* creative lenna *

trying something new

2013-05-17T16:21:00.004-04:00

I'm trying something new! At first I fooled around with this blog, using a dynamic view template instead of a simple one and I also updated my "About" page. If you are reading this via a feed you can see those changes HERE. Now, these were good changes I think, but I found I was still uninspired to write a post even though I had things to share . . . huh? What's up with that?

I started this blog at the end of 2006 so I've used it for quite some time. Maybe I was hungry for a new start? I was not planning on making a change, but serendipitously yesterday when I saw a link on the blipfoto blog for a tumblr blog called humans of new york by photographer Brandon Stanton . . . something happened. I really liked his photographs and the quotes he got from his subjects. Then I saw a "follow" button on his blog. When I pressed it I was brought to tumblr.com where I created an account so I could follow his photos. After that I was curious, knowing nothing about tumblr. I started to explore the site and 24 hours later, I have this:

The address for this new blog of mine is: http://creativelenna.tumblr.com/

Please check it out and tell me what you think!

I am going to try posting there for now and see how it goes . . . . .

Something different, a new format for me. I have certainly enjoyed setting it up already! I love that kind of computer design work as it is a different kind of creative work. There is a spot where you can ask me a question (it opens a new page) and there is also a link on the right to an "about page". I'll add more pages too. You can view other tumblr posts that I have liked on the right and also see who I am following there. Lots of art & photography blogs, right up my alley and mostly short bits to devour. For some reason the tumblr format is relatively new to me. i had heard of it but do not remember coming across it much before. If you have a blog there or know of any I might enjoy, please let me know. I have added a place for comments on my posts as well.

Thanks!

xo lenna

A Gelli Print day!

2013-05-02T00:23:00.000-04:00

yes, it was a gelli day!

I had a lot of fun playing with my new Gelli Plate. I got out some old and new stencils, a variety of sequin waste, a few masks, some lace and a combing tool. I used a variety of acrylic paints and I watched the videos from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's getting started with the Gelli plate class first, so I would be armed with ideas when I started! It worked out well. A very good first foray into monoprinting with the Gelli plate : )

I made many prints and took many photos, so I decided the best way to share it all was to make a short animoto video from my pictures. Follow this Link to view, or click on the video below if you are reading on the blog!

The artist knows he must be alone to create; the writer, to work out his thoughts; the musician, to compose; the saint, to pray. But women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves.

~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

at home in my studio at last!

2013-04-24T16:18:00.003-04:00

Home at last : ) my dear friend Linda Kunsman made this ornament for my husband Steven and I a few homes ago . . . I cannot even remember which one, maybe Deercliff Road? Anyway I love it and have continued to move it with me and give it a new place of honor. Now it is hanging on the armoire in the dining room that holds many of my art supplies.

Today, I have finally unpacked and found a home for all of my supplies in my art studio/office!!! Phew. It is not perfect, but IT IS DONE! I struggled this time with moving into a smaller art room and not having the same "containers" to put things in. It took me six months to unpack and set up, but I have done it and I am so proud and happy.

I took a quick video when I finished today and you can find it here via this link or watch it below if you are reading on my blog. Steven is taking me out to dinner tonight to celebrate, hee hee! I am so looking forward to creating more art. Yes, I have done some, but the last few boxes have been taking up space on my counter and I have not been able to work. It was getting depressing! Now I look forward to trying out the gelli plate I bought a month ago! I hope you enjoy the video with me doing the commentary. I'll be back!

Adventure is worthwhile in itself.

~ Amelia Earhart

Decorating with Art :)

2013-04-22T22:00:00.000-04:00

I wanted to hang my recent returns from the ARTchix Studio Blue ATC swap so I could enjoy them a lot more. I thought you might like to see what I came up with . . .

The little stars are courtesy of editing the photo in PicMonkey . . .

It's a free photo editing program I love & use all the time. You might enjoy it!

I attached the ATCs I received together with blue washi tape on the back.

I had six ATCs that I put together into one strand . . .

To see them all in more detail with credits, please go here.

Then I wrapped the tape around the piece of yarn I use to display art in my studio!

I like how the ATC display came out and I think it goes well with the rest!

On the bottom left is a beeswax collage I received the other day from my dear friend and talented artist, Sharon Borsavage. The package included a gorgeous necklace I ordered (that Sharon made) and my book from our altered book exchange . . . I wanted to hang her collage up right away.

I so love this piece Sharon made for me.

Our altered books were based on the themes of birds and nature!

* It is perfect *

Thank you sweet, talented Sharon!

I had my husband take a couple of photos of me wearing the necklace Sharon made...

Steven gave me the short necklace and Sharon made the gorgeous longer one.

She calls it Messages. It's made of copper, freshwater pearls and a coral piece.

No wonder I fell in love with this piece! Sharon describes it like this...

"I feel a true connection with nature with this piece, very serene, organic, and peaceful."

~ see more of Sharon's art-ful jewelry HERE ~

What a great way to decorate with art!!

Hope you have fun doing the same - put up some ATCs or a postcard

and EnJOY!!

Risk the truth with those you love and give them the gift you would want yourself.

~ Unknown

wonderful swap returns . . . .

2013-04-21T15:52:00.001-04:00

I thought I would share the really wonderful swap returns I recently received, for your enjoyment! I'm doing a mail art swap on a monthly basis with Jo Urbani and Jewels Welsh, plus I signed up for the ARTchix Studio Blue ATC swap. That was so fun to do - see my ATCs here. Yesterday I received an Awesome BLUE package from Nikki Smith, the swap hostess. Inside were really some first rate ATCs plus extra goodies from Helga, the owner of ARTchix Studio and Nikki -wow!

