Posts tagged creativity
Painting Playfully

There’s a playful spirit to the work that I do … my painting, my writing, and my teaching, all have an element of play.

This painting was started using my Hide-N-Seek painting technique. It's still hiding.

This painting was started using my Hide-N-Seek painting technique. It's still hiding.

I used to look down on play as being frivolous. Not any more. Now I see play as a necessary, integral part of life.

All animals play. Many of us keep pets to remind us to play because we forget how.

One of the reasons I teach the Hide-N-Seek Painting Technique is to remind you how to play while you create.

Painting is a journey of discovery.

Come on that journey with me; take me on that journey with YOU!

Hide-N-Seek is for you if you are willing to open to more of your “inner child”.

The more you look at your painting, the more you will see.

It’s a portal through which the inner wisdom of your heart can touch you.

You matter! You count!

What you have to paint is needed by you and by the world today
— RIGHT NOW!

When you take the time to get in touch with your inner playful self, you are actually helping the rest of us to do the same.

Paint with me!

Express your self on paper in this safest of places, knowing that you’re being loved throughout the entire process.

If it feels scary, that’s okay. Excitement might be a better way to parse that feeling.

It’s time for you to Pay Attention to your Heart,
to the core of who you are.

Pay more attention to yourself than you pay to the outside world — even for just a day or two!

YOU MATTER!

And when you pay attention to you, to your Core Self, you give more of yourself to the world, enriching it and all of us.

You Matter. If you stay hidden, the rest of us don’t, won’t, and can’t know you.

Are you curious?

Curiosity is the “carrot of inspiration”
Goals are the “stick of motivation”

We have entered the twilight of 2016.

Earlier this year, I declared this to be our second chance of feeling“Sweet Sixteen”. It’s an opportunity to experience the enthusiasm of looking at life with fresh “16-year-old eyes”.

It's still not quite finished, but it's shaping up nicely. You can see where it's headed.

It's still not quite finished, but it's shaping up nicely. You can see where it's headed.

Autumn is the time of year to gather the bounty of the current year. We figure out what we’ve done, what more we want to do, and what more we can do with our dwindling hours of daylight.

How’s 2016 been for you?

What more do you want to be, do, say, or have in 2016?

Have you done what you set out to do at the onset?

There’s still time for some course correction.

Yes, it is Permanent!
Dilbert9-10-11Web.jpg

First I must thank Scott Adams for the cartoon he published earlier this month. Brilliant! I am a sucker for cartoons pertaining to all things art/artist/creativity related. Humor, like creativity, is essential to life.

Whenever we feel the calling to create, we must answer. Sometimes we don't respond to it with pen and ink or paint and brush. Sometimes we use yarn and needles or sugar and spice. No matter, answer we must.

Creativity is a calling, an urge, and a muse that must be followed. It is the mystery and magic of life itself, the substance of spirit flowing through our lives ... sometimes even at four in the morning :-)

Creativity Bars

Okay, so maybe these could be called Creative Energy Bars, but I like the sound of Creativity Bars because you get to use your creativity in making them.

Let's face it, every single one of us is creative in our own ways. There are some days when the only thing I want to create is food. I usually start with a recipe and then "riff" off it by changing and adding ingredients.

This basic recipe came from the Sunday newspaper column by Three Many Cooks blogger Pam Anderson and her daughters, Sharon and Maggy. Here is the basic recipe:

2 C rolled Oats
1/2 C wheat germ
1 C sliced almonds
1/2 C semi-sweet or bittersweet chips
1/2 C dried cherries or craisins
1 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk

Adjust the oven rack to a lower/middle position and preheat to 325 degrees. Grease a 9" square pan and then line the pan bottom and up the sides with foil — also greased. This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan once they are baked.

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl, turn into the pan, pat down, and bake for 30 min. Cool to room temperature and then put the pan into the freezer. When the bars are firm, use the foil handles to remove them from the pan. Remove the foil and use a long, sharp knife to cut the bars into 18 1"x3" pieces. These will keep in an airtight container for one week, or in the freezer for much longer (you will probably eat them up before they have the chance to go bad).

Here comes the CREATIVE part:
The first time I made these I didn't have sweetened condensed milk; I had evaporated milk. I heated up the milk and melted 1 C of sugar into it. I added some unsweetened carob chips to that mixture before stirring it into the dry ingredients. This made for a chewier bar because there was more moisture in it. YUM.

The second time I made them I didn't have wheat germ so I added freshly ground flax seeds, extra oats, and unsweetened coconut flakes. This time I used sweetened condensed milk and omitted the carob chips. YUM again!

The third time I made them I ran out of craisins so I used prunes and left the almonds whole. I know, look at me getting BOLD!

EVERYONE who eats these likes them. The original recipe said it made 16 pieces (each 1"x4" — I'm getting 18 pieces instead), each with 206 calories, 31g carbohydrates, 5g protein, 8g fat (3g saturated), 8mg cholesterol, 3g fiber, 32mg sodium. I haven't figured out the sugar content, but one a day is probably okay.

Have fun and please let me know what kinds of creative changes you make to your Creativity Bars!