What is it You Want?

In It’s a Wonderful Life, George asks Mary, “What is it you want, Mary? What do you want?”

The question bears repeating in real life as well.

What is it you want?

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I love having targets to shoot at. But sometimes I loose site of those targets and things get a bit muddled up.

What to do, what to do?

Get back on track by identifying what my target is. Often times this requires some fine tuning and/or adjusting as life changes. But that’s okay, because I am reaffirming the target(s) at the same time.

But what if you don’t know what you want?

According to Jennifer Grisham of Everyday Bright, “One of the most undervalued commodities in our society is clarity.”

Really? Interesting thought. And one well worth the trouble of fixing. Because as we have discussed before, you can’t aim at something if you don't have a target.  Which means lots of bullets could be flying about willy-nilly and accomplishing very little.

Just putting pen to paper is a huge step towards identifying and understanding what you want. But if you need more help, I’d highly recommend Jen’s blog post on the subject as she has some great tips to share.

Until the next time, may you have creativity and clarity in your day!

Do You Consider Yourself a Lucky Person?

If yes, why?

I understand some things are about luck, like say, winning the lottery. But if one hadn’t bought the ticket in the first place, then they never would have won. It took their effort, the buying of the ticket which enabled them to win.

So is it luck? Or applied effort?

My belief falls in the latter group.

Wise words from the drink coaster I use every day, “Luck is good planning carefully executed”

Yep, that’s what I believe.

Luck looks like luck to outsiders, but the one doing all the work to put themselves in the right spot at the right moment didn’t get there by chance. It was lots of prep work prior to the moment when the stars aligned in their favor.

Luck? Nah.

Tenacity, perseverance, and hard work, all wrapped up in one.

May you too have some luck come your way. And you know the kind of luck I’m talkin’ about.

Have a great weekend!

P.S. This isn't a plug for the lottery; I never buy tickets myself, so I shall never be in the running for that windfall.

Show and tell Sunday- I AM....... Eternally Grateful

At a time when the news is negative day in and day out, it is refreshing to know that we can forgo the doubts and fears, even if for only one night, to see the hope, beauty, and promise that shines brightly within each of us.

I AM……. eternally grateful to each and every person that participated in the I AM_______ installation I did for First Night. It wouldn’t have been the same without you.

A sincere thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Here are the remaining pictures that I was able to capture before my camera battery died.

Thanks again!

Until the next time, may your day be a creative one!

I AM...Posting a Baker's Dozen

Here are some of the wonderful "I AM" participants from the First Night show in St. Pete.

Thanks to all of you for participating! Without you the show wouldn't have been the same.

I'll be posting more throughout the week.

Thanks again to all participants!

And thanks for stopping in!

I AM ...Going to Take a Nap Today



I am very happy to say that the First Night show was a huge success.

We started handing out t-shirts at 5:00pm and didn’t stop until midnight when we watched the beautiful fireworks display courtesy of First Night St. Pete. After that we broke down the show and made it home shortly after 3:00am.

Up at 7:00 and I’m already dreaming about a nap. :)

I am honored that so many people were moved by my installation, some to the point of tears. Very gratifying to know that something I make can resonate so powerfully with another person. The best part about this crazy life called art. Thank you to each of you who participated!

I took photos of as many people and their “I AM” shirts as possible before my camera battery died. Many that I didn’t get to take have promised to send me pictures. I’ll post them all during the upcoming week.

For now, here are a few-



I AM going to kick cancer's butt
(I hope you do!!!)

 Happy New Year to you, my friends!

Who're You Calling Weird?

Have you seen this Scientific American article floating around on Facebook?

The Unleashed Mind: Why Creative People Are Eccentric 

"Highly creative people often seem weirder than the rest of us. Now researchers know why."

It's quite interesting, check it out.

Here's a Cliff Notes excerpt:

Too Much Information

We are all equipped with mental filters that hide most of the processing that goes on in our brains behind the scenes…and thanks to these filters, most information never reaches our conscious awareness.

Creative people, however, seem to have reduced functioning in the filters. Therefore, much more information reaches their consciousness and “is associated with offbeat thoughts."


If I am able to be more consciously aware due to reduced functioning of a pesky filter, then A-O-K.

Bring it on, I am completely happy being weird!

May you too have a weird and wonderful day!

