and I love visiting his blog, Mildly Creative, because he talks about some aspect of creativity on a regular basis. This link will take you to his post of July 28th titled 'Develop a Should-Free Lifestyle'. If you allow yourself to be creative, and especially if you don't, this is a highly recommended read. I think many of us get caught up in 'how art should be', how we 'should' do it, how it 'should' look. But I find that my most creative and free moments are when I let go of those 'shoulds' and simply do something, without worrying about how it 'should look', just letting it emerge. So in whatever way you choose to express your creativity, and acknowledge it, this post is worth your time.

2. I am one who 'knows' (this is that intuitive knowing) that the things I create, whether it is the poems I write, the quilts I create, or the jewelry I make, that those ideas come thru me in the still moments. This blog post on 'The Top Ten Reasons to Start Meditating Today' that I came across today as I was looking for more information on creativity, talks about the benefits of meditation - for our bodies, minds and creative selves (see #6 on the list). I know some people think it is some type of odd practice or have negative images about it, and that's too bad. I meditate sporadically and every time, I wonder, 'why don't I do this every day?'. It helps me sleep when I do it at night, I think because it quiets my mind, which seems to run constantly. So check this article out, and if so moved, find out some more about the many different ways there are to meditate. I think of creativity as a kind of 'moving meditation', much like my Tai Chi instructor describes that practice as a 'moving meditation' as you are focusing your energy and quieting your mind. Enjoy.

3. I've known for a while that creativity has healthy benefits, so when I stumbled upon this article by Kay Porterfield on 'How Creativity Heals' I thought it would be perfect to share with you.

4. Rick is another person I discovered on Twitter, he is known as @rickdibiasio and I now visit his blog, The Affluent Artist, regularly. I find his posts inspiring because they are very 'real life'. His post of July 29th titled 'True to Your Core Values' made me realize that I don't need to apologize to myself for having a 'day job'. Truly, I work for art supplies and classes I'm that enhance my skills and my technique base. His posts are encouraging, practical and invite you to examine the way that you think. Have fun there.

My belief: creativity is not something you 'get', it is something you become aware that you have and allow more of as you go thru your life. You can learn and practice many techniques that help you express it, but it is there, in you. Creativity is present every time you solve a problem, creativity is present in the the work you do, the way you choose your clothes. Creativity is present in many areas in your life and your expression of it does not have to 'measure up', the benefits are in the process.

Creative expression is helping manage the stress of a full time job, attending graduate school for a masters degree through Capella University (2 more classes to go after this quarter), as well as managing diabetes and the stress of it. Once I started grad school, I quickly discovered that I could choose to be the stressed out student who has no fun and higher blood pressure, or the smarter student who nurtures her soul through hands-on creative adventures. Even if I only spend 15 minutes on something, my soul is taken care of during that 15 minutes and my to-do lists are easier to get through on a daily basis.

That's it folks. Comments are welcome and appreciated. I would love to hear your thoughts on any of this. Thanks so much for visiting.

Artist Open House, July 19, 2009

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Sunday afternoon, 113 degrees outside. The sign on the door says, Please Come In. As you step into the house and feel the cool air, you notice the tables draped in black cloth are arranged with pieces that delight the eyes. You are greeted by two or three ladies who invite you to make yourself at home, take advantage of the refreshments and snacks in the kitchen and feel free to ask any of them questions as you take in the variety of handmade items that are being presented by the six artists you will meet as you admire their wares.
(The Creative Six - L to R - Julia, Dawne, Cindy, Roz, Rendy & Debi)

Creatively hand painted silk scarves, handmade journals with unique fabric covers and beautifully wire-wrapped gemstone pendants are to your right, all created by Rosaland Hannibal.

The left side of the living room has a table of cleverly created mixed-media artwork on canvas and wood by Debi Siegert, http://www.mysweetart.com/.


Next to Debi you see the creative variety of jewelry using seed beads, gemstones and more by Rendy Garello, http://www.justforfuncustomjewelry.com/.




Completing the grouping in the living room are fascinating and beautiful pieces of dichroic pendants, earrings, and wine stoppers created by Cindy of DragonFly Arts.

