Jan. 14, 2009

Welcome to the third issue of Lion’s Paw!
                                                                                                                                                                                                
In this issue… 
    -         ShowTunes – Map Mama goes to the Big House; Nocturne news! 
    -     PoetTunes – sassy poems find sassy home
    -     Web Spinning – new threads spun; and win a fabulous prize!
    -     Art Quirks – no use crying over spilt coffee
    -         Creativity Spark – break the rules! 
    -    World Travels – exploring the Emerald Isle
    -         Nature Speaks – rookwords
    -         The Gold Mine – Be an artist! Instantly! Wildly! Pollockly!
    -         Quote of the Moment – one person’s weed is another’s rose

ShowTunes – Map Mama goes to the Big House...and Nocturne news!
The map collage “Natural Landscape”—otherwise known among friends as “map mama”—was on display through August in all her geographic glory at Del Ray Artisans’ gallery, resulting in much admiration but no sale. After the coming down from that show, inside connections got her a gig at the former Lorton Prison, now reborn as the Workhouse Arts Center. No sale, but nice exposure.  For now, “Natural Landscape” is back home with her mama-creator. Intrigued?

Meanwhile… If you’re in the area mid-January, please stop by the opening reception for Nocturne: From Dusk to Dawn at the Del Ray Artisans gallery this Friday, Jan. 16, 7-10pm, where you’ll find three works of mine on exhibit – two collages and an acrylic/mixed-media painting/collage. Hope to see you there! Or, stop by any time through Feb. 15 when the exhibit closes.

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PoetTunes – sassy poems find sassy home...
My poems “Feeling Sienna” and “Contemplating Altitude” have found a good home. They’re being included in the upcoming anthology, How I Freed My Soul, which is being produced by DC-based Liberated Muse Productions. Stay tuned for publication details and reading/book-signing dates.

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Web Spinning – new threads spun; and win a fabulous prize!
If you’ve landed on the Lioness Press home page lately, you may have spotted a couple of changes. At last I found the time for some much-needed updates and additions. Click on Cards and Journals to link to pages filled with new samples of both lines of journals and the ‘haikugami’ cards.

The selection of cards is also now accompanied by the complete haiku texts. Note, these are just samples—each card created is a unique work of art—and custom requests are welcome.

At Collage and Book Art you’ll link to an expanded page of collage art, with a couple of newly completed pieces, plus a handful of examples from my recent book-art exploration.

The Wildlife Habitat page has been updated with a few new photos of feathered friends, including shots of one of my regular summer hummingbirds.

Win a fabulous prize!! J Throughout the reorganizing of some of my Web pages, I think I’ve caught and redirected all old links to their correct new homes. But, no one’s perfect, and I certainly wouldn’t bet my house, or even a closet, on having captured 100 percent of links needing updates.  So… if you’re the first to let me know of a broken link anywhere on my website, I’ll send you a ‘haikugami’ card of you choosing as a thank-you!

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Art Quirks – no use crying over spilt coffee...
On a recent round of artist studios as part of the Chestertown area studio touring weekend, I met a metal artist who produced the most amazing patterns on collages of metal panels. He’s known for his beautiful metal-sculpted vessels, but I was enamored with his abstract metal panel works. Inquiring about his process, I relearned the value of ‘happy accidents.’  His trick?—organic patterns forged into metal by nature when left overnight on wet grass. And so....

I too was not disappointed when my own happy accident ocurred….

With a co-located kitchen and studio, it was just a matter of time until food or drink met art surface. So when coffee splashed across a layering of collage papers, and I started trying to wipe out the effects only to realize a nifty little ‘distressing’ technique, I was as happy as a squirrel in a nut grove. And thus was born another element to the layers in “The Ghosts of Trees” (detail shot to left).

May you also look at every ‘accident’ as a potentially happy and fruitful one.


