October 4, 2017 by Holly Herick Design - 0 comments

Animal Portraits

Hi all, It has probably been a year or more since I have updated my blog. I’ve been so busy building websites and driving all over tarnation to watch my daughter play soccer and help her find a college that it seems like I have not even thought about blogging. Generally, I keep my blogs more about my creative life—thus the name “Creative Adventures”.

Recently, I read a book “Breaking Dawn” a memoir about a woman dedicating her life to protecting endangered elephants in Zimbabwe, Africa. The book takes you to the scenic wild African ranges and discusses the dangers of government corruption and power. I reached out to the author Sharon Pincott and became pen pals with her. It seems we have some very uncommon things in common, but that is a whole other story. This new friend of mine is currently back in Africa observing the wildlife and is an amazing photographer. she has been (teasing) asking me to draw an elephant for her. This mixed media art drawing is based on one of her photos of a sweet elephant called Moyo. Enjoy.

If you desire an animal portrait, please contact me.

All my best,

Holly

January 25, 2015 by Holly Herick Design - 0 comments

My Current Creative Adventure: Vintage Art & Wine

You may have been wondering why I have been relatively quiet here at Creative Adventures. My quietness does not reflect the adventure I have been on these last six months.

Last fourth of July, while out on the boat at Lake of the Woods Resort in Southern Oregon, my friend said to me,”Let’s teach art at wineries.” To which I replied, “That sounds like fun.” Out of this conversation, and many more over beers and buffalo wings, Vintage Art & Wine was born. This is a long story made short. Six months later, with six art lesson plans and many long-lasting relationships with winery owners established—we are still just at the beginning—of one wild ride.

For the full story, head over to vintaeartandwine.com and see what it is all about. Below are a few little inspirational photos that lead to Vintage Art & Wine.

Oregon colors and wineries and water.

My business partner Tara.

My sculpted watercolor paper flowers.

My garden.

Abstraction and paint and pattern and color.

Love of paper and crafting and teaching.

Head on over to my new website for Vintage Art and Wine to learn more. Maybe you will want to take a class…

Stay in touch,

Holly

December 30, 2014 by Holly Herick Design - 0 comments

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 8,100 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 7 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

June 15, 2014 by Holly Herick Design - 0 comments

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

May 21, 2014 by Holly Herick Design - 1 Comment

7 Creative Quotes and Practices: Inspired by Thomas A. Edison

When I think of creativity, I love to think of Thomas A. Edison. He was quite possibly, the most creative person who ever lived—and no—he was not an artist.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

Thomas A. Edison

Many people are afraid of creativity—thinking of it as a special gift, given at birth to only a few. I believe there are ways to exercise your creativity. Here is my list of seven creative quotes and practices inspired by Thomas A. Edison.

1. Never Stop Learning.

Combine your current knowledge with new creative ideas. Pretty much anything you want to learn, you can find on the internet for free these days.

“The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.”

Thomas A. Edison

Kinda cool how he made up a word there
“Stick-to-itiveness.” I gotta love that about Tom.

2. Be Curious.

Have you ever heard of Google? I thought so—If you want an answer, go find it. But be sure to check multiple sources. Not everything you read is factual and there are many ways to go about doing things. Find what works for you.

“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.”

Thomas A. Edison

3. Trust Your Ideas.

You may be one step away from success.

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

Thomas A. Edison

4. Find Creative Friends.

Creative friends will support your crazy ideas and want to do creative activities with you. My friends are happy to listen to my creative adventures. They are also willing to help implement them.

“I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.”

Thomas A. Edison

5. Don’t Worry About Other’s Opinions.

If you spend time thinking about what everyone else thinks, you may drive yourself crazy. People will be happy to agree with you. Why? Because if you do whatever you want and fail over and over, people might think you are strange, but you just might create the new light bulb.

