Lani Puppetmaker's Blog Spot

Creativity take courage... and some other stuff!

2009-11-11T21:20:00.006-04:00

Collage by Lani

"Creativity takes courage..." - Henri Matisse

I'm working on some new art challenges, trying to find artful ways to be here now (more often), to create the recuperative flow state that is so essential to art and life, and of course ways to create art retreats for my inner artist. I'm liking what I'm reading in the realm of developmental psychology as well as positive psychology and of course neuroscience. Blend those three fields with a lot of art making and you have some major restorative "be here now" activities.

So I was looking at the Greater Good Magazine (WINTER 2009 Volume V, Issue 3) and I came across this article which I include here as it's short and to which I added live links to the various researchers mentioned because I had some real coffee this morning and it seemed like a great idea!:

Everyday Art
Christine Carter reveals six steps for boosting kids' creativity.

A lot of parents believe that their children are either born with artistic talent or they're not. But research suggests that artistic creativity, along with other kinds of creativity, is more of a skill than an inborn talent, and it's a skill parents can help their kids develop.

Many researchers believe we have fundamentally changed the experience of childhood in a way that impairs creative development. Toy and entertainment companies provide an endless stream of prefab characters, images, props, and plotlines that allow kids to put their imaginations to rest. Children no longer need to pretend a stick is a sword in a game or story they've imagined; they can play Star Wars with a readymade light-saber, in costumes designed for the specific role they're playing.

But researchers have also identified steps we can take to help kids tap into their own creative potential. Drawing on that research, here are some ideas for fostering creativity in kids.

Provide the resources for creative expression. The key resource here is time. Kids need a lot of time for unstructured, child-directed, imaginative play—unencumbered by adult direction, and independent of a lot of commercial stuff. Research by Kathy Hirsch-Pasek of Temple University, among others, has found that children attending academic preschools show no advantage in reading or math achievement over kids who go to play-based preschools. But they do tend to have higher levels of test anxiety, exhibit less creativity, and have more negative attitudes toward school.

Look for resources that help kids create but that don't tell them what to create. I've been amazed by some of the things my kids do with art supplies, cheap cameras, old costumes, and building materials.
Make your home a Petri dish for creativity. At dinnertime, for example, brainstorm activities for the upcoming weekend, encouraging the kids to come up with things they've never done before. Resist pointing out which ideas aren't possible, or deciding which ideas are best. The focus of creative activities should be on the process—generating (vs. evaluating) new ideas.

Another way to nurture a creative atmosphere at home is to encourage kids to take risks, make mistakes, and fail. Yes, fail: In her book Mindset, Stanford researcher Carol Dweck shows that kids who are afraid of failure and judgment will curb their own creative thought. Share the mistakes you've made recently, so they get the idea that it's okay to flub up.
Allow kids the freedom and autonomy to explore their ideas. For me, this means not always being so bossy! External constraints—making kids color within the lines, so to speak—can reduce creativity in thinking. In one study, when researchers first showed kids how to make a plane or truck with Legos, kids showed less creativity in their own building than when they were just let loose to make whatever they wanted with the same Lego set.
Encourage kids to read for pleasure and participate in the arts, rather than watch TV. Studies by children's health researcher Dimitri Christakis have found that TV viewing before the age of three can harm kids' language development and attention spans later in life. Studies by Dutch researcher T.H. van der Voort suggest that watching TV might reduce kids' creative imagination, and violent TV shows are associated with a decrease in kids' fantasy play and an increase in aggressiveness. Less screen time means more time for creative activities, like rehearsing a play, learning to draw, or reading every book by a favorite author.
Resist the temptation to reward kids for their creativity. A study led by child development researcher Melissa Groves has found that incentives interfere with the creative process, reducing the flexibility of children's thinking.

Instead of trying to motivate kids with rewards and incentives, we parents sometimes need to back off so that kids can work on the creative activities that they're intrinsically motivated to do. Instead of rewarding a child for practicing the piano, for example, we can encourage her to do something she enjoys more—maybe draw at the kitchen table or dance around the living room.

Try to stop caring what your kids achieve. I think this is one of the greatest challenges we parents face in today's ultra-competitive world. But Dweck's research is very clear that kids gain confidence from an emphasis on process rather than product. This can be hard advice to follow when our kids come home from school with just the end product of an art project. But whether they're working at home or at school, we can emphasize the creative process by asking questions: Are you finished? What did you like about that activity? Did you have fun?

