Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, illustrated by Ron Barrett, was one of my all time favorite books as a kid. I loved the concept of food falling from the sky and giant ice cream sundaes. Even more significant for me was, I also loved the style of illustration used in the book. It’s kind of a line drawing woodcut feel with subtle color. The line work creating fantastic depth and texture to every image. It left so much to the imagination yet filled with details.

My own art style was inspired by this technique of illustration. I love the sketchy pencil lines and have enjoyed playing with line shape combined texture.

The movie, on the other hand was great on it’s own but didn’t meet the expectations I had built up in my head. I have no idea what I expected. The original story itself didn’t have any kind of indepth plot or extraordinary action, so the movie had to compensate – and did a great job indeed. There was action and dynamic characters and loads of fun food… but the illustration was so much different than how I knew the story to be, I felt a big disconnect.

Although the movie was vibrant with fantastic visuals, I found myself wishing I hadn’t remembered anything particular about the book ahead of time.

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A favorite childhood book inspired my illustration

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is
dressed in overalls and looks like work.
~Thomas Edison

Effort is something I was brought into this world to understand, grasp, hold on to dearly and love with every ounce of my being. At a very young age I heard, repeatedly, “You need to put in some effort”. I’m pretty sure, as a teen, my parents thought my appearance of a lack of effort would be an eternal problem. Little did they know, I was hiding my effort from public view intentionally. I mean, really, why show the world all you have to give at full force from the get go? Then the world will expect the same and more from then on out. I wanted to save it up, enjoy my youth and bust my hiney later.

Now that I’m older, my favorite days are those that are either extremely productive, with my accomplishing a huge pile on the task list. Or the days I get a chance to nap. I really love the days that my youngest doesn’t feel like being still long enough to sleep, yet her temperament could use a 3 hour nap… those are the days I have an actual excuse to lay down with her and pass out for a while. Dreamland, here I come – full effort toward fulfilling my resting obligations and responsibilities.

One of the keys to effort is interest. We can put forth a ton of effort towards an activity we have no interest nor desire to be involved in, and the result will always be less than our best. However, if we can find the interest, the passion and the motivation behind a project, the effort will be easy. It will still require work, but it will be work we enjoy.

I work constantly because I know there is success along the way. I’m not looking for the grand success at the end of the road as much as I’m seeking the small gold stars as I travel my path. I love what I do, and that makes all the difference in the world not only how much I can accomplish, but how much I appreciate those accomplishments. Sure, there are days I want to do nothing… so I make a deal with myself to work hard before and after, setting tasks to accommodate the break. I also get involved in a variety of things so if one direction gets tiresome, I can easily move to something else and still hit goals I’ve set.

He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand
and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.
~Friedrich Nietzsche

Effort isn’t about sweating and breaking your back. Effort is about progress, baby steps or large leaps. Effort is about consistant, sincere involvement and actions based on goals. Effort is actively working at something… every day.

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A little effort please

Throughout our lives we will inevitably encounter changes that require some kind of response. We can ignore or avoid the change and continue on our way. We can fight the change, hoping to win. Or we can adjust to the change… positively or negatively.

One of my favorite artists says it perfectly…

If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.  ~Mary Engelbreit

We move, change jobs, get married, have children, send the kids off to college, lose a loved one, and come into direct contact with a number of curves and obstacles in between as life moves along the paths we choose. Learning to adapt and adjust is essential if we want to keep growing and progressing. The last few months have been filled with a variety of changes for me and my family. Some not as happy as others, but all requiring I do something other than simply let these things happen to me.

How do we make it through the adjustments and come out on top?

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.  ~Confucius

My preference, I’m a fighter. I want to beat the bad and come out on top with something I can be proud of or look forward to. Sometimes I can’t always come away having come up with a great solution, but the idea is to have an attitude that helps move me forward. A positive outlook is an amazing thing to have in one’s arsenal of coping skills.

Whatever you do, don’t just let the world throw itself at you. grab a net and get ready to catch what pieces you can and then try your best to do what you can with them. If something lands in your lap that you weren’t prepared for, ask for help or get creative… don’t waste the opportunity.

Not all change is good. Not all change is painless. What we do with the change, how we handle it and how we look ahead makes all the difference.

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How do you adjust to the change?

