The Leaping Net

Clean Laundry

2012-02-01T14:54:00.000-06:00

I had the most amazing thing happen a week ago Sunday. I caught up on all of our laundry. Seriously, everything was washed, dried, folded, ironed, hung up or put in a drawer. I had nothing to dry clean with the little sheets in the dryer. My mending basket was empty. This wonderful occurrence comes along maybe once every eight or nine years. it's a wonderful feeling. I even suggested to my dear hubby that perhaps this was the moment for us to become nudists. Oh, you should have seen the look I got! But no, and a few hours later, there were more items in the dirty clothes basket. Sigh.

So, what does my dirty laundry have to do with your creativity? Simply, this: there will always be dirty laundry in the way of your creative efforts. Maybe it wont' be laundry. Maybe it will be that brief you must prepare for the judge or that soccer game practice your ten year old needs to attend. Perhaps it will be the dogs that need to be fed and walked or the your doctor's appointment or ... or... or...

"Oh, but Kris", you want to tell me, "when I am a famous artist, or writer or sports figure or _______________." Fill in the blank. "I will have someone to do my laundry, a nanny for my kid, a dog walker for my dog." Good for you. Then you will have time for meetings with your broker, agent, publicist, gallery owner, personal assistant, CPA, intellectual property lawyer, buyer. In other words, there will always be dirty laundry. There will always be something in the way of your creativity. So what do you do about it?

Keep a time log. What are your time stealers? What can you do about them?
Look at your work space. How can you make it serve you better?
Clear time for yourself. Tell people that you are not available on Tuesdays or Fridays or whenever works for you. Stick to it.
Share with another creative friend. You do her errands one day and she'll do yours another so you both win with a few uninterrupted hours.

So how do you handle the dirty laundry that stands in the way of your creativity?

Have a great week, Everyone!

Review, Reflect, Renew

2012-01-22T15:07:00.000-06:00

Wendy lee Lynds is my guest blogger today. Enjoy!

I know, I know. The above three words cause you to pucker upall your parts, huh? Haven’t you heard this theme ad nauseam for the lastcouple of months as we hurtled towards 2012? Please know that you are notalone. I’m kinda sick of hearing it, too - And here I am bringing it upagain!

I have had a lovely tradition to the Oregon coast for myannual musings in December. This year the right-on-the-beach home near CannonBeach that I had free access to is no longer available. So what to do? You maysuggest I just carve out some time in my domicile to look over my notes andgather my thoughts for the coming year. Or you may point out that I could headto the library with pens, paper and laptop and do some reflection there. Andyou would be right - all those are solutions could work. But then my ktichenwould call to me to dust off my spice rack. The laundry basket would call to meand then the thirteen emails I have in my inbox MUST be answered this veryinstant and the pups are sweetly yammering to be let out. You get my drift?Home, wonderfully tranquil oasis that it is, isn’t the best venue to do myhunkering down. And let’s not forget that the library frowns on my pink penguinpajamas! The fact that it is now January 22nd and I have not reviewed,reflected on or renewed anything and it is troubling.

So, what’s a gal to do? What’s so bad about not doing theaforementioned tasks in a timely-before-the-end-of-the year fashion? For me? Iget to feeling uprooted, unfocused, outta step, feeling the dingy shiftingunder my feet and I still have my land legs. The answer? To breathe and realizethat nothing is wrong with that. Not a thing in the world

The fight and the trouble and the shifting ground is totallymy mind squawking in response to “This is how it is done. This is how “other”people handle their lives. This is the standard by which I should live” and Iam now choosing to respond with a wholehearted cry of PHOOEY. I haven’t walkedto the beat of the local drummer since birth, why should I now?

So, here’s what I figure; the time has not run out fortaking an heartfelt look at where I wanted to go last year and the steps I tookto achieve my goals. Time has not run out on adding up the proactive-actionsand being proud. Time has not run out for me to list what I did well and what Icould do better towards my desires. Time has not run out to open up and dare todream a bit - to see what I can envision for my future.

Fact is, I can RRR anytime dang time i want to. There is nomagic formula of guaranteed success by whipping out my list, having my entirelife mapped out by December 31st.

So, dear readers, this is my plan: enjoying some time withmy “bestie” from Southern California, finish a couple of collages for theNorthwest Collage Society, putting the finishing touches for an art workshop ondesigning personal “Vision Boards”. That’s all I have to do for the next twoweeks. And when the running is done, I will take a couple of deep breaths,ignore the laundry and the yelling spice rack, pat the heads of my lovable pupsand hole up in my office - happily tackling the 3 R’s in my pink penguinpajamas!And I ain’t talking “Readin, ’Riting and ‘Rithmetic”! How’s about you?

Wendy Lee Lynds lives on a beautiful island inWashington state. She is studying to be a life coach (challenging), throwsaround paint, paper and glue (messy) and generally still wonders what she willdo with her life (growth-producing). She has a blog which she hasn’t touched inmonths, no website and no deadline on either. She happily knows there is aright time for everything and the year has only just begun! If you want to chat- she’d love to hear of your plans for 2012! Wendy Lee can be reached at: coachwendy@whidbey.com

Gone Missing-the final journey of Old John

2012-01-12T12:08:00.002-06:00

I have a special treat for you today. Till was a German foreign exchange student who lived with us in 1999. Now he is a film maker in Mexico City. Here is the Director's Statement for his current project.

WhenI first arrived in Mexico City, six years ago, I had pretty much“gone missing”. I had left behind the security of my hometown andcountry, my studies, friends and family. I came to a totally unknownplace, without speaking the language, without friends and without aplan. After a couple of days of wandering about the city, I found theCasa de los Amigos where I got the feeling of having arrived at theright place – the right place for staying a while, for losingyourself and feeling at home at the same time.

Istarted working there as a volunteer in exchange for a place tosleep, and I ended up staying almost a year. I met other people whohad found “the Casa” as well, among them Old John. He was acontradictory character. He had been a boxer and a poet, people lovedor hated him, he was simultaniously crazy and wise - and a prophet.

