Do What is Beautiful

22 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, art, drawing, encouragement, Inspirational, On my Worktable, travel, Uncategorized, words

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chalkboard, inspirational, Japan, On my worktable, trees, words

Life is complicated and one day a couple months ago I became extra conflicted. I just didn’t know what to do and was almost paralyzed with insecurity and fear. What should I do? I had trouble figuring out what was good, what was right, and how to please everyone. Nothing seemed clear. Even when I found a task that seemed ok, I quit as soon as it seemed fun. Really? Now how dumb is that, to intentionally sabotage something good?

But then a new thought suddenly filled my mind. That day, instead of doing what seemed good or fun… a clear thought came to mind.
“Do what is beautiful.”

I posted it on my refrigerator and said it out loud. “Do what is beautiful.”

That day, as I looked through photos I took in Japan last year, I was struck how looking at a tree, really appreciating it, the leaves, the bark, is beautiful.

Enjoy the photos slow. Look close. Each pine needle, each curled leaf, each thirsty root.
Do what is beautiful.

I breathed in deep, remembering the smell of pine and forest.

And there, sitting at my computer looking at photos, breathing deep suddenly seemed beautiful.

Everything started to be beautiful!

Washing dishes is beautiful.

Strength is beautiful.

Resting is beautiful.

Sacrifice is beautiful.

Never giving up is beautiful.

The slate from my childhood hangs on my dining room wall. I had not written on it for over a year and it was time for a change. Writing new words on the slate is doing something beautiful.
I started with a pencil sketch.

I sketched out the words to make it all fit.

I erased and edited.

Do something beautiful.

My sketch seemed off and I wasn’t happy with it. It took me a while to figure out that I wanted to do “what is beautiful” not just “something beautiful.” It was such a small change but it made a big difference to me. So I erased again and penciled in Do What is Beautiful.

Do What is Beautiful, the sketch for the chalkboard.

The old organizer box still holds chalk bits that I used 45 years ago.

I picked out a handful of chalk colors to make the drawing.

Colored bits of chalk

But I ended up using only neutral colors.

I’ve never minded the scritch and scratch of chalk on the board and even enjoy the dust on my fingertips.

Do What is Beautiful, written in chalk.

Do you see the tally marks in the lower left corner. Count them… there are
37 tally marks. I made them as I worked on the chalk drawing. Each one of those tally marks is when I erased something on this chalkboard and had to do it over. 37 times I made mistakes or had to straighten a line, or erase or start over. I left the tally marks on the drawing because they represent what is beautiful.

The last part of the message is to Never, Never give up. Never giving up is beautiful.

If you’re at a loss of what to do, do what is beautiful. You will know. And never, never give up.

Do What is Beautiful and Never, Never give up.

The Kickstarter Versa Rulers arrived!

08 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in art, crafts, drawing, tools

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Tags

angles, Kickstarter, measuring, polygons, ruler, Versa Ruler

The Versa Rulers arrived today! Yay! We were looking forward to these so much.

I’m a big fan of Kickstarter, a terrific funding platform online that helps entrepreneurs get their creative ideas off the ground. Projects range from film and fashion to design and food. I’m especially keen on the technology projects. As soon as I saw this particular project, the Versa Ruler, by Frank Pinal & Carlos Rodriguez, I immediately contributed to their funding. We enjoy making things here and figured that this nifty measuring tool would be very useful. Funding has passed so it’s not possible to contribute pledges for the ruler through Kickstarter, but you can still purchase a Versa Ruler through the Koala Tools website.

The Versa Ruler is a “shape-making 2-D ruling system. Sides connect to form an unlimited amount of measured polygons.” Check out the video from the Kickstarter page to see the Versa Ruler in action. We’ve only just begun to realize its potential. Some possible applications:

Repeat patterns for quiltmaking
Measure and cut moldings
Draw shapes needed for various construction applications
Trim paper for crafts
Drafting, architecture, interior design and many others

Successful Kickstarter project – the Versa Ruler.

The rulers come 4 to a pack with basic instructions.

One set of rulers can be connected together to create three-sided or four-sided polygons.

We purchased two sets for more options. Using all eight rulers, we made a perfect octagon.

Six rulers can form a perfect hexagon, with a maximum diameter of about 14″.

Using five rulers, we formed a pentagon.

Pentagon formed with 5 Versa Rulers.

Although these photos show equilateral polygons, the rulers can be adjusted to skew the polygon in multiple ways, lengthening and decreasing sides and angles.
Kudos to Pinal and Rodriguez and their company, Koala Tools, for creating such a great new measuring tool!

I am Creatively Made

25 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in art, drawing, Inspirational, painting

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Tags

art, canvas, creativity, Jeanne Oliver, mixed media, painting, ziegfeld girls

I am Creatively Made.