I haven’t been able to participate in the Illustration Friday weekly challenge in a while. Every topic seems to be drawing a complete blank in my mind (pun intended). But this week, I am happy to report, I have been inspired once again – yay for grinning ideas! This week’s Illustration Friday topic is Welcome and as soon as I read it, a picture came to mind. A big smiley with the word Welcome in the grin.

But as I started doodling out the idea I kept envisioning a hug, I guess I’m feeling a little extra lovey today or gooey and mooshy… couple be the tofu I had for dinner last night. Anyway, I had to stop and ask… what is welcome hugging?

And then it occurred to me…

HAPPINESS

YES!, why not sound a little extra corny and just say it out loud… let’s welcome happiness today. So here is my interpretation of Welcome for the day: Welcome to Happiness.

This also fits in nicely with the this week’s Tuesday Topic as well… “Enjoy the Day”. I’ve been trying to come up with commentary on the topic all week but instead I guess I’ve been getting side tracked enjoying my days. We can call it a case study if I need to sound like I’ve been productive.

I’ve been trying harder to stop and enjoy aspects of my day rather than worry about getting things done. Yes I still work on my to-do list, I’m just trying harder to smile throughout the process. I’m trying to enjoy the work and so results are even more rewarding – it really is a blessing that I’m able to do so much with my time while spending it with people I care about.

Sometimes it seems redundant how often I bring up this facet of life. I regularly bring up appreciating family and friends and all the happiness that comes along with living a happy healthy life. Yet, I really do need to remind myself constantly to step back, breath and remember what is really important. So many times I find myself rushing around trying to finish something, remember something, go somewhere, say something or start something else. This isn’t going to change, I am a “gotta do it” kind of person. But what I can change is the appreciation for the process and the people involved. I have to remind myself to see this and do something about it – regularly.

So for today, I’m going to continue working on enjoying the day and welcoming happiness… Happy Friday!

Brownies anyone?

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Welcome to Happiness

Art, and life, is all about perceptions. The place we each live in is built from a foundation of how we perceive ourselves as well as the world around us. Our perception determines our perspective. What I perceive as wrong, could be fine with you due to your views, experiences and understanding of the situation or topic. I always want to make sure I stop to consider others when I view a topic that involves someone else. I’ve always taken this concept very seriously – probably more to my own disadvantage. I want to know their story, their reasoning, their experience that has caused them to respond or react as they do. Often times my guess at other’s perceptions causes me to make decisions I wouldn’t necessarily have made if no one else were involved.

The Fence - original photography by JGoode

In philosophy, psychology, and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information. ~ Wikipedia

I’m always trying to figure out what an other’s perception of a situation is, if my decision is going to directly affect the other person. Why? Because we don’t live in their shoes. We don’t fully understand nor can we ever truly relate to other’s circumstances. The reasons they choose to do something, ignore something, try something or stand for something… we can speculate, but we aren’t them.

Recently I’ve seen a number of conversations happen – each very two sided. This is a common way for a conversation to begin, however, in each situation each side figures they are absolutely right and how can the other be remotely correct. Even reading this now, they probably don’t realize I’m thinking of their conversation as an example. Just because we are absolute in our own view, doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone else. Just because we know something to be true for ourselves, doesn’t mean someone else has the same understanding. Does that make one right and one wrong? Does it mean one party is stupid while the other is brilliant?

Everybody is a genius.  But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid. ~Albert Einstein

I think, coming from my artist frame of mine, everyone has their own view, their own picture they live within. Everyone has their own set of crayons and they are free to color as they like. We can share our pictures and maybe even combine them into a single project. When we start coloring on eachother’s pretty pictures, that’s when we need to come to an agreement. Until then, feel free to scribble in your own space all you want – this is what makes the world such a beautiful place to live!

Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision. ~Stevie Wonder

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Perception is a picture worth a 1000 thoughts

It’s a known fact, by anyone that has been in my life for at least 24 hours… I am always running late. I can plan until the moon is blue or pigs fly, yet, no matter how well I plan, I will be late or fall behind on at least 50% of what ever I set out to do.

I’m never late on projects for others… just appointments or self proposed assignments. Anything relating to non-business or my own personal objectives, late late late!

I’ve always blamed it on mismanagement of time or my kids or natural causes… or traffic. However, just this week it occurred to me. Nothing causes my lateness, I am just really horrible at preventing it. I take on more than I can accomplish in a given time frame. I load myself up with far more than any one person should try to tackle — and, as my husband reminds me – I think everything is 15 minutes away.

