Four by four is not always a truck

I love blogs and websites that offer challenges. Sometimes you need a little something to spur your creativity.

Yesterday, I went over to my father's house and found my oldest sister pacing the driveway. She is starting the groundwork for her dissertation. I knew exactly what she was doing by pacing: she was forming the outline for her next chapter in her disseration in her head and needed to pace to get the creative juices flowing.

Challenge blogs/websites are the same thing. They are a place where you can look and see if that is the driveway you want to pace up and down to get your strike your creative spark. I have a few sites on the right side of this blog for you to check out. These two brides were created for the theme of vintage brides for 4x4 Friday. These pieces of work measure a mere 4x4 inches.

So check out the site and give it a try!

Good Moos

In case you haven't been keeping up with the latest art trends, people are creating small works of art. There are Skinnies (3x5 inches); Artist trading cards (2.5 x 3.5 inches); Inchies (1x1 inches); Itty bitties (3x3 inches); and 4x4 inch works of art - just called "Four by Fours". The purpose for small works of art is that they require minimal space and supplies to create. For those of us who don't have large spaces, there are also Moos - cards that are approximately half the size of a standard business card. Even better is that there is a website for you to look at all the other Moos people are creating and try your hand a few of your own.

New Blog Banner

I have created a new blog banner for this site that will reflect a little more of my digital skills. Plus, I feel it suits the site a bit better. The name of this blog is Clara's Closet for a reason - because you will never know what you will find in her closet. It could be bugs or toys or games or whatever. Sometimes I find a cat in there. But it is symbolic of the creative process. We all have a closet in our brains where we dig around when we need an idea or where we store the ideas that we cannot work on right away. So this is the name of my closet.

Instant Gratification

I love purchasing art supplies but hate waiting for the delivery. The best stuff can always be purchased online. But then comes the wait - unless you want to pay for overnight. Of course, while I am waiting for the stuff I can think of a thousand things to create with it.

But I found the most wonderful site. It was a small add in a discreet little corner of the latest issue of Somerset Studio. It's call Digital Collage Sheets. You can look, pick, and download all for a minimal fee. The collage sheets are cool and best of all - no waiting. The prices are reasonable too. Click on the link and check it out.

I'm BAAAACK

My daughter and I hit the road for a week exploring Colonial Williamsburg and it's environs. The trip down I-95 after Washington DC was BORING. It may be the fastest way to go but not the most scenic. Next time we take the DelMarVa penninsula. There's less truck traffic and lots of nice little places to stop at along the way.

I managed to purchase some wonderful stuff along the way, including a stop at The Queens Ink (http://www.queensink.com/) in Savage Mills, Maryland. The shop is located in an old mill that has many stores for those who like to create. The whole downstairs in an Antique Store! I was in heaven but my daughter doesn't have the patience for dealings with Mommy's ramblings so we just went to the store, purchased a few much needed items and left. I intend to go back by myself someday in the near future.

More digital work

Somerset Studio's new special issue "Digital Studio" has really lit a fire under me. I have some new digital work to display.

Trying out digital work

Sometimes to break out of an artistic rut you need to go in a totally different direction. I have been spending the last couple of weeks collecting new items (magic lanterns slides, old cabinet photos, etc.) and now I am starting to play with them. Here's the result of my first digital experiment.