Creating Every Day

~ The Art of Showing Up ~

April 10, 2017 by Patricia Fisher

Some pages from my journals:

To create….is a daily practice, whether it’s painting or drawing or writing or cooking or crafting or gardening or making pots….etc. It’s about daily practice, Doing it! Brush to canvas,pencil to pad,pen to paper (or fingers to keys), pot to stove,needle to yarn,trowel to dirt,hands to clay….you have to show up to get better. It’s not about wishing or making excuses or even just about studying the “Masters”. We have to make the quality decision to just show up each day. Put the time in. Make the space for what is important to you, what you feel you are gifted or called or just love to do. Because the days are going to go by anyway, and unless you are willing to stuff that desire (if you even can), it is going to be deep inside calling out to you. I believe we all have gifting, talents that sometimes surprise even ourselves. We just need a door opened up or the encouragement of a friend, to be brave enough to step out and give it a try. What is holding you back? Is it the “I’m just not creative” speech? Or the “I just don’t have time right now” line? We all have creativity inside of us, it’s in our genes (DNA) from our Heavenly Father, whom, might I remind you, created the Universe. We also, all have the same 24 hours in a day. Some of us do have more demands on us than others. Some of which we have put on ourselves! There are also seasons in our lives that are busier than others seasons. But don’t put off what very well my be a God given desire because of busyness or God forbid, FEAR! Jump in with both feet and take a chance. ” In the end we only regret the chances we didn’t take.”

PS….This is me “showing up”! 😉

Update: Here is a link to a TED TALK on creativity that I thought was really good.

Filed Under: Creating Every Day

~ Writing it All Down ~

March 7, 2014 by Patricia Fisher

Winter is a good time for journaling, whether just writing, drawing, or combining both in a visual journal. For several years I wrote in a journal daily, life changed and I got away from that morning routine. A few months ago I discovered art or visual journaling. Although I sketched a little in my journals before, the idea of a journal filled with not only words, but drawing, painting and ephemera, limited only by your imagination, was very intriguing to me.

I’ve actually found myself doing both lately, a writing journal again and a visual journal. One seems to help the other for me. I started reading The Artist’s Way and doing what is referred to in the book as morning pages. The idea is to clear your head of random thoughts to make way for creativity. I’m enjoying getting back to this in the morning with my coffee and Bible time. Plus, I bought a really nice Italian leather journal that I love to hold and I have a couple of great wooden pens made by the Beekeeper. It all adds to the fun!

I found this new book (new to me) that I am really enjoying, about keeping a visual journal. It is actually two books in one.

You can get it as a combo book, The Complete Decorated Journal, or as individual books The Decorated Journal and The Decorated Page.

It is filled with information on visual journaling, supplies, tips, examples…etc.

I’m loving all the ideas and pictures of other people’s journals. Very inspiring read!

These are a couple of example journals, from the above book, that I felt the need to have in my own library….

I LOVE this book, Muriel Foster’s Fishing Diary . I’m amazed at the detail, and the love that went into this journal. So thrilled that it was printed for others to enjoy.

This is another example of a beautiful thoughtful journal, In and Out of the Garden.

~ and….here is what I’ve been working on in my journal lately ~

Happy Journaling!

This post contains my affiliate links

Filed Under: Art Journaling, Creating Every Day, Visual Journal

~ Watercolor Christmas ~

December 6, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

Some watercolor play and journal pages from the past weeks. Oh, for quiet moments to create.

I found this silk quilt square at an antique store. I love it! I’m thinking it would make a great journal cover, maybe my next one. Hope you are finding some quiet moments this holiday season.

Filed Under: Art Journaling, Creating Every Day, The Inspiration Room Tagged With: christmas, watercolor

~ My Creation Week 6 ~

November 6, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

A little organization was needed this past week. I had at least six, large baskets full of yarn and crocheting supplies. I decided it was time to sort it all out and consolidate. So this is what I came up with….

I had the four vintage suitcases in the store and the two on top are Home Goods finds. So now all my supplies are in one place, easy to get to, and they make an attractive display (at least I think they do). So I’m set, as long as I stay out of the yarn shop for awhile. All the suitcases are packed full, no more room! Unless…I find another suitcase at the auction.

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So with that finished, I decided to move to the “Inspiration Room” and work on some journal pages.

Now I’m thinking the “Inspiration Room” needs a little organizing. Maybe for next week.

Filed Under: Antiques, Creating Every Day, crochet, The Inspiration Room Tagged With: art journaling, vintage

~ My Creation Weeks 4/5 ~

October 30, 2013 by pafisher

I know, I missed week 4! Well, I didn’t really miss it, I just didn’t get it posted. The last two weeks have been a blur of Fall activities. Here’s a visit to the farm where we bought our winter supply of hay for our four-legged babies. They had a great Fall display and lots of pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn and all different types of winter squash for sale.

Fall brings on that “nesting” feeling for me. I want to move back inside, crochet by the fire and make Fall foods.

Blueberry banana bread

Pumpkin bread

I bought a new loaf pan that makes 4 mini loaves of bread. It works great, but I’m still adjusting my recipes for the right amount of batter. First time not quite enough, the second time a little to much. My boys don’t seem to mind eating the mistakes.

Pasta Fagioli soup w/ “rustic” meatballs…haha!

This soup turned out so good, (I was wishing my brother hadn’t been a duck and headed to Florida already, he would have really liked this one). One of these days I’ll start putting my soup recipes to pen and paper!

Potato Leek soup

Here is a similar Potato Leek Soup recipe to what I made (I made a really large pot so I don’t have exact amounts for mine).