But your journey through this creative and cool oasis in the desert is not quite finished. As you move away from Cindy’s table and enter the dining room area, your eyes are treated to more beautiful glass creations. Dawne Hennessey has arranged a wonderful assortment of fused, slumped and kiln-worked glass bowls, free standing sculptures and other items. Her work can be viewed at http://www.blingandthingsbydawne.com/ .
And of course your eyes are also treated by the cleverly arranged and presented work of our incredible hostess, Julia. You notice that Julia’s jewelry incorporates dichroic glass, etched metal and wire in very creative ways. Her card tells you that more of her work can be found at http://www.julzbydesign.com/ .

Wow, time for a glass of ice cold tea or maybe a glass of wine as you chat with the artists and other guests and try to decide which items will go home with you . . .

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This was such a fun, relaxed and comfortable event for the six of us and, it seems, our guests. It is always exciting when people find just the thing(s) they want and/or need for themselves or as a gift. There is nothing like knowing your artwork, in whatever form, is in the hands of those who appreciate and cherish it. What a blast!

As always, comments are welcomed and very much appreciated.

Fabric Painting & Dyeing

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Painting on fabric is an adventure that requires a bit of courage, a willingness to risk making a mess of the thing. A willingness to keep going until you really know you are finished. I started painting on fabric about a year, or so, ago. And I still have to let go of, or better yet, push aside the ‘but, what if I mess it up’ thoughts that are always at the ready.

A few weeks ago I took a class on ‘baggie dyeing’. No, not dyeing the baggies but using them to hold the fabric dyes and pieces of fabric. I promise I’ll get back to the painting in a moment. I already know how to dye fabric but this instructor, Adrienne Buffington has been dyeing fabric for years and I have her book, ‘Hand-Dyed Fabric Made Easy’, published in 1996 by That Patchwork Place. I believe it is out of print but may be available again soon. The class interested me because Adrienne is fun to be around and because I was interested in the stuff that never makes it into the books, the stuff she has discovered from her experiments and mistakes (yes, everyone makes them, that is where the learning is) that good instructors are always willing share with their students. The class was fun and I learned a lot.

Thankfully, I have developed the ability to separate the ‘shoulds’ that show up in my head (these are sometimes known as expectations) from the results of the dyeing (and other pieces of art). I forgot to mention that this type of dyeing also requires patience, or at least the ability to distract yourself with other things while you wait anywhere from 2 to 24 hours, or longer, before you take your fabric from the baggies, rinse it, wash it and see how it turned out. Please believe me when I say, you really don’t know the result until you’ve run it through a couple of cycles in the washer. My fabrics turned out wonderfully. Mind you they were not necessarily the colors I was expecting them to be and they had excellent texture – see photos below of a sampling.



I said all of that about dyeing fabrics to get to the fact that I decided to use some of my pieces for painting. When I hesitated about using this piece of fabric, I had to remind myself that I can always make more. And since hand-dyes come out differently each time, each piece is always a surprise, like a Christmas gift; you get what you get and can choose to be thankful and happy with what you get, or not. Need I say that choosing thankful and happy makes life much easier? However, it is easy to forget this option.

I tend to make up what I paint as I go, in terms of what colors to use, in which order and with which ‘texture’ tools – I’ve gotten really good at just going with the feeling and letting it flow (also a much easier life choice at times). So I took the piece I preferred the least, and started painting. Here is the result:



See, it was worth the risk, I didn't mess it up at all. I will admit to wandering around my apartment looking at various household items and stuff in my stash of tools to see what might ‘work’ for a particular project. I made good use of a stencil, a hair pick, a mask (which is a sticky version of a stencil), and sequin waste. I try to keep these ‘tools’ in their own clear plastic container labeled ‘tools’ and most times I am successful in keeping them there.

The paints were a happy surprise as I decided I would finally open the jars of Stewart Gill Paints that I bought last year at Art Unraveled. I also used some Lumiere paints. The Stewart Gill paints are marvelous and they have the added advantage of being rather transparent (the Alchemy line) so that whatever you paint over still shows thru – helps create a nice ‘layered’ effect, in my opinion. Their Alchemy line of paints are also ‘interference’ colors so you get a different look depending on your angle of view. I love them and now will save up to get some more. They are expensive but very much worth it. They worked beautifully on this piece of fabric.

