Tuesday, April 30. 2013
"I plugged in my Stylewriter Mac printer the third day here to print something out, and as it began to print, it also immediately began to smoke. Disconcerting plumes of flame shot from it, as though it were being executed in Florida. Horrible sight, particularly as it kept on printing even as it destructed, another symbol of the writer's life."
—Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik
This passage made me laugh. The show must go on, right? I don't think this situation is limited to writers either. How many people drag themselves to work when they're sick or insist on sticking to their routine when their life is falling apart around them?
While I was reading the book, the Bush Barn Art Center in Oregon requested I send in new jewelry for spring and summer. Those seasons make me think of travel, so one of the simple necklaces I made included this one with a map of France and a Paris charm. I could say that the three dangles symbolize the three members of the family and the flower symbolizes the park near their home, but that isn't true. When I made this necklace, I wasn't consciously trying to portray the book. For me, this necklace is just another example of taking in a lot of inspirational sources and not being sure exactly how they will filter out. I could make the same case for my Swim Bracelet. I enjoyed the book's father-and-son scenes at the pool at The Ritz, but was that really my source of inspiration? It's hard to say.
There is an official blog hop for readers who deliberately created items inspired by the book. See all the creative projects inspired by Paris to the Moon at Andrew Thornton's blog. Enjoy!
Quotation Source: Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik, 2001.
Tuesday, April 23. 2013
"We have enough experiences in a day to make art for a decade. Never fear a shortage of great ideas."
—Eric Maisel, Making Your Creative Mark
I say no to a lot of requests for book reviews, but when I was asked about reviewing Making Your Creative Mark: Nine Keys to Achieving Your Artistic Goals by Eric Maisel, I knew I had to see this book. Who doesn't want to learn more about achieving artistic goals?
First Impressions
The book is divided into nine keys: mind, confidence, passion, freedom, stress, empathy, relationship, identity, and societal. Each chapter helps you find solutions to your specific challenges in that key area with tips, case studies, and follow-up questions. The case studies involved all types of artists. I found them strikingly vivid and memorable: the musician struggling between playing something technically perfectly or playing with more heart but a few mistakes ... the painter whose work sold well, but still couldn't come to call herself an artist ... the writer from a war-torn country too stressed about his past to write ... I could go on and on. Every single one captivated me.
Read an Excerpt from the Book
I had the choice of several passages to share with you. The one I chose is titled "Passion and Voice." It begins:
"A logical — and vital —
relationship exists between passion and voice. It is very hard to be passionate
about what you’re doing if you haven’t found your voice as an artist."
This excerpt is definitely relevant to the new artist, the one who is having trouble finding her form or completing projects. But if you've been around awhile, you're not off the hook! One of the tips that I identified with as a longtime creator was:
"Try not to repeat yourself. Repeating successful work
has a way of reducing anxiety and can bring financial rewards as well. But it
may also prevent us from moving forward and discovering what we hope to say."
Read the excerpt: "Passion and Voice" - 10 Tips for Finding or Reclaiming Your Voice [4 pages, PDF format]
About the Author
Eric Maisel, Ph.D., has been working with artists for 30 years, including work as a creativity coach. He's a blogger for Fine Art America and Psychology Today. He also writes a column for Professional Artist.
Win a Free Creativity Coaching Session
One thing that struck me when reading this book was how the author was able to get to the heart of the problem with just a few directed questions. He deftly shone a spotlight on issues that had been nagging artists for weeks, months, or even years, allowing the artist to address them and move on.
You can win a 30-minute session with author Eric Maisel via phone or Skype. To enter, answer a specific question about creativity on the New World Library blog (not this one). Winners will be selected at random. Enter by May 3, 2013. Good luck!
Quotation Source: Maisel, Eric. Tip #48 in Appendix 2, "Refresher Course of Ninety-Seven Creativity Tips" in the book Making Your Creative Mark (New World Library, 2013).
Standard disclaimer: I received a free review copy of this book from New World Library. I did not receive any monetary compensation for the review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Friday, March 22. 2013
Andrew Thornton at Allegory Gallery started an online book club with a creative twist. Each month participants can create something inspired by that month's book. It should be fun to see what everyone makes. (And yes, it's funny that someone who writes a blog titled "Beads and Books" didn't think of this idea!) His inspiration came in part because the gallery shares space with a bookstore. It's becoming more difficult to sell books in a brick-and-mortar shop, so this is one way to lend a little support. (The books can be ordered from Second Chapter Books or a local book store near you.)
 I've just agreed to work on a huge project due in August, so I'm not sure if I'll have time to participate in the monthly blog hops where everyone shares photos of their creative projects. I'm still going to try and read all the books on the list. Will you join me? The first book for April is Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik. It's a collection of essays and journal entries written by a self-described "comic-sentimental essayist" who spent five years with his family in Paris.
See the full list of books for the year and read more about the Inspired by Reading book club.
Tuesday, March 12. 2013
"The truth is that work can dry up because it is going so well."
Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way
Has this ever happened to you? You're on a roll making earrings for a craft show or making daily progress on your short story and then all of a sudden, everything screeches to a halt. You can't make one more wrapped loop or write another sentence. What happened? It was going so well!
This has happened to me many times and it's still a shock every time. You think that whatever creativity you had is now gone forever. It's not. It just needs a little nourishment.
In her book, The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron talks about how we draw from the images in our inner well. We need to replenish this well with new images or we will find ourselves blocked. She recommends listening to music, dancing, or repetitive actions like driving or chopping vegetables. Artist's dates, where you go out by yourself for an hour or two and spend time at a museum, shop, or park, are another way to  keep your well stocked with images.
I'm fond of thrift stores, where you need to see not what the item is today, but what it could become tomorrow. (A broken watch or cool earrings?)
I also like slightly disorganized home decor shops: dishtowels next to key chains and stationery and frying pans. It's that clutter of unlikely items that can inspire something new, maybe the color of one item and the pattern of another.
Walks outdoors can work, too, even in the winter. I notice more when I'm not distracted by the bright colors of spring and summer; I notice subtle shades of rocks or unusual shapes of branches. I've found color schemes for projects in Italian restaurants, story ideas on the sides of buses, and jewelry display ideas in office supply stores. I don't plan these finds; they just happen.
Spending so much time on Facebook and Pinterest, you'd think we have an overabundance of images and our creativity would be on overdrive all the time. For me, there's something different about the images I find in the real world. Online images can feel flat, empty, distant, posed, artificial. If you're active online, but still feeling blocked, I'd highly recommend a field trip to the real world.
Quotation source: The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, p.21 (in the chapter "The Basic Tools")
Pictured here: The Mysterious Messenger Bag (Interweave Felt, 2007) that I made after a thrift shop visit, inspired by a man's wool sweater and an old leather belt. I was deep into jewelry and beading at the time, but stepping away momentarily and trying something completely different was very refreshing. (If you download the project, be aware that it's just brief notes about my process and not full step-by-step instructions. There is no knitting or crochet involved, just a little felting, sewing, and embroidery.)
Tuesday, February 26. 2013
"Leopard," my mother used to say, "is my favorite neutral."
 Last week I read Charlotte Au Chocolate, a memoir of a girl who grew up in her mother's restaurant, Upstairs at the Pudding located on Holyoke Street in Harvard Square. I picked it up at random at the library, unable to resist a book with the word "chocolat" in the title. This is a short, sweet memoir packed with some great lines. Don't you feel you already know her mother just by reading that one line about leopard print? Can't you picture the kind of jewelry she might wear, the way she would walk into a room, or even what her voice might sound like? I enjoyed this quick read, learning about the difference between the people who worked in the kitchen or the front room, the local dives in the area, the antics of the Harvard students. Be warned, it does have the same downfall as all restaurant memoirs: the descriptions of wonderful food will make you hungry! Quotation source: Charlotte Au Chocolate: Memories of a Restaurant Girlhood by Charlotte Silver, p. 89.
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