The Beekeeper has been busy taking the honey boxes off the beehives and getting the bees ready for winter. We have about half of the honey extracted, looks like a good honey year for us.

And then there was the grape harvest….just when I thought I was done making jams and jelly! I forgot about the grapes.

I did get a new scarf crocheted and a little doodling in between the fall chores.

Time to get started on the next week!

P.S. Here are the bread recipes:

Blueberry Banana Bread

1 cup blueberries

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup margarine (I use butter)

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed banana

Toss the washed and drained blueberries with 2 tablespoons of the flour. Sift the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together. Set aside. Cream the butter and gradually beat in the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the mashed banana, stir in the blueberries. Bake in a greased loaf pan in a 350 oven for 50 to 60 minutes (this is different of course if you are using a mini loaf pan like I did). Makes 1 loaf

This recipe is from a great cookbook I use a lot, The Country Inn and Bed & Breakfast Cookbook.

Ruthie’s Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 eggs

1 cup oil

Mix well.

Add:

1 cup pumpkin

2/3 cup water

Blend in:

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

Bake in 3 greased and floured coffee cans (you need the kind without a lip), filled 1/2 full, at 350 for 1 hour. This can also be done in a loaf pan.

This was my Mom’s recipe. I’m not sure where it originated from, but pumpkin bread in a coffee can reminds me of my childhood…happy memory!

Filed Under: Creating Every Day, crochet, Honey Bees, In the kitchen, The Catskills Tagged With: blueberry banana bread, fall, Honey, pumpkin bread, soup

~ “My Creation Week 3” ~

October 16, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

We went camping again last week. The same spot back up to the lake in the Adirondack Mountains, but this time with the Beekeeper’s family. Finding time to create was a little tricky, I did work on a few pieces that may end up in my journal and I took a lot of photos. Since photography definitely counts for creating in my book… I’ll start with those.

So the leaf on the lake is my favorite, I just love the way it turned out. Sunsets on the lake are always beautiful and a great photo opportunity, as is the wildlife. The geese that were using the lake for a stop off point on their way south didn’t like our kayaks passing through. I’m not even sure how many picture I took of this blue heron, who usually evades me and this trip decided to pose for me. I was so excited to see the young loon again that I wrote about in this post, but this time I discovered that there are four of them now. I think they make their migration trip together, anyone know ? The Beekeeper did lots of fishing, as did the fisher in the picture under the hubby’s hands on the reel. If you look close that little black creature (the fisher) has a fish in his mouth. The fire was one of “my creations”, and then the artwork I was able to get in, not a much as I had hoped, but some anyway. It was a good week, but I’m glad to be back home.

Filed Under: Adirondack Mountains, Creating Every Day, Nature, Photography Tagged With: Camping, loons, watercolor

~ “My Creation Week 2” ~

October 7, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

Well here we go…week two. I’m a little obsessed right now with my art journal, bear with me. First I just made new pages for the little one I started.

art journal page

journal page

But that wasn’t enough so I had to create a whole new journal….

I’m taking this online class with Mary Ann Moss. I really like it. Mary Ann is a great teacher and a little quirky (I love that!). The Beekeeper says the same thing about me, I find it endearing. This is the first journal from the class. My plan was to make a journal with only watercolor paper to take with me camping for Columbus weekend, but I couldn’t seem to stick with that once I got started. I had this old children’s book in the store that was the right size for my paper. The cover was coming off anyway, so I figured it would be a good candidate for this exposed spine journal. Plus I loved the cover. But when it came right down to it my antique loving self had to keep the inside of the book with the cover. So now I have just complicated my first journal making experience. My seven, three page signatures have to each include a signature from the old book. I ended up with two signatures of just watercolor paper and five with a combo of watercolor, ledger paper and the old book sections. I’ve started putting clear gesso on the book pages to strengthen them and prepare them for watercolor (I plan to watercolor the black and white illustrations).

The rest of my creating time has been spent building a website to move my blog to. Just a switch from wordpress.com to wordpress.org, my URL will stay PatriciaFisherDesigns.com. So, Coming Soon, a new look! Here’s a little preview…

blog

Filed Under: Art Journaling, Creating Every Day Tagged With: art journaling, watercolor

~ “My Creation Week” #1 ~

September 30, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

I’m a firm believer in the fact that everyone is creative. The people that know me very well know this about me. I have a hard time being quiet when I hear someone say, “I’m just not a creative person”. We were all created by the ultimate creator (artist of all time), and we do carry His genes. We may not all be in touch with Him or His creativity, but the potential is still there. It’s a little different in all of us, but it does exist. So I’m kinda launching off the idea of Creation week in the Bible. Having said that I can now explain my new plan for myself. Being creative isn’t the hard part for me, but making the time can be. So that brings me to the reason for this post title. I’ve come up with a way to motivate (push) myself to create something every day, which I intend to post about the following week….Eek! I figure it will get me thinking everyday about ways to be creative, about documenting it with a photo (which is creative in itself)… and a weekly blog post to keep me committed. So it should be a win-win for me…I make something and I have a way to remind myself of all that I’ve done each week. So I’m thinking anything that I make goes; painting, drawing, art journaling, writing, gardening, sewing, crochet, jewelry, cooking and baking, photography…..pretty much anything goes. Since we all know that God rested on the seventh day, I may also. So it isn’t about exact numbers, but it is about exercising creativity as often as possible. So here goes week one, which started last Monday.

So from art journaling to watercolor to canned tomato sauce and a new pair of earrings… it’s not the sun, the moon and the stars, but it’s a start. Join me and document your creativity.

Filed Under: Creating Every Day Tagged With: art journaling, canning, jewelry, watercolor