Clowning Around and Thinking Out Loud in the Bag

I have been teaching myself to sew this summer. Yep, for more than a few years I have used the sewing machine as my main tool, yet I officially don’t know how to sew.

I can get the job done, mind you, my work just hasn’t been about the sewing. To me, using the sewing machine is akin to using welding torches, (which I do know how to use); the end result is the same, it’s the materials and the tools used to attach two parts together that are different. But connecting together they both do.

So I bought a book about sewing and started the lessons. It has been an interesting journey so far. Obviously, some things worked out better than others, but each one has taught me something, and that is always a good thing.

About the time I started my lessons I received my dresses back from the Cloth Paper Scissors Artisan Search which now hang in my studio. After looking at them for a while I was inspired to try one of the projects in the book with the paper fabric that I used for the CPS dresses.

Below are a few of the bags I have made. Not sure where they’ll go from here but I have been enjoying the process. It has been a labor of fun, with a touch of aggravation thrown in. =D

And now I shall put the fabrics and sewing machine away for the weekend, very appropriate for the Labor Day Weekend, me thinks.

Wherever you are and whatever you do, I hope you have a fantastic and safe Labor Day Weekend!


Kim Radatz©



Clowning Around Red, Kim Radatz©

 

Clowning Around Blue, Kim Radatz©



Thinking Out Loud, Kim Radatz©



The Gleaners

It is impossible for me dig potatoes from my garden without thinking about Millet’s The Gleaners. Impossible, I tell you. Which is a good thing. I always feel connected to the art world and women throughout history. Nature’s bounty teaching me life’s lessons.

Recently I was talking with my Mom about a farm that was down the street from my suburban LA home (yes, there used to be many farms in So Cal) and she told me that we were allowed to pick veggies from the fields after the farmer was done harvesting. How about that, I was a gleaner and didn’t even know it. More of life’s lesson. Fantastic.

Here are the first potatoes we have picked this season, some of which we had for dinner last night.

And the original inspiration.

The Gleaners by François Millet, 1857

And just in case you wanted to know more about the practice of gleaning, here it is:
 
In this depiction of the rural life of nineteenth century France, we see three female figures gathering the leftovers after the harvest. This practice – known as gleaning – was traditionally part of the natural cycle of the agricultural calendar undertaken by the poor, and was regarded as a right to unwanted leftovers. Although the practice of agricultural gleaning has gradually died away due to a number of historical factors (including industrialization and the organization of social welfare for the poor), there are nonetheless still people in the present day that we might understand to be gleaners.

I hope you glean much from your day!

Do You Give Good__________(fill in the blank)?

No matter what the blank is to you, are you good at it?

Do you go the extra mile?

Are you the best that you can be?

Even on a bad day?

I received an order of eggs today (nope, I no longer blow my own as I use too many) from The Feathered Egg. This is my second order from Corinne and both times her customer service has been way above average.

And I’m not talking about the condition of the eggs when they arrived. Though happily, there were no broken eggs either time as each one was lovingly (you could just feel it) wrapped in protective bubble wrap. It was the small pair of scissors included in the first order to assist me in unwrapping said eggs that let me know this was a company that was top notch.

But the box I received today made me break out in a big smile. On top was a tiny little pink chick, the kind you see everywhere at this time of year. So yes, they are readily available. And no, I can’t put it to good use, but it let me know that The Feathered Egg goes the extra mile each time they send a shipment. And it made me happy and warm inside. That can never be a bad thing.

Maybe I can put it to good use, after all. I think I’ll attach it to the top of my computer so that every day I am reminded that I too should go the extra mile and be good at whatever task is currently at hand.

Thank you, Corinne, for reminding me to reach higher!

Have a great day, everybody!

Honest Abe

As I have shared with you before, I love words of affirmations.

Actually, who wouldn’t? We all need a little "life is short" reminder from time to time, me thinks.

And still, with ALL of the magnets, coffee cups, drink coasters, etcetera, that I have I can still find little gems that make me sit up and take note.  I love it when that happens.

Yesterday as I visited my local Borders store for the last time I came across a set of note cards in a pretty little decorative box. Inside the cover of the box it said,

Whatever you are be a good one. 

-Abraham Lincoln      

Love it

Simply stated.

But profoundly important.

Whatever you are be a good one. Wonderful. I think I'll try.