OldJohn became a living example of someone who had taken life in his ownhands, regardless of all conventions – even to the point ofdefining the circumstances of his own death. He was not going to endhis life himself, but as he felt his time running out, he had chosenhis final journey and resting-place: the jungle of Guatemala.

Threeyears after I met Old John, I went back to Germany and startedstudying film. Today, another three years later, I have come back toMexico as an exchange student. In this context of apparent purposeand security, the question I ask myself is still the same: How and towhat extent is it possible to brush aside conventions and live aself-determined life? To be free?

Ihave proposed to my two best friends from those years together at theCasa de los Amigos to resume the plan we made six years ago, tosearch for the traces of the final journey of Old John, to tell OldJohn’s story.

Wehave some financial support by my film schools in Munich and Mexico.But in order to make this thing happen, we need some extra funding.We have done the math and we can do it with your support. We onlyneed $5,000 to take you and others deep into the jungle with us.

Weare grateful for every contribution. Please help spread the word andtell your friends about this project!

Thankyou very much,

TillCöster, January 2012

Wehave different rewards waiting for our supporters, for example a freecopy of the finished movie. Check out our project on kickstarter.comforthe trailer and details. We have to reach our goal of raising $5,000until SUNDAY, JAN 15, 11:55 PM (CST) – otherwise we get nothing andbackers get their money back.

End of Year Musings

2011-12-30T17:00:00.001-06:00

I hope your holidays have been enjoyable and you have spent time with loved ones. The holidays to me are a great time to stretch one's creative abilities. For example, when I realized that my dear husband's Christmas present was too heavy to wrap in traditional wrapping paper, I came up with this idea.
Pretty cool, huh?

My husband decided to use his time off recycling an old metal box springs frame into a new side gate. Then I had an idea for using the springs. My idea and his welding skills created our funky face guy.

The outer circle is an old wagon wheel and the eyeglasses are from the wagon hub. The eyes are reflectors from the auto parts store.His nose is a piece from the box springs frame. The hair is made from the larger of the springs. He has eyebrows from the small springs but they don't show up well in this photo.

I think that our creative ideas are flowing freely at the moment has something to do with the fact that our normal routine is out the window. I am not teaching and he is not at his desk every morning at 7:30 am. Our scheduled break is serving us well. Breaks aren't always an option. Sometimes, it helps to do anything to break up a routine and get more creative ideas, drive a different way to work, call an old friend, pull out a favorite book, look at a photo album. What can you try?

Wishing you a most happy and creative New Year's 2012!

Stress and Creativity Part 2

2011-11-29T15:31:00.003-06:00

Last week, I started a discussion on handling stress and how it affects one's creativity. This week, I'm going to share other stress reduction strategies that worked for me.

First, I have routines. Now, when I was a teenager, I thought that routines were for Muggles. I didn't need no stinkin' routine. One of the cool things about being an artist in my little pea brain was that you set your own schedule. You did not punch a time clock or work nine to five. As an artist, you could work at three in the morning if you so desired. As a teenaged artist, I was quite the idealist. I grew up. I matured. I got a life. The truth is an artist needs discipline and structure. Now, I have a schedule. My schedule is flexible. It's not a rigid Muggle kind of schedule where I catch the same subway every morning. (Actually, I think I am thousands of miles from a subway,) Anyway, I have learned that there is a great advantage in have structure to my day. In particular, I have routines. Every morning, I begin my day with coffee and morning pages and every evening, I close the day by feeding the birds, washing whatever dishes are in the sink and making the coffee for the next morning. These are my "bookends." With these in place, I am better prepared to handle whatever falls in the middle.

Then I tried to keep things in perspective. Is this the worst that will ever happen to me? No. As stressful as life seemed at times, I would remind myself of that and move on. I even developed a really hokey way to assess my situation. Say, for example, in another fifty or sixty years, when my brilliance and genius is finally recognized by the world (and I'm dead, of course) would these past few weeks merit a sentence, a paragraph a chapter or a Part, like Part III The Texas Years in my biography? Would my biographer, a fresh faced young gal from some ivy covered New England college, even know that September and October 2011 were stressful? Possibly, but unless she planned a really boring 1000 page tome, these few weeks would barely rate a sentence if at all. That's what I mean by keeping it in perspective.

So to manage stress as a creative person, I keep things in perspective, have routines, recognize when not to start new projects and accept help when offered. Finally, there's a fifth thing, use stress as inspiration. I just did.

How do you juggle stress and your creativity?

Stress and Creativity

2011-11-21T22:36:00.001-06:00

The last two, three months have been most stressful for me. Now, stress for a creative person is a necessary part of the creative process. Really, would you want to read a novel by someone who has had a fairy-tale life and never had stress? How would she impart the tension to her characters that would make us want to turn the page?

But sometimes, stress, which is also called life can seem overwhelming. Looking back over the last weeks, I realize that I used several strategies that helped make life manageable. So I'll share them with you.

First, someone I barely know offered to do something very generous for me. I said yes. I didn't think oh, that's too much to ask or how can I pay her back or I don't know her well enough. She would not have offered if it was too much. Somethings I learned long ago can never be paid back to the people who give them to me but I can pass on the goodness. And I know, too, that this woman, at the time, needed to do something herself and there was something she could do for me. So it wasn't all about me.

Another thing I did was recognize my limitations. I advanced to the rear. Times of stress are not the times to begin the Great American Novel or the ten foot sculpture or the twenty by ten foot canvas. Times of stress are for reading instead of writing, cleaning brushes instead of painting, taking inventory instead of buying. So I took the pressure off myself to create. Now that I look about my studio, I can appreciate all that I have done in the last few weeks. I've accomplished more than I thought myself capable of under the circumstances.

I'll share two other strategies for dealing with stress and creativity next week. For now, how do you deal with stress?

