Author: Belinda Botzong

If your New Year focus is becoming more creative, sharing your existing creativity, or maybe you don’t even realize you’re creative… then have we got a line up for you!

Starting with Open Studio, we will kick off the new year at Refind Creations with this very popular exploration in creativity. Drop in without a ticket… no RSVP required! The studio is open second Monday of every month from 6-8pm. The art supplies are provided or bring your own project to work on or get help with. It’s all free! You’ll meet wonderful creative people just like you!

Next up we have a really fun workshop all about Art Journals. No writing. Just art! Come meet local artist, Kimberly Snider. Kim has a wide variety of materials for you to try out as you learn the art of journaling without words! Click here to sign up!

A wonderful compliment to the art journal would be gelli papers. If you’ve never heard of gelli plates then you are in for a treat! Artist Candice Christie loves everything related to collage art and she especially loves creating unique, one of a kind papers to use in collage… or in your art journal! Sign up for a beginner class and you will catch the gelli roll addiction! Click here to sign up!

Candice is also set to teach a workshop on Cold Wax and Oil Painting. This is a big WOW! waiting to happen! If you have always wanted to create paintings that are abstract, original, and really unique, then this is the class for you. There are several sessions coming up but get started and sign up for multiple dates throughout the year. Click here to sign up!

If you are a local artist who would like to teach a class or workshop, please contact Belinda at refindcreations33@gmail.com for more information!

Watch the events calendar for other really exciting events, workshops, and classes. We cannot wait to create with you!

Happy New Year!

Over the past few months, I have looked at a few books related to creativity in hopes to find one to do for an artist’s bible study or small group.  Nothing really spoke to me. Yet.

I had a meeting with an artist recently about joining the roster of teaching artists in the studio. In sharing my “philosophy” on creativity, I brought up an idea that has resonated with me deeply.

So, if God Created us in his image and we are like him, then we are created with the gifts of creativity! We must create. We long to see beauty and meaning in our surroundings and we long to participate in creating that beauty and meaning.

The same day I had been talking to another artist and she recommended a book called “The Artist’s Way“.  I loaded it on my Kindle that evening.  It was originally written in the 1990’s by an author named Julia Cameron.  It was revised in 2015 and that’s the version I loaded and immediately started reading. 

When she told me about The Artist’s Way, Kim had no idea I was being prompted about doing a bible study for artists. 

The opening line of chapter one says, “For most of us, the idea that the creator encourages creativity is a radical thought.”  And I thought, oh my gosh, this is the essence of creativity, just as I said to my new teaching artist!  The first chapter goes on to say, “Those who speak in spiritual terms routinely refer to God as the creator but seldom see creator as the literal term for artist”. 

Whenever I’ve been asked who my favorite artist is, I say besides Dr. Suess?  God!  I’ve written so many times about his amazing artistry, attention to detail, and use of all the concepts we seem to think WE created – line, shape, color, texture!  Those are concepts HE allowed us to discover through openly creating with him!

I imagine God in his beautiful beret, holding his infinite palette of colors in one hand while flinging paint everywhere, creating endless masterpieces. He throws back his head in joyful abandon and does it again and again.

Every day he whips out another palette, another kind of paint brush, another technique and pours his designs into the sky at sunset.  Every evening, never the same sunset appears, and people stop to ponder it all.  And it’s amazing.

As I pray about having a small group, the arrows are pointing to using The Artist’s Way as a text book.  I feel inadequate to lead any deep subject. I am a writer, not a speaker. I imagine myself as the worst of counselors as I am the “Suck it up buttercup, Get ‘r Done, don’t whine just make the change, move forward don’t dwell” kind of girl.

One of the other teaching artists says this book literally changed his life and he has “The Artist’s Prayer” tattooed on his back! 

Coincidences?  I think more like Godincidences that so many who have been brought to create with me see that their creativity is a gift.  Just like when we try to find features in our children that come from their father, so we find the features of our Heavenly Father reflected in ourselves. 

