29 ways to be creative...

Just found this on PoppyTalk and thought it pretty much sums it up...

 

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

Nothing we don't know but a good reminder of all the little steps to keep taking.

I already cleaned up my studio this week so that's one down. Making lists I do all the time but the challenge is to then do what's on the list (it doesn't say what to do about that). Listen to new music sounds good - I'll create some new Pandora stations today (a bit stuck on Cat Power and Regina Spektor's radios these days..).  Stay away from computer is going to be the hardest one YET the one I feel is the most needed! I already forgot the 20 + other steps but that's a start :)
So there - now off to studio to have fun...

p.s.: #11 is one of the best advice I got from an art teacher once: surround yourself by creative people.

What works best for you??

Happy Friday all.

A different kind of beauty...

Today I'm picking up my 16 year old niece Marion

and my 13 year old nephew Hugo

who are coming to visit for two weeks. First time on their own (without their parents) and for Hugo, actually first time in the United States...  I feel I can say this because they aren't mine (i.e. I didn't make them - so that's no gloating..)  but:  aren't they gorgeous?!

I have no clue what it is like to take care of two teenagers but I'm sooooooo excited..  Trying to plan as many "American  things" to do as possible - and realizing that we actually don't do many of those things usually.. despite having been here for around 20 years (am I dating myself here?)..  Any suggestions (beside baseball...)?

Tried to fill up the fridge with American food too - I hear they eat!

Have a great week end everyone.

Have I shown you my patio yet?

via CarrieCan

Ok, fine, that's not mine, but that's what I would have if I had the view.. and the space... Still, I'm thankful for our tiny one, which is more like this (I don't think their sofa would fit):

A lot of plants suffered from the last heat wave but they'll be back.. we hope :)

And I added some clutches in the Stitch and Tickle store - let me know what you think:

Doing our share...

What a week.. It seems that the stars are in major need of realignment, between Lucian Freud's passing(which, after consideration, seems the least disturbing of all events considering his age), Amy Winehouse's death,

the state of famine finally declared/recognized in Somalia and the Horn of Africa, the shooting in Norway, all that while here we can't seem to be able to reach any consensus on the debt crisis...

It seems like we all need to put something good out there to counterbalance the mess and make next week a better one.. So let's do our share:  make art, give something, do something nice for someone, and be thankful..

Spring in New England...

Lovely rain all week (read: all month) in Boston.. I think we have a real market for this (in winter: a moonsuit, but this for spring - much more elegant):



Capa by Garancee, 2008



Luckily it's "good for the flowers"  and Belle Isle is coming back to life:

I noticed I've been into yellows lately.. to Oops' despair:

This is the FIRST year he lets me put clothes on him (he's 10!) and it makes me smile every time. Even yesterday, after a minor surgery, he had to wear a t-shirt in lieu of a bandaid and a cone, and even though I hated to see him dopey and stiff, I couldn't help laughing at this sight:

Too bad they didn't have it in yellow..

Japan

My heart goes out to the people in Japan right now, and I hope that the next few days unveil better news.
Another devastating reminder not to sweat the small stuff,  but appreciate & respect what we have, really..

Please consider a donation to one of these organizations if you haven't donated already.

Would This Make Winter Easier?

Found via Chellis Wilson. More pictures on Hindsvik.com.

I'm assuming they figured out a good heating system...

Glimpses of Spring: Jennifer Judd-McGee

It looks like we're getting another foot of snow here in Boston but I could not care less.. I discovered the newest works of Maine artist Jennifer Judd-McGee (to whom I was first introduced to by Lari Washburn) and they make me feel happy and hopeful... Spring is coming!

 

If you are in the Northeast, you can see Jennifer's work in the Enormous Tiny Art Show at the Nahcotta Gallery in Porstmouth, NH, from February 3rd through February 28, 2011.  Or you can visit her most inspiring blog Swallowfield, or her Etsy shop here.

Oh, and through her blog, I discovered this amazing organization called Craft Hope . Check them out and maybe you'll want to get involved.. they are another example of people who make huge differences a step at a time. They are currently gathering birthing kits for Haiti (Project 11). 

 I like the quote on their website too: 

"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
— Andy Warhol

So there - to Spring, Hope and Giving..

