Welcome to the Chinese New Year: Resolutions vs. Mantras

January is almost over, and for many of us, that means our New Year's Resolutions have already cracked or broken under the pressure of everyday life.  
 

I'm taking solace in two things: 

First, Chinese New Year is January 31st, which means an opportunity to start fresh!  Hurray for the year of the yang wood horse!

Second, I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions. 
 

Instead of a list of resolutions, what I have for the new year is a mantra.  I did this in 2013 and it worked.  Really well.  According to Wikipedia, a mantra is a "group of words believed . . .to have psychological and spiritual power. . . The spiritual value of mantra comes when it is audible, visible or present in thought." I think of it as one step more powerful than an intention. 

My 2013 mantra? "I am enough. I have enough."  I wanted to shift that feeling that I needed to do more in order to be good enough.

I would say it to myself when I was falling asleep, standing in line, driving, or restless. And I would say it anytime I realized I was about to do (or had done) something out of insecurity. I never said it out loud, though you certainly could. Eventually, my thinking started to shift. Those words would just pop into my head when I hit an awkward situation: I started to believe the words at a deeper level and they began to impact my actions.  That mantra was a great tool not only for change.

This year, as I looked at things in my life that I wanted to shift, I thought about how much I let myself get distracted from what I'm actually good at - making stuff and helping other people make stuff.  Over the past few years, I've spent a lot of time on non-profit administration and advising entrepreneurs, among other things.  They were worthwhile tasks, and I was ok at doing them, but I wasn't great. I was doing them to make money, or to gain approval, or because I thought people needed me. 

The thing is, they weren't really mine to do.  I'm happiest, most productive, most energetic, most excited, when I'm doing what I'm really meant to do.  Making art, teaching art, facilitating creativity, exploring creativity and sharing those explorations with others. I know what work is mine to do, and I have solid skills that enable to do that work well.  And if I focus on it, all the other things I want come into line.  I've just had a really hard time trusting that, believing it on a gut level.

So the new mantra?  "I know my work. I own my skill."  It's my reminder to stay true to my own creative path.

If you've made a creative commitment to yourself for 2014 - be it to make more art, spend more time in the studio, learn a new technique, let go of perfectionism - having a mantra can help. 

What makes a good mantra?

• It's short. No more than 8 syllables. Cut out all the non-essentials.
  
• It's easy to remember, maybe even a bit poetic or rhythmic.  This is the hard part - I'm still tweaking my current mantra a bit. 

• You can say it during or around a single deep breath.  
• It's in the first person, or is a directive.  In other words, you're either saying what you are or you're telling yourself to do something. "Be Bold" and "I'm never in a rush" are both mantras that I've seen other people use successfully.
• It's a simple action or an attitude. In other words, reminds you of a way that you can be in the moment. It's not dependent on anyone else.
• It's something you're very close to believing or doing.   Maybe something you accept intellectually, but are having a hard time getting it at an emotional level or following through on in real life. 
• It's a reminder at decision time. Thinking about whether or not to fit in one last email before you rush out the door to get to that appointment? "I'm never in a rush." Trying to decide whether or not to apply to that art show? "Be Bold." 

 

Curious about the images?  They were all taken as I worked on the sample for "Make Your Mark!" a full-day workshop that's coming up right after the Chinese New Year. If you're interested in jump-starting your creative 2014, and in exploring personal imagery and your creative mantra, join me for "Make Your Mark!" February 2nd in Milwaukie, OR. 

Comparison, Criticism, and the Work We are Here to Do

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how easy it is to get distracted from our work.  Sure, I can get distracted walking from one room to another, but what I’m talking about runs deeper: I’m talking about getting distracted from who we are.

We’re all here to do our own unique work, to contribute our individual gift.  It can be hard to pin down exactly what that gift is and we might find the way it is expressed shifting as we move through time and our lives change.  Yet, our purpose is like a skeleton, giving us shape and supporting our every action. Even the word “backbone” has become synonymous with courage or will – the determination to do what we need to do.