A huge thanks to the creators of the ATCs I received, such beautiful art. I can't wait to decorate my studio! I was so super psyched to receive one of Helga's ATCs and one of Nikki's too -wow!

THANK YOU!

For the mail art, our theme last month was The Language of Flowers. I love how this phrase sounds and in fact have now ordered a book on the subject via a recommendation from my friend Frieda Oxenham. I shared my own mail art here earlier based on the theme the language of the orange blossom, find it here if you missed it. I used photos of my very first Orange Tree that is growing in our yard . . . which now has lots of little green Hamlin oranges growing on it and more blossoms are forming at the same time! But even more fun I think than creating my own mail art was receiving mail art from Joanna & Jewels.

Jo created the sweetest postcard and envelope using Daisies

Read about how she created it here!

Jewels picked the French Willow and a corresponding quote that I really like . . .

You can read more about the techniques she used to create her postcard HErE. Below I did a collage in Photoshop to show you the back of her envelope with the front below on the left and the postcard and the back of it on the right . . .

I hope you enjoy! I also received an incredible package from my dear friend and talented artist, Sharon Borsavage the other day. It included a gorgeous necklace I ordered but also my book from our altered book exchange that we alternated working in... it is really something! I want to add a wee bit more to the book as there are a few blank pages left and then I will share it with you. Thanks for your patience as I wind my way back into my art life. xo lenna

Who so loves believes the impossible.
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

ARTchix Blue ATCs

2013-04-11T23:33:00.003-04:00

I had the pleasure of participating in the ARTchix Studio Blue ATC swap. I was really happy to see Helga announce this swap as I knew very well that a deadline would nudge me to create (and it did!) Of course time got away from me and everything was sent in on the last possible (deadline) day . . . but on the positive side, I did accomplish making them. The idea was simple: Make 6 Artist Trading Cards using the color blue and use an ARTchix Studio item on each ATC.

I used ARtchix ART blast playing cards as a base, the ones with birds printed on them.

I started with watercolor crayons around the edges in shades of blue.

Then wet the crayon marks (watercolor) and spread the color around . . .

I added sayings from various ARTchix word collage sheets and gave all the birds crowns!

and I added bits of Transparencies from ARTchix Studio -see the blue edges:

I glued on beads and added a bit of glitter . . .

The backs belong to the playing cards . . .

All six of my ATCs scanned . . .

They are a bit different, not perfect and pretty, but they are interesting, unusual, blue, filled with birds and creativity and ARTchixStudio and fun and experimenting . . . just what I needed!

Thank you Helga and also to our hostess Nikki for organizing - so appreciate it!!

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.

~ Anais Nin

A birthday collage

2013-04-08T12:38:00.000-04:00

One of the new friends I've met in Florida had a birthday a few weeks ago

and I was inspired to create a collage for her . . .

Debbie and I first met during Gratitude Dance on Siesta Key beach in 2011.

Gratitude dance is when we free dance on the beach with or without veils (silk scarves) and invite the public to join us if they wish. They usually are very entranced by the colorful scarves in the wind. It's all about feeling grateful for our many blessings and dancing that gratitude with joy!

Here is Debby, when we danced together on Christmas day : )

and my friends Cheryl and Kathy with more scarves and dancers in the background

Debbie loves the sand, the beach and water, dancing and she also often uses this image:

These were my inspirations . . . heart, love, friendship

dancing, beach, sand & gratitude

below is my process - and my studio!

my studio is more filled up now but at the time I had found my paints,

my gel medium and my collage materials

1. spread gel medium

2. rip papers and apply to canvas, cover with more gel medium

3. paint a heart and sprinkle beach sand

4. paint rays to resemble image, more sand from siesta key beach

5. find the saved quote -wrapper from small Dove chocolates, a 40-calorie after dinner treat!

(attach with gel medium)

6. Add loose lines with a permanent marker, wrap it up, give it to Debbie at a party she gave . . . have fun dancing the night away!!

The journey is the destination.

~ Dan Eldon

xo lenna

Zen and the Art of Painting with Bill Buchman

2013-04-07T00:28:00.000-04:00

Bill Buchman warming up with his Zen Brushes

Even though I have not spent a lot of time in my studio these past few months, I have managed to do a bit of art here and there, and I attended a workshop. Some of you may remember the classes I took last year with Bill Buchman, notably his Creative Breakout class -wow! I had such a good experience in his class learning and being inspired by Bill's art that I looked for another workshop with him at the Longboat Key Center for the Arts this winter. In February, Bill offered a two-day workshop called Zen and the Art of Painting. I signed up in a flash!

Bill Buchman

Bill demoed and spoke about the Zen approach of reacting to the moment. On the painting above which is in his creative breakout style, he used oil pastels to enhance the painting and spoke to us about what 'enhancement' meant and how to go about it. I filmed much of the 2-day workshop with his blessings and am currently working on a series of videos. I've finished 4 videos that are unpublished as I am not done going through the material yet! When the editing is done they may even be put together to create one longer video -I will let you know. While filming that first day my camera ran out of memory before Bill did his demo of the Ensō circle - but, I was still able to take photos of Bill painting an Ensō with the brushes he designed, see below.

Zen brush

Zen Pen

Yesterday I took those photos and a couple of short video clips and created a cool Animoto slideshow video. To view the video either click here or start the video below. From Wikipedia:

Ensō (円相) is a Japanese word meaning "circle" and a concept strongly associated with Zen.
In Zen Buddhist painting, ensō symbolizes a moment when the mind is free to simply let the body/spirit create.

