Art & Inspiration

You may have noticed that I don’t only create jewellery with wire – I am attracted to any art form that is simple and colourful. Zentangle is a recent thing that’s fed into my long-term stationery fetish, for instance! So, with the latest handlettering craze happening online (check out pinterest for ideas!) I hauled out my pen collection and added some more, and have spent many a happy evening practicing different alphabets and trying to improve my regular handwriting!

Mostly I use names of people I know, or I watch TV and write whatever words were just said. This one is done with a true calligraphy nib, the kind that spreads out when you push hard. WAY fun:

See? nibs and buckets of ink. And obligatory internet cat, mostly because they are never far away:

This was a fun evening with a bunch of my happy things – my bullet journal, ink and pens, hot chocolate in a gorgeous handmade mug by my friend Liz, and some nerd tv! Oh, also cat and mom-blanky :)

By the way, that desk is this thing, with which I treated myself and my neck:

No, I DON’T have too many pens. Why do you ask?

Lots of alphabet practice in shitty notebooks that fall apart with a wry glance:

AND THEN I REMEMBERED MY TABLET HAS AN INTEGRATED PEN. it’s no Apple Pen but it’s pretty damn great nonetheless:

Oh look! (different) kitteh! Can you believe these are Crayola markers? Supertips! Try ’em.

(hahah I just noticed second puss in the background)

I used washi tape to make these look different from each other but I still can’t remember which one I’m using for what – also they definitely fall apart. But pretty!

I’ve been using ANY excuse to improve my lettering game – including live-blogging-sketch-noting our Pathfinder games.

I had a HARD TIME in the US – hobby lobby and joann’s were new to me… the temptation! The tiny suitcase!

Meanwhile, I found this ridiculously awesome punch board online and ordered it JUST in time to make boxes for my xmas chocolates. They worked out beautifully with some 8″ cardstock I had lying around. I ended up getting more punch boards from the We-R-Memory Keepers company to make pillow boxes and gift bags – to hopefully end up with custom packaging for my jewellery.

I think I mentioned Bullet Journaling a while back, yes? This is my work setup. Been using it for months and it’s incredibly useful. One page for monthly deadlines and big projects I should be working on:

Then each week I use a spread to map out my days in general form, and log what gets done. I have another book with project spreads that include details, and I pull my daily tasks using a combination of the monthly overview/deadlines and the specific project tasks that need to be completed next. It works GREAT, and I’m trying to convert a similar system into something I can do on weekends in the studio.

At home, the most consistent thing I’ve been doing (since August) is a daily tracker, to find patterns in mood, fibromyalgia symptoms, and whether or not I cultivated a good habit that day or sucked at it.

Mostly, I sucked at being an adult and taking care of myself. Working to adjust my plan so that taking care of myself is something I deliberately do instead of passively track after the fact.

Finally, I re-discovered Bob Ross on Netflix. From the first moment of the first episode, I realized that most of my personal art philosophy stems unconsciously from this man – work as the flow takes you, you are the master of your world, everyone deserves a friend, find a lazy and efficient way to make something beautiful, there are no mistakes just happy accidents, art-making should be fun – it’s all in here.

Thanks, Bob. I’ll keep trying to live up to your soft, peaceful voice and keep making art that makes me happy.