At the beginning of the New Year, I began my search for a word. Something to focus on for my life and purpose. I was drawing a blank. This was unusual for me. Then it came to me. My focus would be on my line of chickens! This year I was going to draw 500 of them. Why 500? Why not. By the time I finish, I am sure I will find a place for them. I’m already up to 109 and having a jolly good time of it.
I’m still honing my book, The 12 Days of Christmas.
Stay tuned!
To remain creative, sometimes an artist needs to step away from the project they are working on and do something completely different. That is what I did in December.
Felt, embroidery floss, needle and thread, trim, beads, ribbon and stuffing. What fun! I’m already wondering what to try next on these cold wintery nights.
“It’s time for a story Briley” said Burl as he opened his favorite book...
Whimsey Books Studio – Home to Leslie Ann Clark
(joined SCBWI in 1999)
In this day and age of violence, anger and all the seriousness of chaotic grown up STUFF, I felt the deep desire to create simple stories for children and parents to enjoy. I imagine parents cuddled up with their little ones and taking precious time out of their busy days to share stories filled with love, humor, warmth and a wee bit of adventure tossed in.
I remember only two times my parents read to me and the way it made me feel. I felt all was right with my little world. I felt loved and cared about. My own children always begged for “…one more story mommy”. When they were tiny they simply brought me an arm full of books and plopped on my lap. My grand kids did the same thing. Those are the things that make for a loving home and they show our children the value of time spent together.
If you are a publisher, I have many books ready to submit in the form of text and dummies and some color two page spreads.
Whimsey Books Studio is where I live on most days. It’s a fine little studio filled with love and light.
If you see something on my website (leslieannclark.com) that tugs at your heart , contact me at imleslie@zohomail.com
Every year I get a word for the New Year. I happily bounce into the next year with wings on my feet. This year is different. I am patiently waiting. I think it’s going to be a very important word so I have to search it out. God does not leave me wordless! I will find it!
Did you get a word?
How many times can a person start over? Every day if you are human. As an artist, I find that every day there is fresh inspiration right in front of me. Color combinations, characters I meet on my walks, weather that surrounds me, friends I visit with, books I read, movies I watch and on and on.
The world is a fascinating place to live in. Even in our seclusion we can find joy. I am not about to stop singing or dancing out in the great outdoors. The fresh air fills my soul and I can go back to the studio and begin again.
In my seclusion I am finding new purpose. I am reaching out to people with encouraging cards I create just for the recipients. My imagination is taking off and heading in new directions.
Just like my little character named, “Peepsqueak” always says when we sign books, “All things are possible!!”
It’s fun to watch a child read a book. Their eyes are captivated with story and pictures. Their imaginations take off. Many times they ask you to read the book again and again. My book, Peepsqueak goes a step further. After reading it a couple of times, the child can read it to you. Boy oh boy, do they love that! They feel they can read all by themselves.
Here we have two Peepsqueak fans doing just that! Thanks to my friend Karen S. For sharing this picture. I love it!
I have the hardest time packing for a trip! What to wear is no big deal, but when it comes to what I might NEED I think long and hard. I usually take a back pack. This time I took a tote and a back pack. I might get bored.. I might want to do sketching, I might want look for ideas in a cool magazine or two or three,.. I should read that issue of What Women Create:Business. What about a notebook for writing? I always get ideas. So, I should take some pens too. And I have to read my Bible. Will I need my markers? An eraser and pencil sharpener? The list goes on. ..and ON!
This is Part Two of my last blog. There is no vacation for an artist ! Unless you knock us out! Haha! OH! Did I mention my trip was only an overnight trip? Haha! My husband usually asks me if I would like to put my STUFF in the back of the van? “NO!” I say, “I might NEED it!”
Help me! Haha!
Life is full of mundane chores. There is no getting around it. Doing the bills, vacuuming, dusting, cooking dinner and ironing all fall into that category. Today I did all of those chores.. Oh wait, I put off the bills till tomorrow.
Why am I telling you this? I suppose it’s because I think it’s important to be real. If all I ever posted was beautiful photos that made me look perfect …oh wait…I guess I haven’t done that. Heh heh… But here is my laundry that needs ironing. There! Feel better now? Did I say that my washer broke two days ago? Feeling much better now? Oh, and it hailed all over my new plants.. I see you beaming. Ha!!
Yep, things happen, but we move on. Sometimes the moving on is the best part Of the day!
Organizing an artist is not always easy. I KNOW, I AM ONE! HA!
A few weeks ago I was challenged to look at all my characters and take inventory. It was the best thing I have done in a long time. I think I came up with about 19 different cartoon character lines. I am not kidding when I say my studio is full of life and noise!
