Category Archives: Inspiration and Motivation

Introducing Chie {original art by Lauren Brevner}

I have to admit, that I am a little embarrassed that it has taken me this long to post this beautiful art doll that I received late last year. I was very very lucky to win this doll in a giveaway.  I have been reading Laruen’s blog for a while now.  Originally I was reading because of her work in clay and the amount of WIP shots she would show of her ball jointed doll pursuits.  Recently she has been working more with painting and 2-Dimensional art, which is also very interesting.  Please check out her inspiring art blog by clicking here.

Isn’t she beautiful?  Aren’t you just a bit jealous? I know.  Not only is this doll lovely, but she is also incredibly inspirational to me.  I have been working in clay, experimenting and trying some new things, using air dry clays, over the past six months now.  You must be wondering, why have you not posted any of this?  Well, because I get super frustrated when I work with clay and usually end up hating whatever I’ve made by the end of it.  But,  I have been working on one doll for a little while now, so I’m thinking I might have the confidence to post some shots of her later in April.  In the note that arrived with Chie, Lauren mentioned that she is the first thing to leave her studio, and that she represents a beginning of great things.  I think she’s right, and I will use her to inspire and motivate me to keep trying and moving forward with my own art.   Thank you so much Lauren for such a beautiful art doll, I really could not have asked for anything more amazing from an artist that had already been inspiring me!

xoxo

Hello little babies! {Spring and life}

This is really just a quick post, to show off my new little babies that sprouted over the weekend.  Remember the mini pot I talked about in my big gardening post with the dwarf marigold seeds in it?  Well those seeds sure are quick.

After only two days!

And another one a day later! *excited*

I can’t wait for them to be big and beautiful!  I am really not the best with plants, in fact I have killed every single one I have ever taken care of… so I am really hoping to have better luck over all this year!

A Day Late and a Penny Short {struggle, reflection, and some social commentary}

Yesterday, I was supposed to post.  I even have a post planned and generally written in my mind thoughts.  I had my entire day decided, but as things go, my plans of relaxation and quiet crafting with friends had to take a back seat to life.  After spending my only day off running around like a crazy lady (again), and having some terrible pains through most of it, I felt terrible last night.  I laid on the couch from five till seven, not even sleeping although I was very tired.  I explain how I was feeling to my partner: that it literally felt like I had all my energy sucked out of my body, my limbs weighing hundreds of pounds and my eyes refusing to stay open (even though I could tell I was not going to fall asleep).  This happens to me more often than I like to admit.  When it is only mild, I call it “phantom pain” since I’m not really in pain, although my entire body feels weird and mildly uncomfortable; but I call it that because I always get it after I have been experiencing pain for a specifically long period of time.  I explain all of this, and my partner looks at me and says “yeah, that’s physical exhaustion babe” (the babe part is actually an inside joke, he doesn’t actually call me babe).  I think about it, and I realize that yeah, I’m a total idiot, and this is obviously physical exhaustion.  What makes me feel like an idiot is that I never allowed myself to recognize it as what it is.  I know that I tend to push myself farther than I should, but to actually realize that I do it to the point of exhaustion about once a week is a little bothering.

Admittedly, the past few months have been difficult.  A lot of things have occurred in our lives that have been extremely emotionally tiring on both of us.  But that is all part of life.  You can not have the highs without also having the lows.  Realizing that I have actually exhausting myself over the past while made me step back for a moment and consider whether or not I wanted to take a break, or to slow down over all.  But, the existentialist me refuses these options.  I would rather do everything I want to do, be active, go on adventures, have fun with friends, and pursue my hobbies, goals, and dreams, than wallow in my own weakness.  I could use my medical condition to give up, to never leave my house, push all of my friends away, or worse.  What is the point of living at all, if you are only going to live in a box you yourself constructed?

That being said, the only constructive thing I accomplished yesterday was going through a large box of pens, markers, high lighters and other office supplies to test to see which ones still worked.  As it turned out, about half the box was garbage.  I was at least happy to have done *something* with my day.

And now, because I assume that most people saw the above writing and though TLDR, here are a selection of memes, images and quotes that we have recently saved, or on topics that I have been recently thinking about a lot.  (All of these images were found online, I am not the original creator)

Cindi Talbot {Somewhere In Between}

This past weekend, some friends and I were able to go to a fantastic art opening at a local bar (I’m not sure if this is popular elsewhere… but art shows happen a lot in bars in London).  Any ways, the art show features an artist I went to school with, and whom I respect very much (plus I love her art).  She is very adventurous with her art, experiments with a lot of different mediums and techniques, but this show focused on her printmaking.

Domestic Bliss Series: #2- Blinded. 2011. Stone lithograph on Somerset paper. image size: 16" x 22"

To find out more about Cindi’s show at the Nite Owl click here.

Click here to see Cindi’s facebook page, and more of her amazing art.

Cindi also has a website that is currently under construction, but is a site to keep an eye on.

Lauren Brevner – blog contest

As a few people know, I am completely infatuated with the idea of making Ball Jointed Dolls, and using clay in my plush creations.  In my never-ending quest to find understandable information on the subject I came across this blog, of a fellow Canadian artist named Lauren Brevner.  What I enjoy the most about her blog is that she posts a lot of progress shots, and that she shares both her (beautiful) successes and failures.  Once I start actually working on my own BJD, I hope that I can also be so candid and post so frequently about my progress and set backs.

She is currently hosting a contest to win this very lovely doll:

Lauren Brevner

To enter, click here, and follow her very easy instructions. 

I really would love to win this though, being able to see and hold another clay doll would help me immensely, and I would definitely love to hang some original and beautiful art in my home. *Fingers Crossed*

xoxo

{words to live by}

LIFE

(I found this image on pinterest, which is an incredibly addictive site, so don’t say I didn’t warn you if you are reading this right now and then decide to check it out, that being said, I do not know the original source, but am more than happy to include it when/ if I find it).

EDIT::  You can purchase the Holstee Manifesto poster here: http://shop.holstee.com/collections/designed-x-holstee/products/holstee-manifesto-poster

Thanks Megaan for providing the source!!

xoxo

stealing inspiration {using paint samples to play with colour schemes}

If you have been reading my blog, then you know that I am undergoing the slightly ridiculous task of re-decorating/ updating my *entire* house.  My partner and I have lived in our modest two bedroom town house for more than four years now and admittedly, our decorating has been sub-par at best.  Unfortunately, we don’t have much (aka any) budget.  Fortunately, I have the internet at my disposal, an art degree to back me up, a partner that pretty much lets me do what I want in the house, and lots of enthusiasm and creativity.  Can I do it?  I hope so.

Anyways, I  have been working on establishing colour schemes in different rooms as “starting points” for my design.  Looking at the different combinations that I have created, it is obvious that I lean towards certain types of colours.

I love having a decent selection of paint chip samples on hand, all the time.  I find that they are the easiest way to play with colour combinations and see how colours look together.  I’m sure all the readers on Apartment Therapy would throw their thief signs at me if they saw my small drawer filled with paint samples (I’m not going to lie, I don’t consider taking paint samples as stealing, and I think it is pretty silly when people get so upset by other’s using paint samples in unconventional ways).  However, I do think that this IS how paint samples are meant to be used, and so, even if taking them was considered theft, this should still fall into the realm of acceptable use.  Not that I’m apologizing.

All of this being said, my approach to re-decorating is not very strict, thanks to our fantastic budget, and so colour schemes are very flexible and I’m not trying to make everything in the room fit the colour scheme.  But I do like the idea of a few colours appearing, albeit in slightly different shades, more than once and in different patterns and combinations.  I guess my design style is probably considered eclectic?

Let me know what you think about these different colour combinations.

Thanks for looking and reading,

xoxo

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.