Yes, the Longboat Key peacocks are a small part of this art video : ) I changed the cover photo to one of Bill painting for YouTube, but the embedded version here sticks with the peacocks and cannot be changed!

After Bill demoed all of the students had a chance to do an Ensō. Here's mine:

I tried to be very free and in the moment while I was painting. When it was done, I saw a bird in my Ensō, do you? Below is another Ensō Bill that painted, one of his wonderful figure drawings and a photo of him getting into his demo!

Check out his website for much more. He has available books he's written, instructional DVDs, brushes & pens plus more info and many photos . . .

In March, Bill was part of the Fine Arts Society of Sarasota's Studio Tour.

My friend Cheryl and I visited his wonderful studio - 1800 sq ft!!!

That's all for now, I hope you enjoy and thank you for the warm welcome back : )

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.

~ Vincent van Gogh

Language of Flowers Mail Art & where I've been!

2013-04-06T00:20:00.000-04:00

Here's the story of my long absence! Even though the blog has been quiet for 3 months, I've actually still been here. If you kept this space bookmarked and are reading this post, I'm both amazed and grateful. Truth be told, the work of moving to a new home in November coupled with a health issue kept me away from my blog. The move left my art supplies boxed up for months. The rest of the house got unpacked but the studio space required so many decisions. I was just not up to making them. And since my creative art making process is what I really enjoy sharing here, I found I was not blogging either.

Fortunately, the health issue has been sorted and . . . the studio is almost all unpacked! I have a new Doctor, one that listens, who recently told me he was not worried about me, but would continue testing my liver every six months. I have a chronic liver disease called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH, which is a common and often “silent” liver disease. There are no specific treatments yet, but losing weight has been found to be helpful to shrink the fat cells that aggravate the liver. I'm happy to say I'm down 15 lbs since September and my cholesterol is down too. I had to give away a huge bag of clothes (too baggy) and I'm now fitting easily into clothes that used to be too tight! I have another 15 pounds to shed but I'm not worried about it. Removing wine or any alcohol from my diet has been a huge help in losing weight - plus that is best for my liver. When I have bloodwork and another ultrasound in June, I'm anticipating an improvement in the health of my liver.

Now, in regards to the Mail Art, which is what I really want to talk about most here . . . this is what happened. Knowing how I work, I thought a deadline would be most helpful to get me to started creating again. I've continued being creative through photography during my absence (see my photo journal at blipfoto) but I instinctively knew that to get myself doing collage or mail art I would need a deadline. This is where two of my art buddies, Joanna Urbani and Jewels Welch stepped in to help me (follow those links to see their mail art). They have been exchanging mail art with a theme every month. I have been enjoying their creations! So I slyly asked them if I could join in their exchange . . . . well, they both enthusiastically wrote back that they'd be more than happy (VERY happy!!) for me to join in with their Mail Art/postcard fun. Whoo hoo -in like Flynn!

Queen Victoria in her wedding dress -note the headpiece

Jewels gave us the theme of the Language of Flowers. Choose a flower, look up the meaning, decorate a postcard and an envelope to share the meaning of the flower without using the name. Then the mail art recipients could have fun guessing the flower. My friend Cheryl who lives near me in Sarasota gave me the idea for my flower. I told her what I was doing and she reminisced about planning her parents wedding anniversary. Cheryl had looked up the meanings of the flowers that were in her mom's original bouquet, as she was reproducing it for the occasion. One flower in particular she told me about, I already had growing in my yard!

I created the collage sheet above from photos I had taken, to use on the card and envelope.

my card above

attached to the back of the card

I researched on the internet (fun!) and created an information sheet about the history of the orange blossom, then enclosed it inside a small envelope attached to my card.

one of the envelopes

back of the envelope

I sent three mail art envelopes one to Joanna, one to Jewels and an extra one to Cheryl for her friendship and inspiration! My Flower is the Orange Blossom. It has the most heady and wonderful sweet smell. We planted a Hamlin Orange tree here at our new home in January and so enjoyed smelling those flowers as we walked by! Now there are little green oranges that we are hoping will continue to grow and grow . . . check out Jewel's blog post and Jo's blog (post to come) for their Mail Art on the language of Flowers : ) A huge thanks so much to both of them! xo lenna

Love is the flower you've got to let grow.
~ John Lennon

my life: 2012 . . .

2012-12-29T13:12:00.001-05:00

. . . a kind of 'year in review' for me using animoto to pull it all together into a video slide show.
The direct link: http://animoto.com/play/1uQ4ErIrUlNK9P8pQPl1wg

for a full-size screen, click on the small white rectangle in the bottom right corner!

A photo of me *by debra pettinato-ross* on Siesta Beach on Christmas day!

I have not returned to blogging here on a regular basis yet, as you might have noticed!
I wanted to suggest if you missed my posts here, you can find me on blipfoto almost every day. Blipfoto is an international photo journal site. You can look at my journal here. The idea is to post one photo a day taken on that day and then write about it, if you wish. Since my main creative activity recently is taking photographs, I have gravitated towards sharing them there . . . instead of here, at least for now! You can sign up for a free blipfoto account and be able to comment, or just visit and read as often as you wish. Not much art is going on here yet as my supplies are only minimally unpacked. I think that should change in the not so distant future but there is a lot going on here at our new home (work to beautify) and I am allowing my art studio to unfold in it's own natural time.

