The Art Of Work

I started following Jeff Goins work last year. I joined his 500 words group on facebook and enjoyed the inspiring posts he creates for writers. His new book comes out today. I signed up to be a part of his launch team for selfish reasons. I just wanted to know what a launch team did and how it worked. The surprise for me was how good this book truly was. I knew that Jeff was a good writer but I had no idea what a pivotal book he had written.

The art of work is all about finding your life purpose, your calling, what you were meant to do in the world.  Is that all its is? Its peppered with examples of real people's lives, exploring how they found their calling and how they keep it all going. The stories are heart wrenching and inspiring too. These are people you are going to love to hear about. I was

As I read the book I recognized myself in the trials of the examples shared.  Not only does Jeff take you through all the steps of discovering your calling but he also guides you with steps to stay the course. Its full of wisdom for everyone. My copy is full of underlined passages, way too many to include here. I can't recommend it highly enough.  The Art of Work is now available on Amazon and other bookseller outlets.

Books and A Vision Come True

I have started off the new year with some fantastic reading. In this first pile are all the non-fiction books. Show your work by Austin Kleon takes off where Steal Like An Artist began.  It has the same format and is full of gems. The Art of Work is an ARC the book does not come out till March. I am part of a launch team for the book. I'll post  a  proper review at the time. It is all about finding you path or calling and it covers it all.  Excellent book. Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces by Jane Davenport is fantastic. One peeve of mine on mixed media books is when its full of many artists when you want to see the work of the person whose name is on the cover, not all their friends. Jane delivers here, everything is hers.  She covers her style of faces in many different mediums. There will be an online course to match the book in July. Both The Art of Everyday Photography and The Urban Sketcher are ones I have not gotten into yet but they look great.

Here is a short pile of fiction. Well Women Who Run With the Wolves is not fiction but its part of this pile anyways. The Dragon Heir is the 3rd book is a series by Cinda Williams Chima. Its a YA fantasy set in the modern world. She creates a magical world that is fun to read. Clariel by Garth Nix is a prequel to his classic Fantasy series that starts with Sabriel. I am looking forward to re entering that interesting world. Women Who Run With the Wolves is a book I have had for years but have never read completely. I decided this is the year for it. I found a group of women on Facebook who are discussing it. So that should be a great group to part of.

Remember this vision card I made about self care.  Well its come true.  Initially I wasn't sure why I was attracted to that glass of water but I put it on there anyways.

Then I thought of I should be drinking more water. Perhaps if I had a pretty glass instead of a water bottle I would enjoy it more. So I went out and bought this glass and then threw in a slice of lemon. It feels like I am out to dinner now, its more festive. Its one of the other steps I wanted to take which is to buy things for myself that are pretty. That are more than just functional.  I love this new glass.  It feels nice in my hands as I hold it.

I also picked up this beautiful bowl from Japan.  I am not sure how I will use it yet but that doesn't matter.  Right  now its almost like a symbol of the good things I am promising myself this yeat.

How do you nurture yourself?

Bookstores I Have Known And Loved

After a conversation with my friend Claire, where she mention there are no bookstores in her town where she can go browse the aisles. She misses that. I thought it was incredibly sad, but its probably the sign of the times. It made me think of some of my favorite bookstores over the years.   The first I remember was when I was in college in East Lansing Michigan. Jocundry's bookstore was an amazing place. Wood interiors, music being played, a real ambiance about it. It was the first bookstore to have comfy chairs and nooks where you could sit and read a book. There were wonderful sections set up with different genre's and you could sit and have a cup of tea. I loved the place. It closed in 2001, destroyed by Barnes and Noble and Borders.

Photo credit - Amy - The Wherever Writer

This is the Book Peddler  in West Yellowstone Montana, thankfully this store is still open. Probably because their is a coffee shop inside.  It has a lot of regional authors and a western feel about it. There was another bookstore in West but I just discovered it closed. It was called the Bookworm and was one of those old bookstores with lots of volumes and old books. It was so much fun finding a treasure hidden in the stacks. I am sad that it is now closed, what a loss to the community.

