12 Weeks of "Artist's Way for Beaders"

Earlier this week Jennifer Chaslow VanBenschoten started a FaceBook group, "The Artist's Way For Beaders," based on Julie Cameron's book, "The Artist's Way."  It's a public group, all beaders are invited, so at least drop by the page, or Jennifer's blog, to see for yourself what it's all about.

I've already been doing the morning pages for over 10 years now, and for the most part I'm able to squeeze in a little bit of beading every day, so my 12 week challenge is going to be 30 minutes a day of play time, experimental, beading that may or may not lead to a finished piece.  If it does, great!  If not, it will find it's way into one of the many fancy photo boxes I keep handy for WIPs, false starts, and smeg-ups. 

My biggest challenge is going to be finding time for the artist's date;  one day per week that is set aside for just me to refuel and refresh my creativity.  First off, my daughter being in school for only a measly 3 hours a day gives me only about 2 hours of uninterrupted free time.  Secondly, my husband is a truck driver and is gone a lot.  Quite a lot.  Like for an entire week sometimes, so that leaves just about all the parenting to me.  And thirdly, there just isn't much in my neck of the woods that I would consider creatively refreshing.  The economy killed off the few small museums that were within a decent driving distance, and as the far west valley becomes overly populated all the cute little Mom & Pop style craft and book stores, yoga studios, etc. are slowly being pushed out of business by generic box stores.

I'm thinking my best bet will be a weekly yoga class.  A good yoga class always, always, always leaves me feeling freer, lighter, happier, refreshed, and refueled.  It's not the immersion into the artistic and creative world called for in the book, but if it's what works for me then it's all good.  And yes, this yoga class will have to be at the generic box store gym, because my favorite yoga studio closed its doors a few months ago, but at least the gym offers child care.     

I may also have to do some actual scheduling of my time to get myself through the next 12 weeks, if not the entire school year.  And I hate schedules.  I had crazy, control freaky "I own you." parents so anything that seems too regimented drives me absolutely raving, loony, bat shit, crazy.  I'll have to keep reminding myself that schedules are not a means of controlling or having power over someone, but are a way to keep my uber busy life running as smoothly as possible.   

Seeing The World Through Indigo Eyes

A few weeks ago Jennifer VanBenschoten asked the artist panel for her "Beading Daily Blog" the following question;  "What are your favorite colors to work with?  What are you least favorite colors to work with?"  You can read my answer, as well as what other bead artists had to say by clicking on the link above. 

Any combination of purples, violets, greens, yellows, and golds have always been, and will probably always be my all time favorite, and I've always found palettes that are sophisticated, bold, elegant, or sensual to be the most exciting for me to work with;  something magical, like this:

Have you ever heard the expression that motherhood changes everything?  Trust me on this, it does, and in ways that you can't imagine if you don't have children.  Color preference was something I definitely never considered, but after my daughter was born the range of color combinations that I liked started to include subdued, romantic, delicate hues, like this:

Same colors, different moods.  


I love that having a daughter named Indigo has helped me to see everything, not just color, in an entirely new way.    

I'm seeing the world through Indigo eyes.


And before I close this post I must tell you that the "Fall/Winter 2011 Color Report" by Margie Deeb is now available for purchase on her website.  Take a look at the necklace I made for Deep Teal on page 11.  I'm really pleased with the way that it turned out since blues and browns is one of my favorite color combinations.  After you're done admiring my necklace take a look at Jamie Hogsett's interpretation of Deep Teal on page 18.  She created an amazing 2-strand asymmetrical beaded bead necklace in Deep Teal, Ember Glow, and Quarry.  

Just Keep Dancing, Dancing, Dancing!

I am officially 22 days and 656 hours into my 365 Days of Dancing!  WooHOOO!!

And tonight, if luck be with me and my hubby makes it home in time, I'll be making another foray into the world of Tribal style belly dancing.  I've tried Tribal style twice in the past few years and both times came away intensely disappointed.  One studio switched from a superior to an inferior teacher about mid way through the session and the second class was canceled after a few weeks due to lack of participation.  I've heard that the third time is a charm.  We'll see about that.

If you're not interested in a belly dance or a dance related challenge, how about some other these other challenge/commitments?

Jennifer VanBenschoten, beadwork guide for about.com  has committed herself to making one pair of earrings a day for the month of January. 

If earrings aren't your thing what about making one drawing a day like Ken over at Mildly Creative is doing.  Click here to see his set of rules that aren't really rules. 

Into photography?  How about joining the "365 Project" and take one picture a day for a year. 

And finally, if you are of literary bent you can join Script Frenzy and write an entire screen play in April, or set aside the entire month of November for National Novel Writing Month.


Best of wishes in what ever you do!