{creative soul}

Mojo Monday: My Favorite Place...

Happy Monday! I thought for today's Mojo Monday post, I would share some pictures from my new studio! I just moved in a little over a month ago and it's become one of my favorite places to be. It is very small, only about 150 square feet but having a place to go to each day outside of the home, has really helped me focus on my business and my art.

It is in a little section of Plymouth called "Old Village" which dates back to the early 1800s and it's right next to the train tracks. I just love being here with the natural light and hearing the train whistle blowing as it goes by! Also, there is a beautiful park about a half mile from my studio so I can go walking on my lunch hour—if the boss lets me! :)

I tried to move in on the cheap so rather than heading to Ikea for new furniture (which was my first instinct) I ended up spray painting some furniture that was in our garage and basement. My computer desk used to be John's parent's old dining room table and the table underneath my Kelly Rae Robert's print was my Aunt Dorothy's old table... I just love it! My one splurge was my painting table, which I got at my favorite store in Ann Arbor —Found. It is an old wallpapering folding table! It wobbles a bit as I paint but I don't mind it...

I have been slowly filling it with food (which is important!), plants (which I'm sure to kill) and different kinds of inspiration...

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my little studio! Happy Monday!

xo
N

 

Mojo Monday: Nature Sketchbook

Hello! Happy Monday to you... it is a gorgeous fall day here in Michigan and I'm very blessed to have a park near my studio where I can walk, jog or bike. Right now, the leaves are just beginning to change and even though it's warm & sunny here there is a little crispness to the air, which I just love!

Today, I am working on an online class and one of the assignments was to sketch with pen, pencil or whatever medium you wish, items that you find in nature. I decided to head out on my walk to collect whatever caught my fancy. I love flowers, but I was looking for more wispy, twigs and leaves. First, I started off from my office and headed out to Hines Park. The evidence of fall was all around me...

On my walk I found a lot of goodies! Once I got back to the studio, I sorted through them and picked out my favorites.

Next, I sketched them using a combination of marker and graphite. I really enjoyed this process. I'm not sure where it will lead, but it helped me to view nature in a different way and I came up with some great motifs that I may use in a scrapbook paper or other surface pattern design down the road.

I hope you enjoyed this process and that you might choose to use it in your own work. Taking pictures really helps too, esp. since some of these may dry and out and change their look later on (which may lead to a cool and totally different motif!)

Hugs!
N

Mojo Monday: The Coffee Bean!

Good Monday Morning to you! I hope wherever you are, it is a bright, beautiful day! Here in Michigan, it is cool, crisp and the leaves are beginning to change color. It's hands-down my favorite time of the year. I always feel re-inspired and energized by the brisk temperature and the changing of the season.

This year is especially energizing for me, as I've moved into a little studio space in Old Village, which is part of my hometown of Plymouth, Michigan, but has it's own unique charm. Most of the buildings in Old Villiage are from the early 1800's (this will be a future Mojo Monday post!) . Anyway, Plymouth has a cute little downtown and on it's main street, Penniman, it has a lovely coffeeshop, The Coffee Bean. The Bean is in a big old white house, with creaking wooden floors and comfy furniture.

Penniman Street

{The Bean}

The charm of this place cannot be overstated. Out front are little wrought iron chairs on a big porch, and in front of the door, is a chalkboard where people can leave each other little love notes, like this one...

Don't you love it already!?!

Once inside, the aroma of Pumpkin Spice Latte's and Cranberry Scones (my two favorites) envelope you... Donna, the sweet manager, takes her time with each drink, lovingly making each one as if you were a special friend who came over to her house for coffee. I think that is why I love this place so much...their motto is "friends don't let friends drink Starbucks!" LOL!

 Donna

Today's trivia question was "What is the First Day of Autumn Called?" I got it right! The Autumnal Equinox... :) I felt pretty proud.

Here are just a few of the reasons I love this place so much! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and perhaps it will spark some creativity in you somehow?

Hugs!
N

Mojo Monday - She Art, jewelry & movies!

Hello! I hope you had a great weekend wherever you are! This week is filled with deadlines and tax preparation, but in the midst of everything I'm trying to find time to relax and enjoy. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle I forget just how blessed I am and so today I am spending time with my sweet daughter, Ellie. We're headed out to lunch & the movies... she is off for Winter Break.

I had a great weekend! I spent most of it sleeping in and painting LOL! This past weekend I spent about 3 days cleaning out my basement and reorganizing my little "studio". It has made such a difference in how I approach my art time. I used to hate going down there because it was so messy and cramped, but now my space feels more open and organized. Even though the cat litter box and spiders still exist alongside me while I create, I do love it! (I'd show you a picture, but you might still be horrified! LOL)

Yesterday I created my very first SheArt Canvas!! Christy Tomlinson teaches this workshop, along with many other great classes at her website, scarletlime.com. I love Christy's teaching style because she just explores as she goes and inspires you to do the same. There is no fear - just PLAYTIME! It's perfect because that is just what I need. I feel like a little girl playing with my paper dolls... so much FUN! If you haven't heard of these, go check them out! The price is nominal compared to the sheer amount of video tutorials and encouragement you get from Christy.

Here she is in all her glory! I just love her... I think she is me! And the message is one I need to remind myself of. She is hanging in my office directly about my computer, to remind me to explore!

