Praise Report: Resilience, Creativity + Growth!

Becoming a parent is a lifetime commitment to offering support and encouragement. They start out so utterly dependent and we are in awe of every coo and peep. Skinned knees and pinched fingers of those early years are hardly sufficient preparation for the coming bumps and bruises -- not to mention the train wrecks that life-on-Earth can deliver to our loved ones. 

Maturing children confront opportunities for bigger calamities with each passing era. So giving them the perspective gift of resilience is perhaps our greatest parenting contribution. Not making the team. A favorite pet's death. Snubs from the sorority squad. Real pain at the time. Preparation for rising up in the face of REAL life to come. Perspective. Bouncing back. Making the best of "it." 

The week that has passed fills me with appreciation for my own two daughters. I am so completely proud of each of them. What a week we have had.

REALITIES

Unsettling facts for certain. Challenges. On to the good news. 

Here's the praise report! 

1. Our Sarah, rather than hibernating, has immersed herself in her capabilities. She has made her month's goal with her "Younique" enterprise and has some cash in hand {she gets paid immediately upon each order!} from sharing her expertise on that platform. Her team of 'recruits' is nearing fifty! Team Rah-Rah will be a force to be reckoned with over the coming months. She is quite the motivational cheerleader. Thank you God! 

2. Here's the REAL praise report! Sarah got out her paint brushes, paint and her heaven-sent talent and got to work! Hot off the press. Like yesterday! 

We are still completely 'against' passing the hat. HOWEVER. Sarah is willing to part with her painting -- to a good home. She has entitled this first one "New Start." It is 30 by 40" and is acrylic on canvas. I think that $150 is a reasonable price for something of this size. Do you live in Columbus, OH with a need for a piece of original art work? Know someone that does? Let me know and I can connect the dots. 

Guess what! She has already completed the companion piece to the first, in another color scheme! Getting these sold will help with the utility bills on their way. I'm so proud of her for dusting off her brushes and getting to work on creative projects that are completely under HER design. 

 

This just in!!!

She has time on her hands tonight. She JUST finished another piece! This one is smaller and measures just 16 by 20" and could brighten up a little corner in your home! For a song or a gas bill! 

LET'S HEAR IT FOR CREATIVITY! 

MORE GOOD NEWS!

3. Our brown-eyed daughter, Noelle played this week at John F Kennedy Center in Washington DC with the Apollo Orchestra. That's pretty awesome, right? But the seriously amazing part is that the concert was 'simul-cast' over the web and we got to watch it in real-time, while talking to my parents as they watched in Augusta! How cool is technology? Want to take a listen? #Blessed! If you can only listen to three minutes, go to the very conclusion and listen to THE most amazing rendition of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." Spoiler alert: NOT like a camp sing-along. 

Where did the two of these children get all of this capability? 

4. The dear sweet blogger that bought the four wobble chairs has received them, fallen in LUV and has already ordered her first additional dozen wobbles! In addition to that order: One of my twitter friends has just ordered some wobbles for her school. The wobbles are winning!
Order yours from us, as distributors at WobbleSeat.com. 

5. I received an email to end the week, from one of my longtime incredible OH supporters and she'd seen that I'm speaking at OAEYC in May. She has access to some grant funds and is eager to write up a grant for me to come visit her program!!! Every one of these 'new' invitations that fits with the calendar's availability feels like a gift from heaven. She had NO awareness of my prayers for 'new' work. She will need my product to give to her students as part of the grant. THANK YOU!

6. A random little gift card to Target arrived in the mail. That's an easy 're-gift.' It was a little 'thank you' and opening it brought such a smile. Every little bit of manna from heaven is appreciated. 

7. Which reminds me, I got another $15 credit to spend at Zulily this week!!! Thank you kind person for clicking through from me! 

8. My sweet friend from a Lamaze class, a mere 31 years ago sent a hug in an envelope. People are so good. 

9. I have been promoted to adding the music to our weekly Tutoring After-School Homework Club for church. I've wrangled another guitarist to help. I've never played with another guitarist. The kids were SO impressed. It was SOOOOO much fun! We've added three songs to the repertoire. "I've got the JOY!" 

10. And what an amazing conclusion for my blessings shout out! I was digging around in my studio for something (which now escapes me) and I got distracted by our painted bunting visiting on the bird feeder.  As I paused to marvel, I put my hands on my ironing board, right below the window. Sitting there, right in the midst of a pile of calico, was this bookmark. I have absolutely NO idea how it got there. I have no particular memory of ever seeing it previously. 

When I get discouraged or filled with sorrow or fear I will read and reread this verse. I can't honestly say that I think there are angels playing in my studio. It must have fallen out of a pile somehow? What an amazing "God-wink!"

This story is known in heaven. Knowing that you are caring about it, praying for us, sending encouragement, makes every development a reminder that we are in our Creator's hands. I am eternally grateful.  

Creativity, Joy, Permission, MESSterpiece, Progress = Contribution

CREATIVITY. IMAGINATION. ORIGINALITY. BRILLIANCE.

