this william necklace is a gift i made for my uruguayan friend whose son was baptized this weekend. she was already wearing a beautiful necklace when i arrived at the church so i slipped this to her in a little organza bag when we greeted. she immediately took off the one she was wearing and put this one on. kind of the thing that makes you beam for a while.
newsstands are so much fun to browse here. i was looking for my favorite local fashion browse to help pass the time during a long bus ride i have ahead of me tomorrow. i passed up on lots of old books like these, an italian vogue from 2002, bridal magazines from spain and many other expired imported glossies. sometimes i wish we had more room in our suitcases for taking home all the interesting finds here.
didn’t think you’d see me here again so quickly did you? well. no word from mundomac yet. (things are being done latin america standard time, mas tarde.)
i’ve sorta let my wonder with technological surgery subside and at this point i’m getting used to the idea of not having access to the outside world at my fingertips like i’m used to. so many times i’ve had that freak daydream where my laptop slips out of my hands to fall in slow motion to the floor, bits flying everywhere. . . but in real life, the event was just a slip off the smooth covers and low thud. everything was all in place. so fingers crossed.
and no matter how the computer coma ends, don’t say you’ll miss me and leave just yet…
p.s. the guitarist who comes on the city bus for a few stops to play was beautiful today. the acoustics inside a vehicle of glass windows is surprisingly wonderful on a gray day.
p.p.s. i miss peanut butter and graham crackers so much!
i went to my studio late one night intending to make one thing and ended up with something much better. stones, vintage beads and wire were all strewn about my desk next to a freshly opened package of presents from meg. and there it was, a simple polaroid of colored pencils by her that completely inspired a dozen pieces for artstream studios. you can find the collection there this week!
// beauty in imperfection // taking chances // splashes of color //
// scribbles in metal // chalcedony, glass, turquoise, brass //
// multifaceted vintage beads catching the light // hammered rings & hoops //
// an unlimited palette // endless possibilities // color outside the lines //
sad news. my lil powerbook crashed to the floor and just may not recover! heaving sigh. i’m borrowing some rare minutes on m’s computer to say that i’m not sure how often i will be around…and that i may be a bit slower at getting back to emails and such. i do hope to get some time this weekend to sort through my recovered images and info so i can update queenthings with two new collections. yes, not just one, but two! carefully wrapped bundles are already mailed and on their way up north. more on that soon…
and no worries, my world still revolves just the same (smile) i just won’t be able to share it with you much for a little while…
which has me thinking. we have only six more months in uruguay…six more months~! then possibly a few months in buenos aires before heading home from this adventure. i can’t believe it. m and i were out running errands today, scooting around the city in herbie and talking about all the things we’ve learned from being in a third world country. stuff to never forget. a year is just perfect for getting to know a place. long enough to let all those unfamiliar things assemble themselves into the everyday, short enough that it always stays intriguing.
☆ that’s m’s dad in sweden circa 1970s. check out that fiat 600 in the background!
+ my genius little brother and his friend made an awesome claymation. my favorite part is at about 0:40 in when little blue monster births (relieves?) a snake. hahaha. stop motion is so fun.
+ ohhh. and kait’s scans of vest chains, oh how i wish i had them all to design with!
my heart goes out to those in blacksburg tonight. a friendly town near my own college stomping grounds, i immediately put myself as a student again when i think of the place. and i can’t even imagine. my dear virginia, prayers are with you.
i am reminded of the awe in the wonder of forgiveness that the amish recently displayed when faced in similiar situation of suddenly losing their loved ones. may we all be so brave and able to overcome evil with such purity.
i came across this via laura and just had to share it with you. imagine my tiny doodled stars all around it in pencil…
“Professionalism is way overrated. It is the spirit of the amateur that people in creative occupations– in almost any occupation– need to cultivate more than anything else. A couple of hundred years ago, “amateur” was an entirely positive, noble description of someone. The word comes from the Latin amator, which means “lover.” An amateur undertaking was something you did out of love, for the pleasure of doing it– something you did out of passion. And when you think about it this whole country was a nation created by passionate amateurs. The American spirit is the amateur spirit.
– Kurt Andersen, in “Ode to Amateurism”
at long last…my favorite season is here! my pockets are getting filled from finding tiny sculptures in gold, amber, & rust on my windy walks. see this view out my front door? you can see all but the palm trees becoming bare. time to drink hot yerba mate several times a day. and to be inspired to bake in the cocina. oh, and max gets a cute new uniform to wear at his jardin de infantiles/preschool:
i wrote this list a while ago when a few readers wrote in asking me how i stay motivated. so here are some little remedies that i hope you find helpful!
please add your own ideas in the comments section below and i will add the final version in my links, with your name attributed to suggestions. think of it as part II to creative cues. i’d like to think that this list applies to all kinds of creative work.
conquering the doubts
+ begin something, anything. just the act of starting to work will ease some of your roadblock, and the task at hand won’t feel so daunting. you may even find something you begin to be useful later, but that isn’t the point, the point is just to begin. (so many times i have begun sketching without yielding anything fruitful only to find that i go through my sketches later and end up borrowing little details or elements from those seemingly “false starts.”)
+ talk it out. the worst part of feeling discouraged is that you have lost your inspiration and that it may never come back, or worse, that you never had it to begin with. when the doubts begin to take over, they can feel overwhelming and lonely, you get out of touch and proportion can get a little blown. find your perspective again by seeking encouragement in your role models, who have all gone through struggles too. they will be sure to tell you that they didn’t get where they are at now without those hard times and will probably have oodles of great advice for you too!
+ take some time off (i realize this is the opposite of the first, but these are all ideas, some help more than others depending on the situation) whatever you are struggling with, walk away from it. gain some perspective by going out, feeding your mind in libraries, bookstores, museums, wherever you get your mojo. sometimes creativity is like a bank and just needs a little deposit.
+ fuel in a different way. i always say this, but it’s not to be repetitive, it’s just because it works for me! try something new. something completely out of your field will nourish you, sometimes even directly with what you are struggling with. (those creative problems get solved in the strangest ways, don’t they?)
+ borrow strength from the beauty of the world. get out your camera, go by yourself, and just walk outside in that fresh air. see what you find without any pressure to get something specific, to please any set standard or style, and just enjoy the view and just let it go for a while. take it a step further and practice looking, just looking for things that you find joy in, and work out compositions around what you see.
+ preventative measures can be healing too. write a letter to yourself when you feel most in tune, at the highest peak of your performance. tell her everything that she needs to know. about her ability, her belief in herself, her vision that should be uncomprimising and true to just her. don’t water it down. gush. and sign the letter with “love, me.”
+ keep a momentos box. it doesn’t have to be fancy, but you can personalize it however you would like to, just make it reflect you. is it a plain and modest wooden one? a silver gilded heirloom? maybe a collaged cardboard box. but it’s you. inside you will store all the objects that remind you of your worth. these should be souvenirs that reflect the best of yourself and that get your soul stirring.
+ call mom.
+ if you can afford it, try to take a trip. making a journey of any length far from your stomping grounds has so many direct benefits to your creativity. you gain appreciation for your home, you find new ways of life, you smash your greatest prejudices into millions of pieces and grow. traveling is a metaphor for creativity: out of one situation and in another to explore. p.s. if you can handle it, go alone!
+ write, write write. i do a lot of writing. notes to friends, entries in my own personal journal, copying excerpts from the books that i’m reading…recording as much as i can adjusts my definition of what i find valuable and gives sme tons of focus. the bonus is going back through my volumes and seeing what i’ve learned, where i used to struggle, and how much i’ve improved.
okay…now, what are your remedies? your turn…share below:
