My candle burns at both ends - and maybe through the middle!

Well - it's been the most wild ride of a week we've had in a while and I can't believe that it's not over yet! Cricket Game matches and practices and home schooling outings and school picnics and it just keeps going.

First of all the work I managed in my shortened classes Monday and Tuesday - shortened due to my hubby being away on business for those days:

The top left you saw before but the others are all new WIPs  of Scarlet from Marvel Comics

I did rotate this however when I posted it - my computer twisted it back!

Wednesday I wanted to try and put some work on my illustration course and picture book work so I sat down with the children and they worked out some of their own illustrations:

This is a picture of a family baking a cobbler on the left and a picture of swimming at the dam on the right - by Aurion  

This is a cobbler in a pan with butter and crumble on top - by Kael.

Then The Two Oceans Aquarium visit:

Clowing around with the clown fish

Fairies among the clown fish

This IS only Thursday.  I've barely managed to get my blog posted today for all the family activity.  I really hope there is time and energy left this weekend in between all the sport till to come!

My candle burns at both ends

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -

It gives a lovely light.

Edna St. Vincent Millay, "A Few Figs from Thistles", 1920

US poet (1892 - 1950)   

SARK TUESDAY

SARK Creative Dream Game Card face

DOING THINGS BADLY:

One of the most inhibiting factors for creative dream living is how we think we need to do something well or perfectly to begin it.  

Give yourself permission to do something badly.  How badly could you do it?

(from the SARK Creative Dream Game)

From Me:  I think this is one of my more favorite cards in the game.  I am a recovering perfectionist.  I make my life (and my families life) really tough trying to be perfect.  This card reminds me to LET GO!  PLAY.  Having fun is OK!  Heck it's preferred.

One more thing...my beautiful husband phoned me one morning.  It had been a tough morning.  I was really getting a lesson in practicing patience.  Keeping my cool.  Thinking outside the box because my homeschooling plans were crashing worse than a freeway in the rain during rush hour.  After the usual how's it going - fine etc.  He said "I love you".  He meant more than that.  Then he said "Your doing a good job."

This tore off my perfection coat and allowed me to see that I was actually doing a good job.  I wouldn't really do a bad job, (on purpose) taking care of my children.  I was doing my VERY BEST.  I think we need to remember about our "very best".  It's a changing gauge based on experience.  When we first do our very best we usually need to do it again.  For instance in our first draft - the first expression of ideas etc.  Then we do it again and improve on our best - making a new "very best".

So - what are you going to allow your self to do badly?  I'm going to write my February Picture Book story and I'm going to finish my first "Scarlet" Art class project.  I will do it badly - and I will leave it alone.  

BREAKING NEWS I've been Choosen

I've been honored by Rena J. Traxel - a great writer, photographer, humorist and more...please check out her blog.  She's given me the

This Award is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers, all in the spirit of fostering new connections and making friends.

Liebste is German word that means ‘dearest’ or ‘beloved’ but also ‘favorite’ or 'like'.  The idea of the Liebster award is to bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers.  

The Rules are (possibly changeable):

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top five picks for the award and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the love from the supportive people on the blogsphere.
5. And, best of all – have fun! 
6. There seems to be an additional rule that you tell five random things about yourself.

I searched briefly for the "original" liebster Blog award but I came up with only more and more amazing little blogs (as opposed to big with over 200 followers).  What I found was that each one eventually had some little change to the rules.  The basics seemed to be 1-3.  But alone they are a bit...lonely.  4-6 add a little spice.


Rena J. Traxel I want to thank you deeply for this opportunity.  I found so many amazing blogs and got most of the way through the Picture Book Dummy Challenge blog list.  Amazing talent.  I also found that many of my favorite blogs had received the award already - of course.

These are the five blogs I wish to nominate for this award (in no particular order):

Lisa Thompson I don't know how many followers you have but - your blog is great inspiration.  As a mom of 4 I know the challenges of 3.  I'm also starting "late" on knowing what I want to do when I grow up! PLUS we are both in the Marks and Splashes Course .

Helga Pearson Another Marks and Splashes Course  cohort, mother, late starter.  What can I say - like attracts like.  The kicker is we are both in South Africa.

Josh Reed What a fabulous drawing site!  The BEST BEST BEST - Thank you Mark G. Mitchell

Kevin Cross Super Rad illustrator and Dad to be.  Kevin - I also don' t know how many "followers" you have but I found you Super Rad (as advertised)- even the dad to be blog!

Karien Naude If it wasn't for Karien I wouldn't have signed up for the Marks and Splashes Course .  Thanks for the encouragement Karien - such beautiful work!

Cheers, Ciao, Adios and Thanks for all the fish! *Curtsey*

EDIT:  I visited Lisa Thompson's blog this morning to find she's received the LA already from another M&S cohort.  Great minds!

Also I realized I failed to DIRECTLY state 5 things about me.  I must say I think you can find them between all the lines but here's to simplicity:

1.  I get REALLY excited about sharing with others - so much so I forget to put it all together BEFORE I put it out there.
2. I am proud to be living in South Africa - And I'm proud to be from TEXAS (San Antonio - home of the Alamo!)
3. I'm a dream chaser,  encourager and muse
4. Fine art, illustration, paints, colours and general creative expression fill me with happiness.
5. I love books and writing - especially if they are children's books.  So little drama and so much fun!

Zombie Thursday

Doesn't that sound ...fun?  Actually my two youngest children have been ill and we have not had much sleep.  I missed a class and am now even further behind than I already felt.  Andrew says I must just have fun!  Yeah - ok.  It is great and I do love it but it's a strong push to keep up.  I am a mother first - but my artist has waited so long!

Here is what I've managed so far from our new project for a page layout from Scarlet (I'm struggling to find the exact link for this exact series so I am giving links to get you at least some of the material.  Alex Maleev and Michael Bendis are the original creators)

This is my first try at Officer Guzman

This is my first attempt at scarlet up close and personal - the rough below is the second cell on a 6 cell page.

Please excuse my less than stelar photos - It's the best for what I've got at the moment.  Maybe by next week I can have some character roughs for my picture book idea too.  I am hopeful at least.

SARK TUESDAY

Today's SARK GAME Card snippet:

ASK YOUR SELF:
What excites or inspires you about living more of your creative dreams?  Are you hiding for some reason?

Make a list of [people who are living their creative dreams].


From me:  Do you have anyone in mind?

This makes me think of role models.  I don't really like to have a role model.  I find it makes me push to hard for a perfection that doesn't exist.  I know - it's good to strive.  My point is that we often live our lives under the illusion that our role models are or should be perfect.  They NEVER are.  They are real people.  I'm inspired by REAL people.

For me -SARK, Piet Grobler, Helga Pearson, Tanya Liebenberg, Julie Hedlund -  They start my list - it's a long list.  They make  me laugh, think, stretch and grow.  Also this little guy - you can see from his eyes that he asks WHY a whole lot.  AND he's excited about most anything in life.  (he's a bit tired here from some late night Christmas spoiling)

Now some of them you may know and some of them - well -they are my friends - you might not know them.  Those you know:  Piet and Julie - well they inspire me because of their amazing ability to move things forward and go beyond the expected.

My friends; they inspire me because I see them reaching for their dreams and I know some of their challenges make that a very interesting journey across the proverbial tight rope.

Who inspires you?  Could you see yourself having a similar impact on others?

(and of course - Happy Valentines Day - send yourself some roses!)

Scarlet Update

After a few fine hours of work I've managed to get this far.  I must admit - I'm not into guns.  Not even in paintings.  There is still a good bit of work to go but I wanted to post the progress as we may have a new project in class for the coming week and ol' Scarlet may be waiting for the finish.  I don't think Marvel Comics will be signing me up anytime soon!  What's with the chain link on her top?

What's on the GO

Scarlet Brief in process

I started my part-time Fine Arts Program with Andrew Owen.  It's going to be a great learning experience.  The challenge will be patience.  I would really love to be a full time student.  The truth is that's incredibly difficult with young children, (I will be patient - they are only small for a short time).

Our first assignment is to reproduce "Scarlet" as close to the original as possible (to find out more about Scarlet visit:http://www.brokenfrontier.com/headlines/p/detail/preview-scarlet-3) -using the prescribed supplies.

This was my first try  - I am on the second attempt and will mostly likely have a third and time allowing a fourth simply because that's how it works right?  I've not managed to get her correctly organized - I don't think my illustration shows her weight in her right foot, (this is how I see the original we are to emulate) - also her legs are generally needing better work.

I did learn how to make a super turquoise colour that pops so beautifully!  My wash here is not strong enough in this timid attempt for you to see.

Lastly - I am working on quite a few changes to my blog at present.  You will notice Tuesday's post was late.  This was due to the learning process.  Please be patient - leave your comments, suggestions or better - YOUR story of learning as a creator.

SARK Tuesday

Each Tuesday I am going to play the SARK CREATIVE DREAM GAME.  I will randomly draw a card and share a portion of the card and my thoughts with you.  I hope this will assist us both to move our creative dreams to fruition!  You can get your own game HERE .

Inspiration:  You and your creative dreams are nourished by inspiration.  To inspire is to give breath.

Not so very long ago I was not breathing.  I was not allowing myself the space to create - to be filled with inspire-ation!  What I realized was that those things the inspired me the most (painting/creating) I was actually holding OUT.  I had actually exhaled and was not inspiring.

I took action - I enrolled in a part-time fine art program,  I enrolled in Make Your Marks, Make Your Splashes (How To Be A Children's Book Illustrator ), I took  the 12x12 in '12 challenge (thank you Julie Hedlund – Write Up My Life ) and I've further joined the picture book dummy challenge (#kidlitart: #PBDummy is back! ).

I was so inspired I began inspiring my family again.  My husband, my children and even my friends.  My son wrote a story inspired by an event at his school!  Each day I am inspiring myself to not only dream big but find the WILL for the WAY, because if you don't have the will you won't find the way.

Are you breathing?

In what ways do you inspire?

In what ways does your daily life allow you to breath?

What is inspiring you?

Please stop and share your ideas.  If you'd like more creative inspiration please visit Planet Sark at Creative Inspiration  Even check out CREATORmakers

A Big Wave

First...I would like to thank the new folks visiting my blog and those of you who are interested in following this exploratory blog.  The crits from blogfest are really helping me to crystalize the vision I have for this little blog.  

Now...about that WAVE -

"And the wave came crashing down like this!"

Well it is very much like that.  Last year I put several plans into motion.  The first was taking a more active roll in getting my kids OUT for homeschooling in the real world.  So I'm the parent with the first month outing to plan and the first parent evening to plan.  That is all happening in the next 4 days now.  YIKES it's like a huge wave has been building and now the crashing onto the beach to leave behind the hidden jewels of flotsam and jetsam.

The stress (a good kind still) has left me unable to draw properly.  It's good to learn what the boundaries are for future professional planning.  The best is that I will be finished and won't have anymore for the rest of the year - except that one I pushed off for March...( :-).

On the super do the goofy jig side of life - I will start my art course on Monday!  There will HAVE to be something to show by Thursday.  Also I have a second chance to get a layout done for my Marks and Splashes as the meeting somehow failed this week.  I'm taking that as a positive thing.

Look out for me again on Tuesday for the first SARK card draw!

What insights did you find in January that are going to make your February even better?
Mine are:  Don't take on too much little stuff.  Keep your pencil on the paper!

Critique My Blogfest

I've entered three wild new things this year.  I think I'm going to check off my "do three things that stretch me" goal as being met with a mighty bang.  The first was the 12x12 in 12 Challenge, then there is the PB Dummy challenge and then I thought - what the heck.... I better improve my blog too!  So I signed up for the Crit my blog blogfest too!

I am shaking my head and running around looney tunes at present.  I know I will catch up with all my Mommy items, my Art Items and my Writing Items.  I did make a list to be certain it would all work out.  I have a lot of hope, faith and trust - plus I'm pretty good at making it up as I go.

I would like to "announce" that I have two goals for this year.  The one is to post "finished works or in-progress items" every Thursday and the other ...I'm SOO excited!  The other goal is to post a SARK inspiration each Tuesday - so encourage and spark my self and others forward to reach our creative dreaming potentials!  I was unable to post this Tuesday as I was waiting confirmation from Sark and her fabulous team that my idea was acceptable to their copyright.

So... You can make comments on:

a.      Appearance: Does it appeal to you? Is it too busy, or too plain?

b.      Layout: Is it difficult to navigate? Is it cluttered, or sparse?

c.      Frequency: Does the blogger post too often? Not often enough?

d.      Content: Are the posts interesting? Unique? Are they focused, or all over the place?

e.      Quality: Are the individual posts too long, too short, too sloppy, or too generic?

For simplicity you may place your comment in the comments section - or if you feel more comfortable you can e-mail me.

Thank you so very much and know that I'm doing my very best to master this darn Apple computer so I can manage hyperlinks etc and be much more professional about my blog.  I am really looking forward to your suggestions.