This Week in Flowers: The 3rd Week of August

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“My Faith is larger than the Hills-So when the Hills decay-My Faith must take the Purple Wheel To show the Sun the way-‘Tis first He steps upon the Vane-And then-upon the Hill-And then abroad the World He go To do His Golden Will-And if His Yellow feet should miss-The Bird would not arise-The Flowers would slumber on their Stems-No Bells have Paradise-How dare I, therefore, stint a faith On which so vast depends-Lest Firmament should fail for me-The Rivet in the Bands”

-Emily Dickinson

My flowers are wanting for water so I gave them a drink today. Some are slowing down in production and I am thinking of sowing some more zinnias-if I think they can bloom before the frost. Still, they make such a beautiful bouquet

 

The sunflowers are still growing wild and have even been attracting a beautiful yellow bird who has been enjoying the seeds. I am hoping he leaves me so that I can save them for next year.

 

I think these sunflowers are one of my favorites. This bloom is technically from last week’s bouquet but I am sharing it here because I am pressing it in my flower press to see how it turns out.

 

Wishing you a week of flowers.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Video: Creative Company-Let’s Make Painted Papers

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Sometimes I don’t know what to do when I am sitting down to creative time. Other times I am so full of ideas but I just can’t seem to get them from my head into tangible form. Other times I am not even sure I want to be creative at all but I’m making time for it anyway.

In these moments, usually the best thing I can do is to not try and make anything specific and to stick with what I always love and find fun-putting paper on paper or gluing pieces of paper to other pieces of paper. I know my heart lies with collage and I have been focusing on creating my own collage papers. It’s been a fun process and something that I can always go to when I feel stuck with my creativity.

Today I am sharing another Create With Me video and it’s all about making painted papers. I am using inexpensive paper whatever supplies I had to hand and having a play covering paper with paint.

I also chat a bit and share some of my favorite artists with you. If it sounds interesting or you would like some company in your creative space today why not join me?

I would love to hear about what you end up creating so please comment below.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Reference Section

Some things mentioned in the video:

Visual Journal Studio YouTube Channel

Etsy Shop for Rainbow Brite Mug

My Studio Tour

Michael Nobbs

Jennibellie’s YouTube Channel

Jennibellie’s Video on Making a Journal from a Cereal Box

 

Weekly Round Up for the 2nd Week of August 2022

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How is your August going? I have been feeling good, if not a bit antsy from time to time. Do you ever feel like you are supposed to be somewhere doing something but you don’t know where or what? I have been feeling that way a bit this past week so I’m trying to spend more time doing and less time lost in my head.

Here’s a bit of what I have been doing:

My First Create with Me Art Journaling Session

I had so much fun playing in my art journal with no goal in mind other than to play in my art journal. If you would like some virtual company to have a play with your journal you can watch the video and read the blog post here.

This Week in Flowers (and Pumpkins)
I am so grateful for the bouquets that I am still able to cut from the garden. I also share with you my pride and joy-PUMPKINS! Something I have been trying to successfully grow for years. You can see all the photos in the blog post here.

Weekly Podcasts
I also recorded a new podcast for this week where I am chatting about creative living. If you fancy a chat for about 20 minutes or so why not make your self a cup of your favorite beverage (iced tea? I love unsweetened iced tea this time of year) and join me here.

Letters for Creatives
I am also sending out my letters to creatives today. If you like the idea of a weekly email meant only to be inspiring to my fellow creatives you can sign up here.

Book Club
I decided to make my Book Club posts monthly and plan to share them the first week of every month. I wasn’t reading fast enough so I thought I might not have enough content to share each week. Unless of course I shared with you all the books I have added to my TBR (To Be Read) list! Of course after deciding that I finished 2 books this week so maybe I would have had something to share. Still, I’ll stick with once a month and see how it goes.

Not shared specifically on the blog but I have a fun video with painted papers coming on my YouTube channel on Monday. I admit to being nervous and excited to get my channel going again. I am taking small steps and will be sharing weekly there but every video that goes on YouTube can also be found on Dilettante TV here on the site so no worries if you aren’t hanging out on YT.

I finished painting an old sofa table for the studio. I started it last Friday and was able to give it a second coat this week and set it all up Wednesday. I am so happy with how it looks (you can see the before and after below) along with how my vintage typewriter looks on it.

    

I have a piece going in my art journal about birds. I was inspired after watching this video
on Sandi Hester’s YT channel (thank you Laura Bray for sharing her channel with me!). I just loved how she painted her birds (and the automotive brushes she was using-so I had to order some!)

I have been working off and on with birds the past few months and on Saturday we took a trip to our local used book store and I picked up an Encyclopedia on birds (along with some other books I’m hoping to use in collage). The page is sitting on my desk in my studio and as I came in to work today I was inspired to add some collage to it so that’s just what I did. It’s still a work in progress but I’ll be sure to share it with you when it’s all done.

I do hope you have had some time for your creativity this week. Please let me know what you have been working on-I would love to hear!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

This Week in Flowers: 2nd Week in August 2022

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The bouquets keep coming and for this I am truly grateful

Zinnias, I do believe I could have acres of them and never grow tired.

And my sunflowers this year have been utterly amazing. Towering over the garden so they are visible from the second floor landing. They are in an assortment of colors and I am going to be diligently working on collecting seed (and savings many for the birds) so I can grow them again next year.