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Creativity Spark – break the rules...  
You don’t have to be a painter or a poet to be creative. Creativity is a way of being and looking at the world that’s accessible to anyone. It’s just a matter of using your imagination, or, as the unimaginative but evocative cliché goes: “thinking outside the box."

Whether used for problem-solving, managing challenging relationships or other ways to enhance our time on this planet, creativity can open the door to a world of new ideas. How? There are countless books and websites on creativity—something for everyone—here are some things that I usually find helpful to thinking creatively...

Life is gray. It’s easy to think in terms of black and white, wrong or right. But, the real world isn’t so clear-cut. Remembering that we live in the gray, that there are usually more than two ways of seeing something, helps me to keep my mind open to a plentitude of possibilities.

Window gazing. Just looking out my window watching the clouds change shape or the birds flit from feeder to tree can help free my mind. Sometimes I end up looking at something through a nature metaphor; sometimes it’s just a much-needed brain nap that frees up fresh thinking.

What would Dali do? Whether your hero is Einstein, Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, your Aunt Iris, Salvador Dali, or the Dalai Lama…sometimes it helps to get outside your own head to solve a challenge. If I imagine a problem presented to someone whose insight I admire, it helps me to approach it in a very different way.

Break the rules, break the rut.  Always done something one way? Why? Do you ever feel stuck in a rut, doing things the same way? Whether switching up the steps, ignoring an old rule or belief that no longer makes sense, or taking an alternate path just for the sake of curiosity, mindfully changing the way I approach something often helps me find new answers.

So, what do you do? What’s your favorite tool in your creativity toolbox?  Share your best ideas with me and I’d be happy to pass them on in the next newsletter…attributed to you of course…unless your idea belongs to Abraham Lincoln.

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World Travels – Exploring the Emerald Isle...
From castle to sheep farm, and a wild Irish goose chase, my Ireland travels in September were enchanting and enlightening. Ancient stone circles, abbey ruins, charming pubs and authentic Irish music, the wonderful kindness of the Irish—all and more made the journey pure magic. Click here to explore.

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Nature Speaks – rookwords...
Europe’s version of the American black crow is the rook, a very sociable creature with a ruffian look to his high-held head and bulky bill, a raspy chiding racket among his many vocalizations. He’ll murmur a while, then caw again and then, while fanning his tail, cluck and scold.

I encountered scores of rooks during my September trip to Ireland. They’re bold and raucous, like any corvid, but even less elegant. In fact, the rook—with his oversized dirty-gray beak—is just not a pretty bird. But what a presence! You can’t ignore a rook. They’re everywhere, demanding attention.  One rowdy rook in Kinsale’s village square squawked boisterously as I walked by, so I paused, we looked at each other, and he belted out some kind of loud, long speech that seemed quite important.  I wanted to know what he was telling me.  Just as we seek to be understood, is there something in us that wants to know what it is that others feel needs expression? Or, was this just about my weird fascination with blackbirds?

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The Gold Mine – Be an artist! Instantly! Wildly! Pollockly!
Do you have artistic dreams but don’t know where to start?  Get some easy inspiration at www.jacksonpollock.org.  I discovered this little gold mine of a website via a creativity newsletter and couldn't resist sharing.  Just click on the blank screen with your mouse; every time you click, the color changes, and every move blooms into new angles and shapes. Create a masterpiece without having to mix paint or clean brushes.

Have fun!

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Quote of the Moment – one person's weed is another's rose... 

         Weed—a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

                                                       ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

I am so in love with nature that I think every plant does indeed have its own special virtues—well, with the possible exception of kudzu—and, if I felt completely safe from danger and the law, I'd be stopping along highways to pick wildflowers to re-home in my little back yard. They're just all so beautiful, so natural, so perfect without even trying.  As that worn cliché that comes to mind on Saturday mornings en route to yard sales—“One person’s trash is another’s treasure”—I find treasure and pleasure in the lowliest flower.  

May we all see the treasure in the trash…the virtue in a weed…the good in any bad day.