EmKay Arts is on Facebook!

I just added a Facebook profile page for EmKay Arts and I find it interesting that given the selections available to choose from, EmKay Arts is listed under the "Arts/Entertainment/Nightlight" theme. Not that these three areas are unrelated, I just find it interesting that my art business can be linked to a person's nightlife.

Arts:
Yes, EmKay Arts is art related through and through. Art has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, as it is ingrained so much in my soul that it will be with me until the day I move on to the next worldly journey. I've dabbled in many mediums, spent many hours in classrooms and studios, and have had several nights of insomnia while my brain cannot seem to shut off the blur of color combinations, potential patterns, and insightful inspirations. My experiments in various art forms have led me to textile designing and I absolutely love the never-ending possibilities that await my explorations.

I never get tired of the thrill the dyed results.

Entertainment:
Well, not that I can't find my quilting a form of entertainment for the person looking or using it but I find it thoroughly entertaining to design the quilt, dye the fabrics, cut and piece the quilt top, and then quilt stitch the project to completion. In examining the idea of "entertainment" I dye silk scarves that can make evening outfit to dinner, theater, or even to an art exhibit opening, hopefully mine someday, fun and unique.

This cotton circle scarf is a nice way to jazz up a plain sweater.

Nightlife:
And speaking of evening attire, yes, the nightlife can be adorned by silk scarves, but perhaps some might use the silk accessories in the bedroom. This won't be addressed here but feel free to let your wild adult imagination take you on a 10-minute daydream adventure.

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Pretty in pink.

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Blue is always delightful.

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Or perhaps a black silk scarf is best.

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Has it been 10 minutes yet? More than 10 minutes? Good for you. Anyway, if you're on Facebook, come on by and visit my page. "Like" it if you will, I certainly do.

A Creative Life

The path to a creative life isn’t as easy or seamless as one might think. Okay, there was a moment where I thought if I could just win the lottery, inspiration came at a snap of a finger, and everyone loved my work then all would be great but that daydream could be filed away under “Never Going to Happen”. Responsibilities such as earning a bill-paying paycheck and keeping an orderly house as well as necessities like sleeping and exercising, which are not optional as my insomnia and body aches might like to disagree, tend to interfere at the most crucial creative times.

Who will help me bag up all these leaves?

When the moment of creative inspiration hits and I’m not fortunate to be in my home studio, I am grateful to have my artist journal in my possession. Yes, this might weigh down my purse and gradually move my spine out of alignment, but I’ll deal with that every time I stretch after my exercising. This is a needed item in my possession just like my wallet and when I’m without it, it feels as if I’m missing a part of me.

No small purses for me.

When I’m working in my journal, the world around me disappears and nothing exists except what is brewing in my mind and how I’m going to interpret it first into a drawing concept and then to an actual tangible object. I love my journals not just because of all my thoughts, inspirations, and ideas captured but mainly because I made the journals.

Just a few more pages and this one will be full.

My first concentration was bookmaking and while I honed my skills with binding and book design I also began to quilt. Eventually these two adventures combined and then diverted but being a “surface designer” is something I can be proud of in both arenas. I then developed a particular need for the kind of papers I desired in my journals. I needed graph paper along with my blank pages. I thought long and hard, oh say about 1 minute, whether to include lined paper sheets for writing and decided a blank page gave me more freedom of my ramblings and I’ve never looked back.

There’s a vibe of exciting possibility on every page.

So this creative life of mine isn’t well defined, presented on a silver platter with collegiate degrees, or a cookie cutter resembling anyone else I know. It is as unique as I am and I plan to utilize this to the best of my ability.

The path of possibilities can be a fun one.

It’s been over a year since I last wrote here and although I feel bad about loosing my way for a bit, I’m excited to be here again to re-establish my creative blog. I just started an online course, “Flying Lessons: Tips + Tricks to Help Your Creative Biz Soar” by Kelly Rae Roberts and after the first week of five I’m thrilled to be back to Artistic Thoughts and Creations and let this be an rebirth of an extension of my art discovery.

My journey of art discovery has not been an easy one. I was easily distracted as I began to collect drawing pencils, charcoal and crayon bits, photography developing tools, ceramic/pottery tools, fabric stashes for quilting, hoarding paper for bookmaking, jewelry beading, fabric dyes and chemicals, and yes, even the fun scrapbooking toys, and in my little studio, a small open space den in my house, I was lost amid all the creative implements pleading for my attention. I felt like I had some sort of creative ADHD where as soon as a project was just about to be completed, I move on to an entirely new project and medium. I was lost in a sea of limitless artistic creativity.

I knew I couldn’t do this forever, believe me, I tried to somehow tie every niche together into some sculptural entity to prove I could utilize everything in my studio but it didn’t work. I needed focus. I needed a concentration. I needed help. I knew I wanted to live a creative life and through a moment of clarity, to be further detailed in another post, and Kelly Rae’s help, I’m happy to say I am on the path to a happier creative life.

Hanging on a line, waiting for a sign, smelling the scent of August pine

It’s a lovely afternoon in mid-August and my pugs are enjoying moving from sun to shade as we sit outside enjoying the breeze and the chirping crickets around us. My view of the backyard is blocked by my canvases – that is, my virgin white sheets of fabric hanging on a makeshift clothesline that have a long journey ahead of them. Will they be wall hangings? Quilts? Bookcloth? Or, abandoned good intentions on my storage shelf? I hope not the last one as I have next to me my art journal where I have some sketches and ideas ready to bring to fruition for these lovelies swinging in the summer breeze. The fabric, cotton, silk, rayon, and linen are washed (primed), and ready for some dye (paint), imagination (a haphazard plan), and some practiced skill (uninterrupted work time).

Today is an awkward day as I took today off, and all this week, to be home for the pugs as we have our bathrooms remodeled. It’s an awkward day because the workers didn’t show up as one of them had an emergency plumbing problem. I am known for my anxiety (worse than the pugs for whom I took a few vacation days for to spend some time with them), so how can I create my art, even think about projects when I’m worried when (and now “if”) the doorbell will ring to announce the beginning of the construction workday? It’s an awkward limbo status not knowing how to accommodate the workers and my studio time and I want to say today is a wasted day as I didn’t create but instead I managed to do prep work. This kind of busy work can be done anytime, usually in-between layers of paint or when I have artist’s block (just like writer’s block but with a paintbrush in my hand and my brow furrowed in agonizing creative pain).

I did mention it was a lovely afternoon outside and so with that I am grateful I am not at work answering phone calls and e-mails and being a problem solver. Wait, I’m still needed as a problem solver with my fabric projects. I think I’ll make some coffee, iced of course, and lament on my next step with or without the contractors coming tomorrow.

And no apologies for the title of this post, I didn't have my breakfast toast, I'll blame it on the rhyming ghost.

For inspiration

**Megan is out attending the Surface Design Association Conference**

The Art of Disappearing
by Naomi Shihab Nye

When they say Don’t I know you?
say no.

When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.

Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.

Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.

If they say We should get together
say why?

It’s not that you don’t love them anymore.
You’re trying to remember something
too important to forget.

Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.

When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.

When someone you haven’t seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don’t start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.

Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.

It may seem I'm a bit busy.... but then boredom scares me

I didn’t manage a post last week due to my flower and herb garden-planting extravaganza. I took vacation from work to concentrate on putting in my garden since I don’t usually manage to finish this task until July comes around. But this year is different and I wanted a fully planted garden before June (and well, I got about 98% done). The Surface Design Association Conference is next week and the following week will be in a soy wax workshop by Jane Dunnewold, which I am very excited to attend not only to learn the soy wax techniques but to also be taught again by Jane who is a great teacher and has inspired me on my artistic textiles journey. So June will revolve around studio art and I can now look out and see my flowers blooming as colorful inspiration.

The pressure is on. There are so many things needing attention to in the next few weeks that I’m afraid I will not be able to give my full devotion to everything needing my attention. This is my life as an artist working a full-time job to pay the credit card bills full of purchased art materials.

On a side note: Over the past few days I’ve been working on a few items - even one that had to wait when we had to seek shelter in the basement for a tornado which thankfully didn’t hit my area. One of the thoughts running through my head during this was, will the paint I just mixed on a palette make a mess if the tornado hits us? And then through such an event when life could have been unexpectedly gone down another path, I am grateful for the road I am on as I chose it and I maintain it as hectic as it may be sometimes.

Creating

I had a photography instructor who corrected the workshop into rethinking what we do when we click that button on the camera. It’s common language to say you’re “taking” a picture but in the artistic world, Doug Beasley introduced an idea to “create” a picture instead. Now it took me a while to understand this new photography terminology but I used it today for the first time and it not only sounded good (try it, “I created a picture today” or “Can I create your picture”) but it was good to my art soul.

A simple walk to work turned into a moment where I stopped and saw beauty and decided to create a picture. It only took a moment out of my daily auto pilot walk from my car to my office building, a moment that slipped me out of the weekday dull routine, a moment to take time out and create something. And it made my day all the better knowing I used my creativity today,


“Taking” a picture conjures up thoughts of stealing, impolite and rude behaviors, and even possession of the objects in the viewfinder. But when a photographer “creates” a picture, the artist brings something new into this world for others to enjoy. So let the “creating” begin and let it be inspiring.