I’m actually quite happy with this piece and part of it is now on the cover of a composition journal that I am donating to Art For the Homeless, which is an organization dedicated to raising awareness about the homeless in America. I discovered this group on Twitter.



Here is another composition journal I am also donating. This one is covered in a piece of commercial batik fabric with paper & wire embellishments.





Links in order of mention in this post:
Stewart Gill Paints – read about them here http://www.stewartgill.com/sg-paints-14-c.asp
Note: A Google search will bring up some vendors that sell these in the U.S.

Art Unraveled – a yearly ‘creative’ conference/gathering held yearly here in Arizona http://www.artunraveled.com/

Lumiere Paints – a line of Jacquard paints - http://www.jacquardproducts.com/products/paints/lumiere/

Art4TheHomeless – http://art4thehomeless.ning.com/

As always, thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment if you have time or are so inclined. I never worried about leaving comments until I started this blog, now I realize it is part of the connection that people who blog seek with the world. So I thank you in advance :-).

Theme Thursday - Mindfulness

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This Thursday my theme is Mindfulness.

I started the year with a focus word rather than a new year’s resolution and this year’s word is ‘mindfulness’. Paying attention is what mindfulness has come to mean to me. Paying attention to what I need and want, paying attention to what I am doing, right now. The easiest way for me to practice mindfulness is creating something. Whether I’m painting a piece of fabric, working with beads, stitching something on the sewing machine – in those moments – I am only present to what I am doing right then, and it is the most relaxing way to be. One structured way that I practice mindfulness is meditation, simple, easy and also relaxing. Reading is another way. And being who I am I have been reading a lot about mindfulness and looking at the different ways people approach this subject.

Below are some links to three different articles about mindfulness and what it is:


Article on mindfulness by CNN http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/01/mindfulness.training.stress/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular
Regarding reducing stress, slowing down.

http://www.dailyvanguard.com/mindfulness-in-the-classroom-1.1744374 how a professor teaches his students about mindfulness.

http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/mindandbody/a/harvardmind.htm some straightforward tips on practicing mindfulness for yourself every day.

One thing that has become very apparent to me this year is how much mindfulness is set aside when I am very stressed, which is really the time that I need to practice mindfulness most. It is very interesting to me how easy it is to set aside the things that are good for you or make you feel good, when you get stressed; as if the only thing you can focus on is how bad it is and you can’t wait until it is over so you can have time to do some fun and relaxing things again. Wouldn’t it make more sense to make sure to meditate, even for three minutes a day, or spend 10 minutes painting something, or creating something or drawing, or whatever it is you do? Why is that so challenging in the face of stress?

Comments welcome.

Theme Thursday - Marbeling with Shaving Foam

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Thanks to Quinn McDonald http://quinncreative.com/ for suggesting members of her creative incubater http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QuinnCreative_Rawart/join share some interest in the form of Theme Thursdays.

Fun, easy, messy and colorful - right up my alley. Maybe yours too. I first tried this technique about a year ago with a group of crafty friends who love to experiment like I do. We used everything from acrylic paint to watercolor inks and tried them on various types of paper & fabric.

I have collected some links (see below) that give similar directions for this technique, see below. I used some styrofom trays to hold my shaving foam but you could just put plastic down on a flat surface as your shaving foam will sit wherever you place it. You could also use an inexpensive flat foil pan or the bottom of a tin like cookies come in, just think slighty outside the box. I spread my shaving foam with a hard plastic spatula that I bought at the dollar store. An old credit card or one of those that sometimes arrive in your junk mail.

The other handy item I used was a wide-tooth comb. Once I placed my paints or inks on the shaving foam, I ran the teeth of the comb thru it, in wavy or straight lines or whatever. I also used a wooden skewer to make more swirls in the colors after the first print. I am usually able to get 3 or 4 prints off of one set of colors. The prints tend to get lighter as you continue to lift off prints.

The hard plastic straight edge is essential because you need to scrape foam off of your paper or fabric after you have lifted it from the shaving foam. If you click on any of the photos throughout this post, it should bring up a closer, clearer image.