Perhaps most importantly, research shows that fostering creativity in our kids will help them with more than art: Creativity is essential to science, math, and even emotional intelligence. Creative people are more flexible and more successful problem solvers, making them better poised to take advantage of new opportunities. So when we nurture the artistic lives of our children, we give them the tools they need to thrive in our rapidly changing world.

Christine Carter, Ph.D., is the executive director of the Greater Good Science Center. For more parenting tips, visit her blog, Half Full, at www.GreaterGoodParents.org.

Now what would all this have to do with me, you might ask, who's kids are all the four legged type. Well, I'm thinking that what is good for helping your children develop and their creative skills must be good for me developing and encouraging my creative skills. So here's what I propose to provide myself:
1. More resources for creative expression, like time! Have I given myself 20 - 23 min. of creative time today? I will be sure to take workshops that give me creative tools, but that don't tell me what to create. (Excellent!)
2. I will make my home a creative Petri dish and try brainstorming more often. Use my Mondo Beyond skills here, write wildly creative, marvelous wish lists, the wilder the better.

3. I will allow myself freedom and creativity in my work, and try not to boss myself too much with should's and ought-to's. (Even thinking about this makes me smile!)
4. No TV. That one is pretty easy since we have no cable and no reception!
5. I'll do more of the things that have intrinsic rewards for me, the things I love to do!
6. I will focus more on the process and less on the product. I will ask myself if I'm "having fun yet" more often!

There, that's a very short, satisfying, creative and doable to-do list! Just reading it over feels nurturing of the creative process, and best thing about that is when we nurture our artistic lives, we are give ourselves the tools we need to thrive in our rapidly changing world.

What I like about Clarissa Pinkola Estés...

2009-11-10T16:23:00.010-04:00

Morning Pages Collage

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." ~ Christopher to Pooh, A.A.Milne

Listening to another installment of Clarissa Pinkola Estés' story-telling event over at Sounds True, around the virtual camp fire, there is so much to think about. First of all it's lovely to have this virtual camp fire, it feels so accepting and warm. Clarissa has a way of creating a space in which we can be comfortable with ourselves and with our virtual friends around this campfire.

But she also describes quite clearly how easy it is to create the opposite sort of feeling, when people start to feel wrong and alienated, when we feel at odds within our family or the dominant culture. She told us a story about a childhood event where she saw a vision of a beautiful lady that made her feel so good she wanted to wade through the waves of Lake Michigan to be with her. Although it really sounded like it must have been a lovely vision, at some point she was in a bit of danger. Her family had a very stern reaction, understandably. They were probably frightened to see their child wading in the freezing water in midwinter. They told her there was no beautiful lady, that she was dreaming and that she should forget about it. Of course she didn't forget, she still cherishes the memory, and part of her memory is of being made to feel wrong within her family. (I'm thinking there must be other ways to tell children that we just want them to be safe and stay with us for a while longer, without making them feel that their dreams, visions, and selves are wrong.)

So that's what I like about Clarissa Pinkola Estés, how she creates an inclusive environment where many points of view are welcome, including my own. After all if you are sitting around a camp fire, is there only one direction from which to view the fire? Is there only one point of view? Last I checked on the world population we are creeping up to 7 billion, so I figure 7 billion points of view around the campfire. Why should my point of view be any more or less right than any other point of view?

Campfire collage by Lani

Decoration: Offering

2009-11-02T11:18:00.005-04:00

Decoration: Offering

So here's Diane Cook's and my response to Susan Tuttle's and Chrysti Hydek's prompt {Echo} Decoration. Diane's is the left side, a picture taken in Santa Fe, N.M. layered with offering candles taken in the Loreto Chapel. Layered with texture from les brumes. Don't you love it?

Mine is Ganesha (on the right) dancing. At first I was stumped with "decoration". My house (like Chrysti's) can be a bit of a disaster, mostly with my little disheveled zoo dominating (2 cats, 2 largish dogs). Not too many froo froo decorations survive here, I can tell you.

