This will be the last post of this blog. 

My new blog, Inspiring Things is my attempt to collect and share some of my mused and amused moments regarding art & design and things I’m glad I found. Looking forward to inspire and get inspired!   Please come by! 

I’m now working on a new blog. Testing it. Figuring it out. I’m not a blog person, so the new blog should inspire me more, and then I may be able to do it… if you know what I mean. I will release it after it will have some shape… and it will replace this one. It feels like a new romance! Let’s see if that can turn into a steady relationship…

I have been wondering many times about the existence of blogs, about people creating them, and people reading them. I also have had a great difficulty keeping mine – I’m a private person, and as far as I’m concerned, sharing my thoughts is mostly out of the question. Today I found this blog, and a new hope arrived. 

I’m now in Athens, Greece. actually in Egina, an island one hour away by boat from Athens. It’s the same, nearly…

Today there is a snow storm here, in all Greece. Everything in Athens is closed-streets, all means of transportation… I wanted to return to the city tonight, but couldn’t. No boats.

I have never ever seen snow in Athens as a child. This time it will be my first…:-)

Yesterday I had a very interesting conversation with a friend, regarding our creative work. The question: “Would you change your style of artwork if you could then sell a great amount of it?”Artists have needs. Many needs of different kinds. One of them is material prosperity so that thay can live and be happy and be able to create. So, “what sells”, does matter . A lot. Would my art have more fans if it had some blood in it? some skulls? some torturing and pain? some perversities?I think so. Because this is the era we live in. We all suffer from major and minor problems, the usual stuff and then some more, disguised as “modern life”. But this is another topic. Is it immature or unwise to not want to alter someone’s work, to not consider your market? Marketing is key. it definitely is. Feeling your market is too. But then, do i create following the fashion? should i?what will i be left with, after fashion goes on, changes, maybe to style which i cannot master? AHA! and how would all that make me feel? These are just some pointers.  My personal bottom line is, something I said long ago: “Success is when you feel good about what you do and how you do it.” And success is very important to me. So it is very unlikely that any few drops of blood, or any skulls or any other internal organs will be seen here any time soon, or any time in the far future… No head-ladies is as far as cruelty will go. Because someone has to wish you Happy everything! (and this must be my undertaking in this life…)

Happy New Year!My new year’s card read: “In 2008 – Step into Yourself”.

I send this card to all my friends, relatives and clients but also to myself.

I felt I needed it.Sometimes we are busy pursuing our dreams and or grand or little plans, and some other times we just need to embrace what is, and not what should be or we wish to be. It also means to stop trimming the rough edges and to stop polishing the beautiful curves – because this time it’s not about show off time. It’s about being us in the most comfortable way. With whatever we have and whatever we have not.

Another way of looking at it, is the un-market way. We are busy promoting our work, our product, our selves, we are choosing what to say and what to be silent about, how to stand out different in the abundance of information. For a few minutes, weeks, maybe a couple of months or years, it’s also good to let go of the marketing need and truly, step into ourselves, comfortably.I hope you’ll like what you’ll find.

Happy days ahead!   

Some things in life come in pairs… just like these…
I love the music by the Decemberists… and one of the reasons that i like them, is their consistent visual artistic style. I guess it pays off to have one real artist to work on your line of work…

The Decemberists site (for their fantastic music and great looks):

Meet the illustrator- Carson Ellis site (her work is just so wonderful and professional, melancholic and uplifting, transcends time….):

Get inspired!

Sitting here finializing all the details for the holiday shop. As usually a bit late, but what can I do? I’m only human, and only me…

I’m now making a list of the things I will write inside my newsletter.
Looking at the past year, I hardly send any newsletters. Was the last one for New Year’s? How come?Was it that nothing was happening or simply too much? The conclusion is BOTH!

Internally, inside my head, inside my computer, inside my studio, inside my family, inside my immediate and outer circle, a LOT has been happening. Oh, so much! But on the outside? When it comes to show and prove, what do I have to show? What about some new art? (still in process…), what about a new product? (still in process…), what about a new plan? (absolutely in the works…), what about the fine-tuning of my vision? (that is definitely still in process… but getting there…I think…)
So, DO I HAVE ANYTHING TO SHOW?
HOW CAN I PROVE THAT I HAVE BEEN A GOOD CITIZEN IN THE LAND OF CREATIVITY?

While debating on ALL that I get a comment in my blog, by Rashunda Trable, “a soul sister in Switzerland” with great vibes whom I have met through the net, and through my site, by chance, that now seems not such a chance, after all…:-)

Rashunda is having a CREATIVITY CRISIS!!!!!!
Now this is serious!!!! And I’m thinking fast and hard what to say to her… to be a good listener? to be encouranging? to share tips?

And so the questions keep pooring… when was my last block?
Hm…. did i ever have a block? Oh, G… maybe it’s NOW?????? RIGHT now???? (a little panick attack…)

I gather my thoughts…
When i’m not in the mood AT ALL to do my usual creative stuff, the one thing that proves to me that I’m not un-creative, is when i’m willing to work in the kitchen, and especially when i’m willing to try new things, and especially when I’m willing to improvise. New spices, recipes, veggies, all goes…
When i’m not even willing to do that, THEN I know i’m depressed (and that’s not exactly blocked…)

Otherwise, sometimes the flow just does not flow, and there may be many reasons for that…. let go.. let go and have TRUST that when the flame will be back (and IT WILL), then there will be no trouble spreading the creative fire…

Also, when I want to create something but I don’t know what, or I can not focus, I make it a habit TO BE VERY SUPPORTIVE OF MYSELF in doing things that are not needed, definitely not know… If I want to make a new bag, although I have so many (one from each time I didn’t want to do anything else..), then just do it. Work with the laws of attraction. I am where there is no resistance – passion, magnetism, make a much better comany to stick with…

Then the flow gets back to flowing.
The natural rythm is re-established.
And one day, my internal will meet the external, and I will have something to show…

****Positive Vibes and Good Karma to Rashunda, her quilt and everything else…******

M