The Artist’s Thoughts on Creativity, Inspiration, New Projects

Thanks to my amazing friend Carol, we went with the Ventura County Garden Club on a SPECTACULAR tour of Santa Babara’s Ever-Bloom nursery – and all I can say is… LOOK AT THESE PICTURES! I am so inspired! Imagine acres and acres of gorgeous gerbera daisies, seemingly dancing a colorful ballet as far as the eye can see. These gerberas are all from imported plants from Holland (The Netherlands). MANY THANKS to Louise and Janet and the Ventura County Garden Club for making me feel so welcome and arranging this tour, and to my talented friend Carol, and to the lovely Ever-Bloom nursery. What an inspiring treat for an Impressionist artist!

Here are just a few examples of the lovely gerbera daisies we saw:

Have you ever seen gerbera daisies like this? WOW!

Look at these spikey petals combined with that blaze of color - Van Gogh watch out!

Cheery Sunny Gerbera - I got to take this one home! On a blue vase, it is AMAZING!

Another unique gerbera daisy at Ever-Bloom nursery

A "sea" of gerberas - this photo reminds me of a wave!

How can you look at these and not be happy? B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L !

Such a variety of color! These cut gerbera daisies in line to be boxed and shipped.

Tis Bliss To Be Surrounded By This!

The above is a video to show how huge just ONE greenhouse is – and Ever-Bloom has several greenhouses like this, and other greenhouses serving younger plants at various stages of growth – a full 15 acres under glass, as they say! -And the technology behind it all is IMPRESSIVE

It won’t surprise anybody when these lovely gerbera daisies pop up in my garden AND in my paintings!

How can one not be inspired by this time of year in the garden? We just planted the vegetable garden, and it is amazing! Just as these little plants are the start of this year’s vegetable crop, so too shall these plants be the start of my painting! I have a feeling the harvest bounty that I will show in my painting might be just a bit bigger than the yield of my crop! -But this time of year, I’m always so hopeful. I see the six pack of tiny corn plants already full grown, with at least one big, inviting ear on each plant. Gophers are unheard of in my painting! -And insect pests? Forget about it! The only insects in my painting garden are friendly and inviting, like butterflies, ladybugs, and the friendliest of spiders (all these kindly spiders related to Charlotte of E.B. White’s “Charlotte’s Web,” no doubt!). Mosquitos won’t exist in my painting. Bunnies only eat their fair share, and no more, always leaving at least half of each lettuce for me. That’s what I love about painting – each canvas is my little world, to populate with all the things I love, and to disregard those that, well, aren’t up to snuff! Here are some photos of this newly planted garden, my inspiration for the painting I am working on:

It may be only young plants now, but in my painting they will be full of tomatoes and corn!

So pretty and sunny!

Last night’s Creativity Central creativity therapy workshop centered on knitting – knitting using a new way. Creating this knitting adventure for my creativity therapy group reminded me of a poem I had written about knitting, and life, some years ago, when I was starting anew before I met my wonderful husband. I think that poem might be timely to add here, as the poem is apropos of so many of life’s changes and decisions:

Life is Like Knitting

Life is like knitting
Sometimes each stitch falls easily into place
Each row upon row flowing with grace
And then, a mistake, not easy to erase

A choice must be had
Do we go ahead flawed, looking a bit bad
Or do we unravel and then
Begin, begin, begin again?

With each new start
The old design deliberately picked apart
Carefully the yarn from the needle unfurls
Undoing all the knits and pearls
Cautious not to harm
The tender texture of the yarn

This life’s thread must be used to stitch again
In our universal pattern of row upon row, til time’s end
There is no shame in each start anew
No matter how many restarts or how few

The rows undone
In the redoing are part of life’s fun
The lessons learned along each knitted way
Can be used another day
To last, to warm our souls a little longer
Making our life’s knitting that much stronger.

(c) 2006 M. Nicole van Dam.  All Rights Reserved.

Now about the creativity therapy workshop of last night, aka “Knitting-the-New-Way!”

Last night was the first night we used the wonderful Authentic Knitting Boards donated by the Authentic Knitting Board Company – and these knitting boards are amazing! You don’t need to know a thing about knitting to make something colorful and fun and useful, in just a few hours. Here are a few photos, and I think we all gave these wonderful knitting boards a thumbs up!

The results from the Magical Knitting Board

Close-up of the Knitting Board in Use

Wonderful Donations from Authentic Knitting Board and Kathleen

-And of course, our earlier projects aren’t forgotten – we just picked up the framed mixed media work my creativity therapy group (“Creativity Central”) created – we call it “Jammin Jungle” and it is now on exhibit at the hospital:

"Jammin Jungle" Project

Fun News! There are now boots being offered for sale using my artwork! The artworks used on the boots below are Lake of Dreams, Flower Faeries, Voting Booth, Bon Jour, and It’s Spring. I’ve been so excited about this license, and here are a few pictures (I’m swamped right now but will post more when I have a chance – these are A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!) – stay tuned for more details:

The Line-Up of Fun New boots based on M. Nicole van Dam art

A peek at the detailing of these fun boots (this boot based on M. Nicole van Dam's "Bon Jour" artwork)

Another view of these great boots made using M. Nicole van Dam artworks

"Rosie and Emma Plant a Seed," by M. Nicole van Dam

Rosie and Emma Plant a Seed™ is M. Nicole van Dam’s joyous and beautifully illustrated children’s book about a young girl Emma and her Leonberger dog Rosie, who find a mysterious seed and plant it. As the mysterious seed grows, so do Emma and Rosie’s adventures and the delightful, curious characters they meet, including Sigmund Owl and a very cheeky sparrow. This unique book is a lovely way to share the wonders of gardening and nature. Also important, this book teaches about teamwork and friendship. Truly a lovely children’s book, and as you turn the pages you will enjoy the more than 60 colorfully and happily engaging illustrations. Written in rhyme with enchanting characters, this book is as much a treat to read aloud as it is to see. If you are seeking to share the joy of the garden and an appreciation of nature and animals with toddlers and young children, then this is the ideal book. Lovingly illustrated and warmly written in sing-song rhyme, with a Dr. Seuss type rhythmic quality, this book will delight young readers and is a fun bed-time read-aloud as well. Please visit OnceUponaTime.bz to learn more or Amazon or Butterflies.bz to purchase.

This weekend was the BIG weekend – out in Anaheim, California, thanks to Newton’s Yarn Country, there was a weekend long seminar and knitting machine show, and you can bet I was there!  Out on the parking lot, they were selling beautiful yarns, all different colors – it was one of those fun treasure hunts where you seek box to box to find enough of the colors you like.  How can you look at all these colors and not want to knit?

Glorious Colors! I want to try them all!

Also fun was to see what others had made using their “magic machines” – my teacher Ruth was there, sporting an amazing outfit that she designed and made herself – WOW!

Ruth's Amazing Outfit, Front and Back. Look at the lovely design in the front, and the elegant ribbing detail in the back - I want to be able to do this!

My two favorite knitting machine creative gurus - Ruth and Dorothy!

 While at the show, I was able to sit in on some very valuable demonstrations.  I saw Richard Smith create lace using the machine, and learned that to make lace on the machine you need to use both carriages – the lace carraige and the general carriage.  You can bet I went home and tried it!  In the photo below, the lace carriage is on the left.  Working both of these at once isn’t too hard – and actually I felt I got a bit of an upper body workout!

Lace Carriage and General Carriage of the "Magic Machine"

Thanks to my sweet Aunt and Uncle, I am well equiped!

Some of the Lace I created with some of the 2-color Knitwork

Close-up of the 2-color work - I can't believe I made this!

Here I inverted the color choices - the "Magic Machine" makes that easy!

My Sampler almost looks like a scarve!

My husband came in yesterday and took me by the hand, and raced me outside – and here is what we saw: A perfect rainbow!

