creativenachos.com Blog

There is a soft knocking at the front door. You wonder who it might be at this un-Godly hour of the morning as any hour before you wake is un-Godly. Slowly, you open one eyelid and then the other. Do you have to get up? No. You’re a grownup, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do and with that your eyes close. But what if it’s important? What if someone sent you something wonderful for just being you? You open those eyes again – this time a little wider – and begin to sit up. Wait. What if it’s your neighbor again to complain about that “smell” coming from old man Randolph’s apartment down the hall? You lay back down.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Not being the type who can live in the “What if” space of life, you pull yourself out of bed, scratching your butt and adjusting your rumpled pajamas. When you reach the door, you peer through the peephole only to find no one is there.

Is it possible you dreamt it all?

Then there is the knock that sends you flying backwards and almost out of your skin. Before you have time to think, you grab the handle, pull open the door and a moment later you get kicked – yes, kicked – in the shin by a wee man who calls himself, Murphy. Grabbing your aching shin, you begin to tilt like the Tower of Pisa before falling and smacking your head.

You can hear him scurrying around the apartment like a dirty rodent causing mischief and wreaking havoc. As you pull yourself up to standing and begin looking for a broom to beat him down, he runs straight through your legs and out the door laughing like a madman. It appears there is no hour too late or too early for this madman to begin enforcing his law. Shaking, you shut the door and look around. As your breathing regulates you look at the clock only to realize you have less than a half an hour to get ready for work.

Once you pull yourself together – no small feat seeing as you cut yourself shaving, dropped your toothbrush in the toilet bowl and spent the entire time in the shower alternating between screaming when you were scalded and plastering yourself to the wall when your buns were frozen – you find yourself a little nervous to step outside of the building fearing he might be waiting to throw himself on or kick you again but you shouldn’t be fearful. Whether you are inside or out, you are already sentenced to live out this day under his law.

As the day progresses you will be late to an important meeting and lose the $20 you stuffed in your pocket to pay the “Wild Bill” cabdriver who still couldn’t get you there on time. That chocolate and soda you devoured as a soothing present to your weary self will cause such gas you will be convinced you are having a heart attack. You child will suddenly get sick or your boss will give you that extra piece of work so that you cannot meet that friend for dinner; the one moment of sanity you have been craving since you woke this morning.

That night when you climb into bed, your neighbors will get into an argument so loud you will think a rock band has moved in and is ripping their place apart just for shits and giggles. And as you bury your head under your pillow, you can be sure of three things.

1. Murphy’s Law isn’t personal.
2. Tomorrow should be a better day.
3. But if perchance, you wake to the sound of knocking, grab that grenade Crazy old Uncle Jimmy left behind when he went to find Jesus in Ireland and blow Murphy and his law to hell.

Have you had a “Murphy’s Law” kind of day recently?

This week we are going to focus on Red Giants. Now you are free to interpret that any way you wish. Explore the color red in your work. If you feel so inclined, explore red and giants. It’s completely up to you. Just make sure YOU have a blast creating it!

The work submitted must be something you have created and/or worked on between the time the theme was revealed and the Thursday unveiling. Please submit your response to Natasha@creativenachos.com no later than end of day Wednesday, March 16th if you would like it to be posted on Thursday, March 17th. OR send me a link to your response to include in the comments section of the post.

With your response please include:

1. Your name – either first name, shop name, blog name or all three.

2. The name of your piece (if you choose to give it one)

3. Something you’d like to share (idea behind piece) if you’d like to share anything. Please limit this to 2-3 sentences

4. A small paragraph on the process of creating this work in case you are chosen as the “Artist of the week”

5. Links you’d like to include

6. Two photos of your piece or of each of the pieces (3×5 or 4×6 and 72dpi or a max of 96dpi – if you need any help with that please don’t worry I’d be happy to help!)

Most importantly, let your imagination burn bright!

Welcome everyone!