* I wish only the best for you and your families * I hope you are happy, healthy and doing well * Smiling and laughing and creating! *

My very best to you and yours

xo lenna

The greatest honor of a lifetime is to be who you are.
~ paraphrased from Joseph Campbell

creativity bubbling: a video/art spaces

2012-12-12T18:05:00.001-05:00

Last weekend Steven said, "I'm coming to get you at 4pm at take you out on the river in Chelsea." I was pleased; he was arranging a date! Chelsea is the boat that we bought from Lucas Boatworks about a year ago. It was hand built by Dave Lucas and Howard Heimbrock. Chelsea is an unusual boat because it is powered by a Briggs and Stratton riding lawn mower engine (!) and looks a bit like the "African Queen" with the canopy top. I took a short video and a bunch of photos while out in the boat with Steven and our 2 dogs, Asia & Chloe. I remembered about the video yesterday and enjoyed putting it together with a few photos and some music ~I'm learning! But I think it came out good -most importantly, Steven loves it! If you do not see it below, here's a direct link. Only 2 minutes long and a lovely boat ride. Won't you join me?

Asia & Chloe having a chat?

So that felt very good to be creative making that short video. Then today, I started moving things around in my office/studio space and on my lanai (porch) studio space. Cool! I was happy to be finally interested in trying to figure out how to arrange things related to my art so I can get back to that. I moved a green plastic set of drawers full of interesting fabric & goodies, out of the garage and under my work table on the lanai. Then I thought, why not move those two plastic towers filled with rubber stamps out to the lanai as well? They did not feel like they were working well space-wise in my office/studio, so why not? Here's what I've come up with so far . . .

It is comforting to me because the green drawers were in the same place in my old studio. The strange boat you see there is a barge that has been brought in to build our dock!

The drawers of rubber stamps will work so much better out here where my big work table is, probably where they will be used the most. They were behind the big box on the floor in the photo below. They were pushed right up against the wall in my very messy and unpacked studio. These drawers kind of blocked the flow of things and I am happy I got the idea to put them out on the lanai with my table instead. All of this makes me think about unpacking the "studio" boxes in the garage and finding a home for things in my new space!

Please excuse the mess! I have a smaller inside studio now, but with the addition of the work space out on the lanai, I think eventually I will have a very workable and quite pleasing arrangement. I will keep you posted as things progress.

I'll get there!! wow, here is an apropos quote:

Conditions are never just right. People who delay action until all factors are favorable do nothing.

~ William Feather

unexpected gifts

2012-12-11T00:03:00.004-05:00

Today I was blessed with unexpected gifts: I found two packages stuffed into my mailbox. The first one was from Elizabeth Duke. She lives in Connecticut, where I used to live! We met back when I taught an ATC book class at the first ART IS YOU conference 6 years ago : ) I was not expecting Elizabeth to send me a gift, but so glad she did! Take a peek . . .

Elizabeth sent me a yummy handmade journal she created. It has a painted and stamped canvas cover and a hand stitched signature inside. I can't believe she made it and sent it to me!! She also made her own tag with a red & green script that she tied around the journal with a red ribbon. Then she added a candy cane and a package of Christmas tags, so sweet.

Thank you Elizabeth! ~ You are wonderful!

We both have participated in The Sketchbook project for the past 3 years, so Elizabeth knew how much I'd appreciate a journal like this beautiful one she made. xo

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Next, I spied a package from Fort Collins, Colorado. Hmmmm . . .

My friend Marla lives there, but this wasn't her address . . . it was a mystery!

The butterflies above are a card explaining the mystery . . .

It was an unexpected gift from Christi Wich of Timeless Creations! A hand bound stash-type journal (made up of your stash papers!) filled with a great variety of papers, postcards, even maps of Florida and some wonderful text pages. WOW.

* I am still feeling pretty amazed at receiving this beauty! *

Besides the brick and mortar store called Timeless Creations in Colorado, Christi also has an online venue -- The Creative Underground: where "we are able to offer our creative classes and inspirational groups to those of you whom do not live in our city, area, or state. Or, for that matter...for those of you whom wish to partake in our myriad of offerings but wish to do so in your pajamas in the privacy of your art studio or home!"

I found out about the Creative Underground online site through my friend, Marla. It was the class Marla had signed up for: 52 weeks of creative abundance, that caught my attention . . . . "Each week will include ARTful projects-both personal and for your home, as well as video lessons, creative self-care practices and rituals, recipes, and a myriad of other inspirational endeavors and adventures that will help you to create a life rich in meaning and purpose, with a few opportunities to swap art with other participants!"

I signed up! Note: You must first sign up for membership to the group here, then you can go to the groups and classes tab and sign up for any of the classes. I did mention this class I had signed up for here on my blog and guess what? A bunch of my friends signed up too! Because of this, Christi wanted to send me a thank you : ) And how perfect is this gift? She has encouraged us to keep a journal throughout the class, and I've decided to use the one she sent me! I had done the first preparatory exercise of making a list of creative soul practices, but had not entered it in a journal yet. Since I have not even unpacked any journals yet, this gift is doubly perfect! THANK YOU, Christi!! I am honored and delighted.

I am so happy some of my friends have signed up because I will be able to work with them, so to speak, on a year long project through this class. I have done online classes before and the ones where you get to share with the other participants are the best!!! It leads to good collaboration, sharing and learning. And the friends who have signed up are so very creative and talented and fun! Are you interested too?? Check out the links above. You still have time, as class starts December 21st, 2012 ~ the beginning of the solar year.

I am most grateful for these unexpected gifts.