I first read a promo for the online class last year. I was not familiar with mixed media and had never drawn more than a few scribbles. The only art supply I owned was a box of acrylic paints and some dried up watercolor tubes. I never had a sketchbook or worked with graphite pencils, charcoal, stencils, gel medium, or gesso before. But I was driven to sign up for the course anyway. Sometimes you just know that you know that you’re supposed to walk a new path. I was driven.

So I signed up for Creatively Made by Jeanne Oliver. Everyone else had already begun by the time I signed up several weeks late. I didn’t sign up for art classes, I signed up because I desperately wanted to hear someone say it’s ok to be creative and to pour your life into it.

Jeanne’s words over the next several weeks opened my eyes to a whole new perspective, a new way to interpret life. I always thought that my interest in art and crafts was just a hobby, something I loved to do on the side of life. But what if that is WHY I was made? What if making art WAS exactly why I was made, 100% pure Julia, with a paintbrush in one hand, a pencil in the other and a dining room table covered with art supplies, canvases, sewing machine and fabric? What if the best part of me that God put together when he knit me together in my mother’s womb was to create art with my hands?

I was not able to complete the art assignments when everyone else was doing them because my eyes were usually too covered with tears. Instead of a paintbrush, I practiced holding truth in one hand and a tissue in the other. It felt good. It felt right. It felt like oxygen.

I’m still grappling with this huge revelation. Where have I been the past 50 years? How could I have thought that something so essential to my being was just a hobby?

So here goes.

This week I finished another project from Creatively Made.

Suzanne, Donna and Julia canvases - three creative souls. Sketches inspired by a Ziegfeld Girls coloring book from 1941. Click photo to see a larger image.

The background is created from bits of tissue copies of my grandmother’s handwritten recipes and an issue of The Household magazine from 1924. The images of women are inspired from a Ziegfeld Girl coloring book that my beautiful, creative mom colored back in 1941. The writing on each piece is a tribute to my creative sisters – she Smiled, for Suzanne; she Dreamed, for Donna; and she Journeyed, for me, Julia, the only sister who moved away and stayed.

Detail of one of the canvases.

I lift a glass in toast to Jeanne Oliver, who followed her heart and made a path for others. I lift a glass in toast to my creatively made sisters, Donna and Suzanne. And I toast my beautiful mom, Lauretta Musser, who never stopped being creative.

My next canvas will have these words: Never Give Up.

“Grandma, can we do messy crafts?”

22 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in drawing, painting

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Tags

drawing, painting

That’s what she said when she first walked through the door.
“Grandma, can we do messy crafts? Please? We can do messy crafts!” she said as she showed me her new tunic. The outfit was cute but she liked it best because she was allowed to do messy crafts with it.

“Like what?” I asked her. I had no idea what a “messy craft” was.
“Painting!” she said with a huge smile.
I really didn’t have time or energy to get out paints. We had only painted together once or twice.
“Here, I will show you my new pencils!” I told her.
“NO,” she moaned. “Messy crafts! Painting. Can we paint? We have to paint!”
“Here,” I said as I got out my Stabilo Aquarellable pencils. She showed no interest until I quickly added “First you draw with them and then you paint them with water!”
“Yes!” she said with excitement.

She didn’t understand the concept at first but with my instruction, she carefully scribbled a little splotch of red next to blue with the pencils. She scribbled yellow next to blue, red next to yellow, green next to red. When the paper was covered with little bits of scribbled yellow, blue, green, red and orange, we got out the paintbrush. When the brush first touched the blue scratch marks and burst into a wash of color, she looked up at me with absolute wonder and delight.
We turned to the next page and I drew flowers for her to color, which she carefully painted with the damp brush.
I will remember this delightful rainy Sunday with its color-splashed joy.

Mixing colors on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Drawing hands

11 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in art, drawing, Inspirational

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

art, drawing, hands, inspirational, paper, rock paper scissors, scissors

I’m taking an art course online, Make Something Beautiful, taught by Teresa Sheeley and Kayla Johnson. I was a little nervous about it because we will be drawing people, you know the real live ones. I’ve never drawn living tissue in my life! So last night, I finally attempted the assignment of drawing my hand. I could barely sleep from excitement last night. I’ve never tried drawing anything so detailed. And living!

Rock, Paper, Scissors - Simple drawings of my left hand - click photo to see a larger image

I’ve often told people they have hidden talents. It never occurred to me that I might have one. Really, I’m in my mid 50’s. How hidden can something be at my age? ;) You never know until you try. And the only reason I’ve never tried is I expected to fail. Decades of expecting to fail at drawing. Until last night and then I found out I didn’t fail. So decades were wasted.

My last thought last night was this:
If God makes you a songbird, SING.
If God makes you an artist, MAKE THINGS.
Whatever gifts you have inside, find them and use them. They won’t go away, they are waiting for you. Even for decades.