Great New Free e-book Available!

It has been a while since I last posted. I haven't forgotten about you all. Today I got a free e-book from Mark McGuiness, whose blog "Lateral Action" I subscribe to, as well as co-author Marelisa Fábrega. He has lots of great advice on motivation and creativity. This book is entitled "20 Creative Blocks and How to Get Through Them". Perusing the Table of Contents I see chapters about some of my own personal blocks: Chapter 2: "Fear of Getting It Wrong", Chapter 4 "Creativity vs. Cash", Chapter 6 "The Inner Critic", Chapter 13 "Information Overload" and several more! The link for this free e-book is http://media.lateralaction.com/creativeblocks.pdf

I also encourage you to sign up for his free 26 week course "Creative Pathfinders". It contains lots of free invaluable information to guide you to success as a creative individual: http://lateralaction.com/pathfinder/

I don't make any money recommending this - just a satisfied blog reader wanting to share this valuable resource with the rest of you. Let us know if it helps you!

Are you an "Artist?"

"One of our chief needs as creative beings is support", writes Julia Cameron in her book, The Artist's Way. Are you an artist that never got the encouragement necessary to pursue your dream? That's what happened to me. I didn't realize that I had the makings of an artist until I got into graphic design and marketing in high school. I won numerous awards for my advertising layout and design, winning 1st place in the state DECA competition, and was the first student in my high school to earn a trip to Nationals in Miami. I thought my future was made, so I enrolled in college to earn a B.A. in Marketing & Management with a Minor in Graphic Communication (art). When I graduated, I was going to get a job as an Account Executive in an advertising agency.

Or so I thought. The perfect storm of negative people/situations smacked me right in the face (or should I say, infiltrated my mind). In the Artist's Way, Julia encourages people to write about these negative influences, or "Monsters" and turn the negatives into positives.

In my case, it was my college graphics art teacher. She said to me at one critique, "Your drawings have a child-like quality " (meaning they looked like they were drawn by a 6 year old). Gee, thanks. Add to that we had a very talented artist in that class that did make my work look like it was done by a child. No matter what grades I got in my other art classes (mostly A's to my surprise, since I really still didn't think I was an artist), that negative comment really stuck with me, as did my personal comparison against "Joe" the REAL artist.

Graduating in the midst of the recession of the mid-1980's was another negative blow to my art career. Every job outlook I looked at for Advertising Execs stated how highly competitive the hiring situation was. I would be competing for jobs against REAL artists. I didn't have a chance. Due to the bad economy, I couldn't even get a graphics job in the local copy shop without any work experience. Eventually I ended up in retail management and other career pursuits and gave up completely on creating art.

It was 20 long years before I considered being an artist again. But in the meantime, I was a shadow artist. I would watch TV commercials or look at art in galleries and say, "I could do better than that!" "How did they get a job in some prestigious ad agency, only to turn out those boring, non-creative commercials?" Even worse, some company was paying that ad agency for those crappy commercials and passing the costs on to me, the consumer! It was a double insult.

Eventually, the anger turned into action. I went back to art. I started taking lessons and workshops to build up my skills. I recently ran into several positive and supportive people, who encourage my painting and jewelry making endeavors. I no longer want to be an ad exec, just an artist who makes attractive art that other people can enjoy and possibly purchase.

Who were some of the people who discouraged your growth as an artist? Write about it and mentally rid yourself of those "monsters" so you can focus on creating art NOW. Sharing your stories with other artists can help others in the same boat, so please leave a comment and become a part of this support network.

www - wonderful watercolor workshop!

Wonderful!  That’s the best word to describe my experience last week as I attended a 5 day watercolor painting workshop taught by Judy Morris.  She is a master of using textures and other design methods such as stenciling, lettering, and stamping in her watercolor painting.  (See her Tratorria painting on her home page for an example. Since my husband and I are wine fanatics and love to go out to eat when we can afford it, I just HAD to buy a giclee reproduction of this painting.)  The event was held in conjunction with the annual juried show of the Transparent Watercolor Society of America.

I had a fantastic time!  The camaraderie with other artists was great, the teaching was superb, and the organization of the workshop itself outstanding.   If you have a chance in whatever media you work in, to get away for a workshop, DO IT! 

There’s nothing better to inspire your creativity and give you new energy than getting away from real life and relaxing for a while.  It’s also inspiring hanging around in the company of other artists.  I was having dinner with 2 of the ladies in a quaint little coffeeshop/restaurant and they stood up and started taking pictures of all the stuff hanging on the walls.  A majority of people wouldn’t even notice these items, but they were seeing all of its art and design and getting inspiration to paint from it! 

If you can’t get away to a workshop, think about joining your local arts organization. You get the benefit of the camaraderie with other artists without the expense of travel and lodging. It can also open you up to other types of art, networking, and show opportunities. And quite frankly, with the current tough economic times, these organizations could really use your help.

Now I must come back down to earth and get busy on a commissioned jewelry piece, which will transform an heirloom wedding ring into a pendant to honor the ring owner’s grandparents.  I’m really getting to like doing these heirloom pieces.

Don’t forget, if you have any recent nature inspired art to email to me for use on my blog, here’s your chance to get some free publicity! (lwjlynn@frontiernet.net)