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My Creative Journey into Slow Fashion

I’m answering the questions I had for my guests in upcoming episodes. I’ve been making since I was a kid. I was taught to embroider and sew clothing early on. It was a valued skill in my family. As a young adult I picked up needlepoint and even started to paint my own canvases. I was mesmerized by the wall of color in the needlepoint store. I learned to weave and dye and spin on my journey as well. And when I needed to have a smaller footprint in creative endeavors I went back to sewing and began to quilt. This has led me to wanting to creative more slow fashion for myself. But the reality of fast fashion and its environmental problems has made my goal of a local slow wardrobe more tangible and has become a passion project.

Listen here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Would you rather watch the powerpoint? You can see it here on You Tube.

Watch the powerpoint here.
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Podcast episode: Three Kinds of Creativity

Are you creating as an amateur, a professional or are there times when you are creating sacredly? Learn about these in this new episode of the Flying Goat Farm Podcast.

Listen to it here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or whereever you listen to podcasts.

An applique piece I call “Servant to Art” Made with sacred creativity

Watch it on Vimeo here … .Or if you like You Tube better, watch it here.

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Avoid Burnout and Find Your Inspiration

I dropped the next podcast today. It’s all about Burn out…. what causes it and how to deal with it when you feel burnt out. I also give you ideas for finding inspiration. And lastly, there is a creative exercise for you to complete if you choose. I’m really excited about this one.

You can listen to the podcast here or become a subscriber on iTunes.

You can watch here on Vimeo or here on YouTube

As always, leave a comment here or email me and tell me how the creative exercise worked for you…

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Raising Creative Kids Part 3

This is the last part (at least for now) of the series about raising creative kids. I loved this conversation with Kerstin Zurbrigg. We talked about how to make room in your daily life for creativity. And you know what? This applies to fostering creativity in the children in your life as well as your own creativity. And of course, there is a new creative exercise.

Arles Colorway on Chinook Yarn (MCN)

Click here to listen

Click here to watch on Youtube. Click here to watch on Vimeo.

I’d love to hear your experiences raising creative children or even what your parents did with you that you still remember.

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Raising Creative Kids Part 2

multicolored felted soaps

in this part 2 of the mini-series on raising creative kids, Lisa talks with Annie Marshall, owner and founder of Veggie Annie, a catering company. We talk about developmental stages, cooking with kids and talking to children about what they have made (or not)!

Click here to listen OR subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Rather watch? Click here

To follow Annie Marshall on Instagram and Facebook @veggieannie

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New Podcast: Raising Creative Kids

This season is all about Creativity. As I was planning this season, I really wanted to include some conversations about raising creative kids. As a public school teacher, I’ve seen kids with lots of creative energy and some who would avoid any creative task. So I asked some friends to talk to me about raising their creative kids.

In this conversation with Dalis of Dancing Leaf Dyeworks, Lisa and Dalis talk about raising creative boys, being part of a creative family and as usual there is a fun exercise for you and your family can try to build your creative muscle.  

You can listen here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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So Much Creativity, So Little Time

What is holding you back from your creativity?  Lisa talks about the obstacles to your creativity and how to get past those obstacles.  There is, of course, a creative exercise to build up your creative muscle. 

You can listen to it here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Rather watch? Click here to see it on Vimeo or You Tube

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Finally! Season 3 of the Podcast is available

I took a hiatus from the podcast so that I could really get my head around this new season. In this season, I will be talking about creativity. And not just talking about it, but also giving you an exercise with each episode that you can complete to feed your creative spirit and to let it rise within you!!

Correlation Hat and Brioche cowl

You can listen to the podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you would rather watch the power point. You can find it the video here.

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Nurture Your Inner Artist

I never thought I was an artist when I was growing up. I was told that I couldn’t draw, and I guess I thought that drawing is what made you an artist. And it became a self-fulfilling prophecy because the artistic abilities I do have weren’t nourished.  I found and read the Artist’s Way in 1992 when my life took a total shift away from an abusive situation to one where I was the one in control of my life. It’s funny to say that now, because there are so many days when I don’t feel like I’m in control.  But I do get decide what I am doing on any given day. I do decide if I’m dyeing, what I’m dyeing, if I’m designing and if I’m learning.

Anyway, back to the Artist’s Way. I did morning pages for probably 2 years straight. I did them religiously. And they did help me find myself and my inner artist again. They helped me figure out my feelings and what my next steps were. I really like to write, but sometimes I decided not to write daily.  

Along with daily morning pages, Julia Cameron you must commit to go on an Artist Date once a week. Man, I had such a hard time doing that. What to do? Where to go? I would go to the LA County Art Museum, duh. That’s a no brainer. I went to farmer’s markets. I went to funky shopping districts, like Main Street in Santa Monica, Melrose Ave., or Brentwood area in LA. I went to great bookstores like the Bodhi Tree (where I even went to a book reading by Cameron) or even to the nearby library to just look at magazines. But they felt disjointed and weird. I never really felt filled up by them, something wasn’t quite right.

I stopped doing the morning pages after I went back to teaching full time. In the summers, I would dabble in the pages, but it wasn’t really lasting or nurturing for me. Now that I am a full-time artist, I have developed the habit of morning pages. Writing them helps me to build my daily intention. It is helping me become a better writer just by the shear practice of writing. To get back to that practice of writing every day, I joined 750words.com. This website is a community where you can write your morning pages, digitally. It reminds you if you forget and it is a place where you can put in searchable words to find your thoughts later.

Back to artist’s dates, they continue to be hard for me. And with these pandemic times, going out and venturing in public just hasn’t been reality for me. Pre-pandemic, we would take trips to DC or to Longwood Gardens to be a fun day away from the farm as part of a staycation when Bill was off from work. Every time I step into the Longwood visitor center, I begin to feel like this is an artist date. I see amazing still lives, colors and closeups that could make beautiful photographs. With each view of flowers, the water scapes, and tree houses with their almost art deco look, I get filled up inside. We stroll through the large greenhouse with its orchid room and green wall and delightful children’s garden. I take so many photos.

We usually plan to eat lunch at 1906 Restaurant.  Lunch is always artistically and physically filling. Each course is unusual and so, so good. It is a great place to take a rest, cool down and reflect.

When we leave, we were full of new inspiration and new motivation. We will definitely go back to Longwood for seasonal artist dates when we feel safer within this covid pandemic. Click here for information about the gardens.

Incorporating these 2 practices: writing morning pages and taking artist dates are so integral in integrating my dye work, my creativity, and my intention for the day.