Category: Newsletter

Path230

Two Roads

Cheryl 2 Comments
The road less travelled might look like this: 1. Uncertain destination /  2. Most people wonder what on earth you are thinking /  3. Income uncertain /  4. Both failure and freedom are intimate friends of yours /  5. Sometimes you wonder what on earth you are thinking/  6. Creativity is your best friend /  7. There are some really fascinating people on this road with you /  8. Your cup overflows with tears and with joy /  9. You die and leave only an intangible inheritance behind  +++ /  The road more travelled might look like this: 1. You know where you plan to be in 10 or 20 years /  2. Most people congratulate you on your choices /  3. Income seems secure, and is growing /  4. Failure is a bad word, and freedom is for some age way down the road /  5. You get stuff /  6. Security is your best friend /  7. You get more stuff /  8. You have lots and lots of stuff /  9. You die and the certain people get your stuff to add to their stuff /  I suspect that for most of us, the roads are not as black and white as I have presented. Probably they criss-cross at times and are frequently gray. For myself, sometimes I probably walk funny because I have one foot on one road, and the other foot on the other road. I did have fun presenting the roads in this radical form though. What do you think? 
Michele Stewart

John Lovett Class

Cheryl
Michele Stewart Michele Stewart Catherine McCoy Catherine McCoy Margie Snowsell Margie Snowsell Judy Mennill Judy Mennill Lynne Tomlinson Lynne Tomlinson Dorothy MacFarlane Dorothy MacFarlane Carol Prusak Karen Varnell Karen Varnell Hui Wang   
Lotus300

When the Sponge is Full

Cheryl 2 Comments
There’s so much opportunity to learn out there. I spend time on Stumble, YouTube, and Facebook connecting about art and creativity. It’s great! I’ve learned some important things. Good advice about how to promote my art – how to write a blog for example. Terrific advice about how to be more creative. And you would be shocked to know how many invites I get every week to promote my art through various online venues. I finally quit looking at those a couple of weeks ago. Here’s the thing – for today, the sponge is full. Do you know that feeling – still reading but not absorbing anything at all? It does occur to me that someone could spend so much time learning about being creative that they have no time left to be creative. Or learning how to promote their art that they have no time to promote (or make!) their art. Wow. That would be a waste. Finding a balance between learning, since there’s always more to learn, and practicing what you’ve learned is hard. So my creativity tip today, to myself and to you, is – just go do it. Paint, sing, dance, bake, whatever is the creative you and wherever you are at in your personal learning curve, you absolutely can’t go wrong by just doing it. I’m off to paint now 🙂 
Stewy250

Scary Things

Cheryl 2 Comments
I did get over wondering if there were monsters under my bed. Actually, it was skinny scary wolves that I thought were under mine. (Thanks, Walt, for that one.) Anyway, they are gone. Phew! I have a strong dislike for spiders, and heights make me uncomfortable, but none of these things are what I find truly scary. I think if I’m afraid of anything, it’s a fear of not being all I was meant to be. Some days it’s like I feel that sand slipping through the hour glass, and I’m slipping down with it. To use a common expression, I don’t want to die without singing my song. And I also hope that in some way, I can encourage you to sing your song too. This world will be glad if you do. And it’s worthwhile to note, your song may be in the creative, and more importantly, it will also be found in the way you show love for those around you in big and small ways. /  What fears have you conquered? I hope there’s nothing still under your bed – except maybe some fluffy dust bunnies. 
Cezanne508

Still Life Landscapes

Cheryl
The connection may not be obvious, until you think about it. A good still life set up has a lot in common with a good landscape composition. They each have a foreground, mid ground, and background. In the still life though, it’s most often the mid ground that has the starring role, while in a landscape it can be any of the three depths. Both types of paintings are enhanced by variety in shapes and size throughout the composition. The painting posted here is one by Cezanne. You can sense how he set up the table cloth like foreground foothills leading up to the mid ground of fruit and the final backcloth like a mountain behind it all. We are exploring this concept in the current Fruit Flowers and Crystal class. This type of creative thinking can make arranging a still life set up lots of fun.