Halloween in my Studio

Happy Halloween from my studio!! I share with you some little vignettes that are here and there.

S

Irony

This is my daughter Emily, with her oldest of 3 brothers, Brandon

For those of you who know Emily, she is bright, articulate and kind.  But she is after all, a teenager. 

Last weekend, I worked on custom

Orders for clients. This included sculpting tiny pumpkins and such of polymer clay. 

My studio is in the old living room next to the kitchen. So I asked daughter to turn the oven on and set it to 275 degrees. She says, "what for?". I replied, to bake my pumpkins. She retorts, "it needs to be 375 degrees".  Um, "no" I reply. She continues to challenge me. Frig. So I go into a diatribe about how I have been sculpting with polymer for over 25 years, since there was only Fimo available. Don't tell me you snarky teenager what temp the oven should be. I have probably only burned Things twice out of thousands of things I have made all these years. She concedes, my pumpkins get baked and all is well.

Fast forward to yesterday. I have one last custom bubble ring to make with a 1 inch sculpted character for the inside. I pop him in the oven and return to my studio. After a time, I smell what polymer should

NOT smell like while baking. Dammit if I didn't bake the stupid thing at 375. 

Half irritated and half laughing, I now have a living testament to my darling daughter of why we don't bake polymer at 375.

She laughed at me when she returned home from school and I showed her. 

Oh, the bittersweet irony!

Have a wonderful day!  Happy creating! 

Finding your voice, Inspiration, Copying, Pinterest, etcetera, etcetera.

"Finding your voice, inspiration, copying, Pinterest, etcetera, etcetera."

The words above have a lot more to do with each other than you think.

Last few weeks there have been some big blow ups about copying...copyright infringement from big companies of artist's work.  Such as here...lisa congdon.

Kelly Rae Roberts wrote a post on it as well with her experience, but I think it got pulled.

Can't find it.  At any rate, I know A LOT of artists who get ripped off by big companies.

There are a lot of us that get copied by just regular folk too.

A good friend of mine who paid me to design her logo, just found a lady who copied it 100% and plastered it on a trailer she painted just like my friend's trailer.

When the woman was confronted, she said she thought it was ok, because it was on Pinterest.

https://www.facebook.com/tricia.samsal/posts/10202441497144835?comment_id=82773725&notif_t=like

So...what is this?

Now, I know many of my friends LOVE Pinterest.  

I am actually indifferent to it and the above is why.

In this digital age, everyone surfs the internet for "inspiration".

What "inspiration" means to one, is very different for another.

My son worked for Forever 21 and told me the designers there scan the internet all day looking for "inspiration".

Now we all know, big companies like Forever 21, Target, Anthro, Urban copy all of the time.

People copy people and um, here it goes...I've seen "artists" copy or are TOO closely 

"inspired" by other artists.

Pinterest is probably the #1 place people go to look for ideas.

It is what it is.

I only go on once and a while and only do so because

it is necessary to maintain a social media presence.

Once had a girl following my etsy page 

(mind you I never have sold on etsy, only bought so why would someone follow me.)

Well, turns out she was following me because she was making and selling 

my "Bling Baby" doll displays I made at the time.

Made me laugh. Kinda.

 But I taught the class and sorry fellow teachers, the minute you teach something you make, it is really OVER and you HAVE to expect people to emulate you.  

I can see constantly who has taken who's class by the way their works starts looking.

Um, where do we draw the line...or can you?

Not really unless you pay the copyright on everything you make, scan the internet constantly searching for copies of your work and THEN, pursue it legally.

Unless you have deep pockets and an attorney on call, if you fight every battle,
you are going to lose all of your creative mojo.

Oh, and don't ever teach it....or publish a book on your process.
Now please don't take this wrong.  Every artists owns their own intellectual property and it is Totally NOT okay to copy, but it will happen if you create something really cool.

One has to choose one's battles.  Some seriously need to be fought, others, not so much.

I think it is safe to say, you can never really truly combat this. 

Which is why personally one has to be careful with what one
creates and really truly try to have original thought.

This wonderful post was in my inbox this morning and goes along with these thoughts.

It's from Flora Bowey, who ironically is the ONLY painting class I have ever taken because not only do I adore her work, her philosophy speaks to me equally.

Now...go doodle, paint, solder, sew,  play or create whatever you want...from your HEART. XOXO

Quick Links Brave Intuitive Living site Bloom True: the e-course See my paintings Read my blog Facebook Twitter I believe we each have a higher purpose, a reason for being alive and a way to contribute to the world that is unique and necessary. I also believe that the key to discovering this divine path resides in our ability to trust our intuition and understand that our unique way is often the best way. As Martha Graham so powerfully states, "There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost."  [Image: Zipporah Lomax] However, we live in a world full of other people's opinions. With friends, peers, parents, blogs, books and social media all vying for our attention, how do we stay true and connected to our own life force, our unique vitality and our personal belief systems? For me, it is increasingly important to quiet my mind, breathe, listen to my body and intuition and trust that the subtle signs I pick up are important guideposts in my life. This kind of mindfulness certainly does not have to happen on a fancy meditation cushion. In fact, I find that weaving these moments of quiet reflection throughout my entire day is the most effective way for me to stay in steady contact with my higher purpose. When I find myself questioning what to do, I often just close my eyes, take a couple of deep breaths and ask myself, "What is my truth here? What feels good in my body? What will serve my higher purpose?"  When I am connected in this way, it becomes easier and easier to distinguish what "my way" looks and feels like. In these quiet moments, the swirling of other people's opinions simply fall away, leaving only my core truth behind. [Image: Zipporah Lomax] As you might imagine, trusting in your own unique way of creating also leads to moments of flow on the canvas. There is simply nothing more liberating than trusting and committing doing it yourway. In fact, I believe this is what the creative process is all about! I want to add that doing it "your way" does not mean charging ahead without a care in the world. It does not mean disregarding other's opinions out of sheer stubbornness in order to get what you want. Nope. When I say, "Your way is the best way," I am referring to your most truthful and authentic way --- I am referring to your soul's way.    This week, find moments of stillness, commit to your way and shine your unique light in the world. Trust in your own truth and allow these truths to guide you, both on and off the canvas. We would love to hear about doing it your way on the Bloom TrueFacebook page and on Twitter.

On any given day, addiction is everywhere

Emily is home sick from school today and I needed to run out to get pet products.  A new novel for her at Barnes & Noble and she has been begging me for blue mascara.  So, before I got home, stopped at my local Walgreens, literally 3 streets from our house.  

We go often to this store and know many of the people that work there.  Today as I pulled into a space that my car has pulled into dozens of times, to the left of me was a white work truck. As I came to a stop, glanced over to see a young man sitting in this truck, in his mid 20s, wearing a blue work shirt.  He was using a straw to smoke from foil.  I was kinda shocked.  Wow, broad daylight. He didn't notice me staring at him for a few moments.  As I opened my door to get out, he saw me, lowered his straw and tried to hide what he was doing.  

He then smiled at me broadly.  

Not sure if I smiled back or not.  

All I could think of is that one of my sons use to do this very thing.  

This young man was at that moment, my son. 

Had I ever seen my son use?  no.  After this, might as well have.  This young man is someone else's son.  Do they know he does this?  How far into it is he?  My heart sank for the struggle he will have, what he and his family will go through...or have already.  

Maybe he will die.  

A lot of heroin users do.  

Having read everything I could on Heroin/opiate addiction makes the statistics so daunting.

Walking slowly to the store, all I wanted to do was go back, knock on his window and talk to him.  But fear crept in.  What if he got violent, or what???? So I spoke with the manager, telling him what I saw. Also shared with him that we had an addict in our family that use to do the same thing...and I started to cry.  Not sure what to do next, I stood in the store texting my family to share the experience.

Even walking outside again to look, his truck was still there.    

"Go talk to him" my voice inside said.  

Will it matter?  

Did talking to my son matter when he was high?

No.

I didn't. 

Don't think the managers confronted him, but they did go out to collect carts and make themselves noticed.  By the time I left, he was gone.  But I was still sad and have spent some time today thinking about him, about the friends I have who have addict sons.  About my son who is doing so well right now and how proud we are of him...but of course I still worry and probably will for a very long time.

  Spent some moments today reliving our family's struggle and how it hit home to me again that we are so not alone.  On any given day, addiction is everywhere.  

And it made me sad.  

Wish I could hug that boy with enough LOVE to fill him up so he never turned to a drug again to fill himself up.  

But I know that doesn't work.

This was a moment in my Monday.

Blessings to you my friends.

XO

Halloween & Vine Recap, Glitterfest COUNTDOWN!

Well, it is about HIGH TIME...I blogged.  Sheesh.

I recently was honored to participate in Halloween and Vine.

A Halloween Mixed media show in Petaluma, Ca.

It was the coolest show I think I have ever done.

First of all, I LOVE Halloween.  The caliber of artists there was impressive.

Secondly, the organizer outdid themselves in their organization and hospitality.

If you are a Halloween enthusiast.  It is worth the trip to attend.  Truly.

I didn't take pics of other artist's work.  Just mine.

But if you want to see more of what is there, please visit their website...http://www.halloweenandvine.com/

or their FB page...

Halloween and Vine

They have a really cool video there of the show.

Almost forgot to mention that on the same day as Halloween and Vine...Rob and I ran across town to participate in ART IS YOU's artist Sale in the evening.
We were POOPED doing two shows in one day, but it was a really fun weekend!

Here are pics of my table.

A lot of this work sold, but much of it will be coming with me to Glitterfest

this Saturday, October 12th in Anaheim.

If you are in Southern California, Glittefest is wonderful and NO, it is not all Glitter.

I don't even use glitter in my work.

It is a truly mixed media show and I am honored for this to be at least my 8th time

being an attending artist there.

I have a few surprises up my sleeve not photographed here that will be at Glittefest for the first time.  

I like to always surprise my customers with something new each show.

Hope to see you there and enjoy the pics!

XOXO,

Lisa