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Great Opportunities

2011-09-02T17:01:00.001-05:00

Hello All! I'm starting off the Fall with several great opportunities for you. First, this appears in the current Creativity Coaching Association's newsletter. You can read the entire newsletter here.

Join Us On September 6th!
CCA's "Transformational Tuesday" free tele-call:

Being an Artist in a Small Town
Join Bev Down, CEO of the Creativity Coaching Association, as she speaks with CCA certified coach, Kris Reichart-Anderson, on how she has created success as an artist living in a small town. Kris points out," It's easy to ridicule the lack of creative opportunities of small towns and rural communities but many of us call the middle of nowhere home. After living in a small West Texas town for almost fourteen years, I have grown as an artist and writer and want to share what I have learned." Some of the areas we'll discuss are:

How does an artist build community and network in a small community?
What resources are available for artists, writers and performers in a small town?
Why is it important to create a niche?
How is it beneficial for a creative person to live in a small isolated community?

Kris Reichart-Anderson is an artist, writer and certified creativity coach living in Del Rio, a small West Texas town. She jokingly tells people that she lives one hundred and fifty miles from anything, an Interstate, shopping malls and many of the creative outlets that most of us take for granted. http://leapingnet.blogspot.com/

To join us on September 6, 2011 @ 1:00 PM, EDT
Dial-in Number: 1-218-936-4141; Participant Access Code: 8673879#

Now, here's another opportunity for those of you near Del Rio. I will be leading a ten week session in Julia Cameron's classic work, The Artist's Way at the Firehouse beginning Tuesday September 13 or Saturday September 17. If you are looking for a way to jumpstart your creativity or kick your art or writing up to the next level, this is the class for you. We will look at tools and strategies to trash the negativity that holds us back and develop different approaches to cultivate our personal creative expression. Call Nancy or Nicki for more information and to sign up.

So, my September is off to a wild start. What's happening where you are?

Trip Fanastic

2011-08-25T10:35:00.001-05:00

One of the most significant things about traveling with my husband is that we have such varied interests. Often we would look at the same view and see two totally different things.

Hollyhocks in the Munich train station

Here's one example. I see the hollyhocks growing up in the middle of the railroad tracks. Chris sees the braking mechanisms for the train. He did not see any significance in the flowers until later when our friends explained that the railroad no longer uses extensive herbicide on the train tracks as they once did.

My friend Andi thinks that these cute little lights in a coffee shop in Murnau look like the snitch, the goal of Quidditch players in the Harry Potter books. I agree with her. Chris, on the other hand, see hot wires. He sees an electrical nightmare. He sees building inspectors having fits.

Crooked hotel in Ulm

Now look closely at this photo. I see the large window boxes of flowers. Chris took the photo not because of the flowers but because of the slant of the building. It is a hotel and there are levels in the rooms to show guests that the beds and tables are not on an incline. The floor is slanted because the building has shifted over the years. It is a popular tourist attraction in Ulm today.

It was quite an experience to see the world through someone else's eyes. As creative people, it helps on occasion to shake up our thinking and question what we do. Traveling with someone we love is a good start.

And finally, here is a photo of Andi and I in Garmish-Partenkirchen.

New Horizons

2011-08-09T17:17:00.003-05:00

Kris in Erding

Those of you who read this blog, (and I know I have more readers than followers, hint, hint) know I post at least once a month, sometimes twice. Well, last month, I didn't post anything. Why? Because for half the month, my husband and I were in Germany.

We planned this trip for almost a year and it was wonderful. We concentrated on Munich and the surrounding area. What we didn't plan on was the rain. We experienced rain almost every day we were gone. But when I think of the crowds at some of the sights we visited, I have to be thankful. I don't want to imagine what it would have been like if it had been cool and sunny.

Our trip gave me much to consider about how people create from the Bauernmalerei (traditional murals on Bavarian buildings to Zeppelins. I'll share photos, stories and thought in the weeks to come. For now, here are some photos. Keep in mind, most were taken in the rain 8-(.

Bauernmalerei in Garmish-Partenkirchen

Zeppelin motor

Stream running under a house in Ulm

Illustration Friday

2011-06-04T15:27:00.003-05:00

SHADOW

This is my first submission for Illustration Friday. The word this week is "shadow." I was at a lost when I first read it. I thought of Peter Pan's shadow or a detective shadowing a fugitive. Then I looked out my kitchen window and saw the afternoon shadows under the tree in the back yard and made this drawing. I put it under mixed media because it is pencil, crayon and marker.

And here's a photo of the tree from a slightly different angle.

So where do you find your inspiration?

Bad Art

2011-05-13T16:55:00.002-05:00

I present to you, Gentle Reader, that Bad Art does not exist. Now, go ahead say it "Kris what about…" and you will proceed to give me multiple examples spanning all genres, mediums and historical eras, “It was a dark and stormy night.” Ishtar, Jackson Pollack, every garage band that ever plugged in a guitar, and so on. We all have our personal favorites. But is it Bad Art? Bad Art implies a value judgment. I argue that no art is bad if the artist created in good faith. Art exists on a continuum from faltering first steps to brilliantly executed form.

It’s easy to judge our work as bad because that absolves us from the responsibility to ourselves to continue. “I can’t do it.” We whine. “It’s really bad. And then we have the excuse to close the laptop, power down the camera, clean the brushes and put the first draft of our novel in the back of a dresser drawer.

So, if art isn’t bad, then what is it? Experimental, practice, playful, a learning experience, a new direction, a test, a challenge, growing pains, answering the question ‘what if..’ When we chose to honestly follow our creative direction, we all have to start somewhere. We can’t expect to produce perfect results, Good Art, immediately and consistently. We do our best. We consider the process before the product. We actively seek more knowledge about whatever it is that we want to create. And when the work isn’t perfect, we accept it for where we are and try again.

Back to Basics

2011-04-10T17:42:00.002-05:00

My friend Laura and I are reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. It is a classic work on rediscovering one's creativity. I read it years ago and it's like renewing acquaintance with an old and dear friend.