The images just below are all done on silk from Dharma (see link above). The fun thing about the silk is that the moment it hits the color on the foam, you can see the design on the back of the silk.

Enjoy experimenting and please let me know how it goes if you try it. You can email me your photos and I can post them here or I will link to your blog when you post photos.

My sample photos: done w/ lumiere, Adirondack Color Wash and acrylic paints, but MX dyes and other things will work too. Try it, you might like it.

Here are the links:

http://fabricdyeing101.blogspot.com/2006/10/14-other-techniques-sky-painting.html - demo using dyes and incorporating shaving foam into/onto the piece

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/marbling.htm - marbeling with shaving cream (onto paper) same can be done using fabric and acrylic or fabric paints (on top of shaving cream layer)

http://www.wikihow.com/Paint-Marbled-Paper-Using-Shaving-Cream - another using shaving cream & food coloring (on top of shaving cream)

http://my-croft.blogspot.com/2008/10/play-time-marbling.html - more step-by-step directions (tsukineko inks). Sample pics at end of this post.

http://www.bladerubberstamps.co.uk/site/how_to_foam.php - same technique using inks/paints with some suggestions for ways to use the finished products.

Also some pics http://www.bladerubberstamps.co.uk/site/shaving_foam_card_gallery.php - samples of cards using the shaving foam marbeling technique.

Last but not least, http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1498922-AA.shtml?lnav=gifts.html Dharma trading has many how-tos on their website and this one for shaving foam is done using Fiber Reactive dyes.

That's it for this Thursday. All of the paper ones pictured above were done as samples for a demo tonight at Quinn's Raw-Art-Journaling group in Glendale, AZ at http://www.thecreativequest.com/ . If you're local, we meet the last Thursday of the month from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Please leave a comment and let me know if you visit any of the links or try out the technique, or if you have questions I will try to answer them.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Hold On? or Let Go?

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What you hold onto – holds you, and drives your actions. That old hurt from childhood, or from last week. That person you tolerate, who slighted you or hurt your feelings or embarrassed you. The person you thought would love you and protect you, but did not. Those people we choose not to forgive because we think they do not deserve to be forgiven.

Well, when you choose to hold on to anger and resentment, it festers like a sore and grows bigger and more powerful. That anger and resentment begins to take you over. That anger and resentment forms a blockade around your heart and soul. What does the blockade keep out? It keeps out the blessings spirit is trying to deliver to you through others.

How often do you consciously or unconsciously turn away something positive? Do you even notice that you are doing so? How often do you question why others are so much more fortunate than you? Consider that they do not have walls of anger and resentment turning away most of the good things that are coming to them.

Consider that they accept compliments for what they are – acts of kindness, small, intangible gifts, that many people give freely. Consider that the fortunate ones simply say thank you and do not argue or deflect the kindness, they accept the gift without protest. Maybe the fortunate ones are the ones who accept kindness even from those who have hurt them previously. It is possible for gifts to come to us in many forms. They may come in the form of favors, gestures, a connection we needed but did not expect, a chance meeting with just the person who can help you forward something you are committed to. How many of those gifts do you turn away, not realizing that you are blocking a blessing, a gift?

Consider that you do not have to carry around bags of anger and resentment labeled with the names of people who have hurt you or wronged you. Consider that your energy is better spent if you set those bags down and focus your energy on where you are headed. Imagine how relieved your soul would be if it no longer had to be concerned with the weight of all those bags of unforgiven hurts and the energy it takes to drag them around.

Forgiveness is not for the people who hurt you – it is for you. Forgiveness is one of the ways to lighten the load with which you have burdened your soul and your entire being.

You have the power of choice to lighten that load at anytime.

When will you lighten your load? When will you free your soul?

Will you hold on or will you let go?

Written by Rosaland Hannibal ©

A note about copyright: Thank you for respecting my work and not copying this to another blog or other form of print without my permission. You may link back here to the blog or request to use this piece in some of your work by simply contacting me.

Journal prompt – this subject could be used as a journal prompt and if anyone is so inspired, I would love to see what you create. And please feel free to leave comments about this post. I am quite curious as to what it says to people, how it is received or perceived.

