Inspired Monday: Itzchak Tarkay

When my husband and I were on our honeymoon, we were on a huge cruise ship (yeah, can't afford to do that anymore, and wouldn't want to with a baby!).  It almost literally had everything.  There was a bowling alley, a casino, tons of bars, pools, restaurants, an Irish pub, a theatre that showed Blue Man Group, a comedy club, an ice bar...and an art gallery.

And some HUGE chandeliers.

We spent an inordinate amount of time in the art gallery...they rotated paintings every few days, they showed Salvador Dali films, and, well, sometimes they had free wine.  But of course we also loved seeing the art, and being introduced to new artists by the very friendly and well-informed gallery staff, and that's how I found out about Itzchak Tarkay.

Inspired Monday: go outside!

Guess where I'm writing this from today?

It's our patio!  We're fortunate in this house to have a big shaded patio area - our old house had almost no shade in the yard, so during a lot of the year it was just too hot to be out there for very long.  But this patio is perfect for taking my work outdoors, especially this time of year!  We have this futon on the patio, so Scotty and I can sit out here, I can work on my design assignments, and he can come up here to take breaks from running around on the lawn with a toy sheep.

Plus, you can't beat these views...

Inspired Monday: it's back!

Hi, folks!  Bet you wondered where this feature had been, eh?  Well, it went away for a while this fall/winter when I got really busy moving and prepping my old house to rent out, BUT...I think Inspired Monday will be back on a sporadic basis.

And this Monday's is a big one, one that's super-inspiring to me...

It's Carol Rosetti, whose work you might have seen posted around Facebook or anywhere that cool, life-improving images can be found.  Her art is inspiring on many, many levels...

Inspired Monday: kids' books you could read again and again

Been a while since I highlighted an actual artist for Inspired Monday, hasn't it?  Well, let's do something to fix that!  This week, let's look at a children's book artist who's always inspiring to me...

Image courtesy of MapArt

...Taro Gomi, a Japanese children's book artist.  Beautifully simple (and simply beautiful) images that capture nature, the silliness of animals, the joy of childhood, and the modern world from a child's perspective.

Inspired Monday: the voice of my childhood

This was a post that was hard to write, because it is in part a Robin Williams tribute post, and it was several weeks after his death before I could bring myself to watch one of his movies (and I still don't think I can watch Dead Poets Society or What Dreams May Come without bawling through them, so...this post is not about those movies!).

Courtesy of mdxwn.com.  I loved this movie too, I don't care what people say.

I know it's cliche at this point, because so many people have written so many things about him, and done it better than I probably will.  But I really did grow up with his work...I mean, when you were born in the 80s, you've seen him in so many movies he was like part of your family, like your crazy uncle.  Obviously there was Mrs. Doubtfire, Aladdin, reruns of Mork and Mindy if you were a weird kid who liked Nick at Nite (like me)...but what I want to talk about is Fern Gully.

Inspired Monday: the by-products of storms

Well, it's most definitely September now...for most of you, that means the leaves are changing and it's starting to get a little nippy at night.  Not here. 

Is this what you'd call the dog days?  Well, they're not over yet.

It's still way too hot to officially be fall yet here...and yet, Arizonans are still sad to bid goodbye to summer, simply because now we have to give up on monsoon season.  Sure, we might have a few autumnal rains, but the torrential downpours that turn our streets into rivers are probably not coming back.  It's kinda sad for us.

However, I'm celebrating one of the prettier side effects of monsoon season in this Inspired Monday...because we're talking about STORM SUNSETS!

Inspired Monday: road trippin'

This weekend we were going to go on a road trip to California, it being a long weekend and all, but we ended up not going due to family obligations that came up.  However, we scaled back our trip and ended up doing a day trip, driving less than 200 miles in all, going to Sonoita and then Fort Huachuca, both places where I had never been before, so that was cool!

Photo from Laurent Baig...sadly, I have no photos of my own from this trip, as I forgot my phone.  It's too bad, because it was so beautiful out there!

I've always liked road trips, since I was a little kid...sure, they sometimes involve long stretches of boring terrain (Texas, I AM LOOKING AT YOU), but you can see things you otherwise wouldn't, and find interesting experiences everywhere.  So this week's Inspired Monday is about that great American institution, road trips.

Inspired Monday: ink splash!

So today is the day that I hang my show at the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild...in fact, at the time that this post goes up, I will probably be heading over there to do exactly that!  If you're in the Tucson area, come see it, I'll be up through mid-October there! (And in September, probably changing out some paintings for new ones too)

In honor of that exhibition, here's a watercolor-themed Inspired Monday:

Image from Tattoospedia.com...it's the paint splatters that really make this one real for me.

...watercolor tattoos!

Inspired Monday: breathe in, breathe out...

It's been hectic around here lately.  Of course, when is it not?  I'm gearing up for my exhibit at the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild, which I set up next week (eek!), as well as the Hilton Indoor Fine Arts Festival the weekend after that (double eek!).  Plus, the theatre company I work for just moved, so I have been over there almost every day this past week getting them organized and knocking down walls, AND I'm preparing for a play I'm assistant directing in September at a different theatre company.  Whew.

It can be a little frazzling.

There's always a picture of Scotty that matches my emotions.  This one is the "excited yet slightly crazed" look.

So that's why, for this week's Inspired Monday, I'm sharing one of the ways I de-stress: meditation!

