Quinn McDonald's Blog, page 90

Two Book Reviews (on Felting) and a Giveaway

Winners of the 3 journals:  The winners for the traveling journals have been drawn– Congratulations to Lisa “Salt and Light” Brown, Stephanie Hansen and Wendy from Late Start Studio!  Now, on to the next giveaway!

This week, I’m celebrating my 1,500th blog post with a series of giveaways. Today, it’s two fresh-off-the-press books on felting. Leave a comment letting me know you want one of the books. If you have a preference for the bird book or the complete photo guide  book, mention it in the comments. I’ll draw the winner on Thursday evening, 5 p.m. Phoenix time.      The books:

The Complete Photo Guide to Felting by Ruth Lane
Felted Feathered Friends by Laurie Sharp

The reviews:

Title:  The Complete Photo Guide to Felting

Author: Ruth Lane

Details: Creative Publishing International, soft cover, 240 pages, 800 photos, $24.99

Content: Introduction, five instructional chapters, a gallery of photos, and five sections of acknowledgements, resources, glossary, etc.

All about wool and other fibers
Preparing to Felt
Traditional wet felting
Nuno or Laminate Felting
Needle Felting

What I like about the book: The scope of the book will satisfy both beginning and advanced felters.

The book begins with an exploration of what fibers are suitable for felting and which won’t work. It describes how to choose fibers and how to clean then, a chart of needle sizes and what each needle is best suited for.

There is a step-by-step, photograph-rich instruction to each of the different kinds of felting: wet, laminate (nuno) and needle felting.

There are technique tips on almost every page. Both positive and negative (You know it’s not working when. . .)

A two-page, step-by-step section on how to figure shrinkage in both size and percentage. Since felting is based on shrinking fiber, this is very useful.

There are both projects and techniques in the book, from wall hangings to dolls (including how to do faces and hands).

Color-coded bands at the top of the page help you find sections easily.

What I don’t like about the book: The project headings are just a point size or two larger than the body text and in a lighter color, making it hard to find the beginning of a project. If it hadn’t been for the picture of the giraffe and one of a doll, I would have thought they were the same project.

* * *

Title:  Felted Feathered Friends: Techniques and Projects for Needle-Felted Birds.

Author: Laurie Sharp, with photos by Kevin Sharp.

Details: Creative Publishing International, hardbound, 128 pages, $19.99

Content: Introduction, materials and tools, basic technique, 20 bird projects, gallery, resources.

What I like about the book: It is simple and direct: 20 projects on how to make needle felted birds, using one kind of barbed needle and wool roving. Birds include a variety from bluebird, swan, owl, peacock, flamingo, and pelican. There is also a mobile and an ornament.

The photographs are all taken on a warm-colored background, creating unity throughout the book.

There are step-by-step photographs to show different stages of the project.

Each project starts with a large photo of the finished project along with suggestions of how to individualize your project and a list of materials, including how much wool you will need.

If you love the idea of making whimsical figures of birds, this is your book. It’s got a tight focus and a big range.

What I don’t like about the book: The sans-serif type is too light weight to make for easy instruction reading if you are working on a project and checking instructions.

The background of the photographs should have been varied for better contrast. A yellow bird on a warm tan background is not appealing.

You know how large the finished project is only by seeing it in context with hands. Measurements would have been welcome.

There needs to be more “how” in the how-to. I will admit this is a particular complaint of mine in how-to books. Telling me to “shape a crescent” or “pull some wool loose from one end” to make the tail requires me to see that the crescent changes shape and to guess how to make that happen as well.

The instructions for shaping legs and feet need one more step to make them three dimensional. It’s easy to get lost when the entire bird-foot shaping instruction is, “use pliers to make five bends in the stem. Pinch the bends to make three claws.” Even looking at the photos, I can’t figure out how to get from 5-bend stage to claw stage.

For the pelican, the big pre-instruction photo shows a blue “fish” in the birds mouth. The caption says, “If your pelican is hungry, needle felt a tiny fish to put in his mouth.” The step-by-step bird is shown with fish in mouth, but there are no instructions how to make the fish or how to get it into the beak, which seems to be solid, and closed

The beak instructions say, “Roll a wisp of orange wool into a cone shape,” without telling you how much a wisp is or how long the cone should be. There are photos, and I’m willing to admit I may need more instructions than others.

* * * Full disclosure statement: A publicist for both books asked if I’d like a review copy; I did not pay for the books.

-–Quinn McDonald is a writer and certified creativity coach and writer who designs and makes art journals she uses.

Filed under: Book Reviews Tagged: Felting, felting book reviews, laminate felting, needle felting, nuno

Standing in Your Own Light

First: Thanks to all of you who have said kind, supportive, wonderful things about my 1,500 blog posts. It feels big and I’m proud. There would be no blog without readers and those who leave comments.

For about 12 hours yesterday, WordPress was not accessible to me–I couldn’t get to the blog or read the comments. So I’m a bit behind. Yes, there will still be a drawing, it will still be tonight (if I can get to the blog) but it will take a few days to answer all the comments.

*   *   *

Many of the people who leave comments are artists. All of them are creative, even if they don’t believe it. My first reaction, when I finally could read the comments, was to explain to everyone who said something nice that they were wrong, that I don’t have a lot of energy, and I’m just a creative stumbler with a sense of humor.

And that would be a mistake. The same mistake many artists make. It’s hard to admit to your creativity. Hard to live up to big ideas. Strenuous to live up to your own expectations. But it’s important that you stand up and represent your own creativity. That you stand in your own light.

Never say “just” when you explain how you do your work. If you are a photographer you don’t “just” use a digital camera. If you are a book binder, you don’t “just” stitch folios together. Those are skills you learned and got good at over time. Don’t diminish your skills. You worked hard for them. Explain them with dignity. Your soul deserves that.

When someone offers a compliment, don’t talk about your mistakes. So many artists I praise, immediately show me the mistake in the piece, the error in their plan, the flaw in their thinking. Those mistakes, flaws and error made that piece the thing of beauty (is a joy forever, thank you John Keats). You did all the work–from concept to final polish. The mistakes you made are your private learning tool, and don’t need to be shown to everyone who likes the final product. Knowing your mistakes doesn’t enhance their experience.

Work deeply, learn about yourself, and be proud of what you’ve learned. That’s the difference between an artist who keeps going and one who quits, disappointed in life.

—Quinn McDonald is a writer who is working on her second book, The Inner Hero Art Journal: Mixed Media Messages to Your Inner Critic.

Filed under: Inner Critic, Opinion, The Writing Life Tagged: Coaching, creativity coach, inner critic, making mistakes

. . .Looking Forward

This week, I will have written 1,500 blog posts for QuinnCreative on WordPress. the first month, January of 2007, I had 433 readers, about half of what I get per day now.

Illustration in one of the journals.

Smart readers have left clever, funny, thoughtful, interesting comments. Without those comment-leaving readers, I would have quit a long time ago. True, I do the blog for writing practice, and in a way it’s another journal I keep, but over six years, I have come to depend on my readers for insight and community.

To celebrate those 1,500 blog posts, there are going to be several give-aways this week. Today’s give away are the three traveling journals that have found their way back to me since 2009.

Illustration from one of the journals

New journalers, and sometimes experienced ones, tell me the biggest problem is starting a journal. What to put on that first page. . . how to fill up those first, blank pages. These three  journals all have the first several spreads finished. So you don’t have to worry about what to do with them. They have the registration stickers from 1001 journals still in them, and while each one of them has traveled over 5,000 miles (one went to the Philipeans and back), all are in excellent condition.

The journals are medium vermillion, cloth-bound 5.5 inches x 8.5 inches books by Hand-Made Journals with sturdy off-white,  acid-free, archival, unlined paper (130 gsm, about 90-pound paper).  Perfect for fountain pen, gel pens, roller balls, colored pencils, pastels, markers, acrylic paint and even light watercolor washes. Copic and other alcohol markers will bleed through, but Pitt Pens and water or dye-based markers won’t. They have an elastic closure and a pocket in the back.

So, if you’ve always been afraid of those blank pages, but have always wanted to

Illustration from one of the journals

keep a journal, leave a comment. I’m giving away all three of the journals on this one post, and I’ll choose the journals and people randomly. Because I have a large international audience, I’ll spring for overseas shipping, so everyone has an equal chance.

Names will be drawn on Tuesday, September 4  at 5 p.m. Phoenix time. Winners will be posted at the top of this post. We are going to be celebrating the 1,500 blog post all this week with various give-aways. The next one will be on Wednesday.

Thank you for reading, whether you have been here since 2007 or since last week. I’m grateful to every person who leaves comments–I know how hard that can be!

–Quinn McDonald is a certified creativity coach who writes on creativity, does book reviews, and gives away journals. After 1,500 blog posts, she’s only scratched the surface. She is the author of Raw Art Journaling and is working on her second book, The Inner Hero’s Art Journal

Filed under: Creativity, Journal Pages, Raw Art Journaling, The Writing Life Tagged: give-away, journal give-away, traveling journals, what to write on the first page

Looking Back. . .

In May of 2009, I bought four red journals and joined the 1001 Journal Project. It was an extension of the fascinating 1000 journal project done by Someguy. You can see the fascinating documentary by Andrea Kreuzhage on Netflix. Being just a teensy bit controlling at the time, I created a spreadsheet of people who wanted to work in the themed journals (travel, dreams, summer in Phoenix, and general) and sent them out, asking each person to return it in two weeks.

At first, it worked fairly well. But within a month, I had requests for journals from schools and church groups who were only together for a limited time, asking if they could have it next, so they could work on it together. I began sending out loose pages of heavy art paper, figuring I’d bind them together when they came back.

And suddenly, instead of participating in an interesting art project, I became an administrator and the book police. The books came back, and I’d send them to the next person, but first, I’d have to make sure they were actually at the address they had sent me. I had no idea people moved so much. Or were so scheduled. People asked if, instead of today, I could send it in 10 days, but ask first. Or in a month, but to a different address.

An illustration from one of the journals.

One email read, “I’m on the list, don’t know when, but send it to first address, not second.”  Of course, I hadn’t kept the first address, because it wasn’t going to be used. I began to spend two to three hours a day in administrative work, separate from my business and artwork. It wasn’t art, and it gave me a huge understanding why Someguy, the originator of the project, abandoned his 1,000 journals in public places, with no expectations of ever getting them back. It all made so much more sense.

And then the first book disappeared. I wrote the last person who had it and she swore she had sent it back. Another person said he’d sent it to the next person on the list, and since I kept the list, that couldn’t have been one of my red journals. I sent out over 200 cut-to-size pieces of paper. After six months, I had back about a dozen. People are busy.

After I got emails from people telling me they didn’t have the money to send the book back and I should have provided postage, I drove to pick up one of the books. At the house, I was rebuffed and told that there never was a book. Defeated and having learned a great lesson about control and art, I let the project go.

Two of the books found their way back about a year later. I shelved them, guilty about my poor art organization skills.

And then yesterday a padded envelope arrived in the mail, self addressed. I recognized it although it has been three years since I sent one of them out. No return address. No note. But it was the third journal. No worse for wear. It had the illustrations I still remembered and loved.

I pulled out the other two and looked at the three journals. Wondered what i should do with them. And then I had a great idea. It made sense, it closed the circle, and it is so about letting go of control. Tomorrow, Monday, September 3, 2012, I’ll explain the next adventures the journals will take.

—Quinn McDonald is building on what she learned.

Filed under: Creativity, Journal Pages, Raw Art Journaling Tagged: 1001 Journal Project, Raw Art Journaling, traveling journals

Re-Packing Your Brain

Bo Mackison is a photographer, and a busy one. She has an art festival coming up in Chicago this weekend, and we were talking about her preparations. Bo was describing her organization habits; she mentioned her one special container that has the electronics to make sales, change, and keep track of sales. She calls this box “the brain.” In a rushed voice she said, “And after all that sorting, I have to re-pack The Brain.”

We both laughed at the image of re-packing your brain, and then we saw the deep wisdom in that simple phrase.

Every time we start a new project, change our business, choose a new perception, we have to “re-pack our brain.” It means opening your head to new ideas, taking out old thoughts, habits and assumptions and taking a good look at them. Maybe you shake those assumptions up, get the wrinkles out, maybe you toss it into a pile to re-use as a dust cloth.

In re-packing your brain, you allow yourself, new ideas, new paths. You make more room to add new thoughts and new perspectives.

And then, when your brain is re-packed, you head out into a new day with a new-found eagerness.

—Quinn McDonald is a writer and creativity coach. She re-packs her brain at least one a season.

Filed under: Coaching, Creativity, In My Life Tagged: change, creativity coaching, re-packing your brain, re-thinking

Cold, Crisp and Not Soda

Frying-pan-hot late summer days make the words “gin-and-tonic” seem perfect. But I’m not a liquor lover. The calories add up too fast, and I’d rather splurge my calories on chocolate.

 Gone are the days I’d start off with a Diet Coke at breakfast–althought the caffeine jolt and brain freeze did wake me up fast. Iced coffee and tea are great, but I can drink only so much tannin without wondering if my gut is going to be used to make a Birkin.  So I began to explore drinks that I can sip, gulp, quaff, and chug cold and in quantity without packing on calories and without the cardboardy, acidy taste I get from tubed drink mixes.

So I tried something so simple, so easy, I can’t believe how good it is. Take a glass, put in as much ice as you love, and then add 3-5 drops Angostura Bitters. Fill with club soda or selzer. It’s a perfect drink. Clean, crisp, refreshing, bubbly, and a great herbal taste that’s interesting but not overwhelming. Goes with sushi as well at with PBJs. (I’m not a fan of milk with PBJs. Suit yourself).

Gentian, known for its blue color and delicate flavor.

Angostura Bitters are a bar staple.  They aren’t really bitter, the word is derived from aromatic concoctions that contain gentian–a flowering herb that is used in perfumes. It’s also been used as a malaria cure and insect repellent. Versatile plant. Bright blue flowers. Gentian is bitter, but there is a lot more than gentian in bitters–a mix of aromatic herbs that is lovely in smell and dark brown in color.

I originally used the bitters for tea-staining  papers, because it worked faster and was darker than tea,  and I loved the smell. I swear, if they made this substance as a fragrance, I’d wear it every day.

But until then, I’ll use a few drops over fresh strawberries and in my soda-and-bitters. It’s an inexpensive joy that pays off in big ways.

—Quinn McDonald is counting the days until she no longer drinks a gallon of liquid a day just to keep up with sweating. She no longer remembers a time when the nape of her neck wasn’t wet 24 hours a day.

Filed under: Food & Recipes, In My Life Tagged: bitters and soda, low calorie drinks, summer drinks

Working With Natural Materials

Natural materials appeal to me. Whether it’s hammering leaves to get the green out of them or using tea bags to stain paper, the natural world holds mysteries and wonders for me that make me feel like a magician whenever I use the materials I find in the yard or kitchen.

I love white on white. And I love mosaics. Here’s the beginning of a mosaic made out of egg shells. They take a bit of work to prepare–I use the ones that were broken raw, rather than boiled. I clean them in soapy water and peel off the inner membrane, let them dry and then break them and glue the pieces on a piece of watercolor paper. I love the mosaic look. Eventually, I will paint them, but for now, I love white on white.