When we first moved to Idaho Falls there were 4 bookstores here, now we have two. The Blue Unicorn was an independent New Age bookstore. At one time it was the only place to find anything alternative. There was a local bookstore downtown which I can't remember its name. It was owned by a woman named Grace Hardin. She carried local and regional work.  It was a little oasis in town that had calm music and a charming owner. She retired and closed the store a long time ago. The local mall had both a Walden Books and B Dalton both stores are now defunct now replaced by Barnes and Noble. We do have a Hastings which is a chain that also sells, music and games. They have a good book selection and a coffee shop, but its not like being in a real bookstore. We do have bookstores that just sell used paperbacks, but they are in a different category.  Just recently we had another one of them close. We do have a nice bookstore that sells used hardbacks and paperbacks, but once again it doesn't have the ambiance of the stores of old.

image source

This is Moose Rack Books in Big Sky Montana, I happened on this bookstore traveling to Bozeman, Montana. Its pretty small but has great charm and local and regional authors. Its a nice place to stop.

These are steps in the only Big Bookstore I'll share in todays post.

In case you guessed yes its Powell's in Portland as the sign show you.

Nice clean aisle, nooks and cranny to look at books, lots of nice amenties. They have lots of used books too.  A really nice place and you don't feel like they are trying to put everyone else out of business. I admit that I am guilty as the next person in buying online but I still think bookstores are a must and they will all go away if we don't start supporting them better.

Tell me,  do you have any great bookstore that you have been to, or remember fondly. Tell me in the comments.

Kate

Sketchbook Skool Is Finished

Sketchbook Skool is over with for now.  It was six weeks of a whole lot of fun.  I love it when you are really changed by a class.  I will be taking the next session which I think will be  in October. Meanwhile I saw these books talked about in class and thought they would be great to go through in the meantime.

This is full of advice on getting started along with lots of great tips.   I think it will be invaluable.

This one was described as the nest book on watercolor and so far I really like it. It started off explaining how watercolor paint is made and then went right into colors and where they came from.  I love history so this will be great to learn a little more.  The rest of the book looks great too.  I've got some fun reading ahead of me.

New Books Are The Best

I got an order of books in the mail today.  That is always such fun.  I have been watching Jennifer Lee's Right Brainers in Business so I just had to get a copy of her book.  It looks like its going to be excellent.

I had taken Joanne class a few years ago and have always be enamored of her lettering style.  The book is a gem, full of examples, techniques and so inspiring.

On Wednesday in 21 Secrets Live we played with watercolors through the tutelage of Diana Trout. What fun that was.

WRITING

Today I found out that I received the scholarship to Beth Barany's Group Coaching for Novelists that I applied for a few months ago.  This gave me 50% off the price of the group and elevated me to the second tier.  A really good value. I am so excited to take the next step. To invest in myself, to make my dream come true. I believe if we really want something and don't know how to get there, we find a way.  This is a big step for me. Its going to be pretty all consuming and I know I will need to give up some things to have the time to do it.  I'm ready though, its time to take the plunge and really invest in this dream of mine.

Do you find there is something holding you back from achieving something? Maybe its time for you to step up, to take the leap, to go for it.  Reach for the sky my friends.

Kicking It Old Skool Blog-A-Thon - Books

Today the prompt for the blog-a-thon is Books.  Its seems like an open ended prompt, its not a list of books but perhaps we pick a book and discuss or whatever. Since no one has posted yet I can't go peek and see what others have done.

So I decided to share a favorite book that I read this year.  It takes place during WWII, the characters are two women who were pilots during the war.  Its a story of friendship and horrific times. I never even knew that women were pilots during the war.  I loved that the author brings these stories to life. It begins with one of them women captured by the Nazi's and her story unfolds to include them both. It was and is one of my favorite books.  I am reading her second book Rose Under Fire currently. She is a wonderful writer. This is a Young Adult book. Now don't let that deter you. Some of my favorite books come from that section now. The only reason I think this book is YA is the age of the characters. The subject matter is definitely deep and thought provoking. Did I say how much I loved this book yet.  Go get yourself a copy and enjoy the story of these two amazing women.

Exploring Color

I've been working on a painting for a special project.  I am not great at color mixing. In mixing flesh tones for my faces I always have trouble.  I can start out with three primaries and white and then need a brown for shadow and it always seems to be too green or pink, I just can't seem to get the portion right.  So I give in and use burnt sienna a lot. I want to learn this skill so I thought maybe if I took Julie Balzer's Getting Started With Color Mixing  class it might help.  I knew how to do most of what she shared but I kept thinking brown was a combo of red and green but I learned there are other ways to make brown. This little class just pushed me in a new direction. Julie also talks about the fact that if you mix your own colors your work is more unique.  I liked that idea. I really like these short and simple and inexpensive classes that she teaches.

