Paper Meditations

GOALS           I started August with a goal in mind. I wanted to spend more time on my art by saying "no" to household chores at least for most of the day and catch up on them at night. I am best with the creative process when I am not tired but I can do the laundry anytime! I have come to realize that it is easy to be"doing things" and use it as an excuse not to sit down and create. It is a real struggle so I wrote this little note about saying "no" and had it on my studio lamp all month. It didn't help.Well actually it did for a short time and then I wrote a new list. The new list was to remind me for this blog post of all the things I neglected: cleaning up dishes, preparing meals, vacuuming and making phone calls! At least I had the creative part covered for awhile. Apparently I need to work on a better balance of the things I want to devote time too. Coincidentally, early in the month I came across a Ted Talk and a book that discuss saying ...

Looking at my recent Instagram posts, I realized that I only shared two photos in July... That is really disappointing since I was actually working on a lot! Fortunately, I have the photos to prove it. Following is a synopsis of my creative endeavors of July and a great example of how I work. I would characterize my process as one thing leads to another , and then I get DISTRACTED!  First thing this month, I had fun making the Independence Day piece that you can see on Instagram . I had the patriotic paper in my stash, so I just played around with it until a star was born!  I started a piece early in the month that was inspired by a photo of a flower. I had never tried to recreate a flower before, and I was excited to give it a try... but I got stuck before I even started putting it together. Here is the flower photo, the color scheme, and some elements of the piece in progress:  While trying to move forward on the flower piece, I was confronted with a ...

Tri-Tone Burst at the Lancaster County Art Association Open Door Exhibit June began with a great surprise! The Lancaster County Art Association awarded my piece, Tri-Tone Burst, a first place award in the 3-D category of their Open Door Exhibit. I am especially honored since this show was open to non-members from around the country. Thank you LCAA and judge, Isaac Pelepko ! In my last blog I discussed having artist's block. I managed to take my own advice and force myself to "do something". There were times that I walked into my studio with no idea what I was going to do while saying to myself "don't look at the mess" because I knew I could be distracted by cleaning up. I have learned from this experience that I could do a better job of  forcing myself to work because I did have success with this process. I didn't love everything I created but I learned from what I did and solved a problem that had been bugging me. (I am trying to get aw...

Well, I hope that title got your attention! I will explain it later... but first, a quick recap of  May events: The good news is one of my pieces received an award from the Lancaster County Art Association ! I entered two pieces into the recent members exhibition and received the second place non professional award for "Golden Facets" at the opening reception early in May.   LCAA Spring Membership Exhibition of Golden Facets The bad news is I haven't created anything this month and seem to be suffering with some symptoms of "artist's block." It's not all bad, though, because I actually do have ideas to pursue, but can't seem to find the time to get to them. Let me explain... My studio and most of my house have been in disarray due to remodeling projects and I am still striving to get things back in order. This has continued to distract me from my creative pursuits. Having a disorderly home is stressful, but so is the thought that I a...

I am rarely asked about the name I have given to my art. I hope the reason for this is because people intuitively understand what I mean by Paper Meditations but I would like to take this opportunity to expand on how and why the name came about. I had created paper art for more than a decade before coming up with a unique moniker. I wanted something that would reflect the uniqueness of my pieces with the least amount of explanation. Part of my process to come up with a name required that I create a list of words that could apply to my artwork so I brainstormed synonyms for things like "art","paper",and "beauty". I don't know exactly what made me think of "meditations" but it really struck a chord with me and it didn't take long for me to recognize how well it fit my artwork. One reason I liked it so much had to do with my first pieces. I made them by folding, taping and gluing sheets of computer paper together. I wanted people to to f...

Before getting to the post, here are some highlights from March. This past month I was able to add an introductory video to my website thanks to my son, Michael. As a birthday gift to me, he offered to produce, write, direct, film, and edit the three minute video during his spring break from college! A big "thank you" goes to him! Another huge "thank you" goes to my friend, Robin Spielberg, who was kind enough to share her recording of her composition, "Because of You" for the video. Robin is a talented pianist, composer, recording artist and author just to name a few so be sure to check out her website . Another highlight was seeing my Blooming Facets used as centerpieces for a large Bat Mitzvah reception! I altered the pieces to accommodate the placement of a balloon weight. It made for an impressive display to have a giant balloon and streamers attached to each. Not only were these table decorations, a perfect pop of color on the 16 tables but the...

Welcome to my latest post! Before reading my post about inspiration let me take this opportunity to update you on some news from last month... This past month I have been able to display five new pieces around town as a benefit of being a part of the York Art Association. My pieces will be on display and for sale at Alternative Therapies, Martin Foot and Ankle, Janney Montgomery Scott and the Jewish Community Center along with many other pieces from YAA members for a limited time until the next switch out. I also completed 18 centerpieces for a Bat Mitzvah reception. Because they are wreath designs, the host will encourage guests to take them home as a party gifts. While they are used as centerpieces they will have a balloon weight placed in the center opening with balloons attached of course! I can’t wait to see how this looks and look forward to sharing the pics next time. Now to the topic this month... Inspiration...The expected and the unexpected!  Soon after college...