Backlit, the egg shells appear as a very different thing. They look thin and fragile, which they are. This is not a project for the impatient.

I love these cabbage roses. Except they aren’t made with cabbage, they are made with celery. Take a bundle of celery, leave the rubber band on, and cut off the root end about two inches from the bottom.

Then put paint on the cut end (not the cut off part, the long stalk part) and print on paper. Presto! Cabbage roses.

I’ll be teaching this technique on December 8 at the Shemer Art Center in Phoenix.

And finally, I am taking an on-line calligraphy class from Val Webb. I’m enjoying it immensely. This week we are learning a cat alphabet. The letters make me laugh. This is my first try at the letter A.

Love a calligrapher with a sense of humor.

–Quinn McDonald is a writer and an art experimenter. She is waiting for a big idea with those egg shells.

Filed under: Creativity, Journal Pages, Nature, Inside and Out, Raw Art Journaling Tagged: creativity coaching, eggshell mosaic, printing with vegetables

Standing Up For Yourself With Kindess

Today was a day of administrative chores. One of the deep wisdoms I’ve learned from owning my own business is that administrative work is also working. Going to the bank to make deposits, the post office to mail out books, answering emails from clients, going to the mall to take the computer to the Apple Store–all that is work. Hard work. In my case, hot work. It was 106˚F. And I came home and wondered “What have I accomplished today?”

The short answer is “Work. I did work.” And the longer answer is, “I stood up for myself. With kindness. And that was the most work of all.”

There are many reasons people treat anyone else rudely–they are tired, angry, you look like an easy target because you look different, belong to a minority, don’t look like them. But it hurts. It diminishes people. It feels unresolved.

I decided that part of my work today was to return to the eyeglass store because my glasses, which I have now worn for 10 days, do not help me see clearly. What I’ve been chewing on the last 10 days is not the fact I don’t see well. Rather, that when I mentioned it at the fitting, the staff passed me back to the eye doctor who ran me through the eye test again,  lightning fast, not giving me a chance to decide if I really like 2 better than 1, or if there was a difference between 3 and 4.

When I told her that I was an artist and a writer, and needed excellent vision, she sighed and said, “Oh, yeah, right.” She then said that the prescription was fine and left the room. I followed. In the hallway, in front of both store employees and other customers she said, “I TOLD you it would take 10 days for you to get used to the new glasses, but I guess you DIDN’T LISTEN” I felt as if I were 80 and had wet myself in public.

So today when I returned because the lenses on my sunglasses had a light leak at the edge of the frame, I mentioned that I had been treated badly by the doctor. The woman got the manager, and I repeated the sentence. The manager said, “Everyone loves Dr. X”

And this is where I stood up for myself. I said, “Dr. X treated me disrespectfully, scolding me in front of three staff members and five other customers. I was humiliated. But most of all, I cannot see clearly out of any of the glasses that I just paid $668 for. I want to have glasses that I can see clearly with. If you cannot provide me with a doctor who will solve the problem for me, I will go to an ophthalmologist who can, and I expect you to pay the full fee. Can we discuss these choices?” I spoke clearly and calmly. And I smiled at the manager when I was done.

She stammered at first, said that it was impossible. “Which one of the choices is impossible?”

“That you go see another doctor and expect us to pay.”

“It solves the problem that you could not solve. I have another suggestion: I return the glasses and you return my money.” I was still calm.

She looked scared.

“Please tell me your solution,” I said, still calmly.

“How about we let another doctor examine you and see what the problem is?”

I agreed to this solution, because it is on the way to getting me glasses that work. So now I have an appointment, and I worked hard today.  I stood up for myself. Not with anger. Not by insulting people who were not involved, but with kindness. And that was the hardest work of all.

–-Quinn McDonald is an artist and a writer and needs glasses that correct her vision to 20/20, which she does not find unreasonable.