The Thursday Sweet Treat was a blog that I started to help keep creatives of all kinds motivated to create. When you run your own business or blog, it can sometimes be hard to muster the energy to create after a day or week of promoting. So, each Friday I share a theme and the following Thursday, talented, professionals share their interpretation of that theme. It’s amazing how many different ways there are to look at one idea.

The Thursday Sweet Treat will be hosted here starting today as I would like my writing and art worlds to merge. Please sit back, grab your mouse and begin to surf the beauty of a Blue Sky as seen by these incredible people.

Meet Our Artist of the Week – Blue Eyed Shell

Michelle Cooke, the exceptional creator of BlueEyedShell, is the first Artist of the Week. Michelle created a beautiful Electric Daisy Headband in Aqua Blue.

“I was inspired by the bold aqua blues beaming off the lagoons on warm day along the Central Coast of California,” said Michelle. “I live here and am inspired everyday by the beauty California offers.”

“I created this piece for a friend with dashing blue eyes. She wanted to keep her ears toasty warm on her cold commutes to work. Be warm and cute, she said. I’ve got the perfect idea. Chunky, aqua blue yarn to show off her eyes and a delicate yellow flower with a jewel to display her fun personality. It’s perfect! I want people to have excitement in their daily activities by wearing bold colors that describe their mood and positive outlook on life. Keeping warm while looking ravishingly cute is a daunting task but easily done with a personality piece like the Electric Daisy.”

Please visit Michelle at: www.etsy.com/shop/BlueEyedShell
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/BlueEyedShell/195918410426346

Mel, the talented artist, writer and creator of Weaving the Moon, created this gorgeous Untitled mixed-media piece.

“This is a mixed-media piece from my not-an-art-journal….I wrote a poem a while back called “the lost girls” and am working my way through what that means to me,” said Mel. “I consider myself a lost girl…always have….an underlying feeling of living on the fringes and not quite belonging to this time and space. A series of these girls seem to be emerging and I’m just rollin’ with it.”

http://creativeclutter-mel.blogspot.com/

Maureen, a fabulous artist and creator of Aquamaureens, created this stunning watercolor.

“Woooohoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, TST is back!!!!!!” sang Maureen. “Annie Mae got to dancing this song, in watercolor on 6 X 12 paper.”

Will you all please join me in wishing Maureen a VERY Happy Belated Birthday!!! It was yesterday. May the year ahead be filled with nothing but happiness, laughter and loads of love, Maureen!

http://aquamaureens.blogspot.com

Trina, the fantastic artist and creator of Woven Chains Jewelry, created this striking pendant titled, “The Stars come out at Twighlight”.

My creation is an art journal spread. Blue skies always make me dream. I like to let my thoughts wander across my mind like clouds. So in this piece, I filled myself with all the things I am or desire to be and made an announcement to the Universe. I only want to create because that’s what’s within me – a deep desire to create.

Not Small – mixed media art journal page by Natasha Reilly

The words on this page read:

“I’m so tired of being small.

I need to stand tall  in order to blossom.

I long to believe in Me.”

Before going to my mother-in-law’s house yesterday, I stopped at Michael’s and picked up a T-shirt and fabric markers for a project I planned to do with my daughter, Doodle, this week. However, my daughter had other ideas. After dinner, she asked for the shirt and markers.

“Don’t you want to wait till tomorrow?” I inquired.

“No, let’s do it now,” she said, jumping around as though she’d just won the lottery.

So, we set everything up and began. Immediately, she began drawing swirls and wavy lines that looked like water. Then, she handed me a marker.

“Draw with me,” she insisted.

Who am I to turn down some drawing playtime?

A few moments later, her Dad jumped in and then she turned to her Grandma.

“Come on Grandma, draw!”

“Oh I’m afraid Grandma doesn’t know how to draw”,  my mother-law replied.

“That’s OK. I’ll teach you,” Doodle said, extending a purple marker.

My mother-in-law is 70. My daughter is 3.

