words of wisdom

saw this on fb today from my friend, Lisa Ann Donahue.

"Check your motive behind why you do things. When you do something out of the kindness of your heart, but feel "used", were you really doing it expecting "nothing" in return? Maybe your kindness did have strings attached. When we do things expecting "nothing" in return we don't feel "used". Of course there is a "return" on everything we do, just might not be in then form you gave it"!

i know a few people who often do things for the wrong reason and end up feeling this exact way, so it really is something to think about when asking ourselves the motivation behind our intent. learning to give freely without expectations is the key to being surprised in the end when something good comes our way (related to the deed or not!)

something to think about!

i'm off to Artfest tomorrow- i'll check in when i can!

do you know about Dynamic Views?

Have you heard of Dynamic views? it's a new way to view blogs.

Blogger currently offers five dynamic views for its public blogs. These views are only accessible if allowed for by the blog, meaning the author of the view needs to have "dynamic views enabled" or it won't work for the viewer. there are 5 different choices for how you might like to view a blog. they are Flipcard, Mosaic, Sidebar, Snapshot and Timeslide

so start by putting in this url:

http://lemoncholys.blogspot.com/view/flipcard

you are now viewing my blog via Flipcard. At the top of the screen, right side is a pull down menu. from there you can change the views to the other 4 choices mentioned above. what's nice about it, is; if you haven't read my blog in awhile, you could quickly scan over posts to catch yourself up or find posts that interest you.

These views require modern browsers such as Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox 3.5+, Chrome or Safari. Many elements of these views will not work should you have an older browser.

check it out, it's really cool and let me know how you like it. i like flipcard and snapshot a lot. you can try it with your other favorite blogs too. just remember if it isn't working, then they have not enabled their dynamic views.

need some inspiration?

(photo by Austin Kleon)

Austin Kleon, author Newspaper Blackout, wrote a really great article on notes and drawing called

"HOW TO STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST (AND 9 OTHER THINGS NOBODY TOLD ME)".

It's long, but well worth the read! i really liked the section, "Fake it til you make it". I've long subscribe to the theory of confidence that if you act confident, you will feel confident and thus others will perceive you as confident! Feeling confident is 3/4 of the battle over low self esteem.

here's how he breaks down his story:


1) Steal like an artist
2) Don't wait until you know who you are to start making things.
3) Write the book you want to read
4) Use your hands
5) Side projects and hobbies are important
6) The secret: do good work, then put it where people can see it
7) Geography is no longer our master
8) Be nice. (the world is a small town.)
9) Be boring. (it's the only way to get any work done.)
10) Creativity is subtraction



(photo by Austin Kleon)

Also, i suggest making a blackout poem - so fun!

here' s what you do (courtesy of Austin Kleon):

How to make a Newspaper Blackout Poem:

Grab a newspaper.
Grab a marker.
Find an article.
Cross out words, leaving behind the ones you like.

Pretty soon you’ll have a poem.

my poem read like this:

Cool, brisk air pledges to dedicate making lives better.

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also i made a button out of my Grief painting from yesterday. you are welcome to take it for your blog if it is something that resonates with you. xoxo

Not my favorite day........

Today it has been 20 years since Tucker sustained his injury. I won't be dwelling on it, but painted this picture last night to reflect my inner feelings. Feelings that are often kept well hidden.

Tucker is sick, so he will be home from school. We will have a cozy day watching tv and listening to music while i cuddle, love and care for him.

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Congratulations to Patty, Barbe and Angela. It was hard to pick only 3 winners for the giveaway. I read each and every one and heard your stories and I wish all of you could be taking the workshop. I appreciate you playing along.

Fun with Jane

Last weekend, Jane came over to play. We also went to see Dillon perform as Kenicki in his high school's production of Grease. It was a great show and I was so proud of Dillon. He really gave it his all and it showed. It was fun to see it with Jane.

Jane and I had no idea what we would be creating. Neither one of us could come up with an idea. She brought along her basic tool kit (which for us, is filled with yummy treasures and tools). Before she left, I told her, "bring a doll head".

So after putting our heads together, we decided to use some paper mache torsos, adding our doll heads to the top, using a vintage glass footed lamp base to house the body (torso form) and then building a wire cage to go around them.

So that's how we spent our time, building our girls, painting, collaging the paper mache bodies, creating fun hats for them and then accessorizing them with fabric and decorating their wire skirts. As we worked, we decided to carve niches out of the front of the paper mache and made little bunnies to sit inside. I had a really bad sinus headache, so Jane was kind enough to fix my wire skirt which was a complete mess since i didn't measure my lengths very good!





here's a pic i took of our dolls together before Jane headed home.
Mine is done for the most part, just need to paint my bunny. When you have time, stop by to see how Jane's is coming along.