This is my attempt at organizing. I am better to keep it all in front of me. Putting art in file folders and then in a filing cabinet assures me that my ideas will fade away. Instead I gathered all the ideas for each line and clipped them together. You can see in the picture above.
Now I can work on one line at a time. I can also look and see what needs to be done to make each line complete.
Each day is a work in progress, but at least I can see what the next step is without looking in a folder in my computer.
Here is a funny quote I found.
You may ask me, what has dancing got to do with funeral? I will tell you that when you go to the funeral of your old dancing instructor you can think of almost nothing else. Such was the case with the service I went to this week. It was for my dear Ethel Friel Barker.
It all began when I was in about third grade. My older sister was taking dance and gymnastics and so I wanted to too! My younger sister followed along after. Each week we would tromp down her stairs in our leotards, set our dollar on her piano and begin our lesson.
Bring on the tap shoes! What fun we had learning those dances. The costumes came next. Many times they were made by our mothers. I remember the rumba costume the most. The top was all gold sequins sewn on to satin. The bottom was an open skirt that showed off your dancing legs! haha!… a pair of green satin shorts underneath..and nothing skimpy!…then there were the ruffles of satin colors on the trailing skirt. I remember Ethel teaching us all how to shimmy. We all laughed!
Each year Ethel would travel to New York to Dance Caravan. She would learn all the dances and come back and teach them to all her students. She had students of all ages from the tiniest little ones to the high school kids. I remember two boys who learned a Russian dance. Their dance number was mixed with gymnastic moves.
Besides the lessons, Ethel would arrange for us to have shows.. at no extra cost to us. We traveled to girls homes, boys homes, a home for the mentally challenged.. and then even some Christmas shows for the American Legion. As shy as we were, it helped us to learn how to be in front of people. We learned about different people and the situations they live in.
When we got to high school, Ethel helped us with our gymnastic routines. She rented out the Grange Hall, lugged all her black mats over and we tumbled and practiced for our meets. All for that same one dollar bill on her piano.
Our lessons continued through high school and we occasionally went to see her for a class… just for fun. My last class was when I was pregnant with my first daughter. I remember going slow… I did a limber over… and then felt my daughter kick! That was the end of that! ha!
Many friends gathered for the memorial service. My sisters sat next to me and three other friends, all in the same row. When the minister asked us to read something, I watched as ALL of us dug into our purses for our glasses. Ethel would have laughed at that sight! We all laughed and cried.
When the service was over and we sat at our tables for a small lunch, we talked and talked about our dances, our costumes and Ethel. Before everyone left, we spread the word through out the room that anyone who wanted to, could participate in the performance of the Waltz Clog! This was the dance that Ethel taught every student. ( My sisters and I do it periodically, even now for fun).
The people gathered… most dressed in black and white. We almost looked like we were in costume. .. and then we began. We sang the tune as we stumbled though the dance moves laughing! Our last steps were always … just as Ethel taught us, “step cut the pie” with our feet.
What a wonderful remembrance. What a wonderful person she was! We will always celebrate Ethel!
This brings me to this thought. I have been thinking about it a lot in the last few weeks since I know four people who have died recently. There are many people who live life helping others. It’s such a wonderful thing. They give and give and give until it’s time for heaven. Their memorial services are happy sad, but often joy filled. Others take and take and take until their last day. Those services are sad. … almost tragic.
I prefer happy! I like the thought of people dancing at my funeral. .. and singing loud!
Here are three pictures of our Ethel! She lives on in our hearts always!
Oh what fun it is to sit and sketch. I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, even if it’s only for me. When you were born to create, nothing else satisfies. In the old days, artists were reveered. They were sometimes supported financially so that they might go on creating. What a leap we have made to this century where artists are often misunderstood to be lazy and dreamy-eyed. Who would not be dreamy-eyed with all the ideas we have rolling through our heads!
All of that to say, if someone wants to support me while I sketch, step on up to the plate! Haha! back to.sketching!
via PicsArt Photo Studio
Artists live a life of wonder. At times, it’s wondering what to do next. I will not lie, I have been wondering this for the last few months. I am looking for the sweet spot! It’s my favorite place to be in Art. It’s the place where you are working and you don’t want to stop. I think it’s a divine place where God kisses your life with ideas that flow out in a steady stream.
A lot of things can bar you from this place. Looking in the wrong direction, self doubt, self pity, self self self. Ha! Get the point? You have to get rid of the”self” part. If the sweet spot is divine, then you have to seek out the divine.
A few nights ago I had a dream. My dad was in the dream. Someone had driven him to my house. He slowly came up the steps to my house and said to me, ” Bloom“. In a small whisper he said, “bloom where you are planted”.
Then he was gone.
I woke up knowing the “divine” had spoken to me.
No grinding out ideas, just let the divine IN me out… to make the art I was born to make.
A flower does not worry about the bloom. All the coding for that bloom is IN the seed. It simply drinks up moisture from above and the roots go down and the bloom comes.
So… BLOOM today! You were meant to be like none other.
Each day is filled with work. My work is fun, but there are still decisions to make and a path to stay on. There are meetings to schedule and deadlines to meet. It can be a constant process of thought and movement.
I have stopped for the day. I stopped to look over my idea book and enjoy the summer breeze. The are ideas everywhere and sometimes you cannot find the ones that are in the calm of the day if you don’t stop to look and listen.
My doggie stands guard to protect me from squirrels, my other doggie wanted the cool of the air in the house. I listen to the wind kicking up. I hear cars from a nearby street. I feel sure that the birds are discussing what’s for dinner. My feel are hot in my sneakers that are still on since my morning walk. My daisies look like they are reaching for the sky. The weeds are tall on the north side of my house. My thoughts travel to what to make for dinner. (I resist that thought for now). My daughter turned 35 today! That makes me smile as I remember her entrance into this world and her loud voice!
All of these are but fleeting thoughts. Sometimes a fleeting thought will make into a story, but you must take the time to stop, look and listen.
Now I dive into my idea book!
Funny words. It suggests that there was something wrong with the first invention something that needs fixing. I suppose that is true. When something isn’t working you should look for another way. You should fix the thing.
I began working on a new set of children’s books. I was hammering away at a story, trying to get something good down in order to illustrate it. Everything was flat. Nothing was working, nothing felt right. My characters were looking at me like I was crazy. They were all yawning! Try writing when your characters are shaking their heads!
It was then that I realized I was going about it all wrong. As an artist, I need to start with the art!!!! …the story would follow.
I sat with sketchbook in hand and began drawing little cartoons. One thing led to another and star was born! I will share more later. This is a discovery for me. I will let you know how I make out in the days to follow!
For now, I’ll just keep sketching!
That is the question! The answer is in you. Will you be who you yearn to be in this life? Will you accomplish your dreams? Much of it is up to you.
My neighbor is an example. I met her three years ago. I was so excited to have an artist move in next door! She is a potter and when I visited her she would show me what she was making. She had some really fun pieces.
Last December she agreed to be in a garden show. She was one of two artists that would show their work in a specific garden. She knew she needed to fill the yard so she began in earnest to produce pieces with a garden theme. All winter long the kiln was firing wonderful creations! Colorful pots, bird houses and bird baths began oozing out of her garage. Her work began taking on a personality and a style like no other artist. I saw her grow in her skills.
Last Wednesday was set-up day. We placed her art all over the yard. By the time we finished, the yard look like it was out of a fairy tale! I could see that her pieces told a story. There was color everywhere! We were so excited!
We returned on Saturday for the sale. No sooner did we sit down at our table when the crowd of visitors began forming a line to buy my friends pottery. The line did not stop until the day ended. It was wonderful!!! All of her hard work paid off.
So what is my point? Find what you love and DO it! Find a way! Keep moving in the direction. To be or NOT to be? It’s up to you!
Pottery by Juanita Estepa
I was sitting in the movie theater today, minding my own business, (and Captain Kirks!), when all of the sudden three words came to me. “Change Your Destiny”. I was so surprised that I dug down into my purse ( the black hole), looking for my notebook so i might write them down.
Along with the words came a sudden rush of hope and direction for my future. Instead of watching the Star Trek movie, I began thinking of things I could turn around in my life that would mean a different future, even 3 months from now.
How many times in our lives do we stay the course because it is easy or familiar? What would happen if we chose three things in each day, and purposed in our hearts to do them differently? Perhaps that would mean venturing out to see a neighbor you hadn’t seen in a while? Or put down that cheese sandwich and opt for a salad? Why not carve out an hour of the day to work on your novel or write a letter to a relative? Maybe it’s time you tackle your To Do List?
I will think out loud here and list some different areas of interest to me.
God
Family
Friends
Job
Exercise
Diet
Home front
Hobbies
Inspiration
Gardening
Under each heading could be multiple topics.
Imagine if you took a new course of action for each heading, each day. How might that change your life by this time next year? Just think! You could come to the end of the year, a new person! Or perhaps you might become the person you were meant to be! What area might you work on this week?
Heaven! The final frontier! But what will you do before that??? I LOVE the thought of CHA CHA CHANGE!!!
Are you with me?
What warms your heart on a cold day? What warms your heart when the tides of change come crashing in? What warms your heart when the” no’s” become overwhelming? What warms your heart when the crowd scatters and you are “Home Alone”?
I have a whole list of favorite things I like to look at periodically. These are things that Warm My Heart. I found myself smiling and even laughing. They are things I feel that God has blessed me with OR I often dream of. When I look at my list I see stories! I see people, I see events… and more. Life is so much more than what we see during our day. Life is a tapestry of stories that intertwine and make memories for us. Some are so real we can almost re-live them just recalling them to our memories.
Favorite Things
Today’s Warm Fuzzy came from a friend. She took this wonderful picture of her son sleeping with my Peepsqueak plush. He is so cute! Matthew is on my list!
What are your favorite things? I am sure mine will grow!!
There is so much involved in designing. One must be up on the trends for color and pattern and more. I always have my eyes open to finding things I love to look at!
Here are the Pantone color trends for 2013.
http://www.pantone.com/pages/fcr.aspx?pg=21005&ca=4
I had to take a close look at them. . . some of them bore me unless they are paired with an “eye-catching” color. Color is so amazing! It can make your day! It can bring a smile to your face, and warm your heart. It can also bring you down. Why else do people get depressed when they experience too many gray rainy days? All that because of color? Yes! Think of the feeling you get when you take a walk and come upon a beautiful scene. Do you ever “OOOOoooh and Aaaaaahhhh?” Do colors grab you?
Colors can calm the soul. One of my favorite movies is Miss Potter. I like her spunk, I LOVE that she talks to her cartoons, and I also love the scenes of her beautiful English countryside. The colors speak peace and tranquility.
One might want calm and peaceful and serene colors for the baby nursery. So why did I decorate my first child’s nursery in bright sunshine yellow with brown and Kelly Green accents? ha! Because I crave bold colors! All I could think of was that my baby would wake up and want to be inspired by what she saw. The room had to be warm and happy and that it was!!
As the room progressed to fit two more daughters into it, we moved to pinks and browns. I loved it, but the girls were not really drawn to it. Interesting.
In my house, you will find that colors change often. If I could, I would paint my house every year! My husband jokes about our bathroom being smaller because of the many times I have painted it! I am thinking of a new color as I type!!! I am leaning towards a beautiful blue with just the right amount of purple in it! Baby blue is okay, but I always want something with a little PUNCH in it! I like to walk into a room and hear my heart sing! La la! Wall colors can be muted but if that is the case, in my house, the paintings must sing! Oh how I love a noisy house filled with color.
So what am I to do? Follow the trends? Or start my own trends? Am I brave? These are the questions every designer must face. I always lean towards being a renegade trend setter! ha!
Peepsqueak LOVES BEARS! …. and so do I!! I LOVE toys! I love weird toys, stuff animals, special teddy bears, and more. Having three grandsons gives me a great excuse to buy MORE toys! I took a trip to the thrift store just this week to look for action figures! I ran them through the dishwasher and stowed in my big toy trunk. Three more trucks are sitting near the book-case in the “YaYa” room. Its great fun! On Tuesday I played “Superhero”! My youngest grandson loves the stuffies! Including my own little Peeksqueak plush by Merry Makers. If you want to order one, you can go to the website, or call them.
retail orders online at http://www.merrymakersinc.com and retail and/or wholesale orders at 888-989-0454 or via email at merrymakers@merrymakersinc.com
They are a great toy company. I want ALL THEIR TOYS! ha ha!
You can also find Peepsqueak on his Facebook page. I am going to have another book Give-A-Way as soon as the new toy gets here! Peepsqueak and I are so excited! I may also put it on this Word Press site so stay posted!
Hooray for The Master List! There is nothing like getting all your thoughts on paper…. and yes, I said paper! Sitting right in front of me where I can doodle on it, cross it off, highlight it etc. I have tried the electronic list making but nothing quite satisfies this artist.
All my ideas are added to my The Master List. For a creative person, this list is quite freeing! I can stop trying to shuffle all of this around in my head. Yes, these items and more have been yelling at me from my head! ha! Everything was fighting for recognition… saying things like, “Me first!”, “NO! Me first!”
Now I can decide who is first! Does this sound a little scary to you? Leslie is hearing things? I assure you, this is the world of many of us who are visual thinkers! The world speaks to us! Being the cartoonist that I am, I can actually imagine people as cartoons. Many of my Facebook friends can attest to that fact. It’s quite fun!
Okay, Now to the next step. Working at crossing off all these things on the list! I will keep you posted.
So what do you have on your list?
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