But then I thought of the use of decoration in spiritual practices in my Asian background, decoration as offering to the spirits, gods, or that which is greater than us. I looked around my house for that kind of thing and sure enough, larger than life, there's plenty of decoration as offering. So Ganesha dances happily with his flowers and squash.

How would your "decoration: offering" look?

Simple Book Structure Instruction and Inspiration

2009-11-01T08:56:00.006-04:00

Collage by Lani

I got an email question this past week about making simple book structures for art therapists and art educators, so here's my list of favorite instructional videos and inspiring artists.

Top of my list is Teesha Moore who even runs an Art Journaling Retreat out on the left coast. (Wow, would I ever love to attend!) Her blog will be featuring more videos now, because she's purchased a video camera! I can't wait.
http://teeshascircus.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-16-page-journal.html

I've also uploaded the entire series onto the 14 Secrets Blog so head on over there if you would like to see them in order.

Here's Samantha Kira's Easy-Peasy Journal part one and two. These are really easy to follow instructions. Very nice, simple and cheap. I followed these directions with dollar store items (Under $5).

And here's Rice Freeman-Zachery's easy Kinko solution to creating an art journal. She's a little manic here, but her ideas are great.

And here's Suzi Blu altering a child's board book.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T17:22:00.002-03:00

A cat may kiss a pumpkin on Halloween.
Hope your treats were lovely.

More marvelous art mischief here.

2009-10-28T16:02:00.006-03:00

Emerge: Now

So here's a little mischief of an artistic and harmless variety which my friend Diane Cook invited me to participate in. Our splendid Visual Poetry teacher, Susan Tuttle, and her likewise talented friend, Chrysti Hydek, have begun a collaborative art challenge for each other which they then opened up for all of us (do take a look). They are creating bi-weekly prompts (every other Wednesday) like this first one that you can see here. Visit Chrysti's blog to see their second.

So here's how it worked, Diane sent me "Emerge: Beyond" to which I contributed the hanging squash and squash blossom, and I sent her "Emerge: Now" to which she contributed the spider web.

I love this. I can't wait to see the second prompt and what everyone comes up with! Visit Susan and Chrysti's blogs and see who else is playing and get inspired. (Emerge Now!)

Your existence gives me hope... Inspiration and Links

2009-10-26T09:30:00.009-03:00

Collage by Lani, with elements from Gale Blair's Paper Whimsy

Positive psychologists suggest that if we are feeling slightly blue, that we should think of 3 good things. This may sound a bit like poor Pollyanna (the most misunderstood heroine of our culture) but the rational is that our minds often get locked into very negative cycles and we need to take drastic measures to unlock them. So thinking about, listing, or naming 3 good things is one way to unlock our minds. Now I'm not particularly blue but I have to admit I'm not feeling particularly jazzed up about the darkening days, impending snow and ice, and cold winds that are beginning to blow through Nova Scotia. So I thought it would be a good idea to practice a little bit of positive psychology and let you know about 3 good things that you can enjoy as well!

My first good thing is Gale Blair's blog. Gale owns Paper Whimsy, the most amazing source of collage material, but on her blog you will find blog challenges! She provides a photographic element for you to play with and then you post the results on your own blog. The above image is for her blog challenge. I'm filled with a sense of hope and joy when I look at it. Positive psychology at work here!

My second good thing is Clarissa Pinkola Estés who is being inspiring in a very hopeful way just lately. Over at Sounds True, she's giving an on-line workshop, a kind of story-telling event which is unfolding around a virtual camp fire on Wednesday evenings. Lovely! Have you ever felt that as an artist you are often at odds with the dominant culture, that many of the values held by the dominant culture seem slightly irrelevant and even mind numbing? Well Clarissa Pinkola Estés has many words of comfort and encouragement. She believes that cultures need their artists to be there at the edge exploring new ideas and new ways of doing things, that without us doing just that, the culture will die. We shouldn't feel alone though, she suggests, because we actually belong to a very large tribe. (I imagine our culture as being a bit like an amoeba with us artists play at the edges. Being at the forefront like that we are unable to get a proper sense of the numbers in our tribe.) Well, sitting around this virtual camp fire at Sounds True on Wednesday nights has certainly made me very glad to be a part of this exciting and creative tribe!

