Lemonade out of lemons...

"Life handed him a lemon,
As Life sometimes will do.
His friends looked on in pity,
Assuming he was through.
They came upon him later,
Reclining in the shade
In calm contentment, drinking
A glass of lemonade."

G-d knows we all get our share of lemons.

If everything was sweet 

What challenges would we have?

Where would our self esteem come from?
There is no greater feeling than 'I did it myself".
The harder the challenge 
the greater the feeling of accomplishment.
One of the ways I train myself is through art.
When I start a project I usually have no idea where I'm going with it.
Most of the time I'm satisfied with the results.
Not ecstatic but satisfied.
But I never give up on it.
Even when I think It's a wash
I try to make it work.
This last one took many hours.
At the end I wasn't crazy about it.
So I cut it into squares and VOILA!
A piece of unexpected art.
I particularly love the way the frame slowly 'appeared'.
Now I love this piece.

Bottom line is YOU GOTTA MAKE IT WORK!

I knew I was on to something good!

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal!

I knew I was on to something.

Now it's confirmed.

After all it's the WSJ!

Anyone that knows me can agree I could use improvement in my Focus and Memory.

Here's confirmation  I'm going in the right direction.

My latest Zentangle is a first of a kind for me.

It's really large.

19x24

I loved every second of the many hours it took to complete.

Let's see what this does for the memory !

Creativity is the act of self discovery.

Over 30 years ago I moved to Miami.
It didn't take but 30 seconds and I was smitten.
I know it's true love because I feel exactly the same now as I did then.
Early morning birds chirping...
Light breeze from the ocean...
Fans whirring...
Long shadows on the wall toward the evening...
The list goes on.
Never gets old.
And
all this loveliness inspires me every day.
Love of beauty is taste
the creation of beauty is art.-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Over the years I've discovered my creativity in different ways.
Mostly through scrapbooking.
Which is why I started this blog.
Now I'm HEAVY into watercolor and markers.
And I'm having a ball.
I wish  y'all would try it.
Believe me when I tell you
There is a little artist in you begging to be released.
Pick up a marker and you'll see what I mean.
This here is a Zentangle/markers collaboration.

First I draw...

 Now the fun part.

And while we're at it...

JOY!

COLORS!
ZENTANGLE!

MARKERS!

It's a great way to challenge yourself.

Joy is what happens to us when we recognize how good things really are.

Pink isn't just a color, it's an attitude!

Your attitude is like a box of crayons.
Constantly color your picture gray,
and your picture will always be bleak.
Try adding some bright colors to the picture
by including humor,
and your picture begins to lighten up.
That's how I see life.
The worse I feel
the more color I wear!
Add brighter lipstick.
Make a pretty fruit salad.
Or just make some art.
Here's one for you.
Doodles and paint.
This is what happy looks like for me.
What does happy look like for you?

I found I could say words
with color and shapes
that I couldn't say any other way
- things I had no words for.  
                    Georgia O'keefe
                       

As long as it makes me happy...

I haven't blogged in over a year.
And then I saw this TED TALK
which motivated me to start again.
It's a way of giving my grandchildren a peek in to who I am.
...and no matter how 'good I look for my age'
all they see is a bubby... 

With that being said...
I love to read.
When I was a little girl I went to the library every Friday to get books for Shabbos.
Not being a safe neighborhood
my heart would pound with fear
until I was safely enclosed and surrounded by my beloved books.
Yet that never stopped me.
Each story carried me off to a new adventure.
I could smell the food that was being described on those pages.
Words like
delectable,
dainty and
succulent,
brought vivid images to my mind.
Opening the first page always brought thrills of anticipation.
Betsy Stacy and Tibs.
Remember them?
All the Nancy Drew books.
The  Hardy boys.
The Secret Garden.
Read that at least 10 times.
Matured to Gone With The Wind.
Read that at least 20 times.
Who didn't?
The power of  words.
They take me prisoner.
Wind themselves around me
like a warm blanket.
Sometimes they keep me so enthralled
I cannot move for hours.
Now that I'm older,
I especially love reading memoirs of strong resilient people.
Their strength inspires me in ways they'll never know.
One of the most powerful reads thus far has been
As Long As I Live .
Beautifully written.
Each page reaching me at  my core.
I mostly read on Shabbos.
If a book really grabs me
I'll read a bit every night.
So please
KINDLE
Don't take books away from me.
I need to feel them.
Turn each page with a dampened index finger.
Fold the corner of the page as I drift off to sleep
Just like when I was little....
Books have always been my obsession
and that's never changed.
HOWEVER,
I now have a new obsession.
WATERCOLOR.
I have no idea how to paint,
but I'm determined to do it anyway.
Don't really care if I follow any particular rules of art.
Just want to do what I know feels good.
So I'll share my stuff with you as I learn.
Maybe I can inspire YOU to try something too.

Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do. ~Edgar Degas
In that case for me it's really easy....

My first 'real' artwork.
First one's a charm I think.
I tried again.
and again.
and again.
I'll show you.

So there you have it.
As I continue it will be interesting for me to see how I learn new things.
I'm gonna try to learn all I can through YOUTUBE and blogs.
Love the challenge...
When you do it for yourself there's no pressure...

The voice that speaks inside.

My salon chair looked tired.Sooooo tired.
I got this chair from a thrift shop 30 years ago.
So my guess is it's about 40-50 years old.
It's been used almost every day and it's still as strong as ever.
But it was definitely time for a new fresh look.

So one day it hit me.
Before buying  a new one.
I can make it a DIY project!
What do I have to lose?
Can't look worse than this!
Hmmmmm, so now I needed an idea.
It has to be a creative one.
Google - Painting Vinyl...
The only paint I had at home was seafoam green.
I wanted to start it right away.
So I painted it green and didn't like it much.
Change the color.
White is better.

I dug out my handy sander.

Found a bottle of primer.

And got to work!

Looks better already.

But still doesn't have my name on it.

Could be anyone's chair.

How could I make it stand out.

Hmmmmm...

Back to Google.

Did anyone ever use Sharpies on vinyl?

Found only one chair HERE!

GOT IT.

Yes that's it.

I can draw and doodle all over it.

Who says that's not ok?!?

Now I was really having fun.

I removed the handles, lifted the chair off the base and had a ball!

The end result is fun and artsy and has my name written all over it (so to speak).

Start and just jump in!

I adore Silverstein's poems.
So I found one that worked  for me and wrote it on the chair.
Love it so far.

                                                                                                                       

Some things I've learned.
1.Take the time to prep. End result is much better.
2. Don't wear anything you do not want to stain.
3. Do Not get a manicure the day before you start.
4. Give yourself a lot of time. It will probobly take longer than you think.
5. Sharpies are your best friend!

So there you go.
Now when my DD asks me what I'm doing with my doodles I can show her this!

                    

                        

                                 BEFORE                                                                   AFTER

                                                            

I am really happy with the result.

Now I need to make wall art to match.

GTG!

When I try something new I feel like I am really living.

Trying something new often requires courage.

Trying something new opens up the possibilityfor you to enjoy something.

Trying something new keeps you from getting bored.

And most importantly

Trying something new forces you to grow.

Go ahead.

Try something new.

Peaceout!

I'm still recuperating from Pesach.
Lots of wonderful things happening.
My besties daughter got engaged to my brother's son.
(more on that later!)
I'm also looking to make some changes in my working life.
(more on that later too!)

Life is full of ebb and flow.
And while I ride on the wave of it all, I like to zone out!
Lucky for me I have lots of creative outlets.
Sometimes I can create in a way that zones me IN!
Other times I create and I zone OUT!
Zentangle/Doodles is my 'take me away' creative outlet.
Uses no brain cells.
Only simple lines and circles that end up being....something!
My youngest asked me 'what's the point of your doodles?'
Good question.
How can I explain to a youngster
that learning how to become oblivious to your surroundings
in order to relax
is the greatest gift you can give yourself?
Only as an adult can you understand that zoning out is tuning in.
Being oblivious to your surroundings means becoming aware of yourself.
Life is a contradiction at times, just as we are.
When I was younger contradictions made me feel unsure of myself.
Now I feel inspired, stimulated, invigorated by seeming contradictions.
I choose to define contradiction as paradoxically.
According to American Heritage Cultural Dictionary  paradox is defined this way:

A statement that seems contradictory or absurd but is actually valid or true.  