One of the many things that I've learned about creativity is that we can hear something or read something and not be ready for it or not understand it but when we keep ourselves open, when we keep listening or reading we will eventually hear or read what we need. Sometimes we need to hear or read something many times before whatever we need to learn sinks in.

I learned a lot the first time I read through The Artist's Way and I look forward to learning even more this time. Here's the poster I made the first time around.

The Artist's Way is full of exercises and activities to nurture one's creativity. This poster is just one of many. If you'd like to see some of Laura's work, here's the link.

There's a moral in here somewhere

2011-02-25T17:14:00.000-06:00

I recently wrote an article for the Creativity Coaching Association's February newsletter. You can read it here.

In the article, I described how I had beautiful plants growing, beets, spinach, cilantro and parsley while most of the country was covered with snow. The next day we had the coldest weather in years! We even had a dusting of snow! Hello, this is the desert, remember?

My plants died. They flopped over. The leaves got yucky and slimy. They're the technical terms for it, I'm sure. They were dead. Or so I thought. Then after the cold spell ended-it's 83 degrees here as I write-they came back. Even the deadest of the dead plants now have new growth. The spinach, in particular, is growing wonderfully. Not quite enough to harvest, but soon some leaves will be big enough to eat.

Like the little girl who sees the pile of horse manure and thinks, "There's got to be a pony nearby," I think there's a moral in here somewhere. I'm not quite sure what it is.

Pride goes before a fall (or a flop)?

Strong roots run deep?

That which doesn't kill us only makes us stronger?

What do you think?

Inspiration

2011-01-31T15:40:00.001-06:00

Inspiration comes in many ways and often bears no resemblance to the original. For example, here is a photo of a bottle created by Nancy O'Brien, Executive Director of the Firehouse here in Del Rio.

It was on display recently with others that Nancy had made. It is called "Snowberry" after the dictionary definition on the lower corner of the bottle. It is clear glass and crystal and silver embellishments, very light and airy.

I have seen embellished bottles in magazines and books but never up close. I was inspired to try my own hand at it.

Here is my embellished bottle, entitled
"She dreams of Africa." The wire is copper, the glass beads are shades of brown and tan. The polymer clay face is washed with India ink that gives it a rich glow. The face is on silk yarn.

The two bottles are very different but both come from Nancy's and my willingness to wonder "What if...?

So where does your inspiration come from?

Resolutions??

2011-01-05T17:13:00.003-06:00

This is the time of year when everyone's writing about making New Year's Resolutions. Do you make them? Do you keep them? Don't you think they are stupid? Here's how to be successful this year (when you haven't been successful for the last twenty) and on and on the lists go.

Do I make New Year's Resolutions? No, not really. Several times throughout the year, I do write down my goals but not for any set time span. Some are for that day or week and some are goals that will take years to complete. Then I find the previous list and compare. Did I forget something that was a priority three months ago? Why did it lose importance? Am I always writing something and then never taking any steps to achieve it? What's the problem then? This is what works for me.

But no matter how you set goals, make resolutions or whatever name you use, this is what you need to remember. To get there, you have to make a mess. I had to have a tree trimmer come today so I can have a pleasant backyard. This photo is just a small portion of the mess made. You will need to make some kind of mess of your own. You will have to extend yourself. You will have to make that call, buy that book, take that class, order those paints, research that era. Maybe the mess will only be in your mind. Maybe it will take up your whole backyard. But you won't reach your goal, keep your resolution if you don't take a chance and make a mess.

Good luck. Let me know how it goes.

Getting away

2010-12-04T15:44:00.001-06:00

The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.

-Orson Welles

This is one of my favorite quotes. I've thought about it a lot lately. This semester has been super busy and I have had little time to work in my studio. This is frustrating to say the least. I've been hearing a lot lately about conferences, retreats and classes. I even had the chance to take a class at Kid & Ewe this year. Since then, I've been having one of my reoccurring fantasies, a week in Cloudcroft, New Mexico in a little inn. I've stayed there before for a night or two with family and I know it would be the perfect getaway.

But am I ready for a week without limitations? I'm not sure. If I can't make time for art in the thick of things, am I disciplined enough to do it without structure? I'd like to find out someday but for now, I'll catch those few minutes between classes and do the best I can.

Journals

2010-11-07T15:26:00.000-06:00

I've noticed that many creative people keep some type of journal, everything from the traditional "Dear Diary" to gratitude journals to art journals to morning pages. Why?

as a place to test ideas
as a method to process thoughts and feelings
as a way to record memories that may later be sources of inspiration
as a form of meditation.

Consider art journals. Using a theme, "work," "blue," "November," one tears pages out of magazines, cuts words out of newspapers, colors with crayons, glues glitter, writes with markers or pencils and builds around the theme. The sheer spontaneity of the exercise relaxes the Inner Critic and allows for one's true feelings of the moment to come forth. Sometimes what the page expresses is clear to all viewers.

"Oh, look at the joy!"

Or "Oh, you really didn't like that job, did you?'"

Other times, the significance of a page isn't even understood by the creator. The creator may be at a loss to explain why that purple turtle ended up as the hat on the little boy. But for some reason, it works. In creating a page of an art journal, even for a little while, there is complete freedom of expression.

HOPE

2010-10-19T14:12:00.003-05:00

Last week, 33 men were rescued after 69 days trapped in a Chilean mine.

Now, I know these men will never have a normal life again. The media circus has already begun and we can expect made-for-TV movies, Discovery Channel specials and countless books and magazine articles covering everything from the history of the mine, their lives while entrapped and the engineering it took to free them. There will be divorces, alcoholism and probably a suicide or two among them.

But for a brief time, governments, corporations, engineers, scientists, medical professionals pulled together to preform an amazing feat. The world watched and cheered. Now, I'll be honest, before all this my knowledge of Chile could fit into maybe a three sentence paragraph and even now, my knowledge isn't much more. Yet I know they should be very proud of what they accomplished.