Is my lateness due to overly ambitious views of my capabilities? Heck no! I can accomplish anything – that’s what we tell ourselves, right? No, it’s due to my under-estimating of how many hours we have in any given day and how long things really take when we aren’t 100% in control of every aspect. Darn clocks and their set ways!

How to overcome the problem… stop doing so much? Maybe estimate more time for whatever? No way!
For me, I just need to make sure people realize, they’re important to me, but Father Time’s hours are just too short for what I need, to get everything done.

Who do I speak to to get that resolved…

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Running out of time

In honor of Bastille day, which I don’t personally celebrate, but would delighted to if I lived in France… I’m sharing with you today, the I Love France Penguin.

I Love France Penguin by JGoode

Paris is on my Top Ten places I need to visit list. I know they aren’t necessarily French, but here are some things I that remind me how much I’d love to go to France…

I took French for 4 years in High school – unfortunately I came away knowing little more than how to ask to go to my locker for my pencil.

Leonardo Davinci is my all time favorite artist so I’ve wanted to visit the Louvre since I was about 12.
I love french toast, french fries and french bread.
I loved to sing Aloutte as a kid… until I found out the real meaning of the words.

Some day, when I have the opportunity to visit France in person, I’ll extend this list.

A little thanks to my friend Stephanie Lichenstein for suggesting today’s topic. I needed a break from the deep thinking and serious thoughts. Happy French loving penguins is very appropriate for my mood today!

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Happy Bastille Day

Yesterday I was driving down the highway and I noticed yet another pink ribbon license plate. It reminded me of my recent trip to the DMV. There are a ton of options for support themed plates. Anything from various causes to groups to view points. In Colorado we also have a “Pioneer” plate, which used to be really difficult to get. You had to be able to prove some heritage associated with Colorado, but now it’s easier to come by.

This got me thinking. We all have various things we support, often times these topics change as our life changes. There are a lot of issues that are important to me. A wide array of issues I support and a multitude of topics I have opinions on. Yet, which are significant enough that I would choose them as the single license plate for my vehicle?

There are definitely more than 5 things in my mind I would plaster as a topic I’d like to voice my view on. This is my top five list for today, in no particular order.

1. Children – Family in general is important to me, but our kids are the ones that need us most. I think far too many people forget our children are born geniuses with a view of the world many of us have lost sight of as we’ve gotten older. Our kids are our teachers as well as we should be theirs. If we stop and listen to them, it’s amazing what they can teach us about love and life. They need us the most, and we need them just as much.

2. Fighting Cancer – many of my family members have been hit one way or another by the ugliness that is cancer. More recently I’ve realized how many people in the world, outside my own little bubble, battled the various forms of this disease. There is so much pain and human destruction from so many things, but cancer seems to be something we should be able to fix. Maybe in a bigger picture I’d say I would like to simply fight disease or pain in general, but for today the label is Cancer. I wish there was more I could do to help.

3. Peace – not to sound like a beauty pageant type answer, but more of a state of mind kind of answer. Everything starts within ourselves, and peace is no exception. On days that I can find and hold on to my own inner peace, I am so much more helpful, kind and giving. I’m more capable of caring and being patient or even stopping to really listen. I need to remember each day to find this place, for the benefit of those around me.

4. Learning – Every day we learn something new, and we should continue to remember and make note of it. I had the opportunity to talk with two little girls yesterday while waiting with my 2 year old daughter at an appointment. One of the girls was pointing out all of the toys and commenting to me that the toys could teach my daughter various things. I replied that we all learn something every day, we just need to stop and think about what it is. The other girl heard this. She stopped, thought for a moment, and started rattling off all the things she’d learned in the last 10 minutes. At my house, we often go around the dinner table listing what we’ve learned for the day.

5. Thankfulness – Thanks is such a huge encompassing topic. I think it’s more about appreciateion. When we are thankful for something, the impact can be enormously wide reaching, and one little act of thanks can have a ripple effect we won’t ever see the end result. If we take the time to stop and show our gratitude for even the smallest of things, it could impact someone else greatly – that act of reaching out without anything more than to say thank you – it is a powerful gift to give.

I bet you thought I was going to say penguins, didn’t you?

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5 things I stand for

I’ve always been a wanderer in many different circles. I like the diversity of meeting and knowing people with different interests and experiences than my own… each a small reflection of something I enjoy. Not to mention, I have a short attention span, so having multiple interests and activities in common with different groups of people keeps me excited in a number of directions. I try to surround myself with a variety of positive vibes so my mind stays on an upbeat most the time.

It’s interesting to me how some of my own focuses are mixed so fabulously with the people I come across.  I’ve met artists that are crazy in love with social networking as much as I am. I am friends with internet marketers that love crafting or photography. There are bloggers that write about business as well as art. Each of these people have an influence on how I focus on my own projects, how I look at my progress and how I plan for tomorrow.

I’ve learned that I can’t just sit here and draw – no matter how much I love it -  if I want to really build a career and reputation around my art. The people I network with, unintentionally remind me every day to not just create art, but shout about it.

All of these influences also have an impact on the art I create as well. My subject matter is my life and common every day aspects of the world around me. I avoid letting the negativity in life influence me, however. I’m always trying to find the positive in situations because focusing on the negative doesn’t do me any good… and besides, who want’s to buy an un-smiley face on a t-shirt? I don’t want that karma landing in my bank account.

Examples of influences that have been good to me

I’ve never been much of a girly girl, but wen I sat down to draw up my impression of a true girl, this Little Diva is what I came up with. At the time I didn’t yet have a daughter… she has turned out to be exactly like this – If it’s girly and pink, she thinks it’s hers. Maybe the illustration was foreshadowing. The influences of the unknown are powerful!

Last year I sent out a twitter that asked “If you were a food, what would you be?”. From that resulted the Smiley Cheeseburger – a Scott Jangro response full of inspiration. There’s some seriousness in that grinning burger, right next to the mayo I think, look carefully.

Sometimes I just draw some silly thoughts that have crossed my mind. This passed out Easter bunny, “The Day After Easter“, was inspired by my husband’s – first time as the Easter bunny dad – Easter experience. I’ve never seen someone so exhausted by egg filling and jellybean hunting.

Another influence for me is food. I have a theory that food is a universal language. Everyone eats so therefore everyone understands food. My explanations of various topics always include food analogies… and so does my art. This is where my happy Nut collection came from.

I can’t always attribute a design to someone or something specific, but it’s always a life experience that has influenced me in one way or another.I always try to keep it upbeat and positive, and if my surroundings get too negative, I switch my environment or train of thought.

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Are your influences good for you?

I’ve been working on this topic for about 3 weeks now. It originally started when the weather was literally cold and wet and the mood around me was just dreary. At the time I was dealing with a dozen projects, new concepts, the end of the kids’ school year and a couple family members in the hospital. The world felt like it was pouring anxiety and wasn’t letting up long enough for me to breathe.

photo by JGoode

Today as I write this almost all of the happenings of 3 weeks ago have been resolved, finalized, healed or otherwise. Yet, new issues, tasks, conflicts and worries have taken their places. While one issues seems like it is the top priorty of my universe, as soon and there is a solution, a new issue becomes the top spot.

This is a reality I think is worth noting and finding a new route to manage. There will always be tasks and issues and changes and things to handle. There will always be some kind of “urge” priority while other items take the second seat in my lobby of responsibilities. I think the goal then is to learn to let the stress go entertain itsef and not get in my way.

Part of this process is going to require me to give up control on a few things. If i see an issue I know how to handle, yet it’a not my issue to solve, I need to learn to let it go. I should probably learn to leave it alone, but I can’t seem to keep my mouth closed if I can think of a way to deal with something… I have to at least share my insight. I mean really, what if I don’t share my view and it could have helped someone else? Yet, if I am going to continue to brainstorm with others, I need to learn to no hold on to the ideas – needing them to be acted upon.

I think, for me, another difficult task is going to be learning to look past the choices my children make. My job is to teach them to make good choices, but if I continue to demand they choose the option I would, they won’t learn to make the choice themself. How can I unload my stress and overload if I am holding on to the decisions others make? Sometimes I think I like to torture myself… how insane.

photo by JGoode

The bottom line, no matter how hard we work nor how organized or prepared we are – there are always going to be situations bigger than we are. There are always going to be things out of our control. If we let go of the things we can’t dictate – leaving them behind, the rain might lighten up a bit. We will be able to see through the clouds to the things we’ve actually been able to give our best effort. Then we’ll move forward feeling more accomplished.

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Does it always pour when it rains?