Filed under: Creativity, In My Life Tagged: negotiating, stand up for yourself

The Dark Side of Facebook, Blogs and Twitter

Skim through Facebook and you’ll find tons of perfect classes being taught by fabulous instructors. Online, through e-books, in-person. In just the topic you need a class in.  You’ll also find people doing amazing things: eating only raw food and loving it, painting amazing paintings, sewing breathtaking clothing,  creating work so detailed that it leaves you breathless. And not only that, they are on gorgeous, well-designed blogs with tons of paid advertising.

The quote is Pema Chodron, but the lovely painting? I’ve found 37 “original” sources for it on Google. I don’t know who did it, but it’s lovely. It’s signed, but I can’t read the signature.

How come do those people have so much time to do their work while you are working so hard and not getting enough done? And what do those people know that you don’t, anyway? How come are they getting what you need and aren’t getting? And then you suddenly snap awake and know–you are in the firm grip of social media envy.

It’s a disease you catch from your computer. From spending a lot of your time digging out the perfect technique, the best instructor, the finest. . . of everything. And then mourning that it’s not yours.

You aren’t alone. I fell for it again this morning. And it won’t be the last time. It’s a weird mix of feeling that starts with research and ends up filling you with feelings of “not enough” Suddenly you are hooked on what you can’t do and don’t have. Lack and attack.

When I get that sad, draggy, not-good-enough feeling, I get off the computer. No work is getting done, but I’m allowing myself to wallow in envy. Once the computer is shut down, I remember two things:

1. A perfect blog is not an indication of a perfect life. The blogger could have dust bunnies the size of cats, fight with loved ones, discover a stain on the rug that won’t come out, and have credit card debt that’s too high. I’m just seeing the nice polish on the exterior, and I may not want the whole package that comes with the perfect blog.

2. Marketing is built on a need that’s uncomfortable. “Write to the pain point,” is the marketing mantra. So when I see a perfect class, what I’m really envious about is the video skills or equipment. When I see a huge teaching itinerary, I’m envious of the organization, time and energy an artist took to make classes, take photos, and fill out those applications. And that was why I was on the computer to begin with–I was working on that. Envy isn’t a bad emotion unless it spill over into self-loathing (or loathing strangers.) Envy is an early warning sign of something missing from your to-do list.

I’ll still feel social media envy and I’ll still stumble. But when I can be clear about what I can and can’t accomplish (or didn’t make myself do), it feels cleaner. I know who I am again. I am enough, and armed with a to-do list.

–Quinn McDonald wishes she could be lots of things she isn’t. But she’ll have to make do with what she is, because it’s unlikely there is a fairy godmother and a transformed pumpkin in her future, and she wouldn’t want to wear glass heels anyway.

 

 

 

Filed under: Art/Freelance Biz, Coaching, Creativity, In My Life, Recovering Perfectionists Tagged: being enough, creativity coaching, social media envy

Weekend Plans

There is a pile of administrative work to do, and yes, I must do it. I hate administrative work, and routinely ruin the best part of the day struggling with it. So today, I’m off to the studio early and will leave the admin work to later in the day when I’m slower.

What to do today?

With a bunch of classes coming I’m, I thought I’d try some new ways to get ink on paper:

This is such a clever idea set from Mark Montano–not just the vegetables, but the foam stamps, too.

Her’s a detail of how Alisa Burke uses foam to print on fabric. This looks fun, too!

Need inspiration for the weekend? Tammy at Daisy Yellow is a fearless painter. She uses color in bold ways. I love that she stepped in pthalo blue paint and walked it around her kitchen and then told us about it. You have to love someone who is so open about flubs and color!

Have some creative fun this weekend!

–Quinn McDonald is looking in the direction of the studio and planning some time experimenting. After a trip to the produce section of the grocery store.

Filed under: Creativity, Journal Pages, Raw Art Journaling Tagged: creative inspiration, creative play