And here’s her list of 14 secrets for a happy artist’s life.

1. Find 3 good things everyday, whether they are experience, or objects or both. Find a way to use them in art.

2. Make everything special. Embellish your life.

3. Look for Fairy God-mothers and Angels. Be ready for experiences that will delight and surprise you.

4. Play more often.

5. Look for the smiling faces.

6. Wish everyone a happy life.

7. Find something to love about where you are everyday.

8. Make art everyday.

9. Create time for yourself.

10. Honor thy grandmothers as much as possible. (Of course grandfathers need honor, too, but historically and culturally we are a little weaker in the honoring grandmother side of things.)

11. Play with the grandchildren as much as possible.

12. Create beauty with what you have on hand.

13. Make art with friends. Make art as gifts.

14. Create a list of secrets for a happy life and pass it on.

Want to loosen up your approach to watercolor? Does your neck ache from painting tight and small? Then this inspiring workshop is for you! The Octoraro Art Association is pleased to host Delaware artist Sarah Yeoman for an afternoon workshop Watercolor Loose and Free. All levels of experience are welcome. Sarah will demonstrate a floral still life and provide lots of individual attention.

Join other artists at the OAA’s studio overlooking the Octoraro Creek just off Forge Road north of Oxford PA, near the headquarters of the Chester County Water Authority.

Here’s the scoop:

When: Wed, June 13, 12:30-3:30

Cost: $30 per person

To register contact Paula Graham: paula@paulagrahamart.com

Space is limited.

I will send you a materials list and directions.

Come explore the magic and beauty of transparent watercolor and a fun-filled afternoon. Be sure to visit Sarah’s website: sarahyeoman.com.

Author of Creating Time

Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life

About the Author: Marney K. Makridakis is the author of Creating Time. She founded the Artella online community for creators of all kinds and the print magazine Artella. A popular speaker and workshop leader, she created the ARTbundance approach of self-discovery through art. She lives in Dallas, Texas. Visit her online at http://www.artellaland.com.

CB: Why did you write Creating Time?

Like most people, time has been a big challenge for me throughout my adult life, but it escalated to an extreme after I gave birth to my first child in 2008, and struggled in vain to find the time to “do it all”. I devoured every time management book I could get my hands on, but still found myself exhaustively chasing time. I finally put myself on mission to find a new solution, and began to explore ways that I could apply my best resource (imagination) to my biggest problem (time). I passionately researched and experimented with imagining, viewing, and experiencing time in new ways, and at last, felt time expand and change at my design. I created an online course to help others do the same and saw that other people had success with these techniques as well. After that, I finally felt able to sit down and write a longer work that developed these ideas much more fully. Creating Time is for people who feel like they don’t have enough time to live the kinds of lives they want to live. I want everyone to know: when we don’t have time, we have to create it, and the incredible news is that we can do so using one of the greatest resources ever to exist on our planet: human creativity.

CB: It seems like time is going by faster than ever these days. Why do you think that is and what can we do about it?

As I researched the different elements that seem to affect our perception of the flow of time, I pinpointed several key factors, one of the most significant being the difference between focused and scattered time. When we are focused on just one thing, time seems to move more slowly; on the other hand, when our focus is scattered, time seems to move more quickly. These sensations seem to be true whether we’re talking about hours, days, months, or years. At this point in our planet’s social evolution, we are constantly taking in much more information than ever before on an internal level, constantly being stimulated with new thoughts, feelings and ideas. At the same time, we are being asked to multi-task on the external level, as more and more demands are made on our daily productivity. The result is a near-constant state of extreme scattered focus, which in turn makes time feel like it is moving very quickly. On the one hand, multi-tasking may make us feel more productive, that satisfying feeling is typically rather fleeting, as the very act of multi-tasking makes us feel like we have even less time, as our dispersed focus plays tricks on our perception. The solution lies in a blissful state of being less aware of time itself but more aware of the present moment. Connecting right here to this moment and focusing on one single thing, as if we had all the time in the world, makes time slow down and give us all that we need.

