~ a few words on birds eggs and nests - and being open to "seeing"
~ a photo of messy art in progress and I struggle to decide what colors to use
~ ATCs, tube watercolor, sunscreen, and a three year-old
~ hot air balloons in mine and in his
~ a monoprint auction item update and brief tutorial [for a few monoprint books, see here]
~ hand-carved stamps from erasers [see Ryan's awesome set]
~ a couple of winning books from the red bag (Chrysanthemum and Joseph Had a Little Overcoat)
~ book list is coming (standard recommendations: The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to be the Artist You Truly Are, Visual Chronicles: The No-Fear Guide to Creating Art Journals, Creative Manifestos and Altered Books, The Dot, Ish)
~ ATC update - June assignments will go out June 1
~ thematic creative prompt: The Silver Lining
~ a promo for Lain's fabulous new podcast - ScrapHappy
~ and more... Plus, as always, great podsafe music. (Length: 45 min)

Note: I talk about the birds - and the eggs - in this show and in last week's show. After I got done recording the show, I went and got books out of the bag to read to the little one from my last trip to the library, and I pulled out An Egg Is Quiet. When we laid down and I opened it up, I discovered a wonderful and fantastic and sweet and beautiful book full of beautiful (and I mean seriously beautiful) renderings of all kinds of eggs in all shapes and sizes and colors and patterns. It's fantastic! I wanted to run in, plug everything back up, and tell you all about it. But, I didn't. Still, I wanted to mention the book. I think someone, one of you, actually mentioned this to me a while back, and I didn't ever grab it. When I saw the title on the "new books" shelf the other day, I grabbed it because the title rang a bell. But I had no idea what it "was" and how perfect for the "focus" on birds' eggs!

Featured Podsafe Music:

Intro Clip: Jim Fidler ~ All I Really Wanted [PMN]
For Tomorrow ~ Happy Song [PMN]
Paul Castle - Hold Out for Summer [PNM]

Posted by Amy at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

~ a bit of a mother's day wrap-up
~ thoughts on pajama day
~ a special on-command drawing by the little one sends me into a tailspin on several levels
~ the oldest makes his first ATCs (and I ponder a lemon still life)
~ the charming and true story of Stellina and a great book of poetry for the kids by Justine Rowden that puts famous art into words
~ this week's thematic creative prompt: Hidden
~ ATC update and the ATC theme for June: At Water's Edge (need to deactivate yourself? want to sign up?)
~ Ryan talks about his use of hatching (Dan Price, Danny Gregory, Wagonized, Tom Kane)
~ second call for your voices to play in the upcoming "the CMP turns 1!" show (the box in the sidebar at right makes it easy to leave a msg!)
~ and more... Plus, as always, great podsafe music. (Length: 50 min)

Featured Podsafe Music:

Intro Clip: Jim Fidler ~ All I Really Wanted [PMN]
Laura Hughes ~ Sparrow [PMN]
Josh Woodward - A Song [PNM]

Posted by Amy at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Hey Everybody - I'm giving up on Odeo (for now). But, I'm not giving up on Audio and on hearing and including your voices in the upcoming special show! Taking a tip from Material Mama (which she mentioned to me forever ago), I'm experimenting now with a new audio voicemail system via MyChingo. So, if you have a mic and want to leave a short message, give the big orange box in the sidebar a try. Please note that if you leave audio, I assume you do so with the recognition that I will likely/probably/potentially play it in an episode of the show. I hope to hear from some of you for the anniversary/birthday show! And, hopefully this will make it easier on all of you. Several of you have asked how to best do this. So, give it a try!

Posted by Amy at 4:31 PM | Permalink

~ the Japanese Tea Garden, the Conservatory of Flowers, and a lot in between - most of it somewhere in Golden Gate Park
~ we climb a small mountain and suffer a few film disasters
~ we don't end up with Socks that Rock, but I pick up more Koigu for boy hats and some Colinette Jitterbug, to boot
~ Author's Morning
~ a new thematic prompt: Tranquility
~ two on O'Keeffe (the magical My Name Is Georgia: A Portrait by Jeanette Winter)
~ ATC update
~ "proud [creative] parent moment" a la Ryan
~ call for your voices to play in the upcoming "the CMP turns 1!" show
~ and more... Plus, as always, good podsafe music. (Length: 57 min)

Featured Podsafe Music:

Intro Clip: Jim Fidler ~ All I Really Wanted [PMN]
Laura Hughes ~ Full of Grace [PMN]
Adrienne Pierce ~ One Perfect Day [PMN]

Posted by Amy at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The show is late, late, late. But, it's finally live, live, live. Please, forgive the loads of background noise you'll hear in this one. I commented on it during taping, but in listening back to the show, even I was stunned at how much street noise there is/was. It sounds like I was taping sitting in the middle of a major highway rather than on a relatively quiet street high on a hill away from random traffic. Wowsa. Sorry! I edited out some of the louder trucks, but there's a certain ambience here. I just wanted to make sure you didn't think I was sitting out there... propped back in a fold-up lawn chair, portable recorder in hand...

~ creating a "list" - a personal list - of things to draw when nothing else jumps out at you
~ stuffed animals and a coffee mug with a turtle inside
~ Pig 'N Pancake (Oregon-trip source of the small plastic animal-handled cups)
~ continued respect and kudos to Danny Gregory - you should all own Creative License and Everyday Matters
~ two new creative prompts - a continuation of last week's "photo grid" prompt (this week with a focus on line/shape) and this week's thematic prompt: "Serendipity"
~ The Artist's Muse
~ 1000 ATCs
~ Artist Trading Cards Workshop
~ Russell the Sheep and the Lost Treasure
~ FD Flickr Toys (mosaic maker is good for the prompt)
~ ATC update and official announcement of the May theme: "Reach for the Stars"
~ and more... Plus, as always, good podsafe music. (Length: 58 min)

Featured Podsafe Music:

Intro Clip: Jim Fidler ~ All I Really Wanted [PMN]
Pete Hopkins ~ Become [PMN]
Bree Noble ~ Can You See the Stars [PMN]

Posted by Amy at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)