I have a moon in the painting I'm working on and I wanted it to be golden colored. Had a hard time coming up with how to do that. Either it was too yellow or too orange, so I kept going back to a whitish grey moon which I didn't want. So I started making a sheet of Golden fluid acrylics samples. Just the gold like colors at first.  There are a lot of colors I have from that great sale I got at Michaels a few years ago, that I never use.  Time to remedy that. I hadn't planned a chart or it would be more uniform that this. Once I added the gold colors I ended up doing a chart of all the colors I have. Now I have made charts like this before but I never really used them. This time I studied the colors and did some practice mixes to come up with what I needed.  It was really a great tool. I don't know why I never did this before. Now I have the chart right with me so I know which colors I want to start with.

I really wanted to learn more about this subject. So I headed to the library to educate myself a little bit more and found these two books.  Betty Edwards book is more on the theory of color and understanding it.





















The color mixing bible is full of pages of charts of color mixes for all mediums.  Its pretty comprehensive.  I think I'll use the first book more.  I want to know the reasons behind the mixes so I can do it intuitively from now on. This is just one more way to challenge myself, do go deeper like my word of the year.

How do you challenge yourself?

Chakra Journal - More pages

I've got more pages in my chakra journal to share.  Instead of the symbol I chose the element fire to place in the center.  Mars is the ruling planet and the ram is one of the anima symbols associated with this chakra.  Rang is the sound of the chakra.  I then added my thoughts and feelings about it.

The fourth chakra is known as the heart chakra. I resisted the urge to add a heart.  I went with the symbol instead.  Air is the element associated with this chakra so I added a feather to represent that.  I added Quan Yin in the corner and Venus up top as the planet associated with this chakra. This chakra is all about balance and love in relationships so I added those words. I am divine love is the guiding phrase here so I included that too.

So only 3 more pages and I will be done with this journal. Well actually I think I will have more pages but I think I will save them for something more spiritual in nature. I am not sure what that will be but I think I will be able to come up with something.

I've started reading Old Path White Clouds by Thich Nhat Hahn. Its the story of the Buddha's life. Its written really well and has these wonderful lino cut illustrations that are a delight to see. Its a big book that I will be reading a little at a time. I am sure it will find its way onto my journal pages in some form or other.

Making A New Journal

Its been several years since I made my own journal.  Having been frustrated using Canson's Mixed Media journals with wet media I decided it was time for more control. I had ordered some Fabriano hot press watercolor paper last fall. So it took awhile before I used it.  I made the journal with canvas boards as covers.  The front is covered with painted paper using my favorite colors of blue, turquoise and purple. This paper was made on a gelli plate.

For the back I used embossed wallpaper.  I painted it first and then picked up some leftover paint on the gelli plate to add additional color.  

The spine is a piece of canvas I painted to be darker than the rest.  I used Golden fluid acrylics for all the painting.  I added cat beads to decorate the spine. What a challenge and pleasure it was to make this.  I kept making silly mistakes.   Its going to be great to work in. The instructions to make this journal are from Teesha Moore, it used to be on her website but I couldn't find it there, luckily a friend had a copy.  I also am really loving the Japanese Screw Punch I got for a gift back in December.  They are really pricey but if you are going to do any book making so worth it. Punching the holes is so easy.

Do you have any summer reads that you have been lost in. I am loving the world I have fallen into with Neil Gaiman's new book. Tell me in the comments what you've been reading.

Looms, Markers and Miscellany

I was reading this great story late last night when I realized I forgot to do a blog post.  I didn't even have an idea for one.  It was already too late to work on so I left it for this morning.

I had no art to share, I have been working on my loom and with it all tore apart it doesn't make a pretty picture.  I can always show art supplies, I thought to myself, everyone loves looking at them.

So here are some gratuitous  art supply pictures.  We have Neocolor II crayons, Inktense blocks, Gelatos and Sennelier oil pastels.

This is what's on my desk today.  A blank journal full of possibility.  I plan to use it to do some art exploring the chakras like Julie Gibbons is doing.  Instructions on making this journal out of one sheet of Watercolor paper can be found here .  I got the idea of using this small journal as a theme journal from Michelle at  Lost coast post

 I thought I would throw in a snippet of a intuitive painting I've started. Lots of swirls and color and not much else.

And here is the messy loom. I have the beater and front beams out.  There are some major threading errors in the middle of the warp.  This lets me get closer to the problem and hopefully fixing it won't be so hard. Well hopefully all my miscellany was entertaining at least.

A Rare Find

It was a simple trip to the thrift store.  My friend Amy called saying they had plastic doilies and I went down to look. They turned out to be paper and not what I was looking for.  Then she said they had some old books.  I was drawn to this one.  The paper in it was amazing. Thought I could tear it up for collage work. I bought it for $1.00

Here is the front of the book, as you can see it looks old.

Then we looked inside to see the date published. Amy and I were trying to figure out its age, it was in Roman Numerals and i am not so good at that. Some guy came up he turned out to be a history professor from Idaho State University and when I mentioned I was going to cut it up I think he about died.  He offered me double what I paid for the book but I declined. Then I thought I would probably keep it on my bookshelf for awhile anyways.  The paper in the book was amazing.  It looked old and felt very different, it was written in French.  When we got home we looked it up.


It was written in 1768 by Voltaire, looks like its a first edition as far as I can tell. Looks like it might be worth some money.  So I will not be cutting this one up.  After a closer look the paper might be parchment. After Nano is over I think I will be spending quite a bit of time on the internet doing research on the book itself and book collectors sites.

Raven Circle Journal

My friend Palma posted this video on Facebook and oh I love the art in it. Eight journals, eight artists and the theme Ravens.  Enjoy.

Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I found out about this book on Beth Revis's blog when she interviewed the author and I was intrigued. It takes place in 1941 when Stalin had his reign of terror.  The characters are a family from Lithuania who are deported to Siberia.

I read this book in one day so at first that says something. Second this is a pretty depressing subject but the author Rita Sepetys sets a perfect tone.  She grabbed my attention from the first sentence and never let go.  No matter how awful the circumstance I was enthralled.  I really cared about these people on one hand and the other was appalled that human beings could such horrible things to each other. As I thought about it has happened many times over our history. I still when will humanity learn. Being an artist myself I was enthralled with the drawings Lina made and would love to have seen some included with the book. I also liked the upbeat message in the ending.  This was also a period in history I knew so little about. I am so glad that the author wrote it.  These kinds of books need to be written.  I highly recommend it.


View all my reviews

This is the most fabulous story

I found this on Beth Revis's blog.  She is a YA author that wrote Across the Universe which is fantastic by the way.  I don't know if you read Young Adult novels but for me lately that is where all the good books seem to be.  Anyways I loved this video, it is really all about looking for those possibilities in life and following them. Then there is the power of the Internet to connect people.  It sort of like being in the movie Amelie too. Just amazing.

I am obsessed with the Forgotten Garden

I have been obsessed with this book, maybe thats a strong word. Delighted might be a better word, all I know is the author has me in its grips. This is what I want to feel when I pick up a book, engaging characters, a mystery surrounding them, good setting a good story and more. It doesn't happen that often. If you like a good read check it out.

Its set in Australia and Cornwall and surrounds a 4 year old girl found on the docks in Australia, she is adopted by the man who finds her. She grows up and when she is told at 18 about this it drastically changes her life. She feels lost not knowing who she is. She never does find out and the task falls to her granddaughter. I love how the author gives you just a little bit in each time frame to get you interested and eager to know how it ends. I have another two hundred pages before I really find that out. I love being excited about something I am reading.

I have been working on a project in the studio but have nothing to share yet.  I have been getting some wonderful postcards from the DIY postcard swap and as soon as I get them all I will post pictures.

I hosted game night on Friday. Here is Arnie, he was first to arrive and grabbed the plate of chocolate chip cookies I was making. The plate was empty in no time. Luckily it was just the first batch.










Here are Kayla and Amanda Arnie's daughters and that's Tim in the background.  Everyone is all smiles they must be having fun.

This is Kristin with her new boyfriend Kelly. Tim is her dad. She grew up with Sarah. It was good to see her and meet Kelly too.

Jacque and a new gamer Sarah were just cracking up as we played a new game.

Even Jacque's son was enjoying himself. I like how on game night you can have a group of people of all ages and they all get along and have fun together.

Books That Changed My Life

My friend Lorraine did this project earlier this summer. I was taken by it so yesterday I managed to do it. It was a lot of fun. I took a clipboard, ruffed it up with sandpaper and painted it with mod podge and just added paper. I also covered the back. Now I have one beautiful clipboard. This was a really fun project to do. Thanks for the idea Lorraine






















This morning I did this page and it just doesn't photograph well. I tried writing with black pen and then white but I didn't like the way either one of them looked. I may need to redo the page by printing out the words and gluing them down. The prompt for this page is Books that have changed my life. These are just a few of the books that have had an impact on my life. There are so many more.

A Course in Miracles
Seat of the Soul
The Shell Seekers
Lord of the Rings
The Creative License
If you want to write
Writing down the bones
Wreck this Journal
Soulwork
The Power of Intention
12 secrets of highly creative women
Taking Flight
37 days
Dance of the Dissident daughter
The Artist Way

What would your list look like?