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6 Creative Ways to Rekindle Your Artistic Passion
If we remember to think outside the Hallmark box, Valentine's Day can be about much more than hugs and kisses. It can be a time to remembering and rekindling LOVE of all kinds…including love for our creative projects.
Here's a list of 6 creative ways to rekindle your artistic passion
- Write a love letter to your project. Use a beautiful sheet of paper and write all the reasons why you love it and why it is important to you. THEN, on a new sheet of paper, let your project write back you with an adoring reply. You can even ask your project questions: "How should I get started?" "What's my next best step?” "How can I regain my momentum?" And then, allow your project to answer you in the reply. This is a great way to get excited about your project again, and placing it in the context of a love letter just makes it all the more fun. We did this on a Goalar Energy teleclass last week and it was an amazingly powerful exercise. Try it – you'll love it!
- Take your project out for a long, romantic walk. Shut out all of your concerns of daily life and just focus on some one on one time with you and your project. Let you mind flow freely as you dream and dare on the topic. You can even talk out loud as you let your imagination flow. This is especially wonderful to do outside in nature.
- Romance your project with music! Find the music that your project responds to the most and play it often. When you work on your project, what music is most inspiring? Does your project like classical music? Country? Opera? Jazz? Old Show tunes? Does it like to get up and dance? Experiment with new music styles to see if trying something new brings about interesting changes in your creativity. It takes such little effort to romance with music when we work, yet it's easy to forget to do it. Let the music in!
- Agree to some "relationship counseling" for your project.Take a cue from Jill Badonsky, author of The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard), and anytime you find yourself saying "I have to…", say "I get to…". (e.g., "I get to get business cards printed.") And be sure to read the Artellagram news below to read about the teleclass that I'm giving with Jill TONIGHT (Wendesday) night!
- Go on a double-date.Spend time with a friend who is supportive of your project and who also has a project that you can support. Have a "dream session" where you just talk about, dream, and brainstorm on your projects. Keep it positive. No worries, doubts, or shortcomings allowed. If one of you veers into negative thinking, the other can help steer it back into the positive realm. This is a sure way to keep you both fired up!
- Woo yourself with inspiring stories. Surrounding yourself with the stories of people who have successfully done and aredoing projects similar to yours, it will keep your momentum up! A recommendation: if you're looking for a wonderful creative mentor that you take anywhere, I recommend the wonderful book Holy Moly Mackeroly by Gloria Page. For the rest of Februrary, the very last copies of the original printing are on sale at the above link in The Shoppes of Artella at the very lowest price available anywhere. I can't recommend this book highly enough, so do yourself, or any creative friend a favor, and buy the first edition of Holy Moly Mackeroly during this final triumphant sale!Also, congratulations to Gloria on her second book, Art Stamping Workshop,which was just released by North Light Books!
In closing, I'd like to extend a special invitation. In 2004, we presented Artella's Valentine StoryShows, a series of Audio-Visual Stories presented by different people in the Artella community, all in celebration of different kinds of love, in honor of Valentine’s Day. The series became an instant classic and I’m thrilled to invite you to experience these beautiful stories and visual slide shows for yourself:http://www.artellawordsandart.com/StoryShow.html.
The heart is a museum, filled with the exhibits of a lifetime's loves.
-Diane Ackerman
In our life there is a single color, as on an artist's palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love.-Marc Chagall
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We've looked around and discovered that creative people need to be LAUGHING more...a LOT more!So we're out to change the artistic world...one giggle at a time!
Top 10 Signs You're in Love With Someone Artsy
10. You've never had to hire a decorator, for anything!
9. There's more paint on the floor than there is on the wall.
8. You'll eventually get to see all your personality flaws as a character in one of their "creative pieces".
7. You attract attention in crowds due to your partner's interesting fashion choices.
6. Who knew there were 40 shades of green?
5. You have found out just how versatile paintbrushes can really be.
4. You know what color fuschia is.
3. There are more craft and art instruments in your house than forks.
2. It must be contagious: you're mysteriously drawn to thrift stores and feel the urge to alter the books in your friends' homes.
1. You've been publicly scolded at least twice for obtaining "souvenirs" for artprojects.
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Forward this Top 10 list to your to your artsy friends by clicking here!
If any of these strike a chord, you need to have some FUN! Come to the Teleworkshops for Grown-Up Kids that I'm leading with Jill Badonsky! There's even one TONIGHT! (Wed., Feb. 15!) Keep reading for details!
Got CraftWit? Submit YOUR humor for writers and artists to craft-wit@artellawordsandart.com. If we publish it here,you get $10.00 Artella Gold!
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Two hot topics are recycling everyday objects, and discovering easy methods for storing art supplies, and I'd like to pass a really cool idea for storing your artful essentials. Take a look at this "uncanny" project from our friends at zerogdanno.com.It's perfect for storing your pens, markers, paintbrushes, tubes of paint, decorative scissors, paper scraps, and goodness knows what else! Thanks Zero G!