According to one proverbial paradox, we must sometimes be cruel in order to be kind...

If you get that then you are an adult!

Here are a few examples of my brain having fun.

Started sketching this one while sitting on the beach by myself.

This water color flower was inspired by another one of my favorite girls.
Check out her blog .
I even bought one of her classes.
AWESOME!

Some of you may think I'm crazy.

Wondering how much time i have on my hands.

But I will say there are a few rules I go by:

Kitchen must be cleaned from dinner.

Dishes must be washed.

Nothing more pressing needs my attention.

Then and only then do I give my brain permission to fly.

How about it? 

Wanna give it a try?

Go for it.

NOW!

 

 

 

Happily obsessed...

My daughter laughs at me.
She says I become an obsessed person when I find something new to do.
So what if I am?
Right now I am a 'little' obsessed with zentangle.
I think it's because all you need is 2 things and you're off.
With scrapbooking I have to schlep out all my stuff.
Cover the kitchen table with glue, tape, paint etc...
That's the easy part.
The worst of it is that I have to clean up at the end of the day.
The schlepping begins when I have to put back all my portable drawers.
Down the stairs.
Ugh!
Now you can appreciate all the more how much I want to Scrapbook.
And the knitting takes concentration.
There's a time for that too.
But sometimes I want to just zone out.
As apposed to zoning IN.
So I doodle.
You might call it obsessed.
I call it 'happily' obsessed.
No harm done to anyone.

You have no idea how relaxing it is.
I would be surprised to know that you haven't tried this yet...
And still I am also 'happily' scrapbooking.
HAPPY stuff.
Colorful.
Making little moments count.

Not my finest artistic creations.
But they make me happy.
So happy.
Little tiny moments.
Strung into long memory necklaces...
By itself, nothing special.
Together - fabulous, gorgeous length of beauty...

Come Zentangle with me...

For many years I've thought about doing Yoga.
Or pilates.
Excersize for the body.
To be fit, healthy and calm.
I finally did it.
Yoga that is.
For the mind.
What?
For the MIND.
I've been doodling since I was a little girl in school.
As I grew older I became much better at it.
It was a great way to look like I was taking notes in class.
So you could imagine how much of that I did back in the day.
Finished school.
Stopped doodling.
Got married.
Had children. (B"H)
Went to learning class.
Started doodling again!
I never saw anyone else doing it, so I figured it was just me and my inability to focus without scribbling.
Enter the computor age.
Now it's me and a million other people who doodle.
Except there are people who take this really seriously.
Blogs and books.
Who knew?
And I learnt a new word for it: ZENTANGLE.
Doodling is for babies!
Zentangle.
Has a sophistication to it.
The more I explored this world of Zentangle, the more intrigued I became by it.
Now I am more than just a doodler.
I am a Zentangler.
Imagine that!
Last night I did my first real zentangle.
It was so pleasant.
Just me my marker, and my music...
Now I understand why it's called 'yoga for the mind'.
I will be filling this with color at some point, but for now here it is.
Presenting - my very first authentic Zentangles.......

If I say it's easy will you believe me?
Ok. Maybe it's a little intimidating, but there are videos galore you could see.
Then try it.
White cardstock.
You can start with regular paper if you want.
Fine point marker.
You're ready.
Easy as that.
Keep at it.
The little or big artist in you will emerge.
That I promise you.
Everyone has one living deep inside of them.
Remember, there's no wrong way to do it.
Only your way!
...and here is one of my 'old' ones.

I have a feeling some of you may try this.
Here's a good place to start.
Google 'zentangle' and go!
You will see.
The quieter your mind becomes, the more you can hear.
That's enough reason for me.
What about you?