creative thinking

art snacks

January 23, 2019

Some time back I read an article in my local newspaper about teaching kids to snack healthy and to learn to trust their body’s cues about food. Since then I’ve been thinking of similarities between healthy snacking habits and developing a healthy creative life. Teach yourself how to recognize aesthetic cues/desires – and practice responding…

A Creative Life, artistic inspirations, business of art, creative thinking, food for thought, mental health, small things, Sustainable creativity, words and pictures

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libation label list line

December 8, 2018

Around the edges of doing a cat portrait commission and Chef Carosi’s illustrated recipe I’ve done some wine label artwork to be used by Burnt Bridge Cellars for their 2018 Holiday Wine. To meet the winery’s request for art that was “festive but not religious” I used 5 writing techniques along these lines to generate…

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Thanksgiving and The Arts

November 20, 2018

I remember being told, as a young person, that the arts were “not practical”. Today I thought of 8 ways, both serious and silly, that the arts are useful on Thanksgiving day. Culinary arts: Making food is considered one of the “fine arts”. Even if the kitchen looks like this: Funny Cooking Fails Compilation |…

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agatha and art

November 19, 2018

I’ve been reading “Appointment With Death” by Agatha Christie. By page 7 I was rooting for the murderer to go ahead and kill. It’s the villain who deservedly gets killed in this story. While reading I realized that I so strongly disliked the villain and rooted for her demise because of her cumulative (negative) effect…

A Creative Life, art techniques, artistic inspirations, creative thinking, Narrative Art, words and pictures

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books and creativity

November 3, 2018

It’s been my experience that one’s reading is the fertile soil from which all other creativity grows. So I find books like this one, “1000 Books To Read Before You Die” by James Mustich, an essential art studio tool. The Mustich title is especially useful as it’s more like a restaurant guide than most “read-this”…

A Creative Life, art techniques, artistic inspirations, creative thinking, food for thought, food in art, mental health, still life, Sustainable creativity

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stirring occasions

August 13, 2018

As a long-time coffee lover I’ve been recently learning about tea. More than half of the world drinks tea and/or has some kind of tea ceremony. As far as I can tell the philosophy of tea is basically a way of valuing mundane life – in a somewhat carefully curated way. The ordinary as a…

A Creative Life, artistic inspirations, creative thinking, fine art, kitchen art, small things, still life, visual thinking

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coffee city

July 3, 2018

I’ve been thinking lately about how much our lives are reflected in the objects we own, save, give away or dispose of – and the many mundane moments out of which a life is made. Perhaps choosing carefully what we focus on, choosing what encourages our “better angels”, choosing what becomes mundane is what makes…

A Creative Life, artistic inspirations, creative thinking, fine art, small things, still life

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angles we have on things: a conversation with clancy published in the salmon creek journal 2018 issue

May 1, 2018

Because I’ve been asked to I’m including in this blog post the entire interview with me for the Salmon Creek Journal 2018 issue titled “Angles We Have On Things: A Conversation with Sue Clancy” by Amanda Flynn. I asked permission to post this and it was generously granted. (The people at the Salmon Creek Journal…

A Creative Life, art commissions, artist book, Artist interviews and profiles, creative thinking, public art, publications – publishing, published art, words and pictures

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art of a peel

March 7, 2018

I’ve been busy lately working on a new fine art piece that has an orange peel in it. And a cat of course. Here’s a picture of me at work… Between 7 and 14 of us get together once a month for happy hour in one of our local pubs, and the trays of drinks…

A Creative Life, animals in art, artist book, cat portrait, Cats in art, creative thinking, drawing as thinking, fine art, sketchbook

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finished Abyssinian cat with alphabet

February 19, 2018

Here’s the finished Abyssinian cat portrait with an alphabet pattern background – reflecting my thoughts of multi-lingual book readers, alphabetic “framing” of thoughts and… well, if you look at my last several blog posts you’ll see my thinking as I’ve worked on this one. It’s titled “Alpha Betty” and is 20 x 24 inches. I’m…

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