Art (Almost) Every Day

When I started this blog in 2008, my plan was to do and post about art almost every day.

Five years later, I would say I'm better at doing something creative almost every day, and more often lately it is in my studio, as opposed to creative cooking, business solutions, etc. Though I don't completely discount those activities, I do find it soothing to make things with my hands and be in the Zen of the making moment.

I did a huge proposal for an art-related thing over the weekend and that was certainly creative, thinking about how to differentiate and offer value in a crowded market. And there are no pictures I can show you from that, though I did spend a little time with a marker and that paper people stick on the walls in business meetings.

Today, it was much simpler: paper flowers. I learned how to make these on Saturday at Anna Corba's workshop. Today, while on a 90 min conference call for work, I kept myself busy AND engaged on the call making these. I did have to put the phone on MUTE while folding. These papers are crinkly and make an unpleasant noise for other participants.

By 2 today, next week's business activities had been discussed and planned, and I have a bouquet to show for my efforts.

Creative Gratitude With Anna Corba

I did a workshop today with Anna Corba at her Found Cat Studio in Santa Rosa. It is such a beautiful, peaceful place, and just teeming with creative inspiration.

Only Anna's studio has cups of glitter lying around. :)

There was a full house for the workshop - Gratitude Boxes. We made the boxes before lunch, then had a delicious pear and blue cheese, walnut salad and artisnal pizzas, followed by some amazing brownies. Jasmine approved.

After lunch, we did the cards for inside the boxes. Everyone's work was so individual and beautiful. So honored to be in this workshop and have the chance to practice some gratitude.

Happy with the boxes and cards I made.

Even the trash is beautiful.

Some Boxes To Hold Things

My name is Laura and I collect boxes. I am powerless over boxes.

Yes - I have a problem. If you bring a box to my house, even if it just had a UPS shipment in it, I will probably ask you if I can keep it. I can be quite insistent, possibly even rude. The smaller and cuter the better. Round, square, small, big - I don't really care.

Truth is, I am also a wee bit frightened of opening them. It is a macabre thing - to love something so much, but also be frightened by it.

I will leave that conversation between me and my therapist. For the time being, though, I have been working to find ways to make boxes pretty.

I was turned on to some great glue not too long ago - it is called The Ultimate and it is made by Adhesive Products, Inc. (API) right here in Albany CA. It is the bomb for adhering papers to cigar, oatmeal, etc. boxes.

Here are some boxes I repurposed for a show coming up on February 9th in Petaluma. I only made five. We'll see how they are received, then go from there.

God knows, I have a whole cupboard of boxes I could keep working from. A little bit sick.

My Solemn Vow

I promise to keep at making 

art and art-making 

accessible to all, 

and to allowing everyone to realize 

they are creative until

it is so.

This is my vow. I declare who I am and what I am up to in this world. It is solemn, a promise I will live out through the rest of my days. It is how I will show up in every situation, at every time.

I will invite everyone out there to join me in this amazing feel-good soup. They will start showing up with their creativity, happy and joyous to be providers of solutions. Maybe, world peace?

Birds in Iran

I'm trying something new. Using Citrisolv on magazine pages, then scanning them. I take the group of scanned images (from a single magazine issue) and make new images by combining parts of them.

For example, I put images from an article on birds into other images on juveniles in Iran.

The pages smell really "citrus-y" until they are scanned and digitized. Then, they are more fun and easier to work with.

Here are a few from today:

Travel Writing - France 2012

Read about my recent trip to France, complete with photos, as published in Belle Inspiration Magazine.

Belle Inspiration Magazine Nov 2012
Laura McHugh Mini Mag

Publish at Calameo or read more publications.