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Posts Tagged ‘creativity’

In New England, spring means flowers but it also means arts festivals galore. The one that I’ve become most connected with is Somerville Open Studios. This year’s official SOS weekend is May 3 + May 4 with studios open across the city and easily accessible by foot and trolley cars.  Several April exhibits are also already up and running.

Maps of different exhibit locations for the main May weekend are available in every Somerville neighborhood.  The mapstands, made by artist Hilary Scott, are quite distinctive and kept regularly stocked by volunteers.

The show is one of the largest of its kind in the U.S.  You can read more about its unique history here. And you can learn more about participating artists via this link.  Each year it is inspiring for me to see how involved the artists are, at every level, in making the show a success for everyone.

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Where do you find beauty?  I find it in the strangest, most wonderful of places, like peering through the window glass.  I hope you enjoy the following essay, Finding Beauty, now appearing at Creativity-Portal.com, an award-winning website that helps one explore, nurture and express creativity.

a neighboring tree

a neighboring tree

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I’m sure my mother would be appalled at how dusty I allow my windows to remain.  Yet occasionally when I glimpse the morning, afternoon or evening light striking the chalky surfaces, what I see is a strange beauty.

And when such a sighting occurs … which is probably far too often … I try to capture something of what I see.  I move fast and don’t think about camera settings, and so sometimes my camera is unfocused.

Or I purposefully try to zoom in ways that I know my little camera really can’t do but I do it anyway because I suspect I might see something really cool on the camera display.  And I do.

What I see on the camera display will sometimes … not always, but sometimes … make me smile or make me wonder.  No specific words will come to mind, just a sensibility that can sometimes be hard to explain.  Those feelings are all the motivation I need to keep shooting for just a bit longer.

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Once upon a time, I made jewelry.  It was a hobby to give my hands something to do when I wasn’t writing and my eyes something to concentrate on when I wasn’t watching television.

I was simply following in the footsteps of my friends who did much more elaborate, skilled, and exquisite work.  I admired their craftsmanship and eyes for design while I mostly played around with colors and textures.

Up to a certain point I could be disciplined enough to complete a piece but then more and more pieces remained unfinished.  That’s when I realized mostly what I wanted to do was experiment with placement of beads and unique baubles.

I still have the tools to make jewelry, at least my simple kind.  I have not tried in years. These pieces, and many more, I found in an old jewelry box as I was trying to do some early Spring cleaning.

Some pieces I may keep to wear while others will most certainly continue to be used as photographic inspiration.  As for individual beads and baubles, still unstrung, I may share some of those with a young friend still quite fascinated by the colors of the rainbow and how to hold bits of it in your hands.

And once there has been some space cleared in that jewelry box, perhaps I’ll try my hand at creating some new pieces. Or at least I can dream. 😉

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It is with great pleasure to begin the year working on producing new sets of postcards for the Book Shop in Trinity Church in Copley Square, postcards that highlight just a bit the outstanding artwork and craftsmanship of the church’s interior.  The above image is a detail from one of the windows in the chancel executed by Clayton & Bell of London, Jesus in the Temple with the Doctors.  The following image is a detail from The Ascension, a window located in the south transept and executed by A. Oudinot of Paris.

The postcards should be available by end of the month exclusively at the shop.

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Simply beautiful in my humble opinion.  Enjoy this just over 1 minute video from artist Angie Pickman. A tribute to the winter solstice. 😉

The Longest Night from Angie Pickman on Vimeo.

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… what can be done today?  That was one of the thoughts that inspired the photo essay, Branching Thoughts, now appearing on Creativity Portal.  To what do I refer?  Well, when you have a chance, please read the essay and then you’ll know what I mean. 😉

FYI, there are many other wonderful essays, articles and more to be found on the site.  One of my favorite end of year items is a beautiful 2014 calendar designed by Creativity Portal founder Chris Dunmire and available for download month by month or all 12-months at once for “less than a cup of coffee.”  Can’t beat that these days. Hope you have fun exploring all the different words and images on the site.

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That was my intention when I walked out of the Brazilian grocery store with the bag of dried rose petals.  To mix rice and roses.  Perhaps sprinkle the petals on top of steamed black rice.  Or photograph them as they fell upon a bit of mochi ice cream.  But so far I’ve just let them sit in a small bowl in the kitchen, catching that light, their pinks and golds stirring my imagination.  I did find this really cool recipe for rice with rose petals.  The ingredients of the recipe read like a poem. I’m not into pomegranate and I don’t think I can afford saffron.  We’ll see what variation on a theme unfolds in my kitchen this winter.

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How many legs does the frog have? That’s the question I wrote on the back of the Melissa’s Frog postcard that I mailed to my 3-year old nephew.  I’ve felt firsthand the quality of the posters, whether simple poster prints or archival heavyweight paper.  The mugs I’ve left out for display and watched as people remarked at the beautiful glazing.  My passion, of course, are the notecards and stamps.  They’ve sparked quite the conversation at my local post office.  Please see if there is anything of interest for you, your family, friends and colleagues.  Meanwhile, have a good weekend, folks.

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Back in the summer, I wrote a piece about finding inspiration in the dark.  As autumn progresses, I find myself still dabbling in the medium.

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