I don’t know how other people see color, but when something of a particular shade catches my eye, I have to stop and look. Like this photo – the warm, pinky reds totally caught my eye and I became obsessed with them. Obsessed enough to stop, crouch down, and pull out my camera.

And then click away for ten minutes.

It’s a testament to the respect people in general have when they see someone stop on a busy sidewalk and start talking photos. Many were more than happy to give me a wide berth as I practically lay down to get my shot. Maybe they thought I was nuts, but I prefer thinking that it’s about respect. That sounds better in my head, and doesn’t shake my confidence.

But back to seeing color. I can’t not see it; the world is full of splotches I see out of the corner of my eye, and sometimes it takes me an extra second to focus in on what that object is. What about you? How do you see or notice color?

For those in the US, have a great Memorial Day weekend!

A couple of months ago, Danielle LaPorte had a huge pre-launch fiesta going on for her soon-to-be-published hardcover edition of The Fire Starter Sessions. I had bought the digital Spark Kit last summer, and devoured it. So when I went ahead preordered the hardcover, all I was expecting was pretty much a paper version of what I had already bought.

Boy, was I wrong.

The Fire Starter Sessions delivers the same message that the Spark Kit did, a message about authentic living and soulful success, because that’s the foundation of Danielle’s whole business. But it’s bigger and more intense here. What I thought would be a slight rehashing turned out to be an almost complete rewrite. Ideas were expanded and added to; chapters became fuller; new stories were told; and the message hit home again in a different way.

I went through the Spark Kit in three days. It took me several weeks to read The Fire Starter Sessions. Not because the ideas are complex (they aren’t), but because the ideas are challenging. And this time, I really wanted to be honest and thoughtful and take my time. This time around, I wanted to absorb what Danielle was sharing.

And I haven’t even gotten to the exercises* yet.

Here’s I what I came away with: The Fire Starter Sessions is insightful, intelligent, challenging, sometimes uncomfortable, and all around brilliant. Danielle feels like a personal coach, giving advice and shift butt kicks and hugs all at the same time. The name is so appropriate, because it really does ignite ideas. I kept having to stop reading to write down something.

For me, it was a clarifying read. It’s not the kind of how-to book that tells you to do #1, then #2, then #3. I found it more about challenging myself, my ideas, and my actions. Why do I do what I do, think what I think? The focus is turned inward and I felt (and feel) motivated to push forward. It was less about specific business practices and more about an entire outlook on life, and I’m glad I have a copy to read over and over.

I would highly recommend it to anyone who’s looking to be challenged and lit on a fire. That said, it’s not going to a be a book for everyone, so you can hop over to Danielle’s website and peruse some of her blog posts to see if you like her style.

I’d love to know what you think – have you read it? Anyone willing to do a little book club or reading group for it? I don’t mind hosting it.

* P.S. If you haven’t read the Spark Kit, exercises were a big part of it. After every chapter were worksheets full of questions to help you clarify your goals and desires. I was excited to see that they were included in the Fire Starter Sessions, too; and if you’re like me, and don’t particularly care to write in a book, or maybe you bought the Kindle/Nook version, Danielle’s got a PDF download of the worksheets on her site.

A couple of weeks ago, the lovely Kerry from Kab’s Creative Concepts emailed me. She was in the process of moving her blog over to WordPress and wanted to update her banner for the new blog. Could I help her out?

I was really excited to work on Kerry’s banner because it was challenging in the best possible way. She wanted a collage-style banner that combined her love of color, beads, glass, and photography. And did I think it was possible to make it feel felt aged but bright? Why, yes, I do believe that’s possible!

Between the two of us, we discussed themes, then Kerry set me loose to use whatever photos from her Flickr photostream that struck my fancy. I wanted to capture both the contemporary feel of her jewelry as well as her love of vintage with her banner. I was on the look out for photos that will stand for her work for a while, rather than a season or two. And I knew I wanted it to feel fun.

Most importantly, though, like with any graphics project I do, I wanted it to feel like Kerry. Sure, I put it together and I can see my fingerprints and style in there, but it was extremely important to me that it feel like something she would do or have on her blog.