• Where does 'it' come from? 
• How do you foster creativity?
• What's the connection between capability and accomplishment? 
• Where does talent fit into the equation?
• What is the role of inspiration in the process of creation? 
• Is it possible to grow originality and flair? 
• How do you cultivate inventiveness? 
• Are there fairies and gremlins involved in awakening shazam? 
• Where does gumption fit into the equation?
• What does it take to have hot flashes of genius? 
• How long does it take to claim a new skill as your own? 
• What activities jumpstart an awakening? 
• What do I want to be when I grow up?  

Susan Hale's personal sketch journal of her travels, shared during her Master Class

Sublime Snowbird Summer Season Subsides

In real-time today is a day of packing. We leave at dawn tomorrow for the other side of our snowbirding equation. Packing up is always a time for reflection and introspection. Where does the time go? How well was it spent? What lies on the horizon? 

Immersing myself up-here in the unique and creative culture of this peninsula affords me the opportunity to rub shoulders with creative genius-at-work. These first several images are from my opportunity to attend Susan Hale's master-class at Edgewood Orchard Gallery a couple weeks ago. Yes. Those are her tubes of paint in the sunshine. Yes. The quote is from those two golden hours at her elbow. Yes. It is pure JOY to watch this woman in action. To watch and listen? PRICELESS!

"Give yourself permission to make a MESS-ter-piece."  

In the two hours of her class, in addition to watching her painting unfold, I got to hear Susan also speak inspirationally of the creative process: her own process and that of others.... that of her teachers and fellow artists. 

She addressed the need to allow yourself the freedom to explore, the freedom to mess up, start over, rewind, scrape off the paint and start over again. Oil is a forgiving medium for 'messing around.'  She laughed and said that no painting of hers is ever done until it is sold and physically taken away. When she still has access to her work she continues to have the ability to improve, revise, revisit, refresh and resuscitate  She shared that she has dozens of works 'underway' at any given time. Thank you, Susan for your example of brilliance. 

[Today's photos are the second such class of Susan's that I've been fortunate to attend from beginning to end. Hop back in time to see an  earlier class unfold. I have also watched her paintings emerge at length during our Plein Air festival ~~ Click pic to go back in time.] 

So what do I want to BE when I grow up?

Apparently I will be gnawing on that question as long as I have days to consider the possibilities. What I know moving forward into the future? I will allow myself the joy of the MESSterpiece! I will give myself permission to make more messes. I will encourage myself to appreciate the beginning phase of every new opportunity, every new project, every new adventure: where new skills are needed and things are sloppy and raw and in need of editing and rambling is expected and you wouldn't show it to anyone and there's just a glimmer of progress from experiment to experiment but there's a thrill in the process. 

I've written at length on process art for children..... what about process-for-me-as-an-adult? 

Seeing Susan's personal art journal lights a fire. What if I started keeping something of a similar ilk? What if I started? What if I gave myself permission (and time) to sketch? To draw? Where could I find those minutes in a day? In a week? Baby steps, Debbie. Baby steps. I'm thinking that cultivating that discipline would require stepping away from the screen. Hmmmm. That might not be a bad thing? Less screen time? Just mulling over the concept is exciting. Susan's journals were especially small. Maybe 4" by 6" ish. Great format. Keep it handy, available and immediate. (Yup. Talking to myself.) 

Must get to the packing and the departing first. Must say goodbye to this season's daisies.  

I'm certainly NOT a photographer, but I will continue to give myself permission to take LOTS of photos! I have a couple of new daisy shots to add to my collection. I never, ever tire of the daisies up here against the blue sky! What can I do with all of these daisy shots? 

Did you know that I made a 'movie' of JUST my daisies? 

Do you need 5 minutes of calm in your day today? 

Maybe it's time to make another movie?

Having a camera on hand, with both memory card space and battery power available, is one critical factor in capturing moments suspended in time. Giving myself permission to take dozens of awful photos -- of any given subject affords me the opportunity to capture one image worth sharing. I'm mastering the MESSterpiece of photography! What a blessing to be alive during the digital camera era. Oh happy day! Take a couple hundred while you're at it! How much patience do you have? 

I'm new to Instagram. This was the season to start there.

It is a good discipline for me. 

Are you on that sharing platform? 

Again. Instagram is an opportunity to share an image. Limited words. 

Square orientation. 

Crop. Edit. Share. 

Short and to the point. 

Ta-da. 

Having a blog is a platform for journaling out into the world. 

Instagram is a suspended moment in time. 

The network prompts me to look at my day a little bit differently. 

I'm enjoying the 'discipline' of posting there regularly.

Whether I'm looking within my little haven................. 

.................. or out onto the larger canvas surrounding me. 

This is me: old dog learning new tricks. 

New 'non-threatening' platform to share/inspire/learn. 

So. It is time to say goodbye to our goats on the roof. 

Such a fun diversion just out our front door. 

They never cease to create smiles for our village visitors. 

It's time to say goodbye to this unique shade of sky. 

It's a blessing that today's prediction calls for clouds and scattered showers. 

It's easier to pack on a rare gray day. 

It's easier to leave. 

It's time to reflect on the sunsets that breath life to the observers. 

Reflection indeed. 

On Golden Pond.

There are exciting opportunities on the horizon! 

There are new places to go. 

New teachers to meet. 

New schools to visit. 

New things to learn.

New disciplines awaint. 

I have NEW BUSINESS CARDS! 

I HAVE NEW SHOES! 

AND

I HAVE NEW TIGHTS! 

BRING IT ON! 

Let the seasons march on.

Fall brings with it a whole new palette!  

Did you have a chance to *see* my FREEBIE fall printable? Just pop over to our Early Education Emporium for your free download in pdf format. 

By the numbers. 

18: the number of years I've had my own creative company. 

5: the number of years I've been blogging. 

100+: the number of original songs that I've written for children. 

3: the number of picture books that I've published as author/illustrator. 

1: the number of nationally award winning DVD's I've created. 

554: the number of people following me on Teachers Pay Teachers

134,105: the number of followers on Pinterest. 

2,807,995: the number of pageviews on my blog.

2: the number of national keynotes that I've delivered.  

7: the number of grand-wonders in our tribe. 

56: the number of trips I've taken round the sun. 

Isn't it fun to look over the shoulders of others? 

I thought you might appreciate looking at my bookshelf as I continue to wrestle. 

Here are a few of my favorite books on my own bookshelf that speak to all of these delightful issues. 

I have linked them with my Amazon Affiliate code. 

Your shopping via clicking from here is a sweet way to support my efforts as I support yours! 

You can't possibly go wrong with any of these women! 

I guess that it's time to plow back through them again. 

I am at a crossroads. 

So it's off to our next adventure. 

Thanks for your support as I continue my journey. 

We'll see where I end up after taking all of these baby steps. 

By all means pin your favorite. My hope is 'entice' creatives, art teachers and the like to 'discover' my humble efforts and share with their students. 

Creativity and the Power of the Internet

CREATIVITY + The POWER of the Internet

Once upon a time I found some black and white polka dotted coasters in the sale bin at JoAnn Fabrics. They spoke to me as 'canvas' ready for joyous exploration. At the time we had a lot of empty white wall space in our little FL homebase. I gathered up a lot of 'flotsam and jetsam' and a glue gun and set about making myself happy. 

Ribbons and coaster and paint: oh my! 

At the time, I was focused on bringing about color and shapes on a time frame. I was on the "git 'er done" mindset and really wanted to focus and not allow another UFO (UnFinished Opportunity) to clutter my brain. So I set to work and started embellishing one square at a time.

And soon I had quite a few little squares that made me smile. 

The more fun I had......... 

the faster the project started coming together. 

Before I could get all the glue gun 'strings' peeled from the edges, we had the whole Granny Smith Apple green canvas hanging on the wall. TA-DA!!!! No UFO for moi! VOILA. But............ hold your hats folks, there's more. Stay tuned for the 'rest-of-the-story.' 

That would make for a happy little motivational moment, if that's where the story concluded. Silly me. I thought that was the conclusion. Yet no. YEARS after I had gotten all of my polka dots in a row, I received a FB communication from a 'secret admirer' out in the realm of the cyber fairies. 

It seems that my collage of happy little bits and pieces had conspired-to-inspire a whole INTERNATIONAL group of artists to create their own 'digital' community collaboration!!! I kid you not! 

Here's what the Facebook PHOENIX Art Collaboration looked like as it was getting off the ground. 

So now we have come full circle. 

What I 'started' with my simplicity generated this amazing work. 

This is the part where I attempt to put words around something both nebulous, true, significant and simple. Each of our efforts has the power to inspire, support, encourage, cajole, motivate, arouse, excite, goad, galvanize, spark, invigorate and enliven others. Perhaps, even without our knowing it! 

What could you bring to fruition today? What seeds can you plant that might journey forth into unknown quarters, if you were just 'to do' what you are capable of doing. Rick-rack and a glue gun might not appear to be all that profound to the naive onlooker and yet behold the same concept in the hands of a dozen brilliant wonders. 

Behold the power of the internet. What a gift. Such a tool. 

Collaboration. The new black. 

***Any gen-u-ine Art appreciators will want to dial back to last week's Tutorial Tuesday to watch the MASTER CLASS by award winning American Impressionist Painter Tom Nachreiner unfold in earnest. There are more than 100 photos of his work unfolding in the 2 hour class. 

I will tell you now that he painted for well over half of the demonstration class, on a canvas turned 'upside down.' Just yesterday he sent me a several paragraph explanation of his thoughts behind such an exercise. The man is fortunate to be recognized for his brilliance in his own lifetime. 

NOW!! If I could just attract the attention of some more elementary Art teachers to direct their students in response to my picture books. Cyber fairies? Are you listening? 



Your 'pin' is the best chance of that message going out into the world.  Thanks, as always for your support.

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