The Savor Project – Week 24

And here’s the spread for week twenty-four. This is the second week from being at home:

here’s a closer up of the left side:

The first story here is about the joy of watching my whole family laugh together. Then one about my sister and her kids and then the wonderful drivers.

And here’s the right side:

The first one here is about the doggie that visited us every morning at breakfast. The second one was about the help of ipads during vacation. And then the last one about the four cousins together.

Since I didn’t have art as usual, I put some photos I love on the bottom.

This was the end of album one for me so I used the last page to save ephemera from the barmitzvah and the trip:

here are some closeups:

So there we go, album one done. So far, so good. Still enjoying this project a lot.

Happy Savoring.

The Savor Project was supposed to be a weekly project for 2012. You can read about my setup here.

June 27, 2012 | The Savor Project | 2 comments

A Book a Week – The Descendants

I have a rule about reading the book before I watch the movie so when I saw the previews for The Descendants I knew I had to read the book first. Especially since it got good reviews.

And I am so glad I did.

It was a fast read but also a great read. A rare combination in my opinion. I loved the characters and the story. Now I can’t wait to actually see the movie. I hope it won’t disappoint after such a lovely book.

I am looking forward to reading more of this author.

June 27, 2012 | Books Read in 2012, Literature | 2 comments

Daily Sketching – Week 63

Here are the sketches from last week:

Sunday:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

that’s it for this week.

Daily Sketching is a weekly project for 2012. You can see a detailed post on my steps here.

June 26, 2012 | Sketching, Watercolor | Leave a comment

Abundance of Ideas

I was thinking about abundance and sharing this morning as I ran on the treadmill. I was watching one of Donna Downey’s Inspiration Wednesday videos and thinking about how some people worry about sharing tips/tricks or thoughts or ideas freely for fear that you will give your best ideas away and you won’t have any more.

But that’s the thing with ideas: there’s so much more where they came from and the best way to generate more is to use up the ones you have.

Sometimes, when we hold on to them, they become so precious. It almost paralyzes us with fear that it’s the one and only good idea we will ever have. I find that the freedom you get from sharing many ideas freely is that no one idea becomes all you have. You get more ideas and then you realize you’re capable of generating endless ideas.

There’s a common saying in fiction that there’s no such thing as a new idea. And I think this is true. Most stories have already been told. What’s not been told is your unique perspective on life. Your way of seeing life. Your way of recounting events. Your way of processing emotions. Those are unique to you and can never be copied or taken away from you.

I know I don’t make my living from creating art so I respect others might have different opinions, but my recommendations is to not fear putting your ideas out there. I feel like sharing creates abundance. It feeds a part of your soul that puts seeds of new ideas down inside you. At least that’s what I found to be true for me.

And I also appreciate it when others share their ideas, creativity, way of seeing the world with me. I took several of Donna’s Pan Pastel classes because of the free inspiration Wednesday videos. I knew her style of teaching and doing art would speak to me and I might not have taken them had I not seen her style for free first. Same for Christy. I took her classes cause I’d seen her free videos and liked them.

Just like in everything, there’s a balance to be reached here, too. If you’re hoping to have income from your art, you don’t share everything for free, of course. But you also don’t have to be super-secretive. You don’t have to think that if you give a bit for free, people will never pay for the rest.

And you don’t have to worry that you only have one good idea. If you use that up, you will see that you have more. Sit down to do art and they will come to you. Open up to the world and start a dialogue and more will come to you. Look around for what truly inspires you in the world and more ideas will come. Connect with others and more ideas will come.

Soon you will have an abundance of ideas only because you were brave enough to let the one precious one go.

June 25, 2012 | Art/Craft, Thoughts | 5 comments

Mama’s Little Sweet and Happy Boy, You are so so cute

This is a layout I made for My Mind’s Eye for May.

And the journaling says:
I took these photos while I was working and you were playing next to me. When you felt that I was taking photos you smirked but didn’t look up. And then I called your name and uoi couldn’t help it. You broke into a full on smile. And then laughter. It was so special that it made me laugh right along with you. Nathaniel your happy spirit is so contagious and you are the light of my days. Than kyou my son, I love you.

details:

June 25, 2012 | Layouts, My Mind's Eye, Scrapbooking | One comment

Letters with Nathaniel – K

As I mentioned, I plan to keep this project simple and fun for both of us. So, I did the same thing with this letter as I did for letter A and all the others. I cut them all up and then, Nathaniel and I glued them down together to create this simple page:

Like each time, we talked about each of the words and then differentiated between capitals and lowercase. Then we colored all the letters.

Here he is gluing:

and coloring

Yey! Nathaniel is still loving this project!

Letters with Nathaniel is a weekly project for 2012. You can read more about it here.