Lastly, Friday night I went to a Patera jewelry class at Found, in Ann Arbor. My friend, Gail, went with me! It was amazing. The jewelry and art is already pre-made so you just have to add the resin, which makes it look like glass and put on a few jump rings. SO EASY and the jewelry turns out beautifully. I made earrings (not pictured) and a ring too!

I hope that you are finding time to enjoy and just play too! It can be fun and very healing...
Hugs!
N

 

 

Halloween color schemes....

I don't know why I love the fall so much! Could be the cooler temps, the beautiful fall colors, the gray, steely skies full of fluffy clouds, leaves falling... oh I could go on and on! But this time of year really speaks to my soul.

It's probably no mistake then, that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I know it is mostly celebrated in the US and not all religions recognize this time of year, but I find so much joy in preparing for it, seeing the kids all dressed up and handing out (and eating) all the candy. I also love designing Halloween goodies!

I am currently working on a new halloween set and was looking for unique color schemes and turned again to vintage art to come up with these. I thought I'd share them with you! They are simplistic but I think very effective. I really like the simplicity and tone of the second one...but the third one could be pretty for a general fall set.

Happy Haunting!

Nancie

A Life UnRehearsed...

I am so excited to be featured today on Bonnie Rose's lovely blog! Bonnie is an amazing mixed media artist whose rich colors, fabrics and artwork completely inspire me. Her blog is one of the most creative and inspirational blogs I've seen. My interview today is one in a series featuring like-minded artists.

You can check out the interview here. Also, check out Bonnie's Etsy shoppe and her new Color My World e-course which looks amazing!

Thank you Bonnie for a great interview!

Hugs!
Nancie  

Paper Heaven....

My favorite place to go when I'm in Ann Arbor, besides Zingermans (for the BEST turkey reuben you'll ever eat!), is Hollanders. They are a paper arts store and besides having everything paper (stationary, scrapbooking, cards, clip art books, crafting and arts books), they also hold classes in altered art, mixed media art journals, book-binding and even letterpress. Of course, I've taken many of these classes! LOL! But that was years ago. I just picked up their workshop schedule and may head back for a class or two this fall.

Anyway, the other day when I visited Hollanders, I took pictures of their papers for inspiration both in color and design combinations. Here they are in all their iPhone photo glory for you! Some are kinda blurry but they are all so gorgeous, aren't they?

 

Enjoy!
xoxo
N.

Greetje Feenstra

Good morning! I am off to my weekly torture at the gym, but I was surfing through Art.com today for some inspiration and came across this amazing artist that I had to share with you!

Greetje Feenstra's painting are so ethereal and gorgeous. I love the way she crops her painting in so tight and all the wonderful texture and softness, don't you?

My favorite painting is this one because if you look closely she is using gold leaf! LOVE IT!

But check out her other work at Art.com

 

Sigh.

xoxo

N.

What I learned yesterday...

at the Pshop CS5 class could fill a book, or er, a 6 hour class! LOL!  The class was great and I did learn alot. Since it was geared toward mostly photographers, some of the stuff about Camera Raw and HDR were over my head. But the section of Photo Stylings were awesome! Plus, at the end of class Ben taught us how to make actions and all the tricky things that could happen with them.

Besides advanced HDR (high definition resolution) and the new mini-bridge, the coolest thing about CS5 is this thing called "Content Aware Fill". If you have something missing in your picture, like sky or rocks, you just select the blank area and under Fill, choose Content Aware. It acts like a really smart clone tool and fills in the sky and rocks for you. You can also use this to take things out of your photo that you don't want, like electrical lines or a sign.The results were not perfect, but they drew some oooohs and ahhhs from the audience. From a geek standpoint, it was pretty awesome. 

The new puppet warping feature allows you to take an object and map on it where it might bend and move. Ben animated an armadillo tail and it was cool but I could not figure out how I might use Puppet Warping in my work, except maybe to change the perspective on an element.

Refine Edge is revamped for CS5 and is really useful for extracting hair things like Fibers, yarn and such.

The new beta 6.1 version Camera Raw (available at labs.adobe.come) has a very powerful feature which can take a fish eye lens image and flatten it out. I imagine this may be used in reverse to create some "Lens Baby" affects? But I think I took a potty break about then so I missed how to reverse it! :)

Like I said the section on Photo Stylings and Actions were well worth the class and more directly applicable to how I use Photoshop, and I hope to share what I learned here with you. The one thing I was really excited about yesterday is why I always get geeked about Kelby seminars... the deals! I signed up for a year-long access at KelbyTraining.com for about $100 off the price and got almost $500 in free dvds and books! I picked up Scott's CS4 Down and Dirty Tricks and his Digital Photography series, as well as some Corel Painter tutorials by Fay Sirkis.

Now I just need to sit down and take the time time learn plus upgrade to CS5! 

xoxo
N.

Photoshop CS5!!

I am so excited today to be able to attend Photoshop CS5 for Photographers. It's put on by Kelby Training. If you don't know who Scott Kelby is he writes and teaches about Photoshop. He is such a great teacher and has a wonderful sense of humor. Today's class is taught by Ben Wilmore and it's all about the latest version of PS. I'm excited because I only have CS3 and I want to know if I should upgrade. Plus I'm hoping to learn some cool tricks that I can pass on here. xoxo N