Doodle doesn’t have a BA or an MFA or any degree in art. She has not studied with prestigious professors or artists. She is not “in the know’ in any art scene in the world. She simply has heart, an imagination and a desire to create.  She believes in herself and the idea of play. Thankfully she has not been told that she’s “not an artist”; I’m working overtime to instill in her the idea that she can be anything because she already is an artist, writer, etc.

As adults we often keep ourselves so small and yet we start out much larger than life! When we are young, we are open to learning; we are not afraid to be beginners. As I watched my daughter take her Grandma’s hand and guide her drawing, I realized as children we simply trust that we can do things and when we can’t we ask for help. Once we learn we are often more than willing to share our knowledge.

I have kept myself small as an adult, especially when it comes to writing and art. I don’t want to do it anymore. I prefer to try to look at things – even things I’ve done – through the eyes of the beginner. It’s far more exciting to look with wonder because within wonder there is mystery and the idea that you may uncover some magic that changes your life in unimaginable ways. I no longer want to be small.

As I watched my daughter guide her Grandma’s hand, I could not help but think about the ways art helps people to open and find unexpected beauty in themselves.

Once they’d completed two swirls, Doodle let go of her Grandma’s hand and said, “That’s awesome. See you can do it.”

I watched a 70 year old woman grow taller right before my eyes; perhaps we all grew a little taller.

Trust in yourself and your abilities. Share your gifts. Stand tall and blossom!

What do you “know” how to do – something you love – that you could share with someone right now?

Don’t endlessly talk about it.
Don’t spend hours thinking about what it *might*…

taste like

look like

feel like

sound like

be like

smell like

Just dive in

naked,

open,

vulnerable,

and

Taste it…

See it…

Feel it…

Sing it…

Smell it…

Listen to it…

Dance to it…

Cartwheel around it…

LIVE!

Live your life right now. Experience it deeply. Life doesn’t happen on the sidelines so get in there and GO FOR IT!

© Natasha Reilly 2011.

Tell me, what have you been thinking about doing? Why haven’t you? Are you ready to just go for it?

Self-imposed limitations – we are all guilty of them. Where do they come from? From the people who told us to “always have a back-up plan”, especially if we wanted to be writers, artists, or any sort of creative being. Perhaps it started when folks said – “Don’t touch that”, “Don’t laugh too loud”, “Don’t climb too high”, “Don’t run too fast”, “Don’t share too much because what goes on inside this house stays inside this house – in other words, FEAR everything.

Until the day I “shared too much” with a friend about how my parents would sometimes fight, I felt like the only person in the world whose family had issues. Sharing too much allowed me to feel normal. Often times, we end up growing up with a narrow view of what we can do. We don’t step outside the lines because we don’t want to get hurt or we don’t want to take risks that are too big. In some cases, we may be so well conditioned that we don’t even realize those lines are there.

Within the last couple of years, I have started to step, dance, jump, sing and play outside the lines. Now, I ….

Run too fast

Laugh too hard

Talk too loud

Share too much

Get too emotional

Love too deeply

Use too much paint

Play with too many words

Eat too many delectable treats

And on and on……

People cringe at the idea of “too” much anything but if you really stop to think about it, aren’t you left with the question why?? Why do we always have to be “just right’? Even the Three Little Bears talked about it – too hot, too cold, and just right. Sometimes I like my shower to be too warm and my food too spicy. Sometimes I like my ice cream too cold and my dancing to be too hot. Sometimes “too’ is just the right amount.

I’m working on being “too’” much of everything because when I do my life feels BIG, full, filled to the brim with the taste, sights, sound and smell of every experience. With sledgehammer in hand, I’m breaking down the walls of my own self-imposed prison – even when others cringe, even when others fear (there’s that word again but this time it’s on another’s plate and not mine) what I am doing, even when people get upset because they themselves want to break out of their prisons but don’t know how.

Tell me, what limitations have you discovered? Did you move past them? What do you long to be “too” much of?