My third good thing is the Mixed Media Art group, another great source for art challenges! I was a part of the Scavenger Hunt Challenge, we sent and received little bits of found stuff, and we were to find our own bits as well. The final piece came together seemingly all by itself. Here it is, Rust and Lace.

Rust and Lace mixed media piece by Lani shot as the sun set in Prospect, Nova Scotia.

Friendship & Art

2009-10-25T10:16:00.003-03:00

Collage by Lani

"To the soul, there is hardly anything more healing than friendship." ~ Thomas Moore

Unless it's art! Try combining the two and see what happens. Create a yahoo group for your art making buddies or join one of the many art exchange groups available on the internet! There's a lot of healing going on out there!

Manipulating layers of images and emotions

2009-10-15T21:04:00.005-03:00

Digital collage of child in Prospect with Susan Tuttle's visual manipulation techniques.

Wow, what an inspiring class this "Visual Poetry" class has been! Only 4 weeks and it really goes quickly. Probably because Susan Tuttle is teaching so much and the things she is teaching can be layered and played with in the most fascinating ways. I am really sorry the class is finished. (Don't worry, she's running the course again. Registration will begin Sunday, October 25th, 7 PM EST. Sign up or find information here.)

Edward's straw flowers (grown in our garden) with Susan Tuttle's visual manipulation techniques.

I think the layering really resonates with me. It seems to resemble layered images and stories that fill our lives and memories. Why not play with them? If photoshop is visual manipulation to create art, why not create a parallel process with memories, emotions, and stories, manipulating and playing with them until you have a happy artful life?

One of the links I've been looking at for this idea of life manipulation is the UrbanMonk.Net website. The Oct. 10 posting is wonderful. I've always wondered why it is we can get so hooked into negative feelings about others against our own will and certainly against our better judgment. The urban monk has discovered the reason. There was a man who took up a lot of his mental space, he thought, because the man had persuaded him to do some free design work for him, and then proceeded to criticize him in a verbally abusive manner for this free work that had taken hours to do. The urban monk hated this man, constantly relived the abuse, and fantasized about revenge.

But he felt it made no sense. Others had done worse, and yet he was not stuck in this way by them. Why did he get stuck in his hatred for this man? After a lot of work over several years the urban monk was feeling a little relief, but still there were a lot of negative feelings remaining. The actual answer to the mystery was quite simple. He felt his hatred was actually inauthentic – the real hatred he had felt for this man had been healed a long time ago; what remained was a cover for a layer of hidden feelings underneath.

What the monk really had to heal was his own feeling of worthlessness. These thoughts had actually come into his head, but he found them too painful so he projected them onto the abusive man and proceeded to keep the hatred alive so that he wouldn't see that the feelings were coming from within himself. Brilliant! The trouble with this is that we become imprisoned in our negative feelings, we are trapped, unable to release the real feelings because we can't see them for all the bluster of the false,projected, negative feelings.

The urban monk has some good suggestions for further reading, and for my part, I'm going to play with some metaphoric layered photoshop imagery and see if I can't turn this idea into art.

Week 4, Lesson 2 Portrait with added layers for texture. ( Susan Tuttle provided the flower layer)

A heads-up for all you photographers/artists/photoshoppers.

2009-10-09T15:49:00.007-03:00

Collage by Lani

Just to let you all know that Susan Tuttle is almost ready to offer "Workshop 1: Digital Photomanipulation" again. The four week class will be held from November 1st through November 29th. Registration will begin Sunday, October 25th, 7 PM EST. Spots are limited, so be sure to register promptly at that time. It is an amazing course, "Visual Poetry" is a great name for it, but it's so much more than visual poetry. It's filled with visual delights, wonderful gifts and magical learnings! I've had such a wonderful time learning a whole new "language" and I think you would enjoy it too! Do take a look at our class photos in the flickr group here and sign up soon.

Collage by Lani

If the road is uncertain...

2009-10-04T21:13:00.006-03:00

Collage by Lani

If the road is uncertain and difficult, remember to bring art supplies and your friends! My friend Diane sent me a quote from the wonderful New York Times article April 21, 2009 on the importance of friendship. Although most of the article was about how friendship actually helps us live longer, more healthy lives, it was the very end of the article that caught my eye.

Last year, researchers studied 34 students at the University of Virginia, taking them to the base of a steep hill and fitting them with a weighted backpack. They were then asked to estimate the steepness of the hill. Some participants stood next to friends during the exercise, while others were alone.