This bouquet is in the foyer so it greets you when you walk in the door.

Not flowers I know but I had to share my pumpkins. I have been on a mission for years to grow our pumpkins for Halloween. I have been successful with one maybe a year but this year? Oh this year I have counted 5 pumpkins! 3 are huge, one is mid size and one is itty bitty yet. This one looks ready to harvest and I just had to snap a photo to share. They are growing outside of the fencing so I am keeping an eye out for nibblers.

Another large pumpkin that still has some ripening up to do

Another large one looking very orange and full of fall spirit.

This is a smaller one but I am excited to see how it goes. My goal was a pumpkin for each member of the family and if the baby one I didn’t photograph grows up a bit I will have reached my goal.

Wishing you sun tea in the garden.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Video: Create with Me Art Journaling Session #1

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How is your Monday so far? I hope your week is off to a great start. I am sitting in my studio writing to you-so all in all it’s a great day.

Today I am sharing another video with you. If you read my post last Monday you know that I am working on sharing more video content with you and while I am still debating about sharing on YouTube (I keep going back and forth) I wanted to share a fun Create with Me video here for you today.

I do love watching my favorite creatives don’t you?
I love sitting down and creating with a video playing in the background or sometimes on those days when I just can’t be creative I am grateful to share in the creative play of others and it really makes me happy.

If you would like to see some of my favorite creatives you can visit the link in my sidebar.

One of the things I really hope to do with this site is to encourage my fellow creatives to make their creativity a priority. To claim in for themselves and to make time each day to refill their creative well in a way that only expression can. To sit down with your chosen medium and play. To get lost in your own world, following the direction of your creative muse. For me, this time restores my soul, my mind and my physical well-being in a way nothing else does.

You know those days when you are just completely exhausted and want nothing more than to plop down on the couch and veg out? I have found that if before plopping down, I sit down at my desk and pick up a gelato or colored pencil and tell myself to just make one mark, I almost always feel better instantly. Suddenly I am making more marks and often times ideas start to flow and I find I have done an entire journal spread and I don’t feel so exhausted anymore.

Other times I just make the mark-and that’s ok too.

Today I invite you to try and make a mark. There is no goal here, nothing we are trying to make other than time with our creativity. In the video below you will see that I don’t make anything. I fill a page with color, I have fun, I do some journaling to let out the feelings that need letting out and calling in the energy I need to call in. There is no great masterpiece at the end-unless you count how great I felt after.

So if you have 20 or so minutes to sit with your supplies and your creative muse I would love to have you join me-regardless of your chosen medium. And if you do join in, please leave a comment below-I would love to hear how you felt and what you had a play with.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Music by Joystock – https://www.joystock.org

Weekly Round-up for the 1st Week of August 2022

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Welcome to Friday! I hope you had a lovely week. Maybe you had a few moments to sketch? Perhaps you knitted a few rows or sewed in a sleeve? Maybe you were inspired by the music you listened to and took the time to really hear each note or perhaps sing along? I wonder if you jotted down ideas that you are excited to implement the next time you find yourself in your creative space?

My week has been really productive and it feels so good as I am moving slowly into my hibernation week.

One of the deas I had was to create a weekly round-up blog post. Something that gives a quick summary of what’s new with all things Dilettante so you can just visit here and click on through to whatever interests you most. This will be separate from the weekly newsletter as I want that to remain a place of creative inspiration for everyone not just a way to promote all the goings-on. It seemed like a really nice idea to write this post each week and then offer it as a link through the newsletter this way if someone would like to read more about what’s going on with me they can, and if not they can soak of some inspiration and go about creating something wonderful.

So here is what I have been up to this week:

My New Studio Space!
The end of July I rented a small little office space to use as my art studio. It’s been a whirlwind of painting, moving over supplies, finding area rugs and slowly starting to make it my own. If you would like to see a tour and read more about the journey you might like to check out this post here.

Book Club is Back
So I didn’t necessarily make it through the pile of books I shared with you way back in March but still I am feeling pretty good about my reading practices. These reading practices also lead to my kids reading more-and my buying fish…but you’ll have to read about that here if you are interested.

The Week in Flowers
With the cut flower in full bloom I decided to share with you photos of some of the arrangements I am putting around the house as a new series. If you love photos and flowers I think you might just have a little smile waiting for you here.

Weekly Podcasts
I have also set myself a schedule and I am hoping to be making weekly podcasts to share with you all. Years ago I would record my daily podcasts while dog walking and it was always a bright spot in my day. I am hope you enjoy listening to these as much as I enjoy making them. You can find this week’s podcast right here.

Letters for Creatives
I am also getting my weekly Letters for Creatives going. I sent out a few but have been a bit here and there with them and I am excited to make these little inspiration letters for you to receive in your inbox each month should you wish. You can sign up here.

Lastly I have some clarity about what I want to be doing with my spiritually based site, Melia’s Energy. I am sharing weekly blog posts and daily energetic attunements (5 minute audio meditations to help you align to your highest self). All non-dogmatic and metaphysically based I am hoping that this will be a welcoming space for anyone seeking connection to Source Energy/God.

So that’s what has been going on with me this week. I would love to hear your thoughts or answer any questions you may have. It’s so much fun for me to share this journey with you and for me personally to be embracing my creativity in such a full way. I feel restored in so many ways and I hope that by sharing my journey here you might be a bit inspired as well.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante