As an aside, “child led learning” is what I am learning to do in a speech class that is designed to help my daughter learn to talk. It is the most valuable approach to learning because children learn more when they show you what they are interested in learning.

Aimee Mullin makes a brilliant comparison between herself and Pamela Anderson; she says that Pamela has more prosthetics in her body than she does –yet Pamela isn’t called disabled!

This little break from your everyday reality will refresh you, I promise!
My daughter is classified as disabled because she has Down syndrome. It makes me think about the dangers of labeling people. The disabled child knows they’ve been pigeonholed by their peers on the playground, by siblings who rush to get the best pickings and by well meaning relatives who coddle them to in-selfsuffiency or who don’t come around at all because they can’t deal with reality. In the case of Down syndrome, developmentally disabled children have every opportunity today to get an early start on education so they can keep up with normal/typical kids. So, it is interesting to note that kids that act like other kids, have feelings like other kids and can participate fully in life get labeled as disabled. In Spain, an actor recently received their highest award in film and another young man is getting his Master’s degree in psychology –and both have Down syndrome. I hope someday that people who are labeled “disabled” have the opportunity to have it erased from their public record if it no longer applies. But I have digressed beyond the point of this video.

If we didn’t label people as disabled, and we didn’t know they were, would we interact with them differently? Does knowing they’re disabled help us or help them?

Road To Alfonsinas Sea of Cortez, oils on canvas

Painting with oil paints is…indescribable until you try it. Oh, I can go on about how smooth and silky the oil paint feels when too much is used and the brush eagerly slips over the canvas texture in a rush only to offer resistance in the end as dry brush meets dry canvas. Or, I can tell you that the visual pleasure it offers, as colors willingly blend into beautiful tints, tones and shades is akin to watching a spectacular sunset evolve. Even the smell of paint is unique with hints of Greek Retsina wine and pressed linseed oil.

Some brands of oil paint are better than others. Take food as an example; we know which ones are better for us when confronted with choices like GMO, organic and conventionally grown foods, gourmet and fast foods and unprocessed foods like organic grassfed raw milk cheese from NZ and over processed foods like ultra pasteurized, homogenized milk based Velveeta in a can. The same is true in the manufacturing of oil paints. There are expensive oil paints that are made in small batches of professional grade oil paints that have pure, high-end or rare ingredients in them that certain artists would prostitute themselves for. Professional grade colors have excellent permanence. On the opposite end there are low grade student paints meant for experimenting with. These paints have very little pigment in them, are inflated with fillers and stabilizers and the oils have been hydrogenated to expand them. These paints might fade over time, flake, chip, stretch, crumble or have almost no permanence. Somewhere in the middle is a happy medium, pun fully intended.

Fillers, binders and such make it difficult to move paint on a canvas. These paint ingredients make it necessary to use large quantities of painting medium to make the paints more pliable. Of course, some impasto painters –those who love and strive to achieve generous amounts of texture on their canvas prefer “stiff” paints. The Realist painter in me loves a smooth brush stroke produced by a silky sable brush on a fine textured canvas. And for the record, old paints that have dried out and oxidized will be just as nasty to work with as cheap paints.

May I recommend you try painting with oil paints or if you are already an oil painter, treat yourself to a really decadent tube of paint such as a cold pressed and ground paint with pure Earth mineral by Old Holland.

What’s your favorite oil paint brand?

Do you ever get traditional and make your own oil paint from grounds? Yumm….

Conch Shell, oils on canvas

“First, do you know what you are going to paint?”
If the answer is “no” you should not go shopping because there is no way you can buy the most perfect canvas for your first (or next) painting.  Talk about putting the cart before the horse!

The most important aspect to buying a canvas, for oil painting your first picture, is that you understand that the inner vision of your first oil painting is chemically and energetically imprinted on every cell of your body. There exists in the artist’s body a strange and beautiful dynamic tension –that even the artist is totally unaware of until the painting is completed and signed. The best way I can explain this tension is to perhaps coarsely defined it as ”the inner knowing or knowledge of the finished product, which exists in time and space as a completed painting, that the artist has become aware of at a subconscious level.” What I translate this into and tell every art student is this:

“Trust in your initial and heartfelt choice of a canvas size for oil painting your first painting. Let your body tell you when you have the right size picked out. Expect a feeling of happiness or perhaps a sense of relief –a feeling of contentment and peace that the right canvas is before you and you know in your heart, mind and body that your selected image will fit on the canvas.”

When you go to buy a canvas for an oil painting you benefit from having your picture with you in the art supply store. You can hold it up in front of you while you place various canvases on the floor or shelf before you and explore your size options. If nothing grabs you or the shape or size you want is not there go to the next art supply store. When in doubt, do without.

There is only one other rule I remind people about that the really zealous students forget about; In general, the canvas must fit in your car or truck. Other than that, go for it! Get the canvas of your dreams! Your first oil painting might be a masterpiece…you never know! And most of all, don’t be shy that your inner wisdom picked a big canvas for the first painting effort.

I bought a larger truck inpart to tow boats but mostly to accommodate hauling my larger paintings around. What I forgot about was having enough wall space to hang them while they await their new owners. I suppose I could just store them in the back of the truck!

Do you have a “canvas for oil painting” story that other artists would find amusing?

My First Oil Painting - Age 11

For more than ten years I taught beginning oil painting in Cupertino, CA in a community center setting that became a sort of open studio for more advanced painters who wanted to escape Silicon Valley and paint in a quiet setting with like minded folk.

The first lesson always begins with a talk about oil painting art supplies. I reveal what is needed and why…I even delve deep into the differences between water color versus oil painting brushes and use diagrams to help people remember the names of certain brushes. There is a good bit of info I share and then we discuss how to select an image to paint. This is the most important lesson of all. The idea behind this is so critical that if you get it wrong, you will never be a successful painter.

Since this class is about me guiding the students to a completed image on canvas, I ask that each person select a photo or magazine image to work from. The reasons for this are simple:

1. I can’t read minds. If someone has something in their mind’s eye, I can’t see it and help them when they get stuck.
2. I can point out details that they missed. I can hide part of the image to reveal contrast, isolate color, find parallel lines or horizon lines with a ruler on the image and more…
3. Most beginners are looking to relax in a beginning oil painting class, not get stressed out from having to paint a live model or work from a still life before them.
4. If for some reason they finish the class and their painting is still unfinished and they choose to work at home alone, they have the photo or image to work from.

Now that we have established some basics, I’ll give you my number one rule about what to oil paint on your first blank canvas: anything you want as long as it comes from your heart.

I reassure all beginning oil painting students that as long as it comes from the heart they won’t lose their motivation to get past their obstacles when stuck and they will long to complete their inner vision and be persistent.

So, if you are contemplating what to paint whether you are a new, beginning oil painting student or an old hand with the brush, return to this simple rule and you will always find your brush returning to the canvas to finish what you started.

As a beginning oil painting student myself, I picked the Grand Tetons because I had recently been there and loved it. I always found Nature to be my retreat. I was a little put off by my instructors insistence that I do the painting in Raw Umber and Titanium White to learn from, and that’s another blog post!

Next up…”How to Select A Canvas.”

I’m never stuck for an idea so let me share with you how to get one. Ready? Look to your right, what do you see? Okay, so it’s a white wall. Gee, that sounds boring, only it isn’t. It’s a possible essay on walking through walls and the bones that were once found in a monastery’s walls in south India during renovations; a new entrance to your computer space with a secret latch and wine storage unit; or, a blank canvas waiting for a beautiful and colorful image to appear. Look down to your left. What? It’s just the carpet? Oh, my! It’s a jungle in there if only you put a magnifying glass on it. Write about it for a 5 year old as if you were sitting around a campfire and wanted to scare the heck out of them. Go look out a window…it’s the opening of a short story just describing what it feels like to be inside looking out. And we haven’t even taken a walk outside.

A creative writing idea is what you make of the simple things in life. The most elaborate writing ideas are merely the simple ones dressed up in words.

Walk. Stop. Examine. Let your nose touch something.

Run. Stop. Close your eyes. Recall what you saw for the police.

Sit. Close your eyes. Smell. Pretend you’re blind and write.

Dream. Wave your magic wand. What did you make?

A creative writing idea awaits you right now… Will you take it?

Happy Thanksgivings With Love From Arabella

Heartfelt gratitude is effortless to express. It spreads across the heart region and pours emotion into every fiber of one’s being flooding the eyes and smile with the pleasure of being blessed. The real trick is turning those wonderful feelings into words that one can express to another either orally or in writing. It’s easy enough to feel gratitude, but writing it so that it sounds heartfelt and not clumsy or over the top is a gift.

I have read many beautiful and heartfelt expressions of gratitude be expressed to my mother over the years. Look to an older person who is incapacitated in some way who has a faith that needs nourishing on a daily or weekly basis and then consider how a small gift, such as a ride to church, can be a huge gift to them when they value being able to be part of a worshiping community. These lovely old people flow with the most beautiful expressions of gratitude that convey their soul’s deepest appreciation. And, they are most genuine.

People who say “thanks so much” when there is no warmth in their voice, no accompanying smile or other outward sign that says clearly “you have moved me” could use a little help in the Expressions of Gratitude Department. Maybe they like to leave people wondering…? Perhaps they just aren’t feeling very grateful and are just speaking the words out of habit. If you are reading this post and are one of those types, please add some more cayenne based chili to your diet and watch more “It’s A Wonderful Life”!

This year, in particular, I am most grateful for my daughter’s health and well-being. I am most grateful for the loving and positive thoughts that were sent our way, the uncountable prayers by thousands of people known and unknown. I am deeply moved by your compassion and caring. I hope my aura of gratitude reaches you when you least expect it…and when it does, may a big, warm and happy smile reach your heart. It is my hope and prayer that, in that heartfelt moment, you feel the depth of my gratitude.

Be blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Creative writers are generally at one end of the spectrum while technical writers are at the other. It’s somewhat like using artists and engineers to create a spectrum. It’s not to say that an engineer couldn’t be an artist of any sort, far from it as I have known and taught several engineers how to oil paint, but for the sake of this blog entry, let’s just look at creative writing and how you need it to help your blog be fresh and engaging and perhaps remove some “blog writer’s block”.

Straight out of Wikipedia.org is this creative writing definition:

Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems. Writing for the screen and stage, screenwriting and playwriting respectively, typically have their own programs of study, but fit under the creative writing category as well.

All right, maybe that wasn’t very helpful and I suggest you read the rest of their page as it is loaded with the “dreams and imaginings of youth” and “English Literature departments” and so forth.  The main idea of the above definition is to show how wide a net can be cast on the subject of creative writing. Where do you fit in? I’m definitely fiction and non-fiction, novels, short stories and play- and screenwriting although I have yet to be formally published. (Psssst! I’ll be blogging in the future about my self-publishing experiences).

Even if your blog is technical, creative writing can round out the dry material with juicy comments and you can use humor to lighten the boring material and make you more memorable. After all, people return to blogs that have short stories that are well crafted, engaging –perhaps entertaining and/or contain useful information. (Creative writing can even be done without words by using images only –and that I would call story boarding which could only be created by a mind that has strong creative writing skills and great storytelling abilities. Check out Squidoo for some cool storyboarding if you are looking for something to write about or be inspired by.)

Most people who blog are approaching their website content from the “creative writing blog” standpoint without realizing it. It is important that you become aware of this so that you can constantly seize fresh material with zeal and write new posts with urgency.

If you find you experience writer’s block, do not worry! Just remembering that you are a creative writer is all you need to get you in the spirit of things. Try these 7 tips the next time you get stuck: (Remember to keep your answers short and positive, not sassy and negative)

1.) Read a creative writing definition or two on the web or in a dictionary.
2.) Write down the ways that you are a creative writer.
3.) Write about why you think you are stuck, even if you think it isn’t productive.
4.) Write about the purpose of your blog.
5.) Write about how it feels to have to forgive the reason why you think you are stuck even if this makes you angry. This generally will clear the block.  If you think you can’t do this step, write about how it will feel to be stuck with the feeling of writer’s block forever.
6.) Write this affirmation down and say it out loud as a test of your willingness to forge ahead: “I allow myself to have and enjoy all good things.” (I’ll be curious…did you sigh? Yawn? Feel emotions come up when you said this? That’s the best sign that the block is releasing!)
7.) Remember that “all things exist in time and space” and that the blog entry that you desire already exists and is waiting for you to remember it. Perhaps when you think about this concept, you can simply express gratitude that you know this little known fact and reclaim some peace of mind.

My own creative writing definition is this:

Creative Writing allows me to have permission to write what I feel, what I think, what I want, what I need, what I love or hate; at any time, any place, with or without anyone present –or any thing; and, it is okay to use any words or images in any sentence or paragraph without grammar, spelling, punctuation or writing rules, other mind trips or head games to stop me. I believe I have a gift for creative writing because I have Irish genes in me. I think the storytelling gene is part and parcel to the DNA package. 

All my creative best…

BONUS POINTS: What’s your creative writing definition? –or how do you solve writer’s block?

As a creative writing teacher with a set curriculum to follow, she would find ways to make class less boring and I for one appreciated this, especially before lunch when I was running low on energy to fuel my brain. If the clicking of her heels on the hard linoleum, as she paced up and down the desk aisles wasn’t enough to keep me awake, she would call on me to elaborate a point. (I could always be counted on in English class to talk…it’s an Irish thing). This method of calling on the unsuspecting student was a secret weapon for most teachers. She would force us to get creative with our answers when floundering for an intelligent reply to her question. Even guessing produces creativity. She certainly showed her cleverness when she would take our really lame answers and build something out of them to spare us some shame.

I doubt that I will be the best creative writing teacher you ever had, but if you begin to look at how you are writing your blog with some desire to be writing even just a wee bit differently, I’ll take that as a compliment.

Now, go do and be your creative best!

What is interesting to note about wishes, is that our wishes change with our ages.

As a young child, I wanted to climb the tall trees on Sunset Blvd. in San Francisco. All my brothers were excellent tree climbers and had forts strewn along the avenues. The tops of some trees connected to each other by long arching branches and they could scurry across the tops and exit the sky via a different tree. I really wanted to join them since I was quite the tomboy, but my fear of heights prevented me from trying out their experience. If that didn’t prevent me, I guarantee that my older brother would have read me the riot act and threatened me for trying to play with his friends.

These days, I wish I could get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. My toddler wakes up at four o’clock in the morning, which is fine since my husband gets up with her and meets all her pre-sunrise needs. I simply roll over and try to get back to sleep. The bad part of all this is that I don’t usually get into bed until eleven or so when I feel I’ve done enough work for the day. I wish I may, I wish I might get the sleep I need tonight…

Some wishes come and go in the blink of an eye. When I finally got the hang of sail racing on San Francisco Bay during my senior year of high school –and started winning a few races, I wished I could sail in the America’s Cup. This was years before women were actually sailing in this world famous race. My mentor at the time told me that if I started planning then, by making connections through the yacht club, weight training, got a sailing coach and made it known that I wanted to be the first woman to sail in that race, I could probably make my wish come true. The action items –especially the long hours in the gym pumping iron didn’t appeal to my feminine nature.

I wish I could rewrite some wishes that came true. I met my ideal life partner thirty days after I wrote a long, detailed description of him. I married him one year to the day that we officially started dating. That was seven years ago. I got 90% of my wish list when I went back and reviewed it. It makes me wonder what else I would have gotten if I had added much more to the list.

Annie and Anand's Hindu Wedding Photo

Writing down your wishes is very powerful. It is the first step to bringing your ideas from the dream realm into the earth realm where they can be manifested.

Two of my favorite sayings that have much to do with wishing:

“As it is above, so it is below.”

“If you can conceive it and believe in it, you can achieve it.”

Here is my current wish list:

• I wish I could sing a beautiful aria in Italian.  I wish I could sing soaring high notes that are so exquisite it moves the soul beyond words. I wish I could sing to thousands of people with total confidence, skill and grace and with pure emotion. I wish I could sing without running out of breath and without having to practice. (I suppose I’ll just have to be happy with the fact that I can sing to my baby and she appears to love it.)
• I wish I could oil paint portraits like John Singer-Sargent and William Bouguereau. I can paint very well, but to aspire to this kind of greatness would be awesome! I wish I could paint with the drama of Mr. Singer-Sargent’s brush strokes and create illusions of beauty that are wondrous to behold. I wish I could paint with the accuracy and precision of Mr. Bougereau and maintain the soft, warm look and tenderness in the expressions of my subjects. (Here’s my current style for those of you that are interested.)
  

  Portrait of Happiness - Hindu Wedding Ceremony

• I wish I could keep the desk clutter to a minimum. Whatever happened to the notion of a paperless office? I wish there wasn’t so much junk mail in the world and that trees could talk back. 
• I wish I could bring myself to meditate daily for even five-minutes. Then maybe I could say “I wish there could be peace on Earth” because I believe peace has to begin with me –and everyone else for that matter. This brings me to another wish: I wish that forgiveness came easier to me and the rest of the world. 
• I wish I could do really advanced yoga. Enough said.

What do you wish you could do?

I’d sure love to hear or learn your wish list!

Best wishes…