And may your day be a good one too!

Do You Have The Creative Habit?

I was at the courthouse for jury duty all day on Monday and the book I chose to take with me was The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. If you have not read the book I suggest you run, not walk to purchase this fantastic book. I read it first years ago and it is a book I could read again and again. I never tire of it.

In her own words she says, “More than anything, this book is about preparation. In order to be creative you have to know how to prepare to be creative.” We might be inclined toward something, as I believe I am with art, while my twin is not. But I was not born with the skills to be an artist, just the inclination. It has taken me years of study to get to where I am today. Studying different methods, ideas, and materials. Practicing and failing, but also garnering gems from what didn’t work out to try again in a different way.

I think that is why some artists answer, “My entire life,” to the oft asked question, “How long did it take you to make/paint that piece?” There is nothing flippant about the statement. It really is a true.

But I highly recommend taking time out of your productive day to check out this book. I think you’ll find it worth your time.

I hope your day is a creative one!

Show and Tell Sunday-It Takes Two, Baby

In November I wrote about “twos.”  Killing Two Birds with One Stone, to be exact. Which is a subject that is often on my mind. You see, I am an identical twin. It sort of colors my world. We were hanging out together before we ever took our first breath. That’s pretty powerful stuff.

I have other sibs, a brother and a sister, and I love them immensely, but there is no denying that what I feel about my twin is different. I don’t know why that is, I just accept it as part of my world.

But the pairs of things that always show up in my work, well that I do know about.  It's the twin thing.

Below are two more small skins that deal with twos.

May your day be doubly fantastic!

Long and Lanky, Kim Radatz

Prim and Proper, Kim Radatz

Words To Live By

I love words of affirmation. They are little gems of wisdom to ponder as I move about my day. Posted here, taped there, purchased magnets, or hand written notes, it matters not. I’ve got them all over the place. I’ll be doing something else and suddenly come across one and it will lift my spirits. What can be better than that?

In addition to the one above, here are a few more that I have out and about now:

Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers ‘grow, grow’

-The Talmud

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.

-Dr. Spock

And the following excerpt from a Harvard commencement address given by J.K. Rowling (of Harry Potter fame) that I clipped out of a magazine:

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or [your] strength…, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift…. It is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.

Wow, great words from one who faced many failures herself, yet forged ahead and succeeded in a very big way.

May these words lift your spirits too.

Have a great day.

Show and Tell Sundays-Is Bigger Better?

I am at my summer home and studio on this cold winter day. All of my tools and supplies await me in Florida, which means actually making work is on hold for now.

So as I sit here in my tiny studio, literally a drop cloth stapled to the floor in a corner of my bedroom, I ponder work I have made here. And even I am amazed at what has come out of this tiny space. Some of it quite large.

This prompts me to remember that it is not where I am that the works stems from, but rather who I am that matters. The work is always inside of me.

Encouraging to this sometimes doubtful artist. And something I will take care to remember from time to time.

May your day be warm and creative.

Sandwich as Muse

What is your muse?
 
Hmmm, for me it’s hard to narrow it down to one as I am inspired by many things.
 
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I started out life as a potter, so rusty, crusty, earthy textures make my heart race. And old, decaying things too.
 
Text of any kind does the same. Which is why it can be found on almost all of my work. That could stem from graffiti, or billboards, or t-shirts which have turned us into walking billboards. Or maybe it is just the simple beauty of the line a letter or word makes that captivates me.
 
I am not sure.
 
But a sandwich has never been among the items on my list.
 
Which is why the Cuban Sandwich Show conceived by David Audet of the Artist and Writers Group and the Festival of Moving Image, is appealing to me.
 
A formal prospectus will be out soon, but in the meantime, David sent out this brief description of the show.

"All the art, in all mediums, has to be about Tampa AND/OR Cuban Sandwiches. Thus, whether the art form is visual, film, dance, theater, music, cuisine, poetry, literature, the root subject is somehow about Tampa, past, present, future."

A Cuban Sandwich Show.  Fantastic.  I shall chew on that subject (pun intended) for many days to come.

Makes me yearn for a good Cuban sandwich too.

And makes me wonder if it is all of our experiences that become our muses?

What do you think?

Whatever form your muse takes, may she keep you moving forward on your path.

Have a great one!