CB: What does “Creating Time” mean?

To me, it means that there is amazing power held by each of us to imagine, create, and completely reshape the way we experience time. For too long we have been servants of time when in fact, time that can and should serve us. We can finally drop all the archaic view and limitations of time that have held us back from fully embracing the wild beautiful truth: time is not a defined line; it is instead a vibrant, completely moldable, layered, multi-faceted work of art that is in your hands to create and design, each and every day.

CB: How is your book different from a typical “time management” book?

Time-management books, as well as the latest time-tracking and productivity aids, can certainly be of help to us on the practical level, but they are limited in their long-term effectiveness, since the true nature of time extends beyond the chronological hours displayed in our calendars, wristwatches and smart phones. I really wanted to dive into the psychological, philosophical and emotional aspects of time, to help readers come away with a liberating new view of self and a fresh perspective on the meaning of being human, empowered, and fully alive. So while the book is definitely filled with practical, hands-on tips for creating more time in your day, it’s also about finding a new way to experience time in its entirety, your full time on this earth…shifting our focus away from how we spend time to instead reveling in what we receive from our time. And, besides, most time management books won’t guide you to make collages and design offbeat new clocks and creative time-pieces! While intensely practical, I also wanted the 14 time shifting projects in this book to be a lot of fun and inspire a sense of playful abandon and freedom.

CB: What are the main challenges with time that you’ve identified, and how does this book address them?

To personalize the reader’s process, Creating Time contains a “Time Diagnosis Chart” which identifies 14 of the most popular time complaints, and recommends which of the book’s tools are most effective in addressing them. I find it interesting that, while everyone’s specific time complaints are unique, they usually boil down to one very primal theme: I don’t have enough time to live the life I want to live. For most people, time is the biggest challenge in fulfilling their potential. Whatever improvements or changes we want to make in our lives, it often seems to go back to the topic of time; we need time to exercise and eat right, time to establish and strengthen relationships, time to pursue a meaningful hobby, time to follow a dream. Our perceived lack of, and limitations on, time affect all areas of our lives, especially our hopes and dreams. Time is the ultimate scapegoat when things aren’t going our way. But this book shows that time is also is the ultimate resource when we can tap into its expansiveness and partner with it in new ways.

CB: What do you most hope that readers take away from this book?

I hope that readers will come away with a new sense of a time, as well as practical tools to put this new approach into action, both in their day-to-day lives and into their fuller spectrum of meaning and purpose in life. When we are not slaves to time, when we are not chasing time and wishing time was different, we finally set our souls free to live the lives we’re meant to life. We enter into a new realm of possibility, partnering with time to create a life filled with awareness and fullness, instead of an inherent sense of lack, worry and dread. Believe it or not, time is in your hands, and you can mold, craft, and create time to be just about anything you would like it to be.

Ceramic Clock by Jay Eaton

I’ve been reading the great new book Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim your Life by Marney Madridakis. Actually, I’ve been reading, inhaling and otherwise devouring a preview copy of her book sent by publicist Kim Corbin at New World Library in preparation for Marney’s upcoming visit to Creativity Buzz. In her interview Marney will share ideas about ways we creative spirits can turn time anxiety into time artistry.

One way to do make this shift, Marney suggests, is to observe and cultivate synchronicity. We all know those moments – we open a book to a passage that speaks volumes to us, we connect with just the person we needed. “Observing synchronicity,” says Marney, “allows us to get out of sequential time and invite a sense of enchantment and new possibility into our lives.” (174)

To track synchronicity, Marney uses her journal and follows a particular structure each morning and evening. In the morning she jots down key elements: dreams, hunches, random ideas in the form of “synchronotes” her made-up word for things dancing on her brain; intentions for the day.

In the evening, she reviews what she wrote in the morning and reflects on new meanings, patterns or connections that have emerged.  She offers readers several questions to get the creative juices flowing.

So maybe you landed at my blog today because you are looking for a book to help expand your concept of time. Talk about synchronicity!  Today, April 17, 2012  is the very first day Marney’s book is available for purchase.

And there’s more.

You can order Creating Time from any online bookseller any time this week and get an awe-inspiring bundle of time-expanding bonuses from ArtellaLand.com, and if you order today, April 17 only, you’ll also get over $125 worth of Artella merchandise. Go here to order and get your goodies!

In the meantime, I’ll let you know when Marney will be visiting Creativity Buzz on her upcoming Blog Tour.

IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CREATING TIME MEGA EVENT.  Really. Even though it started on April 2, all of the audios, videos and daily Time Expansion Moment emails from Marney Makridakis are archived and waiting for you. So how about shifting your view of linear time from beginning, middle, end to something a little more, well, revolutionary. Tell time what you want your relationship with the Creating Time Mega Event to be. Then find time, take time or make time to join other creative spirits who crave experiencing time in new and exciting ways. Almost 3,000 people have joined this adventure.

At last Wednesday’s gathering of Creative Time Travelers, Dr. Eric Maisel offered practical advice about something he wished every creative person knew. 

“I think people scorn small increments of time, thinking that if a small segment opens up, they might as well check their email one more time or somehow throw away that time,” he said. “But if you are really biting into your creative project, really trying to get it done, then those 15 minutes are very important in a creative person’s day.”

Eric Maisel’s interests include creativity and making meaning. He is the author of more than 35 books, including Mastering Creative Anxiety and Brainstorm: Harnessing the power of productive Obsessions.

He spoke about investing meaning by infusing small segments of found time with importance. “If you see 15 to 30 minutes coming up on the horizon, invest those minutes with importance.  Say I can make a little sketch or write a bit of my novel. Discover how much you can get done in 30 minutes.”

How do you experience small segments of time? Do you celebrate them as found gems into which you can invest your creativity or do you toss them away?How do you measure time? How do you want to experience it?

PS: The Creating Time Mega Event is FREE.

photo by Stewart Whisenant

CLOTHESLINE SHOW

AND

Y’ART SALE

CLOTHESLINE SHOW: July, 2012. Opening Reception is First Friday, July 6, 2012 at the Oxford (PA) Arts Alliance Gallery, 5-8 p.m.

THIRD ANNUAL ARTIST CONNECTION MEMBERS EXHIBITION

Yes, it’s a multi-media show. And Yes, you may hang framed art on the gallery walls. New for this cash-and-carry exhibit is the chance to hang unframed work. Artwork for the clothesline may be matted and/or sleeved, or not. Your choice. And yes, we tested it and the clothesline concept really works. Artist Connection membership dues of $20 will be collected when you drop off your art.

AND

Y’ART SALE: First Friday, 5-8 p.m. and Saturday July 7 on the Fulton Green, Oxford, PA, 10-5.

OPEN TO ALL ARTISTS~ NO FEE, NO COMMISSION

The Y’ART Sale continues Tuesdays July 10, 17, 24 and 31 on the Fulton Lawn at the Oxford Farmer’s Market. We’ll have center stage under a 10 x 20′ canopy. There is no fee to participate but please sign up in advance.

For more information or to reserve your space on the Fulton Lawn, please contact me: creativitybuzz@gmail.com

When something intriguing comes my way, I like to share it. This is one of those times. I’m curious about The Creating Time Mega Event…three FREE weeks of creative inspiration as people all over the world will come together to welcome the beginning of timeless creativity.

The Creating Time Mega Event celebrates the release of the new book, Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life by ArtellaLand.com founder Marney K. Makridakis. And Marney will be my guest here at Creativity Buzz in the near future.

