Welcome to another peek into the studio. I’m having so much fun showing you my creative space that it’s going to be an ongoing feature, and so there’ll be lots more to come!

We all have little rituals and favourite thing that inspire us and keep us going. Here are three of the things that bring a lot of joy and inspiration to my working days. Fresh flowers, a simple note/sketchbook and this amazing birthday present, a one-of-a-kind BookBook hardback leather case for my MacBook Pro. And yes, there are still a few boxes and paint buckets in the corner behind my laptop!

What are some of your favourite things that put a smile on your face when you work?

Tags: accessories, studio

It all started with a volcano erupting. Our airport closed and so business people were getting taxis to take them further south in Europe (for huge amounts of money) in the hope of catching their flights or getting to their destinations, and because of that, traffic on ground was crazy. Trains, busses, cars and subways came to a halt. So I showed up late for an important phone conference. “I’m so sorry I’m late, a volcano just erupted”.

“No, no, no, thankfully it’s not anywhere close to here, it’s Eyjafjallajökull on Island, but it still has an impact on lives here in Sweden.” I thought about firebirds, the Phoenix and dragons and after the meeting I talked to friends and family who had trips, dreams and hopes planned.

Next there was a power cut. And it lasted a whole day. I couldn’t use my computer to finish my illustrations and icons for clients who were expecting them. And I wasn’t able to communicate with my clients to tell them what was going on. I couldn’t get out on the internet, my cell phone was out of a charge so I couldn’t use that and my phone runs on the broadband so that was out of sorts too. Cut off. No communication. Until late in the evening when I found a wobbly bar stool in a hotel with a broadband connection. By then I could use a drink. Or two.

Then Marmalade Moon went offline. Just to add some spice and excitement to life. And my blog was gone for five whole days. I don’t like to point fingers so I won’t leave an explanation to what happened. Let’s just say the dog ate someone’s homework, and that I’m very happy that I could restore my site yesterday. I felt so disconnected without my blog and missed you all! It was like my window to the world closed. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for visiting, and a huge thank you for all your kind e-mails of support when the site was down!

Next, I had to spend the weekend catching up on work, since I was behind on my illustrations because of the power cut. So I couldn’t go to the weekend course I’d signed up to and paid for, to draw and paint dancers in movement.

I almost forgot this, it turns out that I have to buy a new printer to be able to make prints of my new paintings! Why? My five-year-old printer is too old to want to talk to the latest operative system for the Mac…

Oh, and it snowed today! Come on, it’s the end of April!

It’s week seven of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron hosted by Suzy Greaves on The Big Peace Blog. This week two interesting topics are in focus. Perfectionism and jealousy. And with all the events of the week I can definitely say that I’ve had to let go of any attempts at perfectionism!

Isn’t it ironic that this week when I’ve felt so cut off from the world, we’re recovering a sense of connection? We’ve been learning to accept the possibility that the universe is helping us with what we’re doing and to expect the universe to support our dreams! That’s not exactly how I’ve experienced this week… although the power cut was a reminder of just how much we rely on electricity and how much participating in an online community means to me. I suppose one can say, that I did recover a sense of connection, in a very real way!

Before I sign off, here’s a quote from week 7 of The Artist’s Way that I found particularly interesting. “To the perfectionist, there is always room for improvement. The perfectionist calls this humility. In reality, it is egotism. It is pride that makes us want to write a perfect script, paint a perfect painting, perform a perfect audition monologue. . . . “A painting is never finished. It simply stops in interesting places,” said Paul Gardner. A book is never finished. But at a certain point you stop writing it and go on to the next thing. . . . That is a normal part of creativity – letting go.” What would you do if you didn’t have to do it perfectly?

Tags: illustration, prints, technology

It’s so easy to feel energised and inspired when spring is here! The quality of light and the longer days. And the ice on the lake has melted! When it snowed at Easter, I was afraid that I’d have the same news update for the rest of the summer, Ice in May, Ice in June, Ice in July… But spring is here, the birds are singing and the days growing longer.

Here are some of the things that inspire me just now and that I’d much rather do than fiddle with my uncooperative printer. Especially after having spent the weekend setting up my new online shop.