So what is it that they did? They worked together, they asked for help, they knew very clearly what the problem was and worked quickly to solve it. The engineers, the doctors, the government officials both in Chile and the countries that aided them all worked around the clock against the clock to do something that had never been attempted in history, something that was positive and productive. They did not take "No" for an answer.

In almost sixty years, I have only seen something of this magnitude one other time, in July 1969. I hope I don't have to wait another forty years to see people work together again.

in memory of a little boy

2010-09-30T18:57:00.006-05:00

Nicky Peña

March 6, 2006

September 9, 2010

Nicky left this world after teaching me three things.

· Play-Doh is a lot more fun than I remembered.

· You can never have enough kisses.

· 99% of the things I think are problems aren’t.

Vaya con Dios, Nicky

A New School Year

2010-08-29T19:24:00.001-05:00

During the last few days, I have welcomed almost a hundred freshman students to my classes at Southwest Texas Junior College.

What do you teach, Kris?

Remedial reading.

I see the look. It happens frequently when I tell folks what I teach. I saw it just last week. The look followed by comments about how wrong that is to teach reading in college and the assumption that it is a recent trend. As for the later, as a work-study student I worked in the remedial reading lab when I attended Harford Community College in 1972. So I don't think recent trend is an apt description. Is it wrong to teach reading to adults? First, I do not teach reading. All of my students are able to read, just not with the ability to tackle college textbooks.

Some of my students are in my class because they are seeking a degree in their second language. They are accountants, psychologists or engineers in countries like Italy, Colombia or Mexico.

Some of my students have not seen a classroom since 1990, 1983 or 1972. They are coming back to school to live a dream, improve their chances for a better job or in some cases to keep the job they have. I have had students in their 60's.

And, yes, there are some students who did not do well in high school and have to brush up on their skills before continuing. They are not the majority. But they are students who have recognized the real world requires reading skills and they are ready to move on.

Would you be brave enough to sit in a remedial reading class with twenty-four other students? Could you admit to the world publicly that your reading skills need improvement?

So are my students' creative? I don't know. But I do know they have the potential. They are willing to do something out of the ordinary. They are willing to take that leap.

And I am honored to hold the net.

I create

2010-08-05T21:43:00.000-05:00

As a creativity coach, especially now that I am certified, I believe it is crucial that I create. So here are a few examples of what I've been doing over the last few weeks.

These are two pages of an old biology book that I am altering. I've been fascinated by altered books for some time now but this is the first time I have tried my hand at it. It is not easy. The fish's eye is from a photo of a famous film star.

And this is a portion of a shawl that I just finished weaving. The yarn is recycled silk and was a bit of a challenge. I still have to fringe it but I am leaving for a conference in Missouri in the morning.

So, what have you created lately?

Milestones

2010-07-12T12:21:00.002-05:00

Wow! In the last week, I have been to Houston to celebrate the Fourth of July, my great nephew's first birthday and held my six week old great niece for the first time. But wait there's more! Just before we left, I became a Certified Creativity Coach.

We don't often celebrate more than one thing at a time. Maybe in June, we might have several graduations and a wedding. In December, we may have several parties to attend. But overall, our daily lives are routine. Or are they? If we are attuned to our creative selves, then we always have something to celebrate. Oh, maybe not with a large cook-out or even cake but we have small victories, a chapter finished, a painting started. We can and should celebrate even if it's just with a sigh of relief.

Time or Task?

2010-06-24T20:37:00.000-05:00

OK, so the question is are you trying to manage time over which you have no control or manage your task over which you have total control? Obviously, it's the task. So understand the task as much as you can.

Ask:

Is it really necessary?
Is the task clearly defined? Can you break it down into more easily accomplished parts?
Is it something you need more expertise to do? Do you need to research, read, ask someone questions before you begin? Do you need to talk to someone who has already done this before you attempt it?
Do you need to call someone to come help? Maybe even just a friend to be a cheerleader is all you need.
Is it something that dredges up old shit? Is it your idea or someone else's? Can it be delegated?
Is there a reward besides having done this task? Can you reward yourself?

When you learn to complete tasks without a lot of mental stress, then you are able to enter your studio or sit down to write with more creative energy.

And that's always a good thing.

Time Management or ...

2010-06-20T15:59:00.001-05:00

Next month, I'm giving a workshop on Time Management for Creative People at The Firehouse in Del Rio, Texas. I have a lot of fun and interesting material to present. Some is tried and true and some is new and exciting. And I have a secret to share.

I'll share it with you now. It's simply this: it's not about time management at all. It's all TASK management, organizing, ranking, evaluating those things we have to do in order to have more time to create. Think about it. Except for the nanoseconds we lose each day since the Chilean earthquake, we never have more time. Time is always the same, twenty-four hours in a day, seven days a week. When we go on vacation, don't we have the time to do what we want, hike that trail, visit that restaurant, shop and eat? That's because those task are high on our list and enjoyable. It's working on the stuff when we get home, the have-to's and shoulds that bog us down.

Curious to learn more? Check back in a few days.

Spring cleaning

2010-05-24T14:40:00.001-05:00

If your mind is cluttered, clean your house.

A friend of mine gave me this quote recently and it really describes my mind and house at the moment: uncluttered and clean. We had some major remodeling earlier in the year and the dust was horrible. So I've had a college student come twice a week to help me clean. As she dusted furniture and mopped floors, I've been emptying closets. I made $52 at a recent yard sale with friends and I've taken several, large boxes to a local charity thrift store.

I didn't think my mind was cluttered before I started this spring cleaning but as I've rearranged, straightened and reduced the "stuff" in my home, I've noticed a corresponding lighter spirit. Now there's not the nagging little voice telling me to clean instead of write, or file papers instead of make paper. Hmmm. Maybe I'm on to something here. Try it.