The students who stood with friends gave lower estimates of the steepness of the hill. And the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.

“People with stronger friendship networks feel like there is someone they can turn to,” said Karen A. Roberto, director of the center for gerontology at Virginia Tech. “Friendship is an undervalued resource. The consistent message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”

This idea about friendship making the "steepness of the hill" easier to bear is a wonderful idea. And the best part about this is that being a good friend has nothing to do with our social status, our education, or our abilities. We can all be good friends to each other, and make those uncertain and difficult roads a little easier. So over at 14 Secrets we're playing with an idea of an art swap based on this research but mean while we're playing with these questions:
1. What would you share with friends to make their climb easier?
2. What would you like folks to know about things you enjoy that would make YOUR climb easier?
For some of our answers please check our blog. The difficult journey has miraculously turned into a colorful celebration of the traveling band of gypsy artists! What a wonderful group of friends!

Collage by Lani

Altered art, altered emotion

2009-09-29T21:15:00.011-03:00

Today's images are from Susan Tuttle's amazing course "Visual Poetry" .

Carol sent me a link for Kathryn Antyr's wonderful website and an art prompt found there. This prompt really got me thinking. It is about how we can get what ever stressful emotions that might be bottled up inside and put them into our journals or in this case, into some altered bottles. Kathryn gives Sharon Soneff credit for this idea which she found in "Art Journals and Creative Healing - Restoring the Spirit through Self-Expression." Since it's all about altering things I would like to alter this prompt a bit. I created my altered glass bottles with interesting labels like various emotions, dreams, hopes, wishes. And I left the tops off, that way I can place what ever I like into the bottle and forget about it. For me, it's a better idea metaphorically if if I am working with and trying to release troubling emotion to not re-bottle it. There's folk wisdom that I tend to agree with, "What we resist persists" so I'll keep my altered bottles free of any corks or tops. Turning a difficult emotion into a work of art (altered or otherwise) which I actually like, may be what I would aim for in response to this prompt. Do you want an example? See below.

Vintage image altered by Lani

I may have been feeling a little worried about something when I selected this photo to play with and by the time I was finished with my alterations I was very happy with the image AND in a completely different mood.

Trying new words and new ideas!

2009-09-25T11:48:00.003-03:00

Collage by Lani

Working in my friend Cyn's "Wreck This Journal" for an RR I'm participating in and I found this amazing sentence. "Dark times call for new words and ideas to bring the colors back into the day." So true! There's nothing quite like learning something new, trying one new thing every day to help us bring color back into our lives.
Today's images are from Susan Tuttle's amazing course "Visual Poetry" and what a delight that is, learning so many new words and ideas!
This shot was into the sun with marbles in an antique glass bottle. I love this but I have to admit I didn't think of it all by myself. I got the inspiration from Azirca's blog. Thank you Azirca!

And finally we have some sweet peas from Edward's garden with some of the "Visual Poetry" treatment. Such fun. It really is hard to keep a grumpy mood going if you are learning something new! Try it out for yourself and let me know what happens.

Touching Serenity

2009-09-20T08:25:00.003-03:00

Collage by Lani

I stumbled on a website, Goodlife Zen, full of wonderful directives for increasing positive brain activity and the potential for being here now (why is it so much easier to live in the past and future?). Here's one example and it fits so nicely with my previous wishcasting post.

There is a way to escape this negative spiral of emotions.

The simple action I’ll describe in a moment is the physical expression of loving-kindness meditation. This is a kind of meditation where we turn loving and kind thoughts towards ourselves. When we are wound-up and blame ourselves for not performing well enough, we need to break this negative cycle of emotions through being kind to ourselves.

A simple touch can return us to serenity

What I’m going to show you is a powerful technique. It means touching the heart with the hand of love. You will notice a change when you do it. But it’s not going to make you serene for ever, just by trying it once! The tension in your mind and body is apt to reoccur. However, if you use this loving touch regularly, you will be able to prevent a build-up of stress in the future.

Touch the heart with the hand of love

Here is a beautiful and very simple way to find serenity.

Step #1 Take one deep breath and notice it flowing in and out.
Step #2 Take your right hand and place it gently– in slow motion and with warm awareness – on your heart area.
Step #3 Leave it resting there lightly for a couple of complete breaths and notice then changes in your body and mind

What your hand is saying to you is, “It’s all right. I love you all the same.”

When your hand comes to rest, you may notice that you spontaneously take a deep breath. Leave your hand on your chest for a while and notice your breathing deepen, your shoulders relax, and your face soften.

Repeat this magic action as often as possible

We cannot get too much of loving-kindness. All of us are in need of it. And we ourselves are often the ones who are our harshest critics and withhold our self love. When you touch the heart with the hand of love, your soul unfolds and your whole being lightens up.

How do you wish to stretch?

2009-09-16T17:15:00.001-03:00

Collage by Lani (vintage image from Paperwhimsy)

Over on Jamie Ridler's Studio, the wishcasting question is "How do you wish to stretch?" and I'd have to answer that I wish to stretch my heart. Being kind and nice to folks who are kind and nice to me is easy. What I'd like to be able to do more easily is to stretch my heart to include everyone, no matter if they are kindhearted themselves or not. That would be quite a good stretch, I think!

Wonderful workshops in Ohio!

2009-09-16T15:47:00.003-03:00

I'm back from the latest road trip. This one was to Ohio where I met up with my co-presenter and best buddy, Susan Anand. The BATA Symposium was a treat! Susan and I got to play and share what we think is a fun, non intrusive, culturally sensitive methodology AND we got to visit with Kim and Julie and all those lovely dogs. 7 indoor dogs! 2 of them are Great Danes and one is a Saint Bernard. These are big dogs! (Really!!!!!)

One of the things we were talking about was how easy it is to create a somewhat animated video for YouTube, so the fairy tale above is just such an example. Not perfect, not polished, but lots of fun. Paper puppets, Photoshop, and iMovie were all that I used. I'm going to try a simpler one on Slide.

A Dog's Vacation

2009-08-31T07:50:00.003-03:00

It's that time of year again where Bruzzi and Prospero get to go to Cape Breton with us. We'll be having a great time but we'll be away from all computers until next weekend. Remember next week is the beginning of the online courses which you can read about here and if you'd like a discount you can go here. And remember to dream big!

Do you know about the Mondo Beyondo Class?

2009-08-29T18:22:00.006-03:00

Collage by Lani

Two of my favorite bloggers, Andrea Scher and Jen Lemen, are running an amazing online class about DREAMING BIG called Mondo Beyondo. It's a five week class all about helping us take our dreams from the realm of wishing into real life. Most excellent. It gets a lot of creative juices flowing.

So one of the assignments was to create a mondo beyondo list and then post it somewhere. OK. Here's my big dream list: 1. Feel, experience perfect freedom more often. 2. Take walks on my own more often. 3. Have my own thoughts more often. 4. Write and draw outside the lines more often. 5. Be here now more often. 6. Let go of resistance more often. 7. Walk out into this beautiful morning and know it is yours. 8.
Do not be concerned with bad moods of others. 9. Let others be who they are (esp. hubby, hee hee). 10. Feel a "who cares" attitude more often. 11. Create a beautiful zine about Being Here Now. 12. Don't worry about envy. 13. Be free of envy. 14. Ride the waves in life, don't fight them. 15. Talk to a surfer about their experiences. 16. Create a Mondo Beyondo life and remember the love and freedom that you already are!

It seems to me that this list is all about freedom! I am fascinated by the flow state and the sense of freedom that comes with that feeling. So I will take Sabrina Ward Harrison's advice and make what I most need to find. I will work on art and art directives that are related to this mondo beyondo list!

Have you ever noticed the huge byproduct of researching or putting your attention on a particular feeling? You begin to feel that thing more often. In my experience it begins to grow exponentially. When I worked on The Artist's Healing Journey, I began to feel stronger, more whole because I was researching and using art to create wholeness. When I worked on the Artist's Happiness Challenge, I began to feel happier. I was researching, observing and thinking about happiness. And when I worked on Resilience, Art, and Transformation, again, I began to feel more resilient! Well then, I will begin to work on freedom today!

Thank you Jen, Andrea, and Sabrina!

Do you want to read another perspective on Mondo Beyondo? Try Kelly Rae Roberts' response to this wonderful class! You will find it on her blog.

Also as a post script, if you ever thought of creating a great get away, retreat for your friends, then check her post "If your soul is calling, listen." And dream big!

"Create Freedom" collage by Lani

An interview with Frank McCourt

2009-08-29T11:41:00.007-03:00

Collage by Lani

Around the time that Frank McCourt died, CBC radio replayed a wonderful interview with some great quotes about childhood and poverty that I thought were worth repeating here. So I requested that they replay it, and amazingly they let me introduce this podcast. Fun!
Here are the quotes about Frank McCourt's childhood which I found most interesting and inspiring.

You dream constantly...
We were constantly dreaming...
We were always excited. We played in the streets. Our cheeks were flushed all the time. We were ragged, our shoes were broken, but we were always out creating our day, playing in the streets, climbing walls... I thought God put walls there for me to climb. I never saw a wall that I didn't want to climb...
When twilight came and the mothers started calling us home, we didn't want to go. We were so excited. ...Our lives were our own creation. Nothing came between us and our lives, no TV, nobody else's music, we sang our own songs, we danced our own dances, we had our own adventures. So that was genuine stuff.

I think we can live our lives this way! We can dream and be excited! We can play when ever we want. We can create our own days and we can certainly climb walls, challenges, and barriers! We don't have to have anything come between us and our lives. Our lives can be "the genuine stuff"! Hooray!

Wishcasting Wednesday

2009-08-26T11:00:00.000-03:00

Collage by Lani

Jamie's wishcasting question today is "What do you wish to acknowledge yourself for?" I think what I tend to not give myself credit for (and I doubt I'm alone in this) is my own creative ability and my own resilience. I think if I could acknowledge this a little more often it would do no harm. In fact I might even feel more creative and resilient if did! So that's my wish!

The countdown begins...

2009-08-24T11:05:00.002-03:00

Collage by Lani

New on-line courses start in two weeks. Whether you are looking to increase your happiness quotient, strengthen your resilience strategies, or create a healing journey metaphor, there are e-courses waiting for you. You can read about them here or go straight to the blog reader's discount here. Sept. 7 is the big day!

Hurricane Bill Update

2009-08-23T09:44:00.005-03:00

Looking down on the harbor from an upstairs window, during our little hurricane.

Thankfully it passed with out too much damage. I didn't even get to do art by candlelight! I was sure we'd loose power for days.
And here's a soggy mop, Prospero, after our walk yesterday morning. Today we are all dry, happy, and picking up all the sea weed and stray plastic bottles.

Some amazing book arts links!

2009-08-21T10:57:00.004-03:00

Morning pages collage

Want some major book arts fun and inspiration all for free!??! Go immediately to Teesha Moore's website and check out the Art Journal Fest. It won't cost you a thing to look and you will find amazing ideas, book structures, and wonderful artists!
So here are my favorites:
Traci Bunker's Prepared Journal where you learn to create and art journal or an artist's book from a regular print book. Traci uses "glue books" as her jumping off point.
Ingrid Dijikers's Over the Edge encourages us to use shaped pages in our art journals.
Daniel Elessig's Exquisite Corpse Mica Book which uses the surrealists' playful ideas in a book structure with mica!
From this Art Journal Fest website you can wander off to all your favorite teacher's own websites which of course is very inspiring.
Have fun!
Also check out the travel journal here! It is gorgeous!

Wishcasting Wednesday

2009-08-19T11:29:00.002-03:00

"Who is the 'you' you wish to be?" Collage by Lani

It's Wishcasting Wednesday again over at Jamie Ridler's website, and what a handsome website it is!!! These wishes are a lot of fun, I have to say! So this week the wish is "Who is the 'you' you wish to be?" And I thought about this quite a lot. As a kid I leaned towards who I was becoming and may have missed who I was. Then at a certain point in the human life cycle I started leaning away from who I was becoming and in doing that I am again missing who I am. I think the answer (for me) is I wish to just experience who I am in this moment without leaning towards or away from the future.

Sandra Everston's "The Last Picture Show"

2009-08-17T07:57:00.004-03:00

Collage by Lani

The new Artful Blogging has a very intriguing article, Sandra Evertson's story about the images that she found "inside" her vintage cameras (The Last Picture Show). Trying to recreate this is really a lot of fun. See what you think and let me know how it works for you!