7 Simple Ways to Start Your Day On the Right Foot

As an artist, I am always working to improve my skills. As a human being, I am always seeking ways to keep myself healthy in body, mind and soul. Here are some things that I have been incorporating into my morning routine that have truly helped me to start my day off on the right foot.

1. Stretch Your Body
When I wake up in the morning, the first thing that I do is stretch my body. I have lower back issues, so I focus a great deal on stretching that area as well as my hamstrings and legs since I spend a great deal of time on my feet.