Wait no, don't leave yet, hear me out...

Inspired Monday: for color junkies who need to mainline art

This Inspired Monday's link could make my Inspired Monday obsolete, I have to admit...because this is a site that packs SO much inspiring material into every day that y'all could just go there for your art fix, you don't need me anymore!  Because this week, I am introducing you to FOLT BOLT.

Art by Beci Whatley...one of the many fabulous things you can find via Folt Bolt.

Folt Bolt is, basically, a treasure trove of artists, jewelry makers, accessory crafters, and other outstanding artisans.  They have a Facebook and a website, both of which seem to be updated daily.  Artists can submit their portfolio to be featured, and it's all curated by Hungarian artist Kriszta Kemeny.  The art featured is quite eclectic, but tends to have lots of color, clever patterns, and funky, impressionistic styles, such as...

Inspired Monday: wear your inspiration on your sleeve...or shirt

For days when you're feeling a little bit uninspired (which I've had too many of recently!), wouldn't it be helpful to carry a little bit of inspiration around with you all day?  Or even...wear your inspiration?  I think it would be, and that's why this week, I bring you...T-SHIRTS!

(As usual, I don't get paid to promote any of these Inspired Monday features, I just like 'em.)

These ones are from Super Love Tees, an Etsy shop I recently discovered and am really digging...they have all kinds of fun messages, like...

Inspired Monday: the Painting Maniac

As I have mentioned in previous Inspired Mondays, I find the most interesting things while browsing through Fine Art America.  That's the website that powers my print shop, and that of many other artists...if I bought all the art I like on there, I would never be able to see the color of my walls ever again.

Today, let's talk about one of the most interesting artists I found through this site, with some of the most original paintings...

Courtesy of the artist's blog

Leah Saulnier, also known as "The Painting Maniac"!

Inspired Monday: a change of scenery

Today, I am writing this not from my studio at home, but from a coffee shop.  In the world of a work-from-homer, this is a very exciting thing, getting to work outside of your usual home office.  I call these my coffeeshop-as-office days.

This is inspiring me today, even though I'm not actually doing art here, just getting administrative tasks done...even so, being in different settings makes this a heck of a lot more fun.

Inspired Monday: walk it off

I've been taking lots of walks lately...this should come as no surprise since I've mentioned on here that (one of) my day job(s) is as a petsitter/dog-walker.

Here's one of my charges.  She enjoys grass.

If you're feeling stressed, creatively stuck, or just need to take an energizing break, then my advice to you would be to go take a hike!  Literally.

Inspired Monday: Talavera tile

If you're from the Southwestern United States, Florida, Latin America, Mexico...you've probably seen the subject of this week's Inspired Monday around, although you might not know what it's called.

But if this looks familiar to you, then you've seen Talavera tile.  And you know why I love this stuff.

Inspired Monday: "It'll come back around."

I was a HUGE fan of "Lost" while it aired.  Huge.  I had various Lost-related t-shirts, I discussed theories with people online after each new episode, and my roommates always knew that on Wednesday nights the living room belonged to me (this was before everything was shown online the day after, before we had Netflix or Hulu).

I even brought my fandom into my garden - I lived in Florida when the series started, and, well, I felt my yard needed a polar bear.

There's a weird sort of mantra I've taken from the series...well, it's weird to people who know the series, since it wasn't exactly the most positive line/phrase a character ever uttered...in fact, the character who said it died immediately after saying it.

Inspired Monday: the beautiful game

Until the 2010 World Cup, I wasn't a soccer fan.  I really couldn't have cared less.  But then, in the summer of 2010, I went on a trip to Europe and actually got to experience soccer culture in its natural habitat.  And for some reason...I don't know, it just flipped a switch.

People get a little into it in Germany.

I became a big fan.  And in this Inspired Monday post, I'll at least attempt to articulate why soccer/football/footie/etc. is inspiring to me, personally.

Inspired Monday: history in pen and ink

There was a time when I used to read the whole newspaper, but I've since switched over to just reading the Arts and Life sections.  You see more fun stories there anyway...there's only so many fatal car crashes and stabbings and whatnot you can read about before you need a break. (Or, in the case of my local paper, articles about the U of A Wildcats basketball.)

However, sometimes you come across fun articles in the Arts section about things like this!

This is the work of a Tucson artist named Danny Martin, the subject of this week's Inspired Monday.

Inspired Monday: how about some music?

In college, the summer after my junior year, I went on a study trip to Oaxaca, Mexico.  We stayed in a family's house, did language classes in the morning (including a couple hours of "conversation time" where we got to sit outside under some beautiful poinciana trees and discuss various things in Spanish), and then art classes in the evenings.

The somewhat perilous walkway into Armando's studio.

An artist named Armando taught us ceramics, bookmaking, and other art forms in his studio.  In addition to getting to learn art forms, and seeing some of Armando's really cool found object sculptures (and the art and graffiti his students had scrawled on his walls), I got a bit of a musical education...

Inspired Monday: walking in their shoes

Now, I'm not really a big shoe person - in fact, I hate most high heels, and I always go for comfort first - so I at first wasn't sure why shoe ads were appearing on my Facebook feed, but these ads turned out to be relevant, because they were for the new Toms Haiti Artist Collection.

I actually don't own any Toms shoes...but after hearing about these ones, I just might start. (I promise, this IS relevant to art and to inspiration!)