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

Thomas A. Edison

6. Take a Nature/Photo Walk.

Get outdoors or even just out of your office. I enjoy carrying a camera along to take photos of sidewalk cracks, trees, bark, flowers, clouds etc. Get close up, enjoy things from a different perspective.

“I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.”

Thomas A. Edison

7. Schedule Creative Time.

Shut off the computer, the cell phone, and the TV. You may leave on your radio. I believe listening to music while working is the only distration that can improve creativity. Schedule time in the studio to create, to write, or practice your creative skills.

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.

Thomas A. Edison

So there you have it. Thomas A. Edison, one the most inspiring creative people I have ever studied—It would have been fun to know him.

What do you think? Who inspires you?

Sincerely,

Holly Herick: Creative Adventures

P.S. If you like this post, please share with your friends. If you are not on the Creative Adventures newsletter list, you can sign up here. I will never sell your email or spam you. Creative Adventures is a once a month pondering of creative ideas and challenges.

May 2, 2014 by Holly Herick Design - 0 comments

6 Simple Reasons to Get to Know Someone with Special Needs

giftjoy.org introduces Gabe, an artist with special needs.

Watch this video and we will show you why the list below is true.

That person will make you laugh.
That person will impress you.
That person will impress you, AGAIN.
That person will teach you something new about yourself.
You will make a new friend.
Your heart will be so happy.

The list is much longer than six; I encourage you to add to my list. You can leave a comment below.

If you have more interest in people with special needs I encourage you to visit giftjoy.org and join the mission to support artists with special needs. I believe so strongly in these differently abled people that I have started a mission to encourage them—and those who love them. giftjoy.org is a community that celebrates developmental and physical disability within our world. Discover more at giftjoy.org.

April 2, 2014 by Holly Herick Design - 2 Comments

I am Super-De-Duper excited about my latest Creative Adventure!

I am in the process of putting together a new Business Plan and I am super excited.

“Every artist is an ENTREPRENEUR and every entrepreneur is an ARTIST.” – Dr. ‘E’ (Dr. Elliot McGucken). It is true, both entrepreneur and artist create. With that being said, I cannot help but start a new business adventure. If you have been following my blog for any time now, you know that I value creativity and that helping people of all abilities create art is a passion of mine. How it all unfolds is in the works. If any of this sounds interesting to you then sign up and be the first to know when my new business launches. P.S. there will be some free art goodies once I get whole thing rolling.

join the giftjoy.org mission.

Stay tuned,

Holly

March 19, 2014 by Holly Herick Design - 0 comments

Blocking or Unlocking Your Creativity

Blocking or Unlocking Your Creativity:

Block It:

No. 1. Fear of Failure: What if you fail; then what? If you make a mistake, don’t crawl into a hole, learn from it.

No. 2. Fear of Success: What if you could not fail; then what? What if your wildest dreams come true, are you ready to handle it? Remember, No fear?

No. 3. Self Doubt: What story do you tell your self over and over? Is that story reality, or is it a “story” your play over and over in your brain. You may be limiting your own creativity.

No. 4. Too Much on Your Plate: What is more important to you than your creativity? Do you keep yourself busy in order to avoid creative time?

No. 5. Unwillingness to Change: Are you set in your ways, maybe even lazy? Are you willing to move ahead, take the next steps?

Unlock It:

No. 1. Schedule time to create things: Nothing will happen if you do nothing. Even 15 minutes a day, maybe even two or four hours will make a difference. Schedule it.

No. 2. Set a weekly and monthly goal: Plan ahead with one step goals and long term goals. What can you do this week? What is attainable in a month?

No. 3. Find an accountability partner: Someone you can relate to will keep you accountable to your goals. You will learn from holding them accountable to their goals also. It is hard to avoid your goals when your friend is questioning you about what you accomplished this week.

No. 4. Turn off the TV and turn on the radio. Maybe even dance a little. Enough said.

