Category: Illustration

Time and adventures

“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.”
——Oprah Winfrey

Another month – another year – another season.
I think about the “adventures” of my life and those lives I am part of. What is the journey, what is the path, what matters in the long run, the happiness, the bitterness, the sweet and the sorrow?

Here in my area (East Coast-Maryland) spring has popped out all over and it is indeed beautiful. My favorite season. Somehow this gets me to thinking about time and what do each of us add to the giant galaxy of both physical and metaphysical space/time and the lives we share with others. The spring, the sun, the beauty helps put many of us in better moods-that’s a bonus for sure! Smiles and good spirits help positivity, and I am a big fan of that. So, maybe my point is as simple as: Try to live your life with as much positive as possible and as close to your dreams as you can. Some things are indeed way out of our control, but many are not. Our attitude is one thing we can at least try to have some equilibrium over..

There is a quote I like that is from Joseph Cambell that says “We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.” Another one I like is “Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.” – John W. Gardner (Perhaps best known as the founder of Common Cause.) Both these quotes are speaking to me these days. As I recently started another year of my own life, as the seasons change, as I watch, look, observe family, friends and the world, I try to remember: We ALL count, we All make a difference, all the pieces, and all the specks, add to up to big circles of continuous cycles. We may need to take a small step, or maybe a giant step, from our comfort circle to try to follow some of our dreams but really when you think about…Why not?

31 Days of December 2018

31 Creative Days of December

We have made it into the final twilights of 2018. December is filled with short days and the blur of holiday festivities. To mark the month, I have decided to create a 31 Creative Days of December drawing series,and so, I will be creating 31 creatures with holiday themes. The holidays I will address are:

In order of their calendar dates:

  • Hanukkah (Chanukah if you prefer)… Starts the eve of 12/2 goes thru 12/10: It’s known as The Festival of Lights and is honoring the Maccabees’ victory over King Antiochus, who forbade Jews to practice their religion.
  • WINTER SOLSTICE..12/21 at 5:23 EST: The shortest day of the year.
  • CHRISTMAS…12/25: The birth of Jesus Christ. Did you know the word “Christmas” is a shortened form of “Christ’s mass.”-makes sence!
  • KWANZAA…12/26 through 1/1: Commemorates African heritage. Kwanzaa has seven core principles, ranging from Unity to Creativity for the community.
  • NEW YEAR’S DAY…January 1: The first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. (Yes I realize this is actually January and 2019, but it seemed appropriate to end this series with the bang of a new year.)

Starting December 1st, you can see/follow these drawing on Instagram (find/follow me at botanicalbb), which also populates FaceBook (find/follow me at Botanical Beauties & Beasties) and Twitter (find/follow me at @BotanicalB_B). If you don’t follow any social Media and you would like to see the seasons creatures, just let me know, and I will send you the full series after January 1st. It will be a combo piece, so don’t worry it won’t be 31 emails! In the meantime-Here’s to creativity, imagination, digital art, the closing of the 2018 door and the opening of a new 2019 door. Hope the holidays bring you all some joy, love, and peace.

 


Two Exciting New Workshops with a Secret Ingredient…

Time to change it up a bit?
👀 Looking for a little creative fun?
TWO NEW FUN and EASY NOVEMBER WORKSHOPS!
These are two different offerings and you are welcome to do Easy Peasy Cards as well as the Name Plate Creations they are very different workshops! Want to know the Secret Ingredient? Just keep reading!

Easy Peasy Card workshopWhat: EASY PEASY CARDS 
When: Thursday, Nov 8 or Nov 29
Time: 6:30-8:30pm
Where: Whimsy Cove Framing and Art –
209 Chinquapin Round Rd-Annapolis MD

TO REGISTER FOR EASY PEASY CARDS-
use the below PAY-PAL button ( choose the date you want to attend)
Or email me if you wish to pay by VENMO app
Or by Check –
Click this link for botanicalbb3@gmail.com  Easy Peasy Cards email registration or questions.

Choose a date

 I am sorry – PayPal button not working yet-please use email until fixed.

What: Name Plate Creations
When:Nov 25, 2018
Time: 1-3 pm
Where: Raye of Light Studio –
1818 Margaret Ave-Annapolis

REGISTER  for NAME PLATE CREATIONS-
FOLLOW THIS LINK ( LINK TO COME SOON)		Description coming soonCost $20

~ The “Secret Ingredient” is your imagination!
These are easy and fun classes~

 


It’s spring time-Use your noggin!

Engaging your brain in new tasks is a key to boosting brain performance, or at least that is what the website of “Brain World Magazine” says. I will summarize the webpage here to get to my point: Most fabulous inventions happened when someone asked themselves- Is it possible and how can I do it? When you ask the hard questions, you expand your brain. This makes sense for it forces you to think and problem solve. As healthy humans, we WANT to discover-to search for new. This process keeps our brains active and functioning. “True creativity comes from an integrated brain that establishes new, robust connections between the parts of your brain dealing with cognition, emotion, vital functions, and crosstalk between the two hemispheres of your brain.”  ( http://brainworldmagazine.com/ask-brain-spring-creativity-within/)  My thoughts today are about creativity.

Think about a snake, a crab, a caterpillar. They all shed one skin and start anew. If we don’t keep trying to rejuvenate ourselves, we too can get stuck in our old skin. It’s SPRING, the season of renew-Go For It! The transformations we create and abide by change with the times and what is going on within ourselves. It is this pursuit of transformations, this metamorphosis, that forms the very base of the process of LETTING GO!  I believe this shedding is the core of what I will call creative imagination. My imagination most often happens when I just “DO”, when I don’t worry too much about what I may be creating.  I might not know “the hard question” and that’s ok. My brain is stretched by the creative process regardless of a conscious question. The process relaxes me and lets the questions flow. Right now I am working on an array of new projects. That alone is maxing out part of my mind. Creativity churns and keeps my imagination going full steam. (Or would it be imagination churns and keeps the creativity going?) It’s hard to dial my brain down and do things like sleep sometimes.  One project is my third children’s book which is indeed about imagination. I am struggling with a cover design. Resisting the usual exploding of things from a cloud, or a head, is difficult. Colors are about the only thing I have come up with. I might resort to the ‘norm.” After all, it is tried and true- but, it doesn’t feel very creative or imaginative.

So far I have a line drawing of a book open and exploding colors.
I like the “look,” but it does it say – “Hey this story is about the main character, our friend Fuddles, who has lost his imagination and then it’s found! Ideas?

Possible book 3 cover
Possible book 3 cover