Athena Dreams Design

At Work on Ideas: pinterest-ing pins

Seeing sketches in mid-creation, or drawing tables filled with the tools of a craft, journals being worked on and creativity in session always gives me a thrill. I love to get glimpses of how others work, aspects of the processes that other people use, a peek into someone else's world.

(clockwise from top left):
journals on Wild Thyme Creative {pinned by Theresa L.}
A Canvas for Creativity by Lucrecer Braxton (found via Liz Lamoreux}
Journaling 101 by Chookooloonks {pinned by Trish W.}
Pen & Ink by Nicola Hensel {found via Pia Jane Bijkerk}
Sketches by Emerson Made (pinned by me}

- - - - - - -

Each week a different topic illustrated with some of my favourite images from Pinterest.

If you are a Pinterest user, pinning on pinterest please remember to "Link with Love" and credit the maker, the creator, the ideator, or the originator.

If you'd like to share on Pinterest you can find me here!

Some Frost: pinterest-ing pins

December was not very winter-ly, and up until now, neither was January. But this week it seems, winter has begun in earnest in the bay area (and other places as well).

Frosty beatiful things from Pinterest (clockwise from top left):
Midwinter Daydream by Elle Moss {pinned by Jessica Snyder}
Window Frost by Girl Behind the Red Door {pinned by Kayla Haykin}
First Frost by Jodi Martin {on her POV board}
Frozen Clover Flower by  Scott Heppell {pinned by Sophia Roberts}

- - - - - - -

Pinterest has definitely become a part of my regular life on line, and I love all the sharing and inspiration and joy it brings. this post is the start of a new regular post series where I will be sharing some of my favourite images on Pinterest organised by a different topic every week.

If you are a Pinterest user, pinning on pinterest please remember to "Link with Love" and credit the maker, the creator, the ideator, or the originator.

If you'd like to share on Pinterest you can find me here!

Testing the Temperature

This morning I got up and when I let the cat out, the thermometer outside the back door told me it was 32. Yeah, 32F. And just so we're all clear, this was not an early rising kind of day, it was 8:15am. I decided it was a good test. I'm leaving for New York early tomorrow morning, and I'm told it's much much colder there right now at the same hour of the morning. So test things I would: I put my walking clothes on and went out for a walk.

And came right back in.

I need a hat. I need mittens. I need things for my neck, and other things to stop any and all drafts from creeping up my back or down my legs. Putting on socks, a t-shirt, yoga pants and a heavy sweater on top was just not going to do it.

So it got me thinking about testing and temperature, and decisions: You know how when you decide to make a radical change in your status quo, or take a stand for yourself in a situation that has been troubling you, or just rearrange the living room furniture after a few years, and all the little creepy crawlies, bugaboos, and other annoying creatures of doubt and unease and uncertainty come out to harangue you?

Well, what if we "dressed" for a change we are planning?
What if we planned for the cold? or the heat?
What if we welcomed a change in temperature and because we were ready for it, it was all smooth sailing?

I've got my hat on, and all other important surfaces are covered by warm cozy things, and back out I go. It's 9:07 and it's now a balmy 33, and I'm ready to walk. Tomorrow, I'll deal with the real cold, today is a test.

January 2012 .:. Biz Goals

Oh Lucky Cat*, welcoming in this new year... your left paw raised in the universal sign for good luck and good fortune, and your right paw raised to protect all that luck and fortune, I will be keeping you in my mind's eye, every day.

So we are already a week into January, a week into this new year, and I am lagging a bit with the goals. I've been trying to re-imagine how this Meetup might work, and make it more action-able, more accesible, more helpful for everyone who shows up here every month - and in the midst of that and all the other things that have been going on this First Week, I lagged.

So without further hesitation, I want to pose this question to any and all re: their monthly goals:

DO you find that there are broader goals that are getting left undone each month, maybe for months on end, because you are so busy working on the smaller, more immediate goals (like getting orders out, and making your product, and taking work that pays so that you can keep making your own things)?