Thinking about thinking

2010-05-03T16:07:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I read about William Kamkwamba,a young man from Malawi who at fourteen built a functional windmill from junk. It reminded me about a story a classmate told me in college. Her twelve year old son was not doing well in school. So what did his parents do? Take away privileges until his grades came up? Send him to an expensive after-school tutoring center? Put him on drugs so he wouldn't act out his frustration?

No, they bought him a camera. He then had a reason to bring together all he needed to know in school. His camera, in the time before digital cameras, helped him focus on learning; the technology of lens and shutters, the chemistry of photographic development, the need to be able to read well to learn more about photography. He wanted to give his photos as gifts but his allowance was limited. So he learned the math to measure and cut wood and his parents bought him a miter box so he could make frames for his photos. He could relate his new-found love of photography to his education.

I've been reading a lot about right brain/left brain thinking lately. And my thought is this: we need both. Our society sometimes seem to reward left brain over right brain thinking But to be creative and successful, we need a little of both. We need to look at old bike parts and see electric light bulbs shining or understand F-stops to capture the beauty of a sunset. We need to marry technique and vision.

So what have you tried lately?

A second post and a quote

2010-04-01T19:44:00.001-05:00

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. -Albert Einstein

I have this quote taped to this monitor. I should read it more often as I force myself kicking and screaming to become more computer literate. I hope you are enjoying the results, like the new header. Hopefully, I will be able to post more often as my skills increase

Less is the new more

2010-03-31T15:55:00.007-05:00

If there were more hours in the day, more days in the week, wouldn’t we create more? Haven’t we all at some point thought that? May I propose a more radical idea? I propose that we may need less time, a six-day week with twenty-three hour days. Why? Because when we have less time to create, we tend to use our time, well, more creatively, more productively.

You can do this in several ways. First, start by being more open to your senses, your awareness of touch and texture, your vision of color and composition, your emotions from scent and stink, the sounds of melody and cacophony you hear and your taste of air and sustenance.

You can be more creative with your time by claiming all of your time for creating. Since you know your creative time is limited, be more attentive to patterns and relationships. Begin to recognize the choreography of cars navigating an interstate exchange or the first line of a poem in your alphabet soup.

Make everyday tasks creative. Play with color and fonts when doing routine computer work. A few clicks will bring it back to normal. Listen to music from a different culture or era outside of your usual range. Drive a different route to work or the grocery store.

Fourth, grab the gaps in the time you already have. Why not keep a sketchbook in with the cutlery? Waiting for the teakettle to boil or the oven to reach 350°? That’s the time for a few quick sketches. Or maybe keep a box of toothpicks on the counter to arrange into shapes and figures.

Finally, look for ways to hang creative habits on to your current activities. How? Make the last motion of a routine task be the first motion of a creative one. Push away the cereal bowl and pull the journal towards you. Tuck the baby in her crib and pick up your laptop. When you’re finished writing, it’s time to check on your sweetie and put the laptop away.

There will always be twenty-four hours in the day and seven days in the week but our attitude towards time can change and with it, give us new approaches to using it creatively.

This article first appeared in the March 2010 newsletter of the Creativity Coaching Association

The beach bag in the photo, my own design, is an example of hanging a creative act on an existing habit. Every morning, when I finish my Morning Pages, I knit a row or two. As you can see, it's progressing nicely.

TOE CLEAVAGE and other musings

2010-02-14T18:29:00.001-06:00

For Christmas, I received these really cute slippers with sheep faces. They have far more class than bunny slippers, fit well, are quite comfortable and what I find very important in footwear is, they do not show toe cleavage. I find toe cleavage to be quite disgusting. My students sometimes wear little ballet-style shoes that show toe cleavage-yuck- and I want to tell them to go put socks on. But I digress.

Someone designed my cute little sheep slippers. Someone who once probably got in trouble in school for drawing in the margins, now makes a living being creative. Someone puts a pencil to paper and expects a final result, in this case, cute little sheep slippers.

Pablo Picasso once welded a bicycle handle to a bicycle seat and created a sculpture called "Bull's Head" (1943). Now, other people before Picasso probably saw the resemblance between a bike seat and handlebars to a bull head but never took the time to weld the two parts together in that particular fashion. That's the thing about art, about being creative. If it's still in your head, it doesn't exist.

Now, sometimes it's scary to put something new out into the universe. I know that. But more often than not, you feel better about yourself when you do and quite often, make someone else happy, too which is reason enough in my book to try. So try, why don't you?

Just don't make slippers that show toe cleavage, o.k.?

Remembering Jen

2010-01-14T22:20:00.001-06:00

I want to tell you about Jen.

Jen was my dear friend, Louise's daughter. Jen went to college to study acting. Once there, she recognized the competition and realized that acting was not for her. So, she looked around and saw the light. Literally. Theater lighting became her passion. She earned a bachelor's and a master's in it and had a summer studying it at Yale.

Theater lighting in today's world is a combination of art and electronics, physical activity and computer assisted design. Jen excelled in it all. Her talent took her across the country with touring productions several times. Once when she was in San Antonio, I had lunch with Jen and was delighted to see what a funny, intelligent young woman she had become.

Eventually, she settled in New York City and took advantage of all one of the world's biggest cities has to offer. She had a young man in her life. One year ago today, Jen died suddenly, without warning. We later learned she had an undiagnosed congenital heart defect.

I always have the thought that when someone dies, that I need to live a little more since that person is no longer here to do it herself. Jen is a tough act to follow. She was true to her muse. She lived life fully and was able to find a profession where she was creative, respected and self-supporting. She is greatly missed by her family, friends and peers.

So, thank you, Gentle Reader, for your time as I've remembered Jen. And if these few moments prompt you to live you life more fully, then her legacy continues anew.

Christmas musings

2009-12-21T14:15:00.003-06:00

Last Christmas, we visited some friends near Ft. Worth. Their home was tastefully decorated for the holidays. Christmas pillows and throws covered the couches. A Dickinson village sat on the bookcase to the left of the fireplace. And then, there was this ten foot tall conical monstrosity standing in a prominent place in front of the window. On closer inspection, I saw a few boughs of greenery and realized that it was their Wonderful, Magical Christmas Tree, covered from top to bottom with over twenty years of ornaments made by the family's now-grown children. Wow! This is a home where creativity is nurtured.

The Mama in this household encouraged and accompanied her shyest child to the try-out for American Idol in Dallas. No, we'll not be buying her records anytime soon but imagine the time she had there. She told me that just watching the other contestants was an exciting experience.

Her older sister is in college studying to become an interior designer. I have to wonder if she first saw the interplay of color using crayons on one of those ornaments. Did she first understand composition gluing construction paper to felt? Did she first appreciate texture while wrapping yarn around Popsicle sticks?

Now, I'm not going to step on my soapbox to get on my high horse to pontificate about art in schools. This is neither the time nor season.

But may I suggest, Gentle Reader, that if there is a kiddo on your Christmas shopping list, it's not too late to buy some crayons or a harmonica or maybe a box of Popsicle sticks. Just, please, try not to look too smug in a few years when the now-child is teaching art at a middle school or studying trombone at Julliard or just a well-rounded individual who doodles in the margin.

Merry Christmas, y'all!

By Whatever Name

2009-11-27T12:19:00.003-06:00

By whatever name you call it, you have to do it.

What am I talking about? Well, the idea goes by many names. You may call it

having an artist's date
filling the well
honoring your muse
nurturing your inner child
priming the pump
having some "me" time
being inspired
stepping outside your comfort zone

Whew. I'm tired just typing all of that. But you still have to take the time to do it by some name or other. As a creative person, you have a basic need to replenish yourself, to see what others are doing, to observe trends in your field, to learn new techniques, to experiment with new products or equipment or to just play.

How do you do this? You can surf online or check out the latest magazine in your field. You can have lunch with another creative person and compare projects even if one of you works in clay and the other in wool. You can regularly read blogs of other artists. You can go on First Friday Art Walks if your town has one.

But those are all things that you are probably doing on a regular schedule anyhow. So let's talk about really stepping outside the norm. Have you been to a workshop or festival lately?

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Boerne, Texas for the 21st Annual Kid 'n Ewe And Llamas, Too festival. It's three hours away so the drive itself took me out of my comfort zone. It was a beautiful, sunny day. There was a large crowd enjoying the weather and the three buildings full of beautiful yarn and roving. There was a large choice of fiber, llama, alpaca, wool, mohair or bamboo. I spoke to a woman who spent three months of her yarn budget on quivet, the soft undercoat of a bison. I had a few minutes to talk to my old friend, Lorelei from Heritage Arts but only a few minutes. She was quite busy with customers.

I made a few purchases. I now have some indigo-dyed bamboo roving which I suspect will be a challenge to my spinning abilities. I have some very nice felted tweed wool in a soft green and I think I want to order even more. I also bought some Texas-made lavendar soap and a herbal lotion that are just perfect for pampering my self. Then I spent another $200 but I'm not going to tell you what I bought. You'll have to wait until I can show you.

Universal turtles

2009-11-04T12:22:00.002-06:00

I think the universe likes turtles.

I think the universe likes any creature that can stick its head out of its shell.

Even humans.

It can be quite scary to be creative and create something new. The universe knows that; it's creating something new all the time. For us, though, creativity takes a different way of experiencing the world. Sometimes that means we look at the world and take in everything, every sound, sight, touch, taste and even smell. Other times, we focus on one small aspect. Maybe we squint and put all of our attention on a cookie crumb on the desk or pick out just the bass notes in a song.

An amazing thing happens when we allow ourselves to be creative. The universe opens up to us and the more awareness we have of the world, the more world there seems to be. Carl Jung used the word synchronicity to describe what happens when we allow ourselves to be more open to what is around us. Seemingly unrelated events occur with consequences that can be wonderfully exciting or quietly affirming.

I'll give you some examples.

I recently read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. One night when I was too tired to read anymore, I put the book down and picked up a magazine that I had never read before. The first page I turned to showed a photograph of Bury St. Edwards, the hometown of the book's heroine.

Recently, I was rereading a passage in Julia Cameron's classic book about creativity, The Artist's Way. She mentions the old 50's song, Blue Velvet which at that precise moment was playing on the 50' station. Now, probably you're thinking that isn't so odd. I guess not if you listen to a lot of 50's music. I don't. I can't remember if I've ever listened to the 50's station but that day I was avoiding music by a prolific artist who had just died. So what are the odds?

Now those two examples are of the quietly affirming sort. Here's an example of wonderfully exciting. A friend is writing a biography of a man who was in Pierre, South Dakota for Christmas, 1932. She was discussing this at a party and another guest mentioned that her father was also in Pierre, South Dakota for Christmas, 1932. The guest's father kept a journal which corroborates the information my friend had already developed. The party, by the way, was almost 1700 miles from Pierre, SD. How cool is that?

Here's the kick, you as a creative person have to be like the turtle and stick your neck out for the universe to allow those wonderful experiences to show up on your radar screen. You have to be able to say "I'm a writer, . . . sculptor, . . . artist. I am a creative being." And not be surprised if the next day, the universe responds.

Stating the obvious

2009-10-19T20:48:00.005-05:00

As I read and learn about creative people, there is one element of their creativity that stands out. Creative people create. Duh. But it's true. Painters paint, sculptors sculpt, writers write, composers compose, knitters knit, weavers weave, jewelers jewel and so on. It's such an obvious thing but so many people miss it.

Consider that in our modern world, we all can be creative. There is nothing stopping me, for instance, from going a few clicks from this page and buying everything I need to be an artist, an easel, oil paints, brushes and canvases. No, wait, I want to be a weaver. In six to ten working days, I can have a loom, shuttles, nice yummy wools and oh, some yarn made from pop bottles for a table runner. Pop bottles on pop bottles. Very cool. The very fact that I am typing this on a computer tells you that there is no reason why I can't write that murder novel that's been in my head for about twelve years now. So why don't I?

