I can’t believe summer is just weeks away. School is ending, and summer swim team will be starting! If you’ve been following for a while, you know I find a lot of inspiration at the pool. Here’s a recap:
Author: Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}
Facebook Algorithm
This was my drawing the other morning, when I was frustrated that a post on my business Facebook page was only seen by 2 people!
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GUEST DOODLEWASH: Featured Artists At The Doodlewash Dinner Party!
It was so fun being a part of Charlie’s doodlewash dinner party!
Title Graphic Created by Jacob at Jaywalks
This month’s adventure was a truly fabulous event, as artists from around the globe came together for a very unique gathering called a #DoodlewashDinner Party! Over 60 talented doodlewashers showed up with their culinary creations! And we were even visited by some intriguing surprise guests (thanks Jill!) and treated to a fabulous food painting video (thanks Bogdan!).
Check out the Featured Culinary Artists’ images below and click any one to scroll through the gallery of artists. If you see someone new at the party you’d love to keep up with, just click the follow link under their art! It was truly an amazing gathering, so thanks to everyone who participated! (I was only able to select a single dish per artist for this gallery, but you’ll find many more on Instagram and on WordPress!) If I missed your hashtag and failed to include you in the gallery below, or misspelled your name…
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Lessons Learned on my Creative Journey
In the beginning, I paused every few months and wrote about what I’d learned so far about creating art, and about myself. Just 1 post shy of 300 posts I decided to reflect again. Here is what I’ve learned on my creative journey:
- There are ups and downs in a creative practice. Stick with it through the down times, an up time is coming, and you never know how high you’ll climb.
- Practice does make (almost) perfect.
- Accountability motivates you to get stuff done.
- You can retrain yourself to embrace better work habits.
- There is character and style to the “imperfect.”
- Share what you create, don’t create to share.
- Those beautiful Instagram posts only tell a sliver of a story. Don’t fall into comparing yourself.
- Interviews with other creatives tell much more of the story, and can be very real, and very inspiring. I love listening to podcasts.
- It takes time and work to develop your style.
- Capture the moments when you feel inspired – snap a photo or jot down a note, for later.
- Don’t wait for inspiration to strike or a plan to form, sit down and start creating, and things will start to unfold.
My other “lessons learned” posts:
- Six months into my creative resolution
- At one year
What have you learned on your journey?
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Lisa Congdon book signing!
Last week I took the train to the DUMBO section of Brooklyn, to hear Artist, Illustrator, Author Lisa Congdon speak about her latest book The Joy of Swimming. I have been following Lisa on Instagram for a while, have heard several podcast interviews with her, and really admire both her artwork and her story. Lisa is a self taught artist and didn’t begin creating art until she was 31. Of course the late blooming, self taught artist in me loves this! And as someone whose entire childhood was spent on a swim team, I also loved the subject of the book, which Lisa not only illustrated, but wrote. Lisa was a swimmer as a child and as an adult.
I was really excited to meet Lisa. She was so nice, real, and honest. I really enjoyed how her talk documented the process of making the book. Here is a link to a video interview where Lisa talks with Danny Gregory (author of Art Before Breakfast) about the book, her process, and more.
I took horrible pictures, that I won’t post because it would embarrass myself and possibly Lisa! But, as I ran for the subway after the event, I turned left and saw the most spectacular view, the Manhattan Bridge, the sun setting, and the Empire State Building lit up all in green!
Here are some other photos I took that day.
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Spaghetti & Meatballs
On Friday, after posting my limes, Charlie at doodlewash.com reminded me that I was “invited” to dinner. Here is an excerpt of Charlie’s original invitation:
“I’m inviting all of you over for dinner, because seriously, how cool would that be? During the month, if at any time you’d like to come to the party, just “bring over” a lovely doodlewash of something delicious to eat or drink by using the hashtag – #DoodlewashDinner.”
But how could I bring limes to dinner?! I couldn’t, so instead I made a favorite in our house – spaghetti and meatballs. Grab a fork and enjoy. And a big thank you to our host Charlie!
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A Pop of Color
I love a pop of color. I have a turquoise table in my family room, a bright green handbag. I’m certainly not a pioneer in this. Walking around the mall recently, I noticed color everywhere! It is Spring after all.
The other day, my friend Lisa took me to Charming Charlie, a store I’d never been too. Lisa had a feeling I’d love it. The store is organized by color. I walked in and said, “Oh, it’s beautiful!” I wished I’d taken pictures to show you. This link will give you a small taste of what the store looks like.
On their website, you can shop by color. Not in the – click on a shirt, now sort by color – way. But in the – show me everything you have in turquoise (shirts, necklaces, bags, etc.) – way. This page on their site looks like a painters palette!
Who would have thought that shopping could be so creatively inspiring?! I couldn’t wait to get home and pull out the watercolors.
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TV Sketching
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFAY1K5H6Q4/
The other night, as I spent important time catching up on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, I practiced drawing portraits. I couldn’t do it on the fly. I paused the tv and took a couple of photos of each of the women. I can see a glimmer of the woman in each sketch – some more faintly than the others. 🙂
I really enjoy sketching in front of the tv. I wish I did it more. It turns non-productive time into productive time. Give it a try!
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Time to Paint
It feels really good to have time to paint and draw after vacation (and the time before it – shopping, prepping, and packing). I spent time Sunday starting several paintings. For me, it’s the starting that’s hard, once I have a painting “in the works” it’s easy to pull it out and work on it (unless I let too much time pass).
The three paintings were very different. You’d never guess I started them all at the same time, but they did have something in common. Before I started painting I turned to my Camera Roll on my phone for inspiration. All three were inspired by recent photos I took, or in one case, a photo I spotted on Instagram (that I took a screen capture of).
The orange gerbera daisies (my favorite flowers) were outside of the supermarket. The rooster roams around outside of my son’s friend’s neighbor’s house. Who knew you could find a rooster this close to NYC? The vintage bicycle with the lilacs was posted on Instagram by Kathleen @fadedcharmliving.
I’m trying to paint more. I had gotten away from it a bit. Not that long ago, I painted in this square size so frequently I put all the painting together and took a photo. My goal is to create another grouping of square paintings. I have a ways to go!
mycreativeresolution.com 