I do. And I'd like to change that. Like, now. This first quarter of 2012. I was hit with the realisation that some of these larger goals are going to be important to me and my business a little further down the road, and I am not reaching my destination a little further down the road because I have not tended to the larger goals.

It's all a full-circle conundrum, isn't it?

Okay so long term goals, for the first quarter: I went back through 2011 and looked at all the long term items that were not finished, and they are:

1. Identify and contact 2-3 potential licensors over the next 3 months
2. Get packages off to the 2 companies that are interested in my design work
3. Re-work and FINISH artist statement for website and for portfolio
4. Pattern design - create 2-3 series
5. Start flower painting series for licensing. 12 images. Seasonal. Pen & Ink and Paint.
6. Put a list together of 10-12 people I know and ask them about what methods they have used to market their work.
7. Write announcements and press releases about my current work. Target 10-15 blogs and SEND them out!
8. Work more on branding and ask for testimonials/words from peers.
9. Re-evaluate ALL of these things as the days and week pass, and listen to my own voice and re-evaluate their importance/priority
10. Add to this list with any new ideas/possibilities
11. Create for FUN and JOY.

I hope all your January's are starting in a splendid way, and hope to hear about your goals - long and short term. OK, stepping into 2012, and here we go!

________________________

IF you are new to The Meetup or would like to play along, here's the scoop:

• Post a list of your business related goals for the current month on the 1st of each month on your blog. {If the 1st falls on a weekend, post on the following Monday.}
• Come back over here and leave a link to your goals blog post in the comments of my current month's goals.
• And then {and this is the most important part, since we are a community} visit all the links in the comments, stop in and say hello, have a conversation, meet and greet and etc.

*The Maneki Neko (招き猫^?, literally "Beckoning Cat"; also known as Welcoming Cat, Lucky Cat, Cat Swipe, Money cat, or Fortune Cat) is a common Japanese sculpture, often made of ceramic, which is believed to bring good luck to the owner. The sculpture depicts a cat (traditionally a calico Japanese Bobtail) beckoning with an upright paw, and is usually displayed—many times at the entrance—in shops, restaurants, and other businesses. Some of the sculptures are electric or battery-powered and have a slow-moving paw beckoning. In the design of the sculptures, a raised left paw supposedly attracts money, while a raised right paw protects it. (from Wikipedia)

A Book and A Pack of Girls = Gathering

Serendipity, happenstance, fortuitous-ness, stars aligning – all of these were in abundance when we  began gathering that first afternoon for Christine's book release. We (read we to mean a pack of girls) walked past these letters on the sidewalk, left no doubt by someone who was changing the marquee at the movie theatre, but letters left without a sitter, are letters that WILL be rearranged. And so the week of the book release begins.

A few highlights for me:

• gathering with old and new friends to celebrate what Christine has created
• a spontaneous hair cut on Venice Beach
• travelling with a pack of girls at all times for 4 days

• feeling perfectly and beautifully imperfect within a circle of friends
• getting dressed for the Event {with a pack of girls}
• standing at the Event, and feeling really and truly honoured to have contributed to this amazing book, with an amazingly gifted group of women
• a spontaneous and exuberantly prepared late dinner after the Event
• the after party gathering that turns into girls night, with one, very well-adjusted man with a really really good sense of humour in attendance

• going to West Hollywood to a friend's Open Studio and buying The perfect painting for my guy for Christmas (oh and one for me too!)
• coffee every morning at the kitchen table, reviewing the day before and planning the day ahead {with a pack of girls}
• planning the next visits and the next times we'll see each other, and being grateful I'm a girl with friends that fill my life with as much joy and honesty and vision as I can hold.

New Work. New Perspective.

I spent a few weeks this fall working on a few new pieces for artstream's Holiday Equinox show. It felt so good to start AND finish 4 new pieces and be: a) happy with the work and b) inspired to create more.

I know that sounds pretty basic, but the 2 feelings combined can be the most elusive of creatures.

Now, the work that has been lingering in my studio since this summer feels overthought.
Creating these new pieces was all about heart, and soul, and voice, and colour.
It's made me re"think" the pieces started this summer, or should I say UN-think.

I want to go back and un-Think those pieces now.
Now that I say that, I want to go and un-Think quite a few things...

There are a few other artists in the Holiday Equinox show in addition to me, have a look, there's some amazing work.

December 2011 .:. Biz Goals

Ok, so November has passed us by, and here we are at the last month of 2011.

So, for November here's what I had:

1. Finish 2 more journal designs, and then get to the binding and producing - finished designing, but am not loving the way the covers are printing, tried 3-4 different papers, still experimenting
2. Jewels - made and more being made
3. Flower series - not started yet, BUT I painted 4 pieces for a Holiday Art show at artstream gallery
4. Contact 2 licensors this month TWO! - nada
5. Finish the website (it's seriously almost done!) - mostly done, ALMOST done, except for the blog (but it's linked to this one for now), oh and my artist statement and like that, have a visit: http://www.lizkallochdesigns.com

So for December:

1. Contact 2-3 potential licensors
2. Get packages off to 2 companies that are interested in my design work
3. Re-work and FINISH artist statement for website and for portfolio
4. Teahouse Studio Art Fair
5. Pattern design
6. My word for 2012
7. Play and experiment in whatever down time I have from deadlines
8. Breathe. Deeply. Slowly. Breathe.

So December is staring us down, and I'm planning on giving it a little wink back. Here comes the last month of 2011, and so let's make it fabulous, and creative, and dynamic, and restful, and rejuvenating and all around wonderful.

Hope you all have a great month, can't wait to see what you all have planned!

IF you are new to the Meet Up, here's the scoop:

• Post a list of your business related goals for the current month on the 1st of each month on your blog. {If the 1st falls on a weekend, post on the following Monday.}
• Come back over here and leave a link to your goals blog post in the comments of my current month's goals.
• And then {and this is the most important part, since we are a community} visit all the links in the comments, stop in and say hello, have a conversation, meet and greet and etc.

Push Through or Pause? A Thanksgiving Tale

Officially, Thanksgiving is over. The dishes have been done. The house cleaned up. And if you are someone who runs your own business making and selling a service or products, you have been gearing up for one of the busiest times of your year.

Just when the light is less bright, and the evenings are chilly and cold, just when squirrels and birds are going to bed at 5pm and some of the much bigger animals further north are settling in for their long winter’s nap, you are perhaps putting in longer than even usual hours, maintaining your online shop, working on your marketing plan, rewriting copy, creating work and photographing that work. You might also be working art fairs and craft shows, and getting the word out about your work in person.

Any way you look at it, you are busy.

Read more over at Scoutie Girl today . . .

One More Thankful Day

Thank You to everyone who has ever purchased my work.

Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to tell me what my work has meant to you.

Thank you to all of you who have travelled some part of this life path I am on with me.

Thank you for all the opportunities and for the support I receive from near and far.

This life as an artist and a creator couldn't happen without you – all of you who have touched my life in some way or another.

Thank you = Everything is 20% off in my shop when you use the coupon code JOY20.

Sale ends at the end of today, Monday 28 November.

 

 

Desire to Inspire

Christine Mason Miller's book Desire to Inspire is going to be released very very soon, and I honestly don't think I could be more honoured and happy to be a contributor (amongst so many amazing and wonderful contributors) to her book.

Visit her blog today for 60 seconds with moi on the topic of becoming ourselves, leave a comment and get entered to win a give away on Christine's blog.

And then stop by Amazon, and pre-order your copy of the book, it's going to be an amazing addition to your library, truly. Stories, quotes, anecdotes, exercises to support your journey toward your own vision of a meaningful, mindful life, from 20 different women who are all on their own personal mindful journeys. Sharing our experiences with each other is a beautiful thing, and this book will be 20X beautiful.