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And speaking of cans, why not take a can -- decorated or not -- and fill it with a bunch of words. You can use raffle-style tickets, or any small pieces of paper, and write one piece of word per paper. Fill the can all the way up to the top. Keep this "can of words" near you whenever you write. Whenever you feel stuck, draw a word, and allow it to inspire you, move you in a new direction, get you un-stuck. Sometimes "opening a can of words" is all it takes, and just doing a little preparation ahead of time can make all the difference!
And if you enjoy writing prompts, have you tried our complimentary 5-day sample of Writes and Passages?
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 Now it's easier than ever to get Artella news at least once a week, sometimes more, in the Artella News Blog. And what's more…with almost every post, there's a BlogJog "sneaky" Special hidden in the post, which is a sale or freebie that's listed exclusively in the blog, and only for a few days. So check the Artella blog for full, hot-off-the-creative-presses Artella News!
Quick Artellagram Links to our current hot items: - Introducing the SweetScription Sale! Until this Saturday only, we're making it easy to LOVE a new Artella Subscription! Our SweetScription Sale presents an all-time low price of $29 for a six-issue Artella subscription (3 print, 3 e-issues), plus we throw in a "box of chocolates" … a special package of goodies to make the offer even sweeter! Simply go to www.ArtellaWordsandArt.com/sweet.html to see what's in the "box of chocolates" AND read raves about the latest issue of Artella, THE JOURNEY: Destination and Imagination, such as:
Pack a bright little suitcase, here we go. I could carry on about the incredible layout, the colors that saturate your mind, the art "goodies" that make me feel like a kid on Christmas morning... The connections with people, their art and heart: sparkling treasures.-Gloria Page
Every page is SENSUOUS...every page a mini-vacation in my mind...every page a new path to wander and explore." - Jolene Elliott
The superlative writing and artwork provided by the contributors, the free "art goodies" hidden throughout - heck, the envelope with the sample papers from Nepal would have been enough - but there was more, more, more to be found! -Jaime Adcock
The SweetScription Sale, with its bonus "box of chocolates", expires SATURDAY, February 18, at midnight, so if you're ready to fall in love, don’t delay!
- "HeartHints" still available! If you'd like to "drop a hint" to someone to tell them that there's something on the Artella Web site that you are simply craving, simply go to www.artellawordsandart.com/HeartHint.html
and fill out this quick, simple form. We'll encourage them that even though Valentine's Day has passed, it's never too late to give the perfect Sweetheart gift! Just let us know to whom we should send a HeartHint and we’ll take care of it!
- Quick! Sign up for my teleclass with Jill Badonsky, TONIGHT! The fabulous Jill Badonsky and I are presenting another class in our Children's Menu Sub-Kid-Tion series TONIGHT (Wednesday, Feb. 15), and there's still room for you to come join in the fun! It's called "Spilt Milk and Making A Mess" and it's all about embracing the messes, mistakes, spills, and clutter in your life and learning to dance and dare with them...and use them to become extraordinary! Come see why one of our last class participants said, "When Marney and Jill lead a class together, magic and transformation is an inevitable fact." Reserve your spot at this link! Hurry and join us tonight!
- Submissions deadlines and art projects! Please make note of the following deadlines and projects:
- The deadline for the Body and Soul issue of Artella is TODAY, but if you can get your material in by the end of the week, that's fine. Get submission instructions here.
- The deadline for the "Altoid Doll Challenge", Artella's Februrary Creative TWIST Project, is February 23rd! There's still time to make your Altoid Doll! Get details here!
- New ATC Swaps for Spring are posted in Artella's ATC SwapLand - Take a look!
- There's a brand new craze for Artella Members! "Just when you think Membership can't get any better, it does!" That's what Artella Member Austen Waters said yesterday, when she received the latest "Members' Memo from the Mansion", which announced the new weekly treat for Artella Members: AdCouragements - Weekly Vintage Advertisements, Altered to Inspire! See a sample AdCouragement, here! Members will get one every single week, and it's just one of COUNTLESS Member benefits, all of which are outlined at www.artellawordsandart.com/members.html. Austen continued, "I can't believe that Artella Membership is still $3.00 a month. I'd pay ten times that without blinking an eye for everything we get!" Give Artella Membership a try...there's absolutely nothing to lose!
- Shoppes of Artella News!:
- Be sure to take a look at the Valentine's Shoppes before it closes this weekend! And be watching the upper-left spot in our Shoppes village to see what specialty shoppe is coming next!
- Be sure to visit the pages of our current Featured Artists: Vickie Enkoff's offerings include Art 'zines, an artist's career guidebook, and luscious water colors, and Michelle Lawhorn offers a self-discovery 'zine, a holiday guidebook, and self-discovery coaching sessions.
- Know of an acupuncturist in Santa Fe or Albuquerque? Tony and I are on the road, and I'm looking for an acupuncturist in the Santa Fe or Albuquerque area. If you have a recommendation you can pass along, please send to me at Editor@Artellawordsandart.com. Thanks!
With splashes of love and wonder!
~with you on the Journey,
Marney
Artella Founder & Publisher
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Forward the Artellagram, Get a Gift! Do you know someone who would enjoy the Artellagram? Please welcome them to Artella by forwarding them this issue, or direct them to www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/artellagram.html, where they can sign up! Then go collect a PRIZE by following the directions in number 25 at www.artellawordsandart.com/free.html!
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