• Participate in Lisa Sonora Beam’s free online workshop in five parts, for how to make Mini-Journals. Here is part one Mini-Journaling to Max Your Creativity: Day 1 of 5 and part two Mini-Journaling to Max Your Creativity: Fear Itself, Part 2 of 5 of the workshop.
• Work on my new painting. It’s got to do with honey and hot summer’s days.
• I’m still thinking about what Julia Cameron writes about “the virtue trap”. “For an artist, withdrawal is necessary . . . We strive to be good, to be nice, to be helpful, to be unselfish. We want to be generous, of service, of the world. But what we really want is to be left alone. When we can’t get others to leave us alone, we eventually abandon ourselves.” It’s week six of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron over at lovely and brilliant Suzy Greaves’ The Big Peace Blog. This week we’re recovering a sense of abundance.
• Go for a long walk along the lake and stop for café au lait and croissants at Petite France. Buy some fresh bread and apricot jam to bring home. Bring a sketchbook and doodle, sketch and write.

In fact, why not? Why not just pick something here and do it! Alright, I’m taking the day off to do something creative for myself.

Tags: spring

Increasing Your Productivity Using Computer Icons

Your productivity when you use your computer, is directly influenced by the ease with which you are able to find and launch your favourite applications, find the projects you are working on, your important files and folders and find, organize and retrieve your internet downloads.

This is why software developers spend a lot of time and money designing icons for their applications.

Doesn’t that indicate that we who use computers, can benefit from spending a few minutes customising our own projects?

Many of us spend more and more time working in a digital environment. A cluttered desktop environment will make you feel overwhelmed. Taking a few minutes to sort it out, make it personal and more functional will pay off by making work more fun and easy, so you can finish your work sooner and spend more time doing something else.

As en extra bonus, you get an overview of your projects when you customize your desktop icons which also helps and motivates in keeping your desktop uncluttered and tidy. Here are three different approaches to using icons as a productivity tool.

Color Coding Your Projects

A simple way to create a more productive digital environment is to use Luminous Folder Icons to colour code your projects.

This is a technique that’s easy to personalize and adapt to different types of projects and files.

Besides, you can pick your favourite colours and bring a splash of color to your desktop into the bargain.

Using Icons To Support Your Workflow

A quick and easy approach is to create a desktop environment that follows your workflow organically.

This example with an icon of a vintage clipboard from the Workflow Collection would make an excellent choice for a folder with projects to-do. The symbol is easy to understand and the icon stands out on the desktop making it easy to find.

The Workflow Collection brings an action-oriented, harmonious structure to your desktop with a minimum of effort or need for maintenance. Find out more about how to organize your desktop by naturally following your workflow.

Using Icons For Your Projects

Using icons for the projects you’re working on will help you find and organize your files.

If your work consists of recurring projects, you could make a template project folder based on what’s needed, and simply copy the project when starting a fresh project.

Here’s an icon with a leather wallet and some coins from the Organizer Collection. This would make a great choice for a folder with documents related to money. Invoices, finances, the budget for a project, there are many possibilities.

Next an icon with a cotton reel with green thread from the Creative Collection that could be used for needlework, crafting, colour swatches, sewing, textiles, quilting, handmade, again these are just a few ideas.

These symbols can be used and redefined by the user in many different ways. Check out the Productive Icons and see how you can make use of them.

Creating a desktop you love to spend time in, will help you enjoy your computer time and focus on your projects rather than feel overwhelmed by desktop clutter. And you’ll be able to finish your work earlier too.

Not sure how to customize your icons? Here’s a tutorial for using icons on a Mac and here’s a tutorial for how to change the icons in Windows.

Tags: color code, desktop customization, ease, focus, getting organized, productivity, simplicity

Ice in April. As you can see, it hasn’t melted much since March, when the ice on the lake inspired me to make this painting and for all my efforts, I still can’t coax the printer into making a good print of Breaking Ice. In stead, it prints horrible washed out and pale, faded prints. I think it simply just won’t cooperate with the latest operating system, since everything was working fine before I upgraded. Isn’t it frustrating when dealing with technology is like walking in sand?! Two steps forward, and one step back. At least I got this dreamy, serendipitous iPhone photo out of the process.

Tags: art, painting, prints