A couple of tweaks later, we decided on a direction, colors, and tiny details, like the watercolor splashes and specific photos, and viola! We were done. What do you think?

To see more of Kerry’s new blog (she did the installation and design herself!), click here.

Three days of intermittent internet connections were driving me batty. Two phone calls, for a total of two and a half hours, to tech support simultaneously annoyed me and renewed my faith that there are excellent and caring call center reps still out there. A new modem got me back online, but organizing and balancing a group of people with different budgets and goals for a single trip wiped out any sense of accomplishment I had.

At one point, I looked at a loved one and cried out in frustration that things weren’t working and that I hoped this wasn’t a sign of how not restful the trip was going to be. I had put in a lot of hours on this already, and I guess I was looking for a little sympathy. So, when the response I got was a slightly exasperated “Give it a rest,” I was a little stung.

I’m not too proud to tell you that I sulked for a good, long while. And I’m not too proud to say that I felt wildly unappreciated. Oh, the nerve.

But then I realized it was kind of a good suggestion. The delivery sucked, but yeah, I should give all of this a rest. So, I pretty much ignored everything yesterday, tucked inside of myself, did what I wanted to do, and am happy to see nothing really crashed and burned.

That’s always a nice feeling.

What do you do when you feel a little stung and unappreciated?

The biggest questions rattling around in my head right now have to do with understanding your own self-worth.

Do you, as an artist, truly value yourself?
What makes you feel valuable?
What makes you see the value in the work you create?
How do you go about valuing yourself?

I think it starts in little ways. Silencing the negative voice whispering in your head. Finding cheerleaders and supporters and fans. Rereading a kind note or comment someone’s left you. Little things that add up, little ways to build yourself up.

Most artists just want to feel validated. They want to feel like what they are doing matters.

Some have the ability to turn inward for validation; others need an outside source to tell them they aren’t, in fact, crazy. What I want to know is how do you find that validation for yourself?

If you’ve got some time, I’d love it if you’d share with me any thoughts or examples!

A sense of frustration has plagued me all week. The kind of frustration that comes from a lack of progress, things just not going right, too many late nights with very little to show for it, underestimating the amount of work something actually takes, or just plain ol’ impatience. Pick one, because they all apply.

I subscribe to the big-name-entrepreneur-motivator school of thought that says you should love your job and it should light you up (I’ve been reading Danielle LaPorte’s Fire Starter Sessions book, more on that next week). This school of thought says that it may not be fun every time, it may not always be a smooth path, but it’s worth it.

I forgot the “it may not always be a smooth path” part, and expected a new personal project I’m tackling to be easy.

As anyone who’s ever done something out of their comfort zone before, doing something that pushes their skills a little farther than before isn’t always easy. Work, not matter how fun it is, is still work. I still need to put in the time to make sure it’s right and good and valuable.

Luckily, I think the tide is turning a bit, thanks to an adjustment in attitude. I just needed to remind myself that it’s okay that progress may be slow. It’s okay to mess up, it’s okay that it takes me twenty tries to get it right. It’s new and different and it will take me a while.

And that’s okay.

Know what I mean?

P.S. The palette above doesn’t really have anything to do with frustration or a new project; I just thought it was pretty and wanted to share it.

I’m so ridiculously proud of this photo. Even though it doesn’t necessary look that impressive, I look at it and I smile. Why?

Because it’s the first time I mastered a low-light photo. It’s the first time I managed to stand perfectly still with a wide open aperture and a really slow shutter, and get my shot. It’s one of the first times where I had an idea and managed to execute it just the way I imagined it, versus being pleasantly surprised with happy accidents.

It feels pretty damn good, let me tell you.

And that got me thinking about recognizing other small achievements. Ladies and gents, I think we’ve got a theme for the next Color Palette Blog Walk!

Remember those? It’s been a while, I know, so if you’re new here or have forgotten, a Color Palette Blog Walk is a blog hop where every participant takes a photo based around a theme, then creates a color palette (or several) from it. You in?