As artists, we can get distracted from what is really ours to do when we fall prey to comparison or criticism.  This doesn’t mean that we never allow ourselves to be influenced by the work of others, nor does it mean that we never listen to honest feedback; both of these things can help us learn, grow, and become more skilled.  It means we need to stand solidly in who we are, and use that to help us decide what to take in and what to release.

When we compare our work to the work of others, there is an opportunity and a risk.  We risk dismissing the other person’s work as worthless and we risk idolizing the other’s work. By dismissing the other person and their work, we minimize what it is that they are here to do. We risk invalidating their perspective because it doesn’t match ours, because we are afraid that what they do might invalidate what we do.  By idolizing the other person’s work, we risk hiding our own gift as we try to make ourselves over in another’s image.  We risk invalidating our own work. Either way, we get distracted from what is ours to do.   

 "Comparison is an act of violence against the self." - Iyanla Vanzant

The opportunity of comparison lies more in simply looking at the work of other artists. We might discover something that we want to integrate into our own work or, we might discover the thing that makes our work uniquely ours.

Criticism can be another kind of comparison.  When done poorly, criticism can tear us down and judge us based on criteria and standards we never aspired to.  It can distract you from what is really yours to do.  When done well, it can lead us to ask new questions, build skills, and clarify our purpose.  The artists of the Impressionist movement were criticized for painting common subjects and using bold color; but the Impressionists were concerned with capturing a moment in time and studying the effects of light.  The Impressionists had completely different goals than the established art community. After being rejected by juried salons, they staged their own showings of their work and stayed true to their intentions. Yet, even among them, there was disagreement about what made a “good” painting.

The more afraid we are, the more unsure of what we want our own art to say, the easier it is for us to be distracted by comparison or criticism. Life is an exercise in discovering the work we are here to do, and then sticking to it. Comparing ourselves to others - who are here to do different work - is a distraction; learning from them is a gift.

DEMO! Blueprints on Fabric

I have always been a sucker for fabric.  And lately, I've been a big sucker for nature printing - making impressions from natural materials. Earlier in September at the annual Nature Printing Society workshop, I learned about a kind of fabric that makes it easy.  

It's called Blueprints on Fabric, and you can get it in squares or yardage from Dharma Trading.  It's a cotton fabric that's been treated with a light sensitive emulsion, and it comes in several colorways: dark green/light green, blue/white, blue/turquoise, dark green/golden yellow, and blue/magenta. It's easy to use, and I'm going to give you a quick tutorial right here - and show you samples of all the different colorways!

1.  Select your fabric and your objects.  The fabric looks weirdly gray when you pull it out of the package; don't worry.  The color will shift when it's exposed to light.  The areas that are covered will be the lighter, brighter color; the areas that are exposed to light will be the darker color.  What you get are silhouettes, so objects with interesting shapes work best. 

You can also use objects with semi-translucent areas - it's not predictable, but you can get some shading or color variations.  Objects that lie flat against the fabric work best.


Pressed leaves, cut shells, feathers and lace all work well.  Prepare a board slightly larger than the fabric you're working with.  One made from thick foam core works well - you can easily move it and you can stick pins in it if you need to secure lightweight leaves. 

2. Experiment with your design. You'll want to have it figured out before you open up the fabric.  Unless you have a darkroom, you'll need to work fast. 
  

3. Arrange your materials on your fabric.  Any time you have the material out of its package, you need to be careful about light exposure.  UV light is what develops the emulsion in the fabric, so you'll want to work with it as dark a room as possible.  When I can't get the room really dark, I work under heavy black trash bags.

4.  Make sure the objects aren't going to shift as you move them.  Heavier things like cut shells should be ok.  Leaves and feathers can be secured with straight pins (as can the corners of the fabrics), or can be secured under a piece of glass or acrylic.  Just make sure that the acrylic isn't treated to resist UV.

