Monday, June 28, 2010

NEW Remains of the Day Journals/Artist Books for SALE

ROD #1

ROD #1

ROD #1
Remains of the Day Journal #1



ROD #2

ROD #2

ROD #2

ROD #2
Remains of the Day Journal #2



ROD #3

ROD #3

ROD #3
Remains of the Day Journal #3 (RESERVED FOR ROSEMARY)

These journals were a labor of love! They took a LONG time to make, but I adore them! I hope you will, too. Journals #1 and #2 are for SALE in my OrangeSpiral Etsy shop.
Oh, they are roughly 6x6 inches.

Creative Intentions Issue No. 3



Welcome to week three of Creative Intentions. With this newsletter, I hope to inspire all creative types to learn about their personal creativity and how to grow from their creative work. Each week, for twelve weeks, you can look forward to a feature article with information, tips and ideas surrounding the realm of creativity.

Feature Article Topic:

Creative Flow

One evening, I was sitting at my living room table. I had some music playing in the background, while I began to make four journals by hand. I had to tear down paper, fold pages, stitch the signatures together, and finally put the covers on. Before I started this project, I was feeling anxious and nervous about my skills. However, once I started, something amazing happened. I had no sense of time, I felt confident with what I was doing, and I was completely enjoying myself. This experience would best be described as being in flow. Author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has written a book called Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. In chapter five on “The Flow of Creativity”, he describes what flow is and nine main elements he finds people have in common when asking them to describe when an experience feels enjoyable. Csikszentmihalyi defines flow as an optimal experience when things are going well as an almost automatic, effortless, yet highly focused state of consciousness (p. 110).

The nine main elements describing how it feels when an experience is enjoyable are as follows:

  1. There are clear goals every step of the way.
  2. There is immediate feedback to one’s actions.
  3. There is a balance between challenges and skills.
  4. Action and awareness are merged.
  5. Distractions are excluded from consciousness.
  6. There is no worry of failure.
  7. Self-consciousness disappears.
  8. The sense of time becomes distorted.
  9. The activity becomes autotelic.

Csikszentmihalyi goes further with each one of these elements in his book Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. I do think it is worth mentioning here a quote from his book. “In many ways, the secret to a happy life is to learn to get flow from as many of the things we have to do as possible” (p. 113).

Suggestion:

This week, think of something that you really enjoy doing and DO IT. Did you lose track of time? Did you feel confident? Did you find yourself extremely focused and less distracted? Did the activity bring you joy for no other reason than being in the experience of it? If you answered YES, then you were in FLOW!

Announcements:

Next week Issue No. 4 will feature an article on

Creativity and Renewal.

To find out more about Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, visit http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060928204/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0JMSW7XRGHDK8RSJ4XD4&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Go With the Flow!

© BrianaCreates 2010 All Rights Reserved

Briana: Artist, Writer, Teacher, and Creativity Coach

Contact at bmriskin@earthlink.net

Blog http://courageouslycreating.blogspot.com/

Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianacreates/

Twitter http://twitter.com/BrianaCreates

Etsy http://www.orangespiral.etsy.com

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Photos from Driving in the City

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City Street Signs

All images are mine, and edited using Picnik. To see the full image, click on it, and it will take you to the photo on my flickr page.

New Sharpie Fine Line Pen Test Results

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New Sharpie on semi-gloss photo paper.

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New Sharpie on semi-gloss photo paper.

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This is a transition from ball point pen to Fine Line Sharpie. I was afraid that the Sharpie Fine Line pen would smear, but it DID NOT!!! I was impressed.


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This is how I feel about the New Sharpie on photo paper!

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(I like dates).

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Oh NO! It smeared on coated paper. BUMMER!
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Again, worked great on semi-gloss (that is all I have right now).
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I tried it on regular 24lb. copy paper and guess what?
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It didn't bleed through 24lb. copy paper. That was very exciting!!!

In summary, I like the New Sharpie Retractable Fine Line pen, but it might smear on SOME
coated surfaces. It works great on regular paper and on semi-gloss photo paper (probably other photo papers, too.)

New Sharpie Fine Line Pens


Sharpie Pen Retractable-Fine Point

I did some testing of the new Sharpie Retractable Fine Point pen that is out. It works awesome on semi-gloss photo paper, even though I suspected that it would smear. NOPE. Worked like a dream. HOWEVER, it does smear on coated cardboard, like the packaging from say, a new toothbrush.
It does NOT bleed through 24lb. copy paper. That was exciting to see!

I have seen these for sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics and Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart of course had the better price. I am sure they could be found at Target or Walgreens, or perhaps your favorite local art supply store like Wet Paint.
I will post some photos a little later to show you how it writes!
I LOVE pens, how about you?


Friday, June 25, 2010

Remains of the Day Journals ALMOST ready FOR SALE

I got a journal making bee in my bonnet (thank you Mary Ann!!)
These colorful sewn journals will be up for sale in my Etsy shop by Monday!!!
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k
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

New Art Books

I am totally addicted to this new series of books. Just got Drawing Lab in my mailbox yesterday, and I can't wait to dive into it! Oh, and one of my favorite teachers (and the facilitator of The Visual Journal Collective) Roz, has work in this book.

BUT FIRST . . . .
It's here!!! It's here!!! All spring I have been waiting for LK Ludwig's new book to be released. It arrived in my mailbox yesterday afternoon. I of course absolutely LOVE IT! If you are into art journaling, visual journaling, book binding, and the like, order or buy this book TODAY! You won't be sorry.

Happy Reading, Inspiration, and Art Making to YOU!


Monday, June 21, 2010

Visual Journal Meeting at MCBA

See more great recipes on Molly's blog here.




Had a great time at our Visual Journal Collective meeting at MCBA tonight. We got to hear Molly talk about her journey to becoming an artist and writer. Currently she is cooking her way through an antique recipe box. A link to her blog is posted above, under her photo.
Roz of course made us draw our desserts, but then we got to eat them! Woohoo! DELICIOUS! Thank you Molly, Roz, and MCBA for being so awesome!

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