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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Aprons, Aprons, and more Aprons

I love aprons and always have.   I can remember when I was a little girl, my mother always had fancy aprons to use when they had parties or dinners.   I loved them.   She also had 'work' aprons.   Those aprons that were meant to be worn to save your clothes and take the brunt of all the tasks you do in the kitchen and around the house. 

I decided one of the gifts my daughter in law needed for her birthday was a fancy apron.   One she could use for those events where she needed something pretty to cover up her clothes. 

 
I was very pleased with the apron and decided my sister needed on for her birthday.   Two March birthdays can make a lot of work.
 
I did the red one for my sister. 

Well, not to be outdone, I decided I need one.   I was going to the Art and Soul Camp in April and thought it would be great to have a pretty apron to take with me.   I got it done and was so pleased with it, I decided I didn't want to risk getting paint on it so I left it at home.   It is still waiting for a great occasion to wear it.   I hope my Daughter in law and Sister are using theirs.  
 
 
On to more projects.    
 
 


Monday, June 17, 2013

Art for the Young!!!

Last week was a really interesting week for me.   My son is grown and I kept him very involved in art projects when he was young, but then he grew into all sorts of sports and the art was relegated to the back seat.   My friend Michele was going to teach a class or two for The Studios of Key West and I casually mentioned that I would be glad to come to a couple of her classes and take pictures so she would have them for her blog.    Well, those couple of classes turned into 6 days of classes and I went everyday and I must say it was certainly fun.  

The first five days the classes were held at the East Martello Museum.   The view is inspiring in to many ways. 




The first day the kids did flags.   They could decorate them any way they wanted to.  

Sample Flags:

 Lots of stamping on this flag.
 I think what I was most amazed at was the abandoned way they stamped.   Most adults try to plan out the whole project and in general just over think a project like this.   Kids do it for the original purpose, and that is to create something fun.  

 
Day 2 and 3 will be devoted to masks.   Some of the samples that Michelle brought. 
 
 
The masks were constructed by things that are normally recycled; and what a clever way of recycling these items.  





After assembling the mask with boxes and plastic containers, it was covered in shrink wrap.  


 Day 3
A bunch of really cute masks. 
 Really cute teeth! 
 Elephant
 The flower on the hat is really cute.
 Elephant embellished. 
 I just love the glasses on this mask. 

Day 4  
 
Michele is a fantastic assemblage Artists and these are a couple of her pieces.   I feel inspiration every time I see them.  
 


 Lots of stuff to work with!!!




 Lots of lovely finished pieces.   



After the boxes, they made snap bracelets!!!  






Very cute bracelets.   They just snap on around the wrist.

Day 5 - They made greeting cards.   Most made Father's Day cards, and one made a birthday card.   They also made puzzles that were put on tongue depressors and then cut apart to form a secret puzzle.  




Day 6 - different location.   The site was changed to The Studio's space.   They did more bracelets.  There was one of the same kids in the class, but Michele, for the most part,  had a whole new group of children. 

 Lots of embellishments to choose from. 


This young lady had made one earlier in the week and most excited to make more snap bracelets. 
 
I must say that my only task was to take pictures but it wore me out.   I can only imagine how tired Michele must have been.    It was great fun.   It appeared that all the kids had a great time.   I was glad to be a part of it in some small way. 

Monday, June 10, 2013

How to Tap Your Creativity

Occasionally I post to both of my blogs and this is one of those subjects that will appear in both this blog and www.raggedykingdom.blogspot.com .   I think it's important to nourish creativity and let it flourish.   I am amazed by the number of people that I meet that say something like "Oh, I'm not creative.".    Generally there is an area of their life that is creative and they fail to see it - they are an outstanding cook, speaker, gardener, etc.   There are more ways to be creative than picking up a paintbrush.

This article was published in ROCKHURST, in Spring/Summer 2001.   The title of the article was Unmasking the Muse by William Sturgell PHD.

 
HOW TO TAP YOUR CREATIVITY
 
 
  1. You must want to create:   Creative solutions come from intrinsic motivation, from the joy of working on a particular kind of thing, from the love of working in a particular field.
  2. Identify a problem in the field or an artistic endeavor to work on.   It must be something that garners your genuine interest.
  3. Commit.   You must believe in the value of your creative endeavor, that in the end you will produce something useful.
  4. Surround yourself with friends who believe in you and your endeavor.
  5. Learn as much about your endeavor as you can.  Not only will you learn, you will discover previously unrecognized problems, which in itself is a creative contribution.
  6. Question the assumptions and presuppositions of everything.   Think critically.   Seek your biases.   Test your beliefs.
  7. Let your imagination go where it may.   Get playful with your thinking.   Observe Carefully.
  8. Get a hobby - Something to take your mind off your creative endeavor.
  9. Schedule leisure.   Play.