Namaste - "to be well"

Great things are accomplished by talented people who believe they will accomplish them.
~ Warren Bennis

taking care of me

2012-12-10T10:43:00.000-05:00

At DeSoto memorial National park, the walking is good . . . .

I'm heading back to NW Bradenton today for an appointment and have decided to walk at DeSoto Memorial National Park afterwards. If I don't go to Nia class, I will walk a few miles to keep the calories burning and my metabolism good. In about 3 weeks I've lost 4 pounds, which is good! Being brave, I added the widget for the fitness app I am using to the sidebar, here on my blog. It will sync with the check-ins I do for my weight on the site. I've been eating a lot less than before - 1200 calories and rarely drinking wine. But it is really going okay. There are conflicting reports about drinking wine or not with fatty liver disease, so I am mostly avoiding wine. I used to enjoy a couple of glasses each evening. My disease is not alcohol related, but the inflammation can be aggravated by it. Not having any saves a lot of calories too!

I do walk around the neighborhood, but DeSoto park is beautiful.

I love that part of the walk goes along the shore. I am fascinated with it.

But the woodland paths are interesting too . . .

look who I found last time!

I wonder what I will find there today?

There is no wilderness like a life without friends; friendship multiplies blessings and minimizes misfortunes; it is a unique remedy against adversity, and it soothes the soul.

~ Baltasar Gracian

hello . . .

2012-12-06T01:24:00.000-05:00

Lenna & Kathy Oravec at Nia on Siesta beach - December 4, 2012

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

~ Bertrand Russell

If you think you can do a thing, or think you can't do a thing, you're right.

~ Henry Ford

Above are two quotes pulled randomly from a document on my computer, that contains all of the quotes I've collected because I love them. 15 years ago, my son Decklin created a program for me that randomly selects a quote I can add to my email signature or anywhere else. With a click of the mouse, a quote is chosen randomly from a very large list and copied to the clipboard, ready to be pasted anywhere. I love this program and still use it! So often the chosen quote matches my current thoughts or state of mind; it’s quite uncanny.

I wish to say I am sorry for my leave of absence from my blog. It has been a while since I have had so little to share with you! I think most of you know I have recently moved house and that has been the main culprit. We have been here in our new home 4 weeks now, which seems incredible.

I have not begun to unpack and organize my studio – I only continue to put this job off. A lot of other things are going on and so doing this was another decision making process that I did not feel I had the energy to face. And it still remains undone! Instead, my creative outlet recently has been my photography. Lately I have been working hard on catching up with the uploading of my photos and you can find them here on Blipfoto where I keep a daily photo journal, and also on flickr.

Since I like to use this blog to mostly share my art making process, I have not had anything to share with you! I do know I will make art, work in journals and create with paper & fabric again, but I am not at that place yet. We are doing a large amount of landscaping with the help of many talented people and that takes a lot of time. I am very seriously working on my health issues by exercising daily and sticking to around 1200 calories a day – fresh, wholesome, mostly vegan foods. I found out recently I have a chronic liver disease (fat cells in my liver) that can be reversed by losing the extra weight I have been carrying. I have lost 2 pounds in 2 weeks and while that is slow, I think it is good. Only 28 more to go!

So, do not fear! I will return with my art when I get things organized here. In the meantime, I will check in when I can but you can almost always find me on Blipfoto. The weather is beautiful here in Florida now and I am still dancing in Nia class as you can see by the photo above. All is well and I truly hope the same for you.

xo lenna

wonderful card and mail art envelope!

2012-11-24T22:56:00.001-05:00

My friend Joanna who lives in the UK, sent a wonderful card and mail art envelope to us celebrating our recent move to a new home on the river. Her card and envelope are just so lovely, I wanted to share them with you. My own art stuff is still in boxes . . . so I thought you would enjoy this gift we received from Jo. : )

Below, a photo of Joanna taken for an Art House Co-op project we were both in together called, The Meal. I love this photo of her and Rosie Mae! It helps me to imagine her "across the pond".

This was so beautiful to find in my mailbox . . . I was grinning!

I just love this envelope and the card! xoxo

Wow. Then look at the back of the envelope, bellow!

Joanna knows I love quotes and this one is just perfect for Steven

and all the canoeing he is doing these days. ; ^ )

Thank you Joanna! Please go say hi to her on her blog, Fiddlesnips.

"Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Continue to learn. Appreciate your friends. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is." -Mary Anne Hershey

creative woodworking

2012-11-18T23:33:00.002-05:00

Through Lucas Boatworks my husband Steven met Paul Anderson. After discovering a similar interest in woodworking, Steven gave Paul some of the very nice, harvested wood that was my dad's -some cherry and bird's eye maple. There is truly more wood stacked up than Steven can use! Paul is a very prolific and accomplished woodworker; past president of the Florida West Coast Woodworkers Club. He and his wife Lauren asked us to come by their home today and I was truly amazed at Paul's creativity. Visiting their home reminded me of when students would come to my home studio for a class and feel almost overwhelmed by the art I had on display . . . I think it was like that today at Paul and Lauren's because of his stellar craftsmanship and creativity, maybe even more so - but not too much to see. I loved it all!

In their entry . . . in the knot holes are tiny carved squirrels!

The shelves below as well as the bowls were made by Paul

It's the same shelf in the photo above. The dining table peeking through was also made by Paul.
In fact, much of the furniture in their home is hand made by him!

A table Paul made with Lauren's help I believe . ..

Another shelf Paul made, filled with small bowls and containers he made!

More bowls by Paul - actually a close up of the bottom shelf above . . .

This is an outdoor ornament Paul made of copper and patina.

