“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”
Mahatma Gandhi

I love New York and and have been there many times. I love to walk and walk and walk. Each visit brings new adventures, new restaurants, new museums a new musical a new air. I have been there with my sons as kids, as teenagers and as adults. My son studied in Troy and visiting New York was one of the most rewarding things in each trip. He even proposed to his now wife in Central Park and we had a celebration dinner at Mezzogiorno Restaurant in Little Italy. I love this restaurant, as I love Latin Bistro and Dos Caminos (my favorite for lunch) in SOHO. As for me, Dos Caminos make the best guacamole, the best.

I’ve been in NY three times on a two weeks stay to teach during the nights (not art related) and discover new things during the day. The first time I was there teaching I went alone. I have never been in a subway by myself and I got lost and called my then husband crying. In few days I was an expert and the experience was awesome. My husband or I may say my ex, arrived a few days after my breakdown and my son a week later. At the same time my sister was visiting with her son. He was there as a musician and was to perform along with his college mates in the Carnegie Hall..Yes The Carnegie Hall. This experience was a blast, my sister, my son and my nephew, all at the same time in NY. With a few of my instructions (now an expert) they learned fast to use the subway. The time was perfect and they went to a musical (I was teaching), a must to do when we go to New York. I am planning to return to Dos Caminos next week, if I can find the time…because this time my visit to NY is a dream come true…as an artist, as a woman. As I mentioned before, I will be participating in SURTEX and my designs will be there to be watched by thousands of people. Scary, indeed., but how sweet and how exciting!:).

I have been away from this blog because I had just one month to get ready to be there on next Saturday 19, when I will be setting up my booth. Isn’t this awesome. Three years ago I would never thought this will ever happen, but it did and I am so happy, so proud and so grateful to have this opportunity. I’m still in my last minute tweaks with the booth and a lot of designs are not named yet, but I am almost there. I will be in BOOTH #677..so manufacturers are very much welcome as are my online friends, most of them from creative curses I have taken from the past two years. I hope I will have lots of visits from manufacturers. This means that if you are there at my booth and I am with a possible client, please say hi and please, please don’t go, wait until the possible client is finished or come later because I would love love to meet you.

My portfolio is almost ready with a few hard copies as well as an online version. Just need to print a few images, and pack. I am new in this business but I know I will learn a a lot from this experience and I am sure it will be an unforgettable experience. Prayers and good wishes are very welcome. I will be sharing all I can with this experience as my son will be there as videographer and photographer…Stay tuned.

Well I need to finish my booth, so, next time I will write from New York. For now I will share a post card (front and back) and a new art. The post card is part of my press kit and it is already at my son’s house in PHILLY. I just love how it looks! Do you?

The next image is a new art work i finished a few weeks ago. I love umbrellas, I just love them. I draw umbrellas as a hobby and I buy them just because I like them and then I don’t want to take them when raining because I lost each and every umbrella I buy. The truth is, at this moment this is the only one I have..Not Good, we have a lot of rain during the upcoming months…It is time to buy a new one…maybe in New York?

Hope you like it…it will be sold on the etsy shop as a print or a tile and maybe as an Iphone case too. Did you notice the Elephant Iphone case in the side bar? I have one of those and I love it, love it!

My best wishes for you!

With LoVe,

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I met Jozica in 2010 through my first online course with Kelly Rae Roberts, that make us “flyers friends”. Now she is a class mate on Hello Soul Hello Business online course again with Kelly Rae Roberts and another flyer friend Beth Nichols. Now, this make us “soul sisters”. Isn’t this awesome. We have a lovely community of artists in search of building an authentic life using our talents. Jozica creates beautiful art that truly makes people smile. I am sharing a post from her creative blog as part of the series 30 days of Inspiration and Art. She gladly accepted my invitation and in the link below you will enjoy a beautiful and inspiring post as well as her amazing, whimsical and beautiful art.

Someone-Jozica Rade Post

With LoVe,

I am so happy to introduce Mary, another soul sister for the course Hello Soul Hello Business.

She has a web site, Just May Designs, where she shares about the beautiful discovery of art hiding inside of her – from the building of her art studio to the paintings that she is delight in creating. It is a visual tale of artistic development of a mixed media artist!

This is her personal mission statement:

I guide my life and decisions with the following core principles -

Always Be An Inspiration
Always Create Beauty
Always Plan & Build Security
Always Be Independent
Always Live A Big, Radiant Life
Always Connect To My Self and Those I Love

I love color.
Music uplifts my soul.
I can fly a small airplane.
Creating beauty fuels my spirit.
I own a successful financial planning firm.
Running a 5k in under 30 minutes is a major goal.
I believe that anyone can live a big life – a life on fire.
Security, freedom, and paying it forward are my three driving values.
I am a mother, girlfriend, grandmother, friend, daughter, and sister to some amazing people!

Please link to her interesting, unique and inspirational work in her blog post here

Enjoy!

With LoVe,

I am so proud to introduce you to my “soul sister” Amy Cavaness. She created those stunning, adorable and unique quilts. Each one has its own story. Isn’t them amazing? She writes inspiring posts in her blog and I invited her to share one of them for my blog readers to continue with the 30 days of Inspiration and Art.

Amy Cavaness is a happy married mother of 4 sons, friend to multiple house pets and a couple of horses. Besides sewing, she loves country/western dancing and trail riding with her husband. They have what seems to be an ever-expanding household full of family and friends, so cooking large quantities of food and laughing a lot are daily activities. She has been using a sewing machine since she was about 11 years old, making clothes for herself for about 30 years, then she began exploring other types of fabric art and embellishment. She loves vintage textiles and design and create or embellish accessories and clothing with them. She is focusing her business on creating stunning memory quilts from clothing and story quilts, which can include imagery from photos, symbolism, memories, and fabrics from clothing.

Please click the link below..or here to read an amazing and inspiring post by Amy.
Enjoy!

Dreaming of Possibilities
Stay tuned for more days of Art and Inspiration featuring a few of amazing artists and “soul sisters”.

with LoVe,

Inspiration and Art #6

On April 9 I started a series of blog posts named 30 days of Inspiration and Art, motivated by using my blog as a conversation in my kitchen table with my friends from all over the world. Even that I didn’t stated that those posts were to be in consecutive days, I felt I was not keeping a promise….BUT…There is always a BUT, and this is the first… In the real world we don’t have kitchen conversations with friends every day, or at least I don’t…My house is my job place, too, and I need to be focus. The conversations with friends in those busy days are on the phone with my BFFs for 30 years, or my sisters, or my daughter in law or my sons or with a few long time friends. I have other conversations, which I love, as FB messages or emails with a few of my soul sisters (from HSHB Course) or my flyer friends (from 2010 Kelly Rae Roberts Flying Lessons E-Course) and with some other friends which I had the joy of connecting through internet in the past two and a half years.

The second BIG BUT is that on April 9 I had no plans on having a Booth on SURTEX 2012, and the miracle happened…Yes, I will be having a Booth (#677) on the licensing area of SURTEX 2012…Isn’t this AWESOME. This is a dream come true. Last year I walked the show and I was encouraged to participate in next year’s show (2012) but on March I knew that was not possible. The truth is that the word FEAR was written all over my soul and my body. After a few weeks immersed in the Hello Soul Hello Business Course (link on the bottom of the post) and inspired by the amazing FB group created from this course, I am in. Hurray!! When I received this message: We have reviewed your application, and feel that your work and expertise would be very appropriate for SURTEX, so welcome!, everything changed and the kitchen conversations almost stopped. I am working like crazy to get things done. I registered with only five weeks to get ready ..OMG!! Even that I have enough designs to take with me, there are a lot that are just a sketch and I want to take them to the show as a finished printed art. Thank God I am in Module 3 of another amazing Course: The Art and Business Of Surface Pattern Design and this is helping a lot..BUT I am working a lot, A LOT. God has granted me this opportunity and I have received support from heaven, yes I can only call it that way for now, and I want to honored this gift. We all have the responsibility to use and improve our talents. We all have special gifts, talents, and abilities given to us by our Heavenly Father. When we were born, we brought these gifts, talents, and abilities with us and we must work hard, have faith, spread our wings and let them bloom. My sons, and the people who believe in me and in my talents, are there, waiting to see me fly, fly high. I know that God will lead the way, and the glory will be to Him. On May 20-22 I will be in SURTEX with my designs…if you are close by…I’ll be there to welcome you and say hi!

I am also working in a few commissions I can’t postpone until the end of the show. This one was a special work (this is not one of my products) for my neighbor who is graduating from high school. Her friends saw my work and asked me to add what they called “your art and colors” to the logo, which was created by one of their classmates. A few tiles will be printed with this art as gifts for the people who helped them along their senior year.

Until the end of the show I will post links to blog posts that inspires me and I know will inspire you as well. They will be from a few of my online friends. Since I can’t write a lot these days I will be presenting you my soul sisters from Hello Soul Hello Business Class which are making a difference in the world with their businesses, with their writing, art, photography and other forms of inspiration. I will be sharing the link to a special post and pictures of their art or special work.

Stay tuned!!

With LoVe,

Links:

Hello Soul Hello Business

The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design