Shortly after these Godincidences started, a married couple attended one of my workshops called Art in the Garden.  It turns out that the husband is the “creative one” and that the wife is a therapist.  She wanted to find a creative activity for them to do together because he loves crafts and art!  He and I were talking about having discovered our creativity later in life and I was telling them about “The Artist’s Way” and how I believe that our creativity is an extension of God.

I would love to do a book club based on the book… and Godincidence of all Godincidences, I would LOVE to find someone to lead such a book club. 

So!  If it all comes together, let us begin… If it all goes as planned, “The Artist’s Way” is coming to an art studio near you and I would love to invite you to join us! If you are interested I would love to hear from you! My thought is one Sunday afternoon per month, but I am listening.

Today is Thanksgiving and yesterday was my 59th Birthday. That means that in 1963, the day after President Kennedy was killed, I bounced into the world! I was born to a single mom with an older brother and I have been very blessed to be here ever since.

If you follow me on facebook or instagram you may have already read this. Read it again. If you are in a position to donate in the name of my birthday and in the name of all that is good an holy, I fully support the mission of the Bellingham Lighthouse Mission and would be honored to have $5 sent to them as a gift to me and them.

By Gods Grace I’ve never been homeless or helpless. I’ve never gone a day without food or love or grace. I am blessed and my soul is crushed when I look in the eyes of someone laying splayed out in a park or parking lot in 25 degree or 85 degree weather and I pray it’s never my child. Sometimes we get frustrated with their choices. Sometimes we judge correctly but that’s not love. Sometimes we get angry with one who lives so far outside the boundaries of humanity. Sometimes we think they are choosing. And sometimes they are.

Sometimes we say get a job like that’s an easy answer. Sometimes I say where’s your mother and I’m a mother who can understand the loss of relationship when in crisis. Maybe they should be cast out of society altogether. Maybe they should be housed and fed. Maybe it costs too much. Maybe it’s not a matter of resources. Maybe. The problem is too big. There is no one solution. There is no one answer. What if we each just did one thing to make it better? One small thing. Anything. God us big. There is a solution. But until there’s a final solution then donate to places that have a plan.

Give the guy splayed in the parking lot who looks like he might be dead more than a kick to see if he is. Ask him if he needs anything. Give him a bag of food and smile when he says how did you know all my favorite things?? Ease one burden. Listen to one story. Whisper one prayer when they spin around on one foot shouting at an unseen being and laughing maniacally. Imagine him as an innocent baby; imagine what he’d feel like if he could eat a hot meal. Take a hot shower. Get a clean pair of socks. Imagine.

Then act in it by donating $5 to those who’ve dedicated their time and resources. There is a lot of blame to go around and lots of speculation and desperation and responsibility and disability. So many opinions and distrust and lies and truth. Confusion. Delusion. Judgement. Self righteousness. Right. Wrong. Just give. It’ll do us more good than them. It’ll do them more good than not. It’ll be an act of love. A drop in a sea of troubles that will be blessed. Thank you.

Thank you to each and every one of you who took the time to participate in the creativity of my studio over the past six months. From Whatcom Art Guild Acrylics Group to Drop in Studio guests; from acrylic pour to glue and paper, it has been my absolute joy to get to know the teaching artists, those visiting from out of town and found a place to create, those who came from out of town purposefully to create, those who “accidentally” stopped in and fell in love with my joyful place, and to my family who cheers me on – Happy Thanksgiving and All God’s blessings on each of you!

I have so many ideas and plans and if you are so inclined I would appreciate prayers to the ultimate Creator, who created us in his image and that means we are created to create! As I make a new business plan and prayerfully decide what to do in 2023 and beyond, I joyfully await the adventure and hope you’ll tag along!

Belinda

Refind Creations Studio

In any kind of job, you can be creative.  Each job just uses different tools, some which help you create, some which make you more efficient; some you would expect while others can be unusual!