No. 5. Take a walk: Do you know how your brain reacts to physical activity? Its like your brain is on drugs. Amp it up with a walk. (or dance)

P.S. Typing, editing and spelling are not my strongest qualities. If you see a typo, feel free to point it out to via email, hollyherick@charter.net. Then pat yourself on the back for noticing it—I will thank you.

Creative Adventures offers free creativity ideas.

Also, if you like what I am saying, please share with a friend. Members of “Creative Adventures” are always my strongest supporters.

Share with a friend:
http://hollyherick.com/
mailto:hollyherick@charter.net
https://www.facebook.com/hollyherick
https://twitter.com/HollyHerick
http://instagram.com/hollyherick
http://www.pinterest.com/hollyherick/

March 12, 2014 by Holly Herick Design - 2 Comments

Are you a “Scanner” or a “Diver”?

Scanner vs. Diver as referred to by Barbara Sher in “Refuse to Choose”

I had a lightbulb moment today while reading “Refuse to Choose”—I am a Scanner. What is a Scanner you may ask. Well, in order to fully understand you may need to read the book, but I will try to explain.

In our American culture since about 1950, Divers have been valued, Scanners, not so much. (Long story—read the book). Scanners are people who love to learn anything and everything all at once; they find it hard to commit to a specialty. Divers are those that easily commit to a subject and specialize in it, they are the experts in their field.

It is okay to be a Scanner—despite what our culture tells us. I would rather be Scanner of the world than a Diver of one thing. The pressure starts early with, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and “What are you going to major in?” Nobody asks, “Do you want to keep studying your whole life, looking for new opportunities and ideas, inventing things and creating the future?” Even the comment, “Find what you love and make a living at it”—is still asking you to focus on something.

Many Scanners are very creative, example, Leonardo da Vinci. Inventors are often Scanners, example, Ben Franklin. Scanners were never questioned in the past. People were free to discover many things and not criticized for it. Scanners were valued and they will be again in the future. Most entrepreneurs are also Scanners. What would our world be without all the dreamers?

So, now I know why my creative life is so scattered and my blog is about EVERYTHING creative. It is an adventure, a Creative Adventure! I am a Scanner.

Giving credit where credit is due: “Refuse to Choose” by Barbara Sher.

Are you a Scanner? Are you a Diver? Comment below.

March 2, 2014 by Holly Herick Design - 9 Comments

Sculpted Paper Watercolor Flower: An Art Lesson #2

A close up:

Full watercolor painted flower—pen used for scale.

Even our cat Squeaky liked it.

One more full size image of the flower.

: © Holly Herick Design

My sculpted paper flower is more than 12 inches across. Check out the process of making this flower in my previous post. I will definitely make more of these. It was a fun process with much guess-work this time around—taking me three full days to cut, shape and build the flower. I used a bit too much watercolor paint so it took a full day for all the layers to dry. After touch up paint, a day later, I felt like it was done. I am going to show this piece on a pedestal at the Studio at Living Opportunities this March 2014 for a month. I am curious to see how it is received. If you would like to see my sculpted paper watercolor flower in person, stop by 32 South Central, Medford, Oregon on March 14, starting a 5:00. There will be a reception and some great art by artists of the Rogue Valley mixed with artist of the Studio at Living Opportunities. I hope to see you there.

ART SUPPLIES: STRATHMORE® 140 LB. COLD PRESS WATERCOLOR PAPER AND DR. PH. MARTIN’S HYDRUS FINE ART WATERCOLORS FROM DICKBLICK.COM.

P.S.

If you would like to join me in short weekly creative challenges, sign up by pressing the button below. My Creative Adventure friends are important to me and I will never spam you. You will get one weekly short+easy exercise to challenge your brain. Start your Creative Adventure today!

March 1, 2014 by Holly Herick Design - 3 Comments

Sculpted Paper Flower: Art Lesson #1

Sculpted Paper Flower: An Art Lesson

I’m not gonna lie. I am not the first person to create a sculpted paper flower, but here is my first experience with the creative experience.