He does not stick just to creating only with wood - he also paints (watercolors, acrylics) and builds remarkable life-like miniatures!

Steven holding one of Paul's exquisite small containers

This desk Paul made is one of my favorite pieces because of the color of the wood and

the beautiful leaf inlay. Behind it is a side table Paul made using some of my father's wood.

Here is a close up of the side table that Paul made using Cherry wood that my father

harvested from his land in New Hampshire. He would have been proud of Paul's table.

We saw even more before going to Paul's shop. Yes, he made the drawers & counter arrangement! He definitely has given me inspiration to get my studio unpacked and organized!!

I mentioned that Paul also paints. He did this scene on his shop wall (garage door). He told us,

"See, I have a waterfront view here!" Steven, Paul and Lauren.

Near the end of our fabulous tour (yes, there was even more) Paul said to me, 'Oh, I have something I made for you." He turned and retrieved this wooden plate from the shelf, and handed it to me as he explained to me that he made it from the bird's eye maple Steven gave him, that my dad had harvested & milled in New Hampshire - eventually trucked to Florida. When my dad died last year, Steven inherited many of his tools and a very large pile of beautiful hardwood.

I must say I felt very emotional at that moment and gave Paul a huge hug.

* This piece is very special to me *

Paul's signature and date carved in to the back of my wooden plate. He has treated the wood so the plate is safe to use for food and I know I will be using it a LOT. Thank you, Paul. Lauren is also very creative and I will need to go visit again to learn more about her jewelry and mosaics. A most inspiring afternoon and refreshing to meet such creative people who live nearby!

I am thankful for so many things and people in my life.

Thank you for reading, caring and being here!

The best portion of a good man's life: his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. ~ William Wordsworth

thank you

2012-11-15T22:46:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone for the many messages of good luck and happiness in our new home, but I really must send a special thanks out to Jewels and Frieda for brightening my new mailbox with these lovelies:

(smile) Thank YoU!

Things are coming along at our new home, slow but sure. It is a beautiful spot so it makes the work worth it, but still, it is so much work to pack and unpack! I will get there, and do enjoy seeing things take shape. In the meantime even though my studio is not set up yet and I have to work on that, I am starting to think about creative art projects. The furniture is arranged, kitchen and bathrooms set up, the clothes, sheets & towels are in place too and now I am starting to think of other more arty things. A friend of mine mentioned the Ning Group The Creative Underground and an online year long class offered through them called: 52 weeks of creative abundance. It did not take me long to decide to sign up! Class starts December 21st and is very reasonably priced, with a discount through Nov. 21st (only $52!!). Go check it out and see if it's for you! I am so looking forward to it.

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

our new neighborhood

2012-11-08T22:24:00.003-05:00

We took our first walk around the neighborhood since we moved, today. Our new home is much more in the 'country' with miles of fences to keep animals like horses in.

This neighborhood has a Ranch-like feel, very much . . .

We enjoyed the nice sidewalk, safe off the road . . . me & my sweeties, Asia & Chloe.

What?? This is not a horse!

This llama came right up to the edge of the fence to meet us. Chloe even growled as we quickly walked past! Chloe was definitely really not sure about this llama, who seemed sweet to me . . although I did not get too close either!

Another photo of our llama friend is found on my blip journal, here.

Do you see Asia ^ here still staring at the llama? : ) Chloe seems to have gotten over the encounter by now . . . this was a good first walk, about 2 miles, with just one small blister on my heel from wearing sneakers instead of my usual crocs!

Thanks for coming along with us . . . . we are making our way and slowly getting resettled. I am concentrating on the kitchen first, my clothes next, and then my studio!!!!! OH! My actual studio space is too small for my big art table so now it is out on the lanai -a screened porch, very large. It overlooks the water and is so grand! More photos as things come together : )

Happiness is good health and a bad memory.

~ Ingrid Bergman

we have moved!

2012-11-07T23:04:00.000-05:00

Steven, Asia & Chloe

paddling home from Lucas Boatworks to our new home on the Braden River.

Steven is using one of the gorgeous paddles he made at Lucas Boatworks : )

we are tired, happy, unpacking tons of boxes, and settling in!

xo lenna

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.

~ Katharine Hepburn

still here . . .

2012-10-29T23:58:00.001-04:00

Even though I am still packing boxes (not done yet) and helping steven hand-carry over a number of odd shaped things, I find myself still here taking some photos. Thus, the new blog header I put together using Photoshop, Picasa and Picnik (through Picasa). Kind of silly, but not really I guess! I still have that an urge to do SOMETHING creative and my studio is completely packed up!!!!!!! This is hard to believe but true. The contents of my desk are the only things in my studio, that have not been packed and will soon be. The printer and scanner are still here, but we will hand carry those over closer to Moving Day. Yesterday Steven moved the studio cabinets over . . .

we are very lucky to have this luxury of moving in a bit at a time.

Chloe investigating the back yard . . . .

This will be a lovely home for us. Thanks for visiting, I'll stop in as I can. One week till we move!
I hope you are safe tonight, thinking of my family & friends in the Northeast. Love, lenna

If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.
~ Marc Chagall

1000 posts!

