Wooohoooo! Here’s the ever lovely Rebecca Bernstein modeling the hand dyed shawl she won!!
Running a giveaway was super fun. Imma do another in the spring! Thanks to everyone who played along! And HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!
Shawl Giveaway Winner!!!
Month: December 2015
Music to DYE for
Here’s another BLUE song in my “Earworm Random Day (So I don’t have to post on the same day every time)” series. It’s a pretty trippy video.
Mr Blue Sky by ELO.
Painting Day
It’s been a while since I gave myself a painting day. It’s a great therapy. I bought some large Masonite boards at Home Depot a few weeks ago. Today, I finally took the time to paint them and had a blast.
First things first, I gessoed them. Masonite tends to be slick and doesn’t really want to hold paint. I made one board white and one black because…just because.
I did take some process pictures of one of them. Please forgive my angle, I took the pictures while my phone was charging and that’s as close as I could get to the painting while the phone was plugged in. I decided that these painting would have several layers. Since the first layer isn’t going to show what it looks like just doesn’t matter. That was a very freeing decision.
I did dance and paint at the same time which was way fun. I highly recommend Caravan Palace as dancing/painting music.
I turned the painting a few times as I went along, which gave me different perspectives.
Finally, my phone charged! TADA:
Layer one of painting one!! I used warm colors so I didn’t have to worry about my colors turning to mud. The green is actually yellow but, because I painted onto black, it looks green.
I may actually keep it as it, I love it. It’s mine so I get to change my mind about it all I want. 🙂
Here’s painting two. I used cool colors plus yellow. I did add a titch of reds at the end for fun. I’m less in love with this one but that’s fine and dandy. It’s layer one.
I did a lot of thinking about the messages I tell myself while making stuff. I realized that many of the negative voices I hear are from my college years. I have a degree in theatre from a very competitive college and had lots and lots of opportunities to have my flaws pointed out to me. It’s a relief to define those voices them so I can let them go.
At this point I was having too much fun to stop so I grabbed an old painting – one I wasn’t super crazy about – and painted over it, using quilts as inspiration. That way I used up my extra paint. Working on this one was enough painting for one day. I was ready to stop. I do like this painting way more now.
I used cheap ass paint and Spackle spreaders to make everything. That plus the Masonite board costs…next to nothing. Cheap therapy!
If you’re having a rough day and hearing those mean voices, making a HUGE painting can really set you right. Really, one is enough. No need to make three paintings. 🙂
Songs to DYE by
When I’m dyeing, I get songs with the word Blue in them stuck in my head. That’s just how it is.
I thought it might be fun to share some of them with you in a very inconsistent series I’m calling “Earworm Random Day (So I don’t have to post on the same day every time)”
I hope you enjoy them!
The song I get stuck in my head the most is Blue by Eiffel 65.
Giveaway! w00t w00t!
It’s Giveaway time!
I’ve had such an awesome year! w00t!! Thank you! The classes at Paradigm Gardens and Olbrich Gardens have been the bomb dot com and I’ve met so many amazing people.
I love to make stuff with indigo but I think I like teaching the dyeing classes even more. I love enabling people to PLAY and make mistakes and messes. It’s a stone cold blast!
Here’s a really short highlight reel!!!
Anyhoo….I’ve decided to give away one of my hand dyed indigo shawls. The deets are in the Giveaway dealio.
I hope you’ll enter and tell your friends and that they enter and that I’m overwhelmed with people who LOVE indigo and want to learn more. Because it rocks!
The Five Minute Journal
I’m always on the search for inspiration and for ideas that just make me happy. I’ve been listening to the Tim Ferriss podcast. I really enjoy it. He’s a very curious person which makes him an excellent interviewer.
He recently recommended the super cool Five minute journal that is such a freakin’ good idea that I decided to share it with you. Yes, I already bought my copy so you can have one now. 🙂
I do love me a journal. For someone who like to doodle and paint in a sketchbook though, I have a hard time figuring out what to write. I like to stay positive yet introspective. I worry that the topics will get too dark and deep for me to actually enjoy writing. If I do have something big on my mind, I’ll write it down to get it out of my head but that doesn’t happen every day. Generally I’m a happy person.
This journal is totally perfect for that. It’s hardback and the cover is really simple so, obviously, it wants me to decorate it. It has a template for stuff to write about it for about two or three minutes in the morning and then two or three minutes at night. The idea is to set yourself up for an awesome day and then to review it quickly in the evening. I just love it. I’m waiting for my copy to come in the mail and I’ll totally show you it when it comes.
Here’s a picture lifted from their website because I couldn’t not put a picture in here. Seriously, a page of just text? Not from this Jennifer