If you’re a barista, making the top of my cappuccino pretty is very creative and your art supplies include coffee, cream, and a coffee maker!  Finding ways for your children to be quiet at appropriate times can be very creative, with your art supplies including paper and markers, perhaps.  Putting food on a plate takes a lot of creativity if you are in the restaurant business. It may require special thought to placement and design! 

Sometimes we create new ways to be efficient.  Sometimes it’s how to pass the time in a waiting room.  Have you ever imagined redecorating the Department of Motor Vehicles?  Have you ever thought about fixing someone’s hair as they sit in front of you in a meeting?  Were you doodling on your notepad during that meeting??  You are creative!

What are your favorite creative supplies?  Where do you like to find them?  What are the tools of your trade?

A creative home builder might find her supplies at Home Depot.  A teacher might find his at the Dollar Tree (one of my favorite art supply stores!)

For mixed media artists, there are many tools of the trade that are not traditional.  Being an artist doesn’t necessarily mean you use a paint brush, a canvas, or even paper. You may not even realize YOU are an artist until you look at yourself through the creative lens of the greatest artist of all times. God.

Mixed media artists need adhesives, substrate, and a variety of sometimes unusual materials. There may or may not be a need for paint and brushes. Sometimes it’s spackle and flower pigments! Sometimes it’s crushed glass and twisted metal! As a mixed media artist I have an eclectic list of “a few of my favorite things”.  Some are expected and some are not to be found in any Hobby Lobby or Michaels anywhere. My studio is filled with so many, many things that are unexpected!

1. I think I’ve gone through more little sponge brushes than anyone in the world.  I love them for everything from stenciling to putting on adhesive!  Dollar Tree and Tuesday Morning are the best suppliers of sponge brushes. 
2. Recently I found out about Nova Color from one of the teaching artists.  Using Nova 204 has changed how  I paint … with petals (coming up).  It is a matte acrylic medium which we use for so many projects in the studio.  It creates a beautiful finish, acts as an adhesive, and does not stink or cause a mess.  I am a big fan. Nova 209 is one of the best adhesives I’ve ever used for my art.  It dries clear and quickly and provides structure for some of my pieces with heavier things like branches and full flower blossoms.
3. My most unusual art supply is likely my huge collection of dried, pressed, and preserved flowers.  Wherever I go my eyes are scanning for the next flower to pluck.  We go to Palm Springs several times throughout the year, and I am always surprised by some new blossom.  Thanks to the amazing creativity of Google Lens, I was able to identify these periwinkle blossoms and they are my latest favorite art supply!  At the condo we rented for the weekend I was enamored with these sweet little faces.  Not to mention my quintessential desert flowers, the amazing bougainvillea that grow prolifically in all shades of pink, purple and red.  Every trip entails my attempt to preserve as many blossoms as possible and get them safely home.  A notebook, a pile of paper towels, a trip to the store to get watercolor paper; always part of my vacation days!
4. Arteza wood canvas cradles are used generously in the studio as a substrate.  I love their sturdy structure and smooth wood grain.  If you like to create collages, then I would highly recommend these, directly from Arteza.
5. I use a lot of stencils in my studio.  One of my favorites for mylar stencils is Wallcutz.  Their products fill two large binders and a hanging system in my studio.  I love their clean edges, creativity, and customer service.  For the mesh stencils that imitate screen printing, I love the designs from A Makers’ Studio.  They are so fun and easy to use.  And reuse.
6. I love to put copper on pretty much everything.  Copper leaf, copper paint, copper copper!  Just try to find something I’ve made that didn’t have copper or gold or at least some shimmery, shiny component.

Bougainvillea and Periwinkle Blossoms

I would love to hear from you about your “art supplies”. How do you creatively make something happen in your life?

Disclaimer: I receive nothing in return for mentioning these companies, except for possibly A Maker’s Studio. I want to authentically tell you what I like because I like it, not because I got paid to endorse or sell. Buy on Amazon, buy wherever. Just keep being creative!