2012-10-24T19:15:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it! This post marks 1000 posts I have written here since December 8th, 2006. yikes! I did not know that was true until I decided to write a short note to tell you that I would be taking a blog break for a while . . . but if you are a regular reader, I bet you guessed that already. I just finished my Nia white belt training last friday and if you have not been here since then, I changed the main photo of the blog to reflect that -check it out here if you are reading via a feed. The Nia White belt training was intense: long days for an entire week, but very well worth it. I learned a lot and have also signed up for the Nia Green belt training held in Sarasota in February. (That tells you something!!) The Green Belt is an optional training based on embodying the skills to teach Nia. : ) In the meantime, I am PACKING! Boxes and boxes. You would think I would be used to this by now, but no I am not - I am slugging through it all. I do think though, that Steven and I have found our home. One that is really for us, on a canal off the Braden River. Not too far from my mom, either. Our moving date is November 6th - So, I am signing off for a while. Thank you for visiting and for all your comments these past six years!!!!!!!!!!

On tuesday I went to Siesta Key beach for Nia class and took this amazing photo . . .

At least it was amazing to me!! Click on it to view larger. I hope you enjoy and I'll catch you on the other side : ) sending love to you and yours, lenna

Elbow grease is the best polish.

~ English proverb

Nia Training

2012-10-16T22:27:00.000-04:00

Nia is a cardiovascular sensory based movement practice that leads to health, wellness and fitness. Nia empowers people of all ages by connecting the body, mind and spirit to increase flexibility, agility, mobility, stability and strength.

This week I am participating in the Nia White Belt Intensive Training!

My classmates, Pam, Dawn & Irene:

My trainers, Charlotte & Gail:

The Nia Retreat Center on Anna maria island, FL:

There are more trainings scheduled for February, April & October 2013! Go to NiaNow.com for the details or to find one near you! We are learning the 13 principles of Nia and dancing everyday. Long days, but much learned. I have not done this much creative movement in a long time! I must go to bed now and recover . . . there are 2 more full days and one half day, with graduation on Friday : )

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion.

~ Martha Graham

kayak train

2012-10-14T23:03:00.000-04:00

what is a kayak train? That is when you tie a number of kayaks together bow to stern with ropes and have someone ie: my husband, affectionately known around Lucas Boatworks as Crazy Steve, pull the kayaks down the river and back! Here we are yesterday . . .

Dave Lucas says, "We have the record well in hand for the International Briggs and Stratton powered old timey African Queen type boats towing a string of kayaks and canoes award." He is referring to our boat Chelsea, that pulled the kayaks. Yes, it has a lawn mower Briggs & Stratton engine and was hand built at Lucas Boatworks. You can see me sitting in it below as we are readying to tie the kayaks to the boat and take off down the river.

That is our friend Red Sears relaxing in the front, he was the first kayak behind Chelsea. Steven moved the boat up in front of him when it was time to go. As you see the kayaks stretching around the corner . . . there were 28 boats in all. we think it's a world's record kayak train!

More from Dave Lucas: It was a great day and something we'll talk about for a while. Ernie and Donna were in Beauty Berry the safety boat and had to rescue two fallouts on the way back home, I think the beer may have gotten to them. This doesn't need much comment except how we got this long train hooked up and off the beach. You'll see in some of the early pictures a guy walking out across the lagoon; that's me. I started with the first boat and started walking out into the wind and as they came off the beach the next one was tied on. It worked very well, the line was pretty easy to pull. We figure that this train of boats was about 750 feet long. I made it out to the sand bar where I tied on to Chelsea with Steve and Lenna and the dogs inside. I waited on the bar for my kayak to come by; some of the gang gave me beers for my effort.

Simon Lew took a video! He was closer near the back of the kayak train and had a totally different view than I did in the boat pulling all the kayaks. The direct link to the video in case you do not see it embedded is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu7-aH_3RLA. He has speeded it up a bit and added music so it's quite fun.

Here is what my husband wrote about it: Prior to this trip Dave and company had a total of 17 boats towed by Chelsea (which Lenna and I own now). This record breaking trip was planned by Dave and we had no idea how many people would show up on Saturday morning. We spent Friday cleaning all the available kayaks and canoes at Lucas Boatworks, which was about 21 boats including three of my canoes. On Saturday morning we got people showing up from hours away and many brought their own boats. The tide was supposed to be high and a half foot over normal by noon but at 10:30am it was still kinda low. This was because we had a 15 to 20 knot north wind and wind can make a big difference on tides around the Tampa Bay area. We decided to launch anyway, though. Logistics was a big problem – how to get 29 people in 28 boats and keep it all under control. In normal non-windy conditions it wouldn't have been a problem but I couldn't keep Chelsea pointed in the right direction while they were tying boats on and that’s when Dave decided to just drag the sting of boats across the bay. He’s a genius – it worked really well. Once we were tied on and moving the plan was to drag all the boats right past Dave and he'd hop into his from the shallow sand bar, but the boats weren't behaving like we've been used to in the past. With only a dozen boats behind Chelsea they follow the leader perfectly and the Chelsea pilot can make incredibly sharp turns and the kayaks follow the same path – not cutting the corner at all. But with 28 kayaks the first 10 boats got dragged whichever direction Chelsea steered. Dave was able to get into his boat OK but I realized (as the Chelsea pilot) that we had a problem. The original plan was to go all the way down the Braden River to the Rt. 64 bridge, then turn and come up the other channel through some really cool mangrove channels. It was obvious to me we wouldn't be able to make the turns without dragging people through mangrove branches. Also, with 28 kayaks towing Chelsea at full throttle could only pull them at about 1 knot. The original trip plan was 3 miles down and 3 miles back so that would take about 7 days. After going about 1 mile down river I did a turn back at the widest part of the river and 2 people tipped over just after the turn. I had to slow down to let them try to get back into their boats and the wind pushed the train into the mangroves. We got it all straightened out but it was slightly hairy for a bit. Also, during the turn you can see that we totally blocked the entire river. One boat was coming down river but thank god the operator was experienced and not drunk and he stopped way far away from us. Dave calls me Crazy Steve but he’s the crazy person that comes up with this stuff. Very fun day though.

