Coffee Break Creativity

Coffee Break Creativity Mini-Workshop at my home with a group of wonderful ladies.

I held a workshop based on my workbook, Coffee Break Creativity, at my home. Some of you know how difficult it is to plan, schedule AND pay for space. I think I found the perfect place for small group workshops—my kitchen table.

I set out to offer this experience in this workshop: 

• Cultivate creativity in you.

• Reinforce short creative sparks and ideas.

• Inspiration to use creativity as a lifestyle enrichment.

• Share and be inspired by each other.

• Mostly, just have fun with a mix of creative ideas.

I think we achieved that and more! This encouraged me to do it again and plan other workshops as well.

You can order my workbook on LuLu.com but if you’d like to experience this with a small group, sign up on my Contact page and send me a note.

And just in case you have a birthday coming up, why not host a creativity party for yourself and a few close friends. Ask me about the details.

~Maria

10 Sketching Tips

“To silence your mind and say something at the same time, try sketching.” Maria

This is a collection of tips I have gathered from many sources. Although not all of these tips will always apply, it’s my go-to when I’m sketching in my notebook. Eventually, it becomes a habit like anything you do over and over. I’m hoping some of these tips will help you.

1. Choose your subject.

2. Decide what to keep in your drawing and what not to keep.

3. Keep it simple. (Speed forces you to simplify)

4. Break it up into shapes such as cubes, spheres, etc.

5. Look for the contours of your scene.

6. Practice single line sketching. Draw your horizon line using one single line.

7. Loosen up. Capture the essence and not all the details.

8. Contrast gives you depth.

9. Add variations of thick and thin lines and don’t connect all your lines.

10. Think in layers.

In My Own Words

I love quotes! I collect them, I read them, I post them on social media as well as physically on my inspiration board above my desk. Throughout the years I have written words and thoughts of my own in my notebooks. This is just one of the 52 in my book/workbook, Project 52. Today I was encouraged to begin sharing these with my audience. Let me know what you think?

The Art of Growing Up

My husband bought me this little gem of a book while we were on vacation. He said it sounded like something I would enjoy reading and he was right. In The Art of Growing Up, best-selling author Véronique Vienne gives us wisdom, wit, and encouragement for aging glamorously and discovering the true art of living. I typically dislike self-help books and I wouldn’t consider this book to fall into that category. I enjoyed every word of it because of her wit and light heartedness. This book was so easy to read and would be good to leave out on a coffee table or guest room.

Not All is Lost

“Renewal requires opening yourself up to new ways of thinking and feeling” Deborah Day (author of Be Happy Now!)

Kenwood Inn & Spa, Kenwood, CA

Hello friends,

Recently I lost all my document files on my computer and wanted to share this with you. My tech-savvy guy had offered to take care of something for me and I never checked back on it even though I had small clues now and then that I should have paid attention to. I won’t mention names but I live with him. This taught me a big lesson. After losing my mind and getting angry, I calmed down and asked myself “so what should I do now?” I began by looking through thumb drives and found a few files there. Everything else was gone for good. Which led me to the next step.

First I decided to make this a new start. Meaning that maybe it was time to let go of what I lost and begin a new way of teaching, documenting, and simplifying my notes. After all, nobody can take from me what I know and love in my heart. To live and breathe creativity is a big part of me!

Next, we took a vacation to the Sonoma Valley in California. Yes, I forgave him and took a trip with him. In the scheme of things, I told myself they were just files. Although I had to repeat that to myself several times, eventually and after a lot of great wine, I felt much better.

And the biggest thing I learned was that I alone am responsible for tech support results and learning yet another computer lesson was a good thing in the end. So back up your files, ask questions, and get help when you need it. ~Maria

To Be...

Looking back at this photo from my files (2012) inspires me to get back in the game. Putting the finishing touches on my painting that was selected for IMAGINE 2012 featured piece. Grateful memories!

I’ve been thinking about my artistic abilities as I am getting my paints out and ready to engage with three canvases at one time. I don’t think of myself as being creative enough at times, especially when it comes to painting— I want to get better at it. But it’s not about my technique, or my ability to mix colors that I’m talking about...it’s about putting down on canvas what I find interesting, creative and exciting. I love the feeling of waking up and looking forward to getting back to the canvas to try something, a new idea etc.

Painting is this: You begin with an idea, you put paint on the canvas, and then you have this weird relationship with the piece of work you call your art until you both come to an agreement that it is finished. The creative process is rather mysterious and I love it.

To be more creative, to be excited, to be surprised. ~Maria

Tell Me...

One of my favorite groups on FaceBook is Cynthia Berg’s page, “Of Ink + Insight”. Tell Me Tuesday is a weekly writing prompt she shares from the deck of cards she created, Tell Me Insight Cards. I always look forward to reading and participating with the group…Cynthia has a special, magical way about her and how she leads this group.

This one really spoke to me as I’ve been thinking that I do need a better plan, and maybe a little bit of a change in what I’m doing with my art, workshops, books, etc. It’s time to write out some specifics in my notebook and take some daily actions. Thank you Cynthia Berg! ~Maria

Photo by Cynthia Berg, Of Ink + Insight

Travel Inspiration

I recently visited San Francisco for just a couple of days. My favorite way to explore a new area is to walk it and along the way, photograph things that inspire me as art. I may want to paint these street scenes or simply sketch them in my notebook. I am amazed at how much we can do with our phones and an editing app in just a few minutes. ~Maria

My Personal Manifesto

my personal manifesto

Hello Creatives, I get ideas from many other creatives I follow. I was inspired to write my list for my personal manifesto by Todd Henry, The Accidental Creative. I had fun creating it like this and look forward to sharing this project with my creative circle. Have you written your personal manifesto?

Time

Hello Creatives, (Yes, you are a creative too) I have been thinking about how I spend my time, where I take it and where it goes, sometimes without my permission—a lack of schedule and the disruption of a schedule. Some days I feel like I misplaced that lifeboat long ago and need to find it because I’m still living. I am adopting a new meaning for the word schedule—a mock-up of reason and order… thanks to this quote.

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living.”

— Annie Dillard, The Writing Life