I might make a boo boo, a mistake. It, whatever it is, may not be perfect.

We remember our mistakes but forget the mistakes of others. We exaggerate our own mistakes. We forget that successful, creative people had to create student works, bad art, trial runs, mock-ups and the one that knocks me out, muslins. What are muslins, you may ask? They are garments made from muslin that a designer makes to test the drape and fit of a piece before making the final product from some fabric costing a gazillion dollars a yard. I have a hard time imaging taking the time to make the muslin of a garment, sitting in an atelier making a garment that will never be worn.

I also have a hard time imagining spending years grinding pigment before putting a paint brush to canvas or spending time sharpening the nib of a pen before beginning to write. Yet for creative people in years past that was the reality.

Do I want to go back to those times? Not. Do I want people to be creative? Absolutely. How do I see this happening? By knowing that mistakes will happen and keeping them in perspective. By learning to say,

"I'm practicing...
"I'm experimenting with...
"I'm trying something new...
"I'm making a mess...
"I'm playing with...

When you understand and accept that not everything is going to be perfect, you can't make a mistake. You recognize that there will always be room for growth, no matter how good you have become. So go. Make a muslin. Write a shitty first draft* or two. Weave a sample. Paint a color chart. People won't know it was meant to be a still life of kiwi fruit if you don't tell them. Knit a swatch, so what if it's three feet long?

And be thankful you are not grinding rocks to make paint.

* Read Anne Lamont's Bird by Bird for more on the shitty first draft.

Don't quote me on this.

2009-10-12T23:03:00.001-05:00

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Why?

Why can't I slice it neatly and have lemon with a nice cup of hot tea, like the one I'm drinking now? A slice of lemon would go very well, I think.

Leap and the Net will appear.

Why?

Why not Leap and one of those big, yellow, rubber cushion thingy's like they show on Mythbusters when a stunt involves a person jumping from a burning building will appear? I think more people would leap if a big, yellow, rubber cushion thingy would appear. Of course, The Leaping, Big, Yellow, Rubber Cushion Thingy Blog doesn't have quite the ring to it as The Leaping Net.

I've never understood the attraction for quotes or folk sayings. Yet when I started to seriously study what it means to be creative, I found that most of the books about creativity were liberally peppered with quotes.

Why?

Some are discipline-specific, say only for painters like this;

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment. -Claude Monet

That makes sense, if that's the way you think about color. Personally, I think color is more fun than that.

Some are meant to be inspirational, I think.

The enemy of art is the absence of limitations. -Orson Welles

As someone who works best with deadlines and structure, this one makes sense to me.

Some are just plain practical.

The waste basket is the writer's best friend. -Issac Bashevis Singer

If that's not the truth, I don't know what is. Of course, I might want to update it to read "The delete key is the writer's best friend" but again it doesn't have the same ring.

Some of my favorite quotes are just passages from books and not meant to be taken as advice or inspiration. For example, this one from Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

It has been said that civilization is only twenty-four hours and two meals away from barbarism.

Now that to me is inspirational. But I still haven't answered my original question.

Why?

Why are quotes and similar comments so popular with creative writers, writers about creativity and other creative artist-type people? I think I've finally figured out the answer. Compare quotes and such to the popular books about ingesting poultry-infused broth for the [insert some demographic cohort here] spirit. Now look at the size of the average quote.

Quotes are the multivitamin of the creative spirit, short and memorable they act as a nudge towards the keyboard, the easel, the loom. So the next time that you see a quote, scribble it down and the next time you need a nudge, a little push, a swift kick in the ass, look at the quotes you've saved and know that you are not alone in your efforts to bring beauty into the world.

On Blooming

2009-10-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

One day last month, I walked in the backyard and saw these buds. Now, the interesting thing about them is that they were growing from a stalk on one of five large, green leafy plants near the ivy along the back wall.

These five plants have been there since my hubby and I moved to this house almost twelve years ago. They have never done anything but grow big green leaves that die off during a cold winter. Then I cut them back and they grow again the following summer.

The next day, the buds had opened into this beautiful group of flowers with a light, spicy scent. My sister Kim was able to identify it as a Crinum Amabile or Giant Spider Lily-Thanks, Kim- In reading about it, I learned that if I amend the soil, which is the proper way to say add manure to the dirt, that the five plants should bloom every year. Amazing!

So, why did this plant bloom this year? Why not any of the previous eleven years? What combination of Texas drought and rain signaled this one plant out of five to put forth such a gorgeous display? Why not any of the other four plants? And to add to the mystery, this plant has since sent out another stalk that bloomed, not quite as profusely but still rather nice.

I plan, of course, now that I know these plants are capable of flowering, to amend the soil, fertilize, water and all the other proper gardening things with the hope of seeing these flowers every year. Will I be successful? Only time will tell and to be honest, I'm not going to hold my breath. They seem to have their own agenda and timetable.

What do these lovely flowers have to teach us as artists, writers or mere mortals? Simply this. Keep growing. Years from now, you too can be an overnight sensation.

Leap and the net will appear.

2009-09-28T15:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my first blog entry.

I'll start by explaining my blog's title. I am an artist and creativity coach but not very creative when it comes to the computer. I've wanted to develop some sort of computer presence for some time now, however, I had no idea what to name a blog or website or whatever. That's an excuse, of course. Naming a computer presence isn't like naming a baby. No one's going to be traumatized for life if my blog name is dumb. My family and friends may tease me but that's nothing new. So, since I am a firm believer in "Leap and the net will appear", I leaped. And it looks like the Leaping Net appeared.

So I'm glad you found your way here. I plan on posting musings about muses, observations on creativity, art, the weather and the birds I feed in the mornings. I hope you like dogs because I have three rescued puppies that I'll also write about. So check back again, soon. My thought is to post weekly.