Thanks for visiting & have a wonderful day in your world!

Nature's Give & Take

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They say inspiration is everywhere and I believe it is true.

I saw this when I arrived at work this morning and I just had to break out the camera. It is such a great example of the ‘give & take’ of nature. And I love the way the photos came out. I will do something creative with this . . . at some point in time.

This bee is coming in for a landing!

These are actually two different flowers and the bees are loving them!

Baby Quilt & a Birthday

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First - Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!

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Now on to the Baby Quilt

Have you ever bought the fabrics for a quilt and then weren’t sure if you did the right thing? Weren’t sure if it would turn out ok or not? That seldom happens to me but it did with this one. This is another quilt for a customer and she and I spent a long time trying to find a combination of pink and green that she liked. Turns out, they worked perfectly together and made a very soft-looking and adorable quilt. She was so happy with it that she gave me a tip. First time that’s ever happened. And the person she gave it to was thrilled with it as well.
Here it is:

A Journal & A Magnolia

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A Journal

I made this journal in a hurry last night because I forgot I needed one for my class tonight with Quinn McDonald called 'Raw Art Journaling', see her blog about it here http://raw-art-journals.com/Journaling.html . So in my very tired state, after my homework was finished, I created this cased-in book.

The rule is still true, ‘if you’re in a hurry, do something else’. So, I need to make some adjustments to this journal before I’ll be happy with it. But, I love the colors and the textures. At least I had some text blocks on hand. I’m thinking embellishments with Shiva Paintsticks and/or Portfolio oil crayons, we’ll see. The solid fabric is a purple African fabric tone-on-tone and the right side is handpainted paper that was given to me last year by my friend Fish as a birthday gift. I love the color & texture of this paper. I like to use stiff interfacing, like Fast2Fuse for the inside instead of the traditional boards. More possibilities that way and a softer feel.

A Magnolia

At work we have a marvelous magnolia tree that blooms briefly once a year and the first one appeared yesterday.

Here it is as I saw it yesterday morning:

and here it was this morning open and beautiful:

and I am very happy with this closeup photo:

That saying, 'the more you do something, the better you get', seems to be true with my photography.

Creativity, Genius, and the Right Side of the Brain

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I saw this video on Digital Gran's site http://www.digitalgran.blogspot.com/ and loved what Jill Bolte Taylor had to say about the right side of the brain, describing her stroke and its effects on her body and the differences between both sides of our brains. Takes about 20 minutes and is well worth the time.

I also ran across this video, thanks to Claire Perkins http://www.deepwaterleafsociety.blogspot.com/ about creativity by Elizabeth Gilbert - discussing her thoughts on fear, success and genius-this is great and also worth listening to. It is also just short of 20 minutes.

Embossed Glass Class

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About a month ago I took a wonderful class from Char Sanchez called Embossed Glass at a place in central Phoenix called Cooking With Glass, see http://www.cookingwithglass.net/. Char is an incredible teacher with a great teaching style and lots of knowledge to share.

My friend Julia, see her work here http://www.julzbydesign.com/ , and I took this class together and as the only two students, we had a blast! You’ll see from Julia’s site that she is great at the fused glass thing and she has been teaching me all about how it works. She also taught me how to do etched metal, but that is for another post.

Here are some photos from our class that day.

Char & Julia Julia's Piece in the Kiln

First we layered our glass using pieces of dichroic glass, this stuff is so cool. Then we fired up the kilns.

My Piece in the Kiln

Once they were hot, hot, hot, we put the gloves on and stamped into the extremely hot glass. This makes it sound very quick, but there is a lot of thought and caution (always respect your tools) that goes into this process.

Julia Embossing Me Embossing.

Of course, I forgot to take a photo of our big square pieces after they were finished, but, here are my pieces after Julia's wonderful husband cut my square in half and then cut each triangle into 5 pieces. Then Julia refired them to smooth out the edges.
Can you see the swirl embossed into the center glass piece? How cool is that?

Not sure if you can see the dragonfly I stamped into this one.

I am going to make necklaces out of the 3 center pieces of each triangle (see below). Will post later when I work out what I like.