Hero of the Month: Swoon or a Force of Nature...

I only recently discovered Brooklyn artist Swoon (see a lot of her street/wheat paste painting work here) in the documentary Our City Dreams and was blown away by her raft projects where she, with some fellow artists, built several rafts/floating devices with junk and set out to travel on the Mississippi, the

Hudson river and lastly the Adriatic Sea from Slovenia all the way to Venice for the 2009 Biennale:



Photos and info via Inhabitat



I loved the strong nothing-is-impossible  feeling that emanated from her (even it if kind of made me wonder what on earth I am wasting my time on when I could try to do some of  what she does..).

 Today I found this video of her speaking at Ted Talks (via Paper Monster) and was once again inspired by her energy. She stirred some of my long standing urge to do some humanitarian work when she talked about her most recent experience in Haiti building houses for the victims of the earthquake (yes, I warn you, you too will start feeling like you are accomplishing nothing..), and what it means to her:  

"If you break a rule over here and move a boundary overthere, have a moment of creative play, create a thing of beauty, through all these actions and combined with a lot of dedication, you start to create little cracks in the facade of impossibility and inevitability that overlay our lives. And through those cracks, possibilities start to come up and ask to be born, and start linking with eachother, and that's a very powerful force.. and that's the force I live my life by..."

I myself keep wondering how to make my art and my life one;  Swoon obviously found her way which makes me want to start thinking less and start doing more... 

Listen to her speak here:

50 Great Voices to Listen to While Working

I always like listening to the radio when I work and I've really been enjoying the archives of  50 Great Voices  on NPR these last couple of days; They include some of my heroes such as

Carlos Gardel 

Chavela Vargas 

Camaron de la Isla

and quite a few others.. I must have latin blood. Maybe it's because they evoke warmth... sun.. in other words, the opposite of this, which is what we've been getting in Boston...

It quickly turns in piles of  yellow and black snow in the city but we don't care  because it also gives us is.. which is much nicer to look at...

Thousands of Dead Birds and Chris Jordan's photography

Since I've heard about the terrible news of the thousands of black birds found dead in Arkansas on New Year's day, I can't help thinking of Chris Jordan's Midway Atoll photographic project

All photographs (c) Chris Jordan.

Per Jordan's website:

"These photographs of albatross chicks were made in September, 2009, on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.".

I keep being appalled by what our consumer society has  been doing to this planet.. That doesn't come without contradictions (the occasional "need" to get more "stuff" for example..) but I have become so much more aware and responsible thanks to projects like Jordan's (found via Alabama Chanin's blog by the way,  one of my favorite and most inspiring blogs but that will be the subject of a whole other post..), or films like the haunting 2006 Our Daily Bread which I cannot recommend enough (available here).

I hope this year will bring awareness to more people and that we all take an active role in preserving the planet.

Happy Friday all (sorry, that was a bit gloomy..)

Escaping the Snow at Porches and Mass Moca

As Boston was getting hit by the snow storm, we "escaped" and drove to North Adams in Western Mass, to stay at the lovely lovely Porches Inn right across from Mass Moca.

As you can see, it wasn't quite an escape from the snow but what a great place to be snow bound.. Stay tuned for a post on the art we got to see..

Getting ready for Christmas

Walk in Belle Isle

Harvard Square Christmas lights

Our very first Christmas stockings..

Wishing you all a very joyful and peaceful Christmas...

Rumi and Whirling Dervishes

After a mini breakdown in the midst of Christmas shopping (on a Saturday afternoon mind you, what was I thinking..), I listened to this program on Rumi on Being and  watched these amazing whirling dervishes:

They'll make you dizzy but not in the same way that Christmas shopping does..

I bet you don't have nice Christmas lights like this in your neck of the woods

And nothing such as going out at night to take pictures of Christmas decorations in a brutal 18 degrees weather..  HoHoHo!!

As you can see, there's no sparing of electricity. Inflatable is definitely in, along with giant snow globes. And so are candy canes and presents.

So get on it... If you find better decorations than those, send them over and I'll post them but I bet you'll have a hard time.. we take it very seriously around it :)

All pictures from Chelsea & Revere (MA) neighborhood - taken during a 45 minutes tour - density is definitely an awe factor..