Living An Artful Life

Tis’ The Season To Be Creative
By Nancy VanReece

The thought of making a gift will either send you running out of the room or up to the craft table. I’m hoping that if you are of the first mindset you’ll stop for a moment and think about the last time you received something that was hand made just for you. It was awesome, wasn’t it? One really awesome thing Joan made for me once is still up in the home office and I just adore it. She took a piece of wood, painted it and then found really groovy nails and nailed them in about ¾ of the way to form a shape and then wrapped colored wires around them. She then cut out letters from magazines and glued them to the wood to write me a note. It really is awesome.

Can you think of something that you can hand make for a gift this year? Still stumped, feeling blocked? There are several area artists in town that have already made things for you! Hand knitted scarves, locally designed jewelry, hand made art objects for your home and office. You can find these types of things at places like The Art House on 12th Ave South or The Plowhaus at 17th and Fatherland during the Naughty & Nice Show or over at Woodland Street’s Art & Invention, Meg’s goodies await. There are several places to find great hand made items, ask around at any of these shops and galleries and they’ll give you more ideas.

Now, let us talk about that fear of creativity. It is time to move beyond the realm of just talking about creative living and actually do it. The only real way of handling this is to just DO the work. Try a new experience, invite it! Don’t start to criticize your work before you even begin. I find that this is just another form of procrastination. Allow yourself to do something badly. The freedom will then help you do something not quite as bad the next time. Everyone has a unique voice, feel free to use it.

I’ve recently completed a trio of large paintings called The Big Sky Series. One that I may have a hard time ever selling because I love it so much is called ‘Tribal Exodus.” It was inspired by the movie March of the Penguin, the news reports from New Orleans and Houston and my own busy journey this past year. In reflection of your journey, take the time to pull a chair up to that craft table and express yourself. Tis’ the season!

Living an artful life is a constant mindfulness to seek out creative things and to welcome truth. Over the course of this past year I have enjoyed sharing with you once a month and open up the mailbox to anyone who would like to share a story about how you are finding your path or creative living. Jot me a note and I’ll be sure to read it and will pick some stories to share with the readers in the new year.

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