Here’s the details for Round 4:

• The date: Wednesday, June 6th, 2012. Every participant will post together on the same day, and we’ll all hop around to see each other’s palettes!
• The theme: Achievements. This can be anything that you’re super proud of – a new technique learned, a recent weight loss, an acceptance letter, a new recipe conquered – whatever achievement, big or small, that makes you smile.
• The photo(s) you use should be taken by you.
• You can have as many color palettes as you want, but please put them all in one post.
• It’s up to you how your color palette looks as far as number of colors or swatch shapes – get creative and make it your own!
• Need to learn how to make a palette? Click over to this Tip Share, or grab a freebie palette.
• If you don’t have Photoshop/Photoshop Elements, but would like to participate, go ahead and sign up. I can help make your palette for you.
• Buttons are at the bottom, so scroll past the sign up form to grab one.
• To sign up, fill out the form below. This is only so I can keep track of all of the participants, and email everyone the full list for our reveal posts. Your info is safe with me – I really hate spam myself. And if you’re viewing this in a feed reader and can’t see the form, click on over to the post.
• You’ve got until Monday, May 28th, to sign up.

Sign up right here:

Grab a button:

Right-click and Save As to download one.

200px x 100px

200px x 100px

Got a question? Let me know. If not, hope to see you sign up! Tell your color-loving friends, too!

If you’re a paper lover, there’s new blog called Fresh Rag you should check out. Have you heard of it?

Fresh Rag is the brainchild of my art buddy Dave Conrey. If the name sounds familiar, he stopped by for an interview here last year, then again earlier this year to share his thoughts on when to hire a graphic designer.

By day, Dave works in the print media industry. Being so involved with art direction and magazines, he’s noticed how digital media is slowly overwhelming print. But the love for printed material and paper goods is still strong, both for consumers and artists, so Dave started Fresh Rag as a way to highlight the awesome things people make and do with paper.

What I love best about Fresh Rag is what the About page says – it is not your momma’s paper blog. This is a blog meant to be a little gritty, and I love that. I love seeing a guy’s perspective on art, especially since there is a ton of gorgeous blogs and websites out there run by us ladies. How about you?

To read more, hop on over to FreshRag.com and subscribe to the RSS feed (which is good idea since Dave publishes new content a few times a day). You can also find Fresh Rag on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, too.

I completely underestimated how difficult it is to take sharp, in-focus photos from a moving car until I tried it.

Even when the driver obliges by slowing down to around 20 mph, I’ve discovered it’s still not easy. Which is humbling when you think you may finally, after 2 years, be getting the hang of manual photography, and then something comes along to show you there’s always more to learn.

I’ve got a lot going on this week, so I’m keeping today’s post short. Current projects include an update to my An Artist’s Guide to Pricing ebook, setting up round 4 of the Color Palette Blog Walk, a couple graphic projects for client friends, and a brand new project that I hope to launch in a few weeks, which was inspired by my most recent D.C. trip. Despite the spinning brain, it feels great to be busy! Know what I mean?

P.S. Can you spot the random garden gnome in a photo above? I think it’s an adorable surprise.

P.P.S. These photos were taken on a trip to a few Virginia wineries. Virginia has somewhere around a hundred wineries, which I found not only impressive, but delightful. No real photos of said wineries other than small, growing vines in fields because I had other things on mind. You understand.

One of my new favorite shops is Yellow Heart Art, run by the super adorable Leonora, and I had to share it today.

Leonora’s a graphic designer based in New York, and what I love about her shop is that it’s just plain fun. Her prints are quirky, delightful, and never fail to bring a smile to my face. I’ve got her My Hair Isn’t Messy, It’s Just Erupting With Awesome print and it makes me giggle (because it’s true – my hair is quite awesome right now). Sometimes, it’s great to see designs with a little bit of whimsy.

To see more, or to connect with Lenore, you can stop by her shop, visit her blog, or follow her on Twitter.

Photo Sources:

• SHHH, not while I’m crafting print
• I make pretty things all day print
• Today I will do awesome amazing things print
• You’re my most favorite piece of art print