Lettergirl

And the winner is...

My blog has a new home.

Click here to read my new blog.

To be perfectly honest, I never look forward to drawing the name of a giveaway winner...because I want everyone to win!!  I appreciate the time it takes to leave a comment, and I'm grateful for all your kind words.  (And I've got a couple of other lists I want to share, so I'm thinking of making that a feature each week.)  The winner of the stamp is Amanda:

Very encouraging and inspiring!

My letter is m because My word is macaroni because it's my absolute favorite food. It's so reliable.

Amanda, please email me the names/address you'd like on your Amery stamp (and shipping information, if different):  lettergirl66{at}gmail{dot}com.  Thank you to everyone who entered!

A to Z.

Tomorrow I'll summarize the creative habits I've shared for my A to Z journal, and I'll have a giveaway to celebrate!

A to Z.

My creative habit:  My best work happens when I strike a balance between planning and serendipity.  When I started my A to Z book, I kept a little notebook for ideas (and added lots of scraps of paper when I didn't have the notebook handy).  I added things randomly, but also thought in terms of categories:  favorites, family, memories, nature, home.  And the book definitely didn't turn out the way I imagined it when I started, but I'm happy with where spontaneity took me.  Next week, I'll share my final A to Z page -- and a giveaway to celebrate!

A to Z.

My new creative habit:  Thanks to Amy at Spirit Out!, I have added a new creative habit to my toolbox.  Once a week (when I can), I like to have a mini-retreat.  I head down to the coffee shop with a notebook and pen (or sometimes a totebag full of notebooks and pens..and colored pencils), to do a little brainstorming.  Today's theme:  my upcoming 20th anniversary.  Woot woot!  But in addition to the usual fevered scribbling of ideas, I added a new layer:  I put the pen down, closed my eyes, and gave myself a few minutes to consider how I'm feeling about it.  (Really proud of myself for one, really grateful to my customers for another.) 

I'm excited about all the ways I could celebrate:  20 giveaways for 20 days?  one great big party?  I would love to hear your suggestions!

A to Z.

Not a lot to say with a U.  In fact, I couldn't even make up my mind about the quote for this page, so I left that for "later."

Yesterday, I had a conversation with Amy of Spirit Out!, and I dwelled on parts of it for the rest of the day.  Amy encouraged me to connect with my mind, heart, and body -- and although I always claim I'm well-balanced with my left brain/right brain, her questions about accessing my heart, and how I feel, had me speechless.  Am I letting my left brain dominate?  Have I become so goal-oriented that I've forgotten how to feel?  Where's my intuition? 

Amy's strength is helping artists recognize that they hold their own wisdom:  the "answers" are in me (not to mention, more questions), I just need the tools to find them, use them.  Great food for thought in my quest to honor my gifts this year!

A to Z.

My creative habit:  I've been working on my textile art for most of the week -- cutting, stitching, painting, screenprinting -- and have been starting each day with a few pages from Art & Fear, by David Bayles & Ted Orland.  One little chapter is enough to chew on for a whole day.  Some of my favorite insights so far:

Most artists don't daydream about making great art -- they daydream about having made great art.

The function of the majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars.

Making art provides uncomfortably accurate feedback about the gap that inevitably exists between what you intended to do, and what you did.

Vision is always ahead of execution -- and it should be.

Art is like beginning a sentence before you know its ending.

(Obviously, I have been dwelling on all the projects started, how they're proceeding, new projects I can't get to yet, and why all of it never looks the way I thought it would when I started!)

A to Z.

Nearly done with my A to Z journal!  I just have two spots to add finishing touches (so to speak, since this project may never be really finished).

I've been leaving a blank pair of pages after each letter, just in case I need more room...and I finally did with the letter S.

A to Z.

My creative habit:  Sometimes I feel stuck in a rut.  I have been hand-sewing pretty consistently for over three years now (and my guess is I won't shake that for a long time yet) but I also feel the need to keep trying completely unrelated art adventures.   My mentor has helped me shake things up a bit with dyeing and discharging and screenprinting.  And I'm waiting (sort of patiently) for a new delivery from Spoonflower so I can do some experimenting over the holidays.  I always do my best work when I have more than one iron in the fire.

A to Z.

My creative habit:  In my last A to Z post, I hinted at the role intention plays in my creative pursuits.  Usually I'm ranting about the big picture, and keeping perspective, but when I am busy-busy-busy with holiday orders, the hardest thing for me is to keep my eyes on the little picture:  to remember that each person who has placed an order will (I hope) use my little creation to add a bit of beauty to their everyday world.  And so I try to channel good thoughts through my hand and into my artwork. (So much easier when I have ten orders on my plate instead of a hundred!)  It is the same when I'm stitching; hand-stitching is ideal for thinking/dreaming as you work.  (And since it is a slow process, thinking about the final result is a big motivator.)  A customer I've had for years once told me that she returns because she always has an emotional response to my work.  Is that my intention coming through?      I can't think of a better compliment.

A to Z.

My creative habit:  I feel a bit lost if I don't do something creative with my hands every day.  This past weekend rushed past in a blur of festivities, theatre, laundry, and errands -- one of the rare weekends when I didn't pick up a needle for even a few stitches.  A luxury for me right now is an extra fifteen minutes in bed in the early morning, pondering, getting my ducks in a row for when I do have time for my own projects.  And while I'm thinking of my personal projects, I don't take for granted that my daily work is creative work. It's just a different effort at this time of year: I have to be vigilant not to allow all the orders to become like an assembly line. I work at being conscious of adding my bit of beauty to the world, with each holiday card I design, each address I write.  But that's another creative habit altogether!