A Perfect Rainbow!

Isn’t it interesting that seeing a rainbow makes us, for that moment, 5 years old again? Is it possible to see a rainbow and not be a bit awed by the magic of it all? – or wonder if there is a pot of gold at the end of it somewhere?

Here is a poem I wrote this morning, inspired by yesterday’s rainbow:

A Rainbow!
Full of hopes
Full of dreams
Every one knows what a rainbow means
Magic

This moment
Time is paused
Our eyes awed
Colorful beauty takes our breath away
Stand still

Make a wish
One for you
One for me
May our hearts’ memory ever see
Rainbows

I think my next artwork will have a rainbow in it :)

I am so excited!

Smile! See the contrast between the first yellow "worms" I made on the knitting machine, shown here sitting atop the vastly improved orange knitting I did last night. That's something for me to SMILE about!

Ruth kindly came all the way up to the house and gave me my first KnitKing knitting machine lesson. She helped me set up the older machine so I could learn on it. Remember the yellow knit “worms” I made on my first solo attempt? NO MORE WORMS!

Here is what I learned:  First, the spongebars on these knitting machines get used up, so I had ordered new ones.  Ruth helped me replace the sponge bar, and that was a large part of the problem that made the machine jam during my first solo attempt, I think.   I also learned more about setting the right tension for the yarn you are using.  Apparently the yellow yarn I was initially using was a bit too thick for the machine setting I chose (i.e., I had the tension set to too low a number – I was using a 4, it should have been maybe an 8!).  Ruth also brought me a casting comb that was a little easier to use – she kindly let me buy it from her as they don’t make these anymore.  (I do worry about falling in love with a hobby that might die due to lack of parts!).   After Ruth left, I cast on all by myself (smiles) and started playing with the pre-programmed patterns, tried four different patterns. By 1:30am (yes, after midnight!), I was zonked, but look at what I made! It’s still hanging on the machine, I want to try some more patterns and maybe even try changing colors. It was so fun! Ruth was a patient teacher, and I am so appreciative of my Aunt for believing in me and giving me such wonderful machines, yarns and supplies – WOW. A new lifetime hobby!

I still have ooodles to learn, about the ribber and color changers and winding yarn and programming my own designs! -Oh, and I better learn to follow a pre-existing pattern and increase and decrease stitches for necklines and sleeves and such first!   SUCH FUN! I love learning new things.   At least I can make monotone textured scarves now!

Closeup of what this Magic Machine can do! Look at that texture!

Another close-up - this is me knitting on the machine without using any pre-programmed textures. St. John's knits, watch out!

By 1:30AM, I was zonked and my "sampler" was touching the floor!

What a difference a lesson makes! Compare the yellow "early worm" to what I did after my lesson! HURRAY! THANK YOU RUTH!

Thanks to my husband, the knitting machine is now set up! Here is what it looks like, kind of like a muscial keyboard for knitting:

Knitting Machine set-up and waiting!

It’s more than a bit intimidating - here is a closeup up of all the buttons on different parts:

Intriguing Buttons and Dials on the "Carriage" - I've played with these!

-and here is a closeup of the computerized part of this knitting machine – I haven’t played with any of these yet!  Better get the basics first!

Closeup of some of the computer buttons of the knitting machine

From this grand machine I have now generated four rolled-up first attempts at ‘casting-on” – I call these little yellow rolls my worms!

Close-up of my very first "worm" on the machine needlebed

Little Worms on Knitting Machine!

Happily many of these mystery buttons should be cleared up soon – Ruth, an experienced machine knitter recommended by my Aunt, has agreed to come give me my first lesson April 19! She is kindly driving quite a way to do it. So much to learn – I can’t wait!

Last night we had another Creativity Central session at the hospital, and I need to say how talented these wonderful people are.  I am so impressed with all their beautiful creations, and it reminds me that my talent is not so unique – there is a LOT of talent out there.  I think I am learning as much from all this as they are!