June 24, 2012 | Family, Letters with Nathaniel, Nathaniel | One comment

Weekly Diary – June 23 2012

Here are some snapshots from our week:

our weekend started with blowing bubbles.

both kids loved it.

and wanted to do it nonstop.

i took the opportunity to snap photos, of course.

love my boys.

nathaniel checking to make sure he’s smiling.

and his big brother

then the boys colored outside.

the next day we played with glowsticks in the bath, it was awesome!

and the next day it was water gun day.

nathaniel was having a blast.

david loved shooting him.

and he liked it too

can you tell?

i can’t get enough of this joy.

his school ended on friday so I snapped some photos of him with his teachers.

he wanted david there, too.

and he looked so serious.

then they played together for a bit at nathaniel’s school.

and fixed cars together

Friday morning, I took one last shot with all the teachers. We loved this school and will really miss the teachers.

and the family shots came out blurry this week, but I love them anyway!

and here we go. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here.

June 23, 2012 | Family, Weekly Diary 2012 | Leave a comment

Journey into Collage – Week 25

Page twenty-three:

I had this great idea for this week but it just didn’t work. Alas, I am going with it. I covered the background with trim. Added some Maya Road frames and some hearts and letters.

The quote says: Every moment counts.

Here are some more shots of it:

Journey into Collage is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here.

June 22, 2012 | Collage, Mixed Media | 6 comments

Art Journaling – Arches Printmaking Set 8

Here are some more pages I did:

The full text reads: do not be scared of the rain, go out and splash in the puddles, live life with abandon.

This girl is my version of: this pin

And here’s the next page:

The full text reads: give up that there’s something wrong.

Well here we go. More coming next week.

I am creating multiple art journaling pages a week for now. You can read more about this project here. This set uses the Fabriano Roma papers.

June 21, 2012 | Art, Mixed Media, Weekly Art Journal | 4 comments

Remembering the Good

A few weeks ago, I was reflecting back upon my life and the different milestones I’ve been through. I did this exercise for Brave Girls’ Soul Restoration class about 18 months ago. I remember it was quite profound and eye-opening then. What I realized recently is that, even though I tend to worry a lot in the present and about the future, I seem to look at the past and mostly remember the good.

I don’t mean far into the past, I still have some rough childhood memories that are bright in my memory. But for anything that happened in the last twenty years, when I look back, none of them seem so bad. I feel like I’ve had a relatively smooth, uninterrupted life. Not just in the big ways (but definitely those too) but in so many little ways too.

I remember most of my life fondly. I feel like each phase served its purpose. I look back upon our years in NYC and remember the trips to Central Park. The library that was so awesome. The cherry blossoms outside our apartment. The movie theater and Borders that were one avenue away. And the bagel store a few blocks down where we spent a lot of Sunday mornings.

I don’t remember the super long and stressful work hours though I know they were there. I don’t remember the frustration with my managers though those were there too. Nor do I remember the endless fights with Jake (especially at the beginning of living together) but I do remember some special anniversary celebrations.

Maybe because there wasn’t one big, bad thing to point at, I just seem to remember it all as a good chapter of my life. The good stuff sticks out more in my memory.

Same goes for Japan, the cross country trip, and San Diego. Even TFA, which was an exceptionally rough time in my life. I just remember so many good moments from all these experiences. Enough to put a smile on my face.

I am not sure why it is that I can look back with no regret and no sorrow but I can’t live this moment with less anxiety and worry. I wonder howcome the two aren’t linked. How come I can be optimistic and pessimistic.

It also made me think a lot about now. And how when I look back upon now, all my struggles will fade away and I’ll remember the good moments of getting to be home with the kids and getting to sit on my couch, etc. So I am going to remember that more when I stress. Remind myself to see the good right now. Those Kodak moments that will stick in my brain. I will pause to pay attention to them now.

And maybe this process will make me more optimistic in the now. Maybe it will help quiet down the worries in my head.

Seems worth a try.

June 20, 2012 | Personal, Thoughts | One comment

The Savor Project – Week 23

And here’s the spread for week twenty-three. This is the first week from being at home:

here’s a closer up of the left side:

The first story here is about david’s last day of school and his teachers. The next one is about the bliss of watching them be blissful.

And here’s the right side:

The first one here is about my sister’s husband and how much he played with the kids, especially Nathaniel. And then one about all of us being together.

Since I didn’t have art as usual, I put some photos I love.

So there we go. So far, so good. Still enjoying this project a lot.

Happy Savoring.

The Savor Project was supposed to be a weekly project for 2012. You can read about my setup here.

June 20, 2012 | The Savor Project | 3 comments

A Book a Week – The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet was another book club pick. I’ve read David Mitchell before and I loved him so I was open minded and happy to read this book.

And even though it’s considerably different from his usual style, this was a great book. I’ll admit that I listened to it and did art at the same time and if I’d just read it, it might have felt a bit dry in places.

But the story and the characters were marvelous. Even though I found it to be a bit sad, it wasn’t over the top and it was truly a marvelous read.

If you like historical fiction, I recommend it.

June 20, 2012 | Books Read in 2012, Literature | Leave a comment

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