Have you ever felt that time (especially the lack of it)  is the one thing that seems to hold you back from living the life you were born to live? I see this all the time in my own work and with clients. Yet we all have the same 24 hours per day.

The Creating Time Mega Event is FREE and it all starts April 2, 2012 and runs for three weeks. You’ll get live webinars, daily email inspiration, dynamic time-shifting games and challenges, plus interaction with a lively  community of fellow time-travelers.

I am excited for the ways that this ongoing flow of innovative tools, techniques and ideas explored in this event might shift my experience of time. Maybe there is a time fairy after all.

I’ll be blogging about my experiences right here at CB. Better yet, join the time travel adventure.

Learn more and sign up here!

Now go make something,

Paula

Jack mucks Monday through Saturday in the barn where my sister boards race horses.  Since moving to the farm in August, I’ve been recruited to help Sunday mornings when Jack leaves us to muck at a near-by race training facility.

Before my first shift, Jack gave me a lesson. He told me that each horse has its own patterns. Elimination patterns, that is. “Pay attention; it makes the job easier.”

From pitch forking the obvious piles of manure, to discovering buried clumps of urine-saturated straw, from  sprinkling lime on the raked, wet spots to scrubbing water buckets and feed tubs, pushing the wheelbarrow to the manure pile, unloading it, wheeling to the hay mow for a load of fresh straw and hay then restocking the stall–it’s part sweat, part science and a lot of zen. While I’d rather be in my studio, I’m getting to like my status as Sunday-morning mucker. For one thing, it keeps my shoulders strong and flexible, a good thing for painting.

After all these months, it still takes me a half hour to clean and bed down one horse stall. Jack can do it in 15 minutes. While Jack instructed me in the fine art of mucking, his work ethic reminds me that the way to become an accomplished artist, be it with paintbrush or pitchfork, in studio or stall,  is to show up every day, year after year and dig in.

I thought you might like to know about a workshop
coming up in Lewes, Delaware for artists who are
just thinking about turning their hobbies into art
careers.

ART BIZ LIFT OFF
STARTING AN ART BUSINESS
April 28-29, 2012
http://www.on2url.com/lnk?/U834YqstEc%3D

For two days, emerging artists will learn about
becoming professional and hear about the opportunities
that are available to them.

You’ll hear about business structure, taxes,
entering shows, making sales, getting organized,
creating marketing materials, pricing, and more.

http://www.on2url.com/lnk?/k834YqstEc%3D

Presented by Alyson Stanfield of Art Biz Coach
at the invitation of the Rehoboth Art League.

I’ve taken two classes with Alyson. One on writing your artist statement, the other on blogging. She’s a gem.

Alyson is the author of “I’d Rather Be in the Studio:
The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion” and
the founder of the Art Biz Blog. Her co-presenter is
Debby L. Williams, who has been a museum director,
curator, and arts administrator.

Writing Workshop with Paula Graham

When: Saturday April 14, 9 a.m. to noon

Where: Oxford Arts Alliance Gallery

Contact Gallery to register 610-467-0301

Cost: $35

Do you have a life story waiting to be written? Perhaps it’s the account of an accident or an accidental meeting, the story of a lost pet or a lost love. Or maybe it’s the memory of a small moment, the recollection of a person who changed your life or the tale of a great big deal.

In a pen-to-paper writing workshop, where spelling and grammar won’t count, we will write and share (optional) as we turn memories into memoirs.

Come and Experience a variety of writing exercises to unleash your creativity

                  Complete a first draft

                  Sample journal-writing techniques

                  Take home tips for creating the writing habit and overcoming  procrastination and perfectionism

Bring paper, pen and a willing spirit.

Paula Graham is the author of Speaking of Journals: Children’s Book Writers Talk About Their Diaries, Notebooks and Sketchbooks. She worked as a photojournalist for  WI newspapers and magazines. Her stories have appeared in Highlights for Children and Guideposts for Kids. She has taught writing to kindergarteners and retirees and all ages in between.