Probably more than you ever needed to know about a kayak train, but . . . it was unusual and fun and a little scary being in the boat pulling everyone! I just had to document it even though I am really tired and have to get to bed! One more thing, if you are interested, I have some still photos up here in a flickr album that give a more close up look. Enjoy! This kayak train was really just for fun, like a boat "messabout" that Lucas Boatworks often organizes.

Nia training is good, but lots of movement and learning and the days are from 8-6:30. I am not used to that! more on that later, take care, lenna

Adventure is worthwhile in itself.
~ Amelia Earhart

creative play: it's good for you!

2012-10-11T18:26:00.000-04:00

I hosted a prayer flag swap recently, see the results here. It turned out to be a really fun swap, more than I anticipated when organizing it. Many of the participants found they so enjoyed working on these easy to make small flags, creating them with prayers, wishes and good thoughts in mind. There was a huge variety of flags which you can see if you follow the link above. A lot of us said, "I think I am addicted to making these!" When Jan Smith added a link to her photos on her blog, she wrote: I'm still addicted to making them...so if anyone out there fancies swapping a shabby style prayer flag (1 to 1 swap) I would love to hear from you.....

So guess who wrote back to her? That's right, me! I figured I would need a break from that tedious job of packing, so I went ahead and agreed to a trade. I knew Jan loved "shabby chic", so I took some fabric I had found and plunged in. These flags are small, around 5" x 8" - so it didn't take long and was a treat for me after a morning of squishing things into boxes and going through oodles of packing tape. While packing up some of my fabric I found a really old piece of cotton print that I made something out of 20 or 25 years ago!!! I also purposely chose one of my grandmother's old linen pieces with cherries on it, very small in size -not sure what it was used for, some type of napkin? I also chose a lace doily & trim for a shabby look. If you click on this first photo, you can view them all in the lightbox . . . . I made 2 layers for this flag, one muslin and one the old cotton print and only sewed them together at the top so they could move freely.

I sewed the doily on only via 1 straight line in the middle so it would flop over.

There is my Nonie's 'cherry' linen piece layered under.

I added a quote printed on fabric (found while packing) for my thoughts

or wishes . . . and some cotton lace across the bottom

I also cut the floral print so it would be fringed

On the back I sewed a business card

Here it is -Voila!

I sent this to Jan today . . . it is traveling to the UK so it will take a week or two if we are lucky and she is sending one to me today as well, what fun! My received prayer flags are shown via the link - wow, so many of them! Everyone was so generous and I received many flags as gifts. They stayed up outside for about 2 weeks and are now packed in a box to be brought to our new home.

New home? Yes, our closing is tomorrow morning!!!!!!!! We will move in about 3 weeks to a home on a canal right off the Braden River, and we have decided to rent our current home. I have Nia White Belt Training starting on Saturday that runs long days for a full week. We (mostly Steven!) have some things to do in the new home like painting the kitchen (cabinets too) and all the windows being replaced with Hurricane ones . . . Steven and I have an anniversary (together 8 years) coming up October 25th we'll be celebrating in Casey Key with our boat Chelsea in tow. I still have lots of packing to do here. I really have only just begun! So, that is my story, what about you? I cannot promise to answer but I would so love to hear from you.

Hope all is well with you & yours.

xo lenna

"packing up is hard to do" . . . .

2012-10-06T22:37:00.001-04:00

"packing up is hard to do" . . . . just writing that made me think of this song.
Well, I have finally completed emptying my very large 4-drawer metal file cabinet and tossing a lot of stuff out. Then reorganizing all the folders and placing the contents into file boxes for our upcoming move, phew! We will close on a new home at the end of next week and are anticipating moving sometime in early November. I will keep you posted on when we move and I know you will understand if I am not posting here on the blog as much. I do have a personal trade or two that I hope to accomplish soon -- I still need to be creative, even if I am moving!

We now have an empty file cabinet . . .

The next thing for me is to pack up the art you see here -

On the walls and on top of the file cabinet!

From that empty file cabinet, we now have these 3 boxes plus one more on the floor!

(and a couple of accordion fie folders)

Of course my husband teasingly suggested that I could have just moved the whole file cabinet without going through it!! Yes, he is right, but! I did toss out 2 huge garbage bags full of old unneeded papers and now I can actually go through the files easily and find whatever I'm looking for. Plus I don't want to keep this old metal file cabinet. I guess moving was the impetus I needed to do this tedious job over a number of days. I did take breaks! This afternoon I started working on the template for this blog - creative lenna (if you are reading a feed) and later my creative lenna photos blog. Doing this work is a different way of being creative for me, one that I obviously enjoy doing. If you know me at all, you know I enjoy tweaking these online sites and changing the photos I use for headers & the backgrounds. I am especially happy with the changes I made today that include recent photos I have taken myself. I switched to the "lightbox" method of showing photos, something I have held out on for a while, but I think I like it. Your comments are always welcome.

Another interesting thing about packing and sorting was that I came across a few old newspaper clippings, old emails, old poems (mine & my boys), school reports and drawings. I even found an old invitation we made for my oldest son Decklin's 9th birthday (he is now 31 years old!). These things now have their own special accordion file folder - click for details.

That was really fun and made it all worth it for me.
I hope you all are well and happy and making the most of what you've got! sending love, lenna

The most valuable of the arts is the art of living.
~ Cicero