January 16, 2013 | 2 Comments

Positively Creative Mojo! January 16, 2013

UNBLOCK YOUR FLOW!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Just log onto www.toginet.com for a brand-new,

LIVE, 2-hour

Creative Mojo with Mark Lipinski!

3 pm -5 pm EST 2 pm – 4 pm CST 1 pm – 3 pm MST 12 pm – 2 pm PST

Call in anytime during the live show with your questions or comments for my guests

(877) 864-4869

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CLICK HERE to join Mark’s FACEBOOK Fan Page!

CLICK HERE to follow Mark’s Twitter updates!

CLICK HERE to join Mark’s Pickle Road Studio Posse on Yahoo!

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5 ARTISTS ON: Working Through Being Creatively Stuck

#1:

Artist, Photographer, Songwriter, Textile Designer

Traci Suzanne Marvel

About TRACI…

Traci says, “My photographs and other artworks are inspired by the wonder, simplicity and quietude of every day life. In every photograph,sketch, painting or textile piece, I hope to capture the spirit, the mood, the song of my subjects. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. My creative spirit awakened when I moved to Northwest Montana where there was plenty of room to roam with my camera and places to be alone with nature and its inhabitants. All my photographs are professionally printed by acclaimed Bozeman, MT artist/ photographer Rob Outlaw on archival quality fine art paper. My frames are custom built by artist Richard Moore of Wind and Snow Art Gallery in Polson, MT.”

CLICK HERE for Traci’s blog!

Traci’s on TWITTER and ETSY!

#2:

Longarm Quilter, Teacher, Owner of Cowtown Quilts

IDA HOUSTON

About IDA…

Ida says, “My passion is quilting, so that is what I do. I do the quilting for customers who have pieced together quilt tops. I like to think that together we create tomorrow’s heirlooms. I am certified to teach in public schools and have taught English as a Second Language in the past as well as served as a district administrator for ESL. I loved my job and the children I worked with, but I am very happy and content doing what I do now. It is the best therapy!”

CLICK HERE for Ida’s blog!

Ida’s on FACEBOOK and PINTEREST!

#3:

Longarm Quilter, Teacher, Owner of Fat Quilter Quilt Farm

SUSAN ATWELL

About SUSAN…

Susan says, “I am a chronic Fabric Fondler!! It’s in my DNA and comes from both sides of my family. Located in NW,Indiana. My Fat Quarter Quilt Farm Studio is where I spend most of my time. Longarm machine quilting and sewing in the winter, dyeing and various fabric surface design techniques in the summer… I love connecting with other creative people! I am a Sales Rep for APQS Long-Arm Quilting Machines as well as run a Quilting Business which enables me to help people finish their quilt tops. My primary focus is fiber and I enjoy all aspects of it. Quilt history and Art quilts are another interest of mine along with collecting antique and vintage quilt parts. I live with 4 cats, 3 dogs, 8 chickens and my husband who is a Godzilla/gamer/Theater geek.We live on a small farm and enjoy riding our motorcycles as much as we can in the warmer months……even though we should be mowing or gardening!”

CLICK HERE for Susan’s blog!

Susan’s on FACEBOOK, ETSY, and PINTEREST!

#4

Needleworker, Designer, Teacher

TABBI ORR

About TABBI…

Tabbi Orr owns Momtastic Stitchery and Knight Blue Designs in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tabbi says, “Creating one day at a time. I love to sew and I sew for art and for my sanity!”

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CLICK HERE for Tabbi’s website!

Tabbi’s on FACEBOOK, WHIMSEYBOX, ARTFIRE, and TWITTER!

#5

Art Quilter

LISA DODSON

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MEET

Fiber Artist, Quilt Designer, Author, Teacher

ROSE HUGHES

About ROSE…

“As a lover of textiles, always, I was off exploring in the ‘90s when quilting found me. After that first encounter it took merely two months until my darkroom was transformed with a sewing machine. I was a quilter: and just a few years later I began to lecture, teach, and exhibit my quiltworks.

Quilting lets me express my vision of life’s landscapes with stitched\magic. I love using my Fast-Piece Appliqué™ method to transform curved shapes of colorful fabrics, and building my quilt tops layer by layer. I sprinkle these quilt tops of custom fabrics, rich silks, hand-painted and commercial cottons with texture, and add shiny magic with yarns, beads, and wool along with found and handmade embellishments.

For me it is the transformation of the ordinary into the extraordinary that keeps me wanting more. By using the techniques I have shared in my two earlier books, Dream Landscape, and Exploring Embellishments, and my new book Design, Create, Quilt, the stitching remains fast-fun and easy, giving me the gift of time to work on the long list of quilts in my head.