5. Now take it outside and expose it to sunlight for 10 minutes.  High, direct sun works best.  If it's overcast (or if you live in the Pacific Northwest, like I do), then leave it out for a bit longer. If sun is in short supply, you can also expose the fabric under a grow light.  

6.  After the time's up,  move the board inside and move the objects off quickly. You'll know it's done because you'll have crisp lines where the objects were.

7. Rinse out the emulsion.  This stops the developing.  Keep running it under the water until the colors look true. 

8. Dry the fabric - ironing works well.  Just don't let the iron rest too long in any one spot; you can end up with iron marks on the fabric.

And you're done! You can see the faint line where the acrylic was - if it covers the entire cloth, you won't get that line.  This fabric also spent a fair bit of time in a well-lit room during the photo shoot.  Because of this, it developed slightly in process, so the colors aren't as bright as they would be otherwise.  Even so, it still gives you an idea of what the blue/purple colorway looks like.

Here's a sample of the green/gold with ferns.

And the blue/white with feathers.

Once you start playing with the fabric, the possibilities are endless.  This is made using an image I printed on acetate.

A Little Sunshine in a Grumpy Day

I've been having a grumpy few days.  It's a long story, but much of the grump-inducing had to do with people doing things with my credit cards that I didn't like, followed by doing a very strict paleo program called the "Whole30."  No sugar. No artificial sweeteners. No alcohol.  No canola or safflower oil.  No foods I binge on. And that means no more Coconut Bliss Mint Galactica or Terra Taro Chips for awhile, folks.

So, I went into the kitchen this afternoon to work it off and deal with some of the produce that's been accumulating.  And I decided to try a recipe from the cookbook Well Fed via the Whole30 folks for a peanut-free, soy-free, sugar-free kind-of-but-not peanut sauce. 

It's called Sunshine Sauce, and it's amazing.

Brightened up my whole freakin' day.  I am smiling and dipping red bell pepper strips in the stuff as I write. You can find the original recipe here, on the Clothes Make the Girl blog, or follow the modified one that I used here:

Ingredients:
2 TBLS organic Sunbutter (made from sunflower seeds)
2 TBLS lime juice
1/2 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 TSP chili-garlic sauce
1 TSP coconut aminos
2 TSP coconut milk
Fresh grated ginger to taste
Water as needed

Directions:
Blend it all up, except for the water. If it's too thick, add some water and blend some more.  Then, drizzle over steamed spinach or broccoli or chicken breasts or heck, just eat it with a spoon.

And be happy.

ArtMaking on the Road

When you're trying to keep up a regular artmaking practice, travel can really put a crimp in your style! I do a lot of my work in encaustic, and it's a big challenge to try and take a griddle, torch, and wax if you're traveling - especially if you're flying.

But I want to make sure that I keep my artmaking muscles flexing, even when I'm on the road.  Here's the kit I usually take with me when I fly:  It includes pencils, eraser, sharpie pens, brushes with built-in water reservoirs, portable watercolors and a sketchbook. 

 

I only take scissors and an exacto knife if I have checked baggage (which is most of the time).   If I'm driving, I'll add gesso and encaustics, along with a collapsible water container and a wider selection of brushes.

Here's a collage I made in New York last year - one of the fun challenges I set myself is to only collage with things I can find for free.  In New York, I was attending a book conference and visiting museums, so the freebies were amazing!

 And here's one from an International Encaustic Artists' Conference in San Antonio last year.  All the collage materials were found for free, and I picked up some gesso along the way.

Here's a collage from my road trip through California earlier this summer -all made with stuff found in the Bay Area.

Later on during the trip, I copied it and reworked it with some paint.

Of course, even if you forget everything, you can still make really fun stuff.  I recently flew to the East Coast to see a friend and realized I had left all my art supplies at home! 

So, I picked up a glue stick and some copy paper (even grocery stores will have these basic supplies), and found an old fashion magazine in the laundry room of the place I was staying.  Even without scissors, I was able to piece some things together. 

So hey, no excuses!  Go make stuff - even on the go.