My quilt journey now stretches over 20 years, and I continue to love learning all the fabric magic I can find. On this journey, I have created and exhibited my work nationally and internationally, and back in 1996 I started, Quilts on the Wall: Fiber Artists, a group that continues to be a place where anyone interested in quilt art can come and learn and share.

My work has appeared in books, CD-booklets/videos and patterns where I share methods and ideas, and I am continually delighted by opportunities to share my love of transforming fabric. I have been a contributor to Quilting Arts, Quilters Newsletter, Quilters Home, American Quilter, Quilts Japan, and Generation Q magazines, and I had a blast sharing my techniques and my quilts while appearing on Simply Quilts, The Quilt Show, and the Quilt out Loud quilt programs. At any point you may see my quilts, as they continue to appear in solo exhibits, quilt festivals, galleries.

The passion of creating anew, creating something important to the maker is a joyful experience that I always try to pass on in my presentations and workshops. My lectures and workshops are designed to help quilters and non-quilters alike find innovated ways to express themselves while creatively exploring new techniques and building new skills.

Mostly, I love opportunities to share my love and excitement of all things ‘stitched’.”

Rose creates embellished, magical worlds…

Rose and I are talking about her fab new book!

CLICK HERE for Rose’s website!

Rose blogs HERE!

Buy Rose’s works HERE!

Rose is on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST & TWITTER!

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MEET

Author, Dog Behavior Expert

PAULA SUNDAY

About PAULA. . .

Paula Sunday specializes in offering support to dog owners and teaching them positive training techniques. She offers answers to dog behavior questions, tips on understanding dogs’ needs and communication, and helps humans bond with their pets to keep them in their homes forever.

Paula also teaches volunteers how to train and socialize shelter dogs and puppies before adoption, then evaluates the dogs for compatibility with potential adopters. Paula:

has a BS in Zoology from Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa).
worked, until 1980, as a Medical Technician with the Black Hawk Humane Society in Waterloo.
expanded her knowledge via self-study, other trainers and national seminars
has worked at the Animal Rescue League of Iowa (ARL) since the early 1990’s.
is a long-time member of the Board of the Iowa Federation of Humane Societies
has been a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers since 1997.
does pet behavior spots on local TV and radio stations.

Paula and I are chatting about her awesome new book for dog lovers!

More info about Paula’s book HERE!

Paula and her colleagues blog HERE!

For Love of Dogs is on FACEBOOK!

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MEET

Quilter, Beader, Designer, Author, Teacher

THOM ATKINS

About THOM…

A fifth generation Californian, Thom was born in Palo Alto, raised in Minnesota, and returned to California to earn a BA in Art from San Jose State. Following college, he joined the Navy for four years, during which he taught oil painting while stationed in Japan, completed Medical Illustration School in Bethesda, Maryland, and did illustrations for the Navy at the Smithsonian Institute. After the Navy, Thom settled in Seattle, Washington for a few years, where he did graduate work at an art institute, managed a craft gallery where he was introduced to beads, and eventually started his own business as a landscape designer. This experience contributed to his passion for color, texture and form on a grand scale. From Seattle, Thom went to New York for three years, where he began working with stained glass, making both flat and three-dimensional pieces. He also taught glass art in the public school system as a visiting artist.

Thom returned to Santa Cruz, California in 1980 where he still lives. He continued to create stained glass pieces on a commission basis for a while. Concurrently, to feed his developing interest in less fragile types of sculpture, he returned to school to study welding, forging, silver smithing, and bronze casting. Settling on bronze as his primary medium, Thom soon began working on the “Warrior Suite.” At the same time another powerful influence entered Thom’s life: the “Men’s Movement.” Here he found his artistic voice and subject material – the many aspects of men’s lives, the real core issues that lie beneath the layers of culture, society and politics.

In 2002, Thom was involved in a traffic accident, severely damaging his wrists and thumbs. Since it was clear that pushing clay around was no longer an alternative, he decided to combine a love of beads started in Seattle, with fabric and explore them as a new medium of expression. In time, surgery repaired the damage but the shift had been made and a whole new vista of fabric and beads had opened up. “Bead Embellished Quilts”, less sculptural and more colorful, became the order of the day. Finding the balance between beads and fabric, where each is integrated into the design and both are essential to the overall composition, has provided ample challenges for Thom’s active imagination. He has come to a point where neither “Bead Embellished” nor “Quilt” seem accurate or applicable terms, yet he continues to use them for lack of more precise definitions of what he does. After doing several shows, Thom admits that quilts with beads are a whole lot easier than bronze to pack and carry around. He still sometimes sees images that call out for materials other than fabric and beads, and his fingers still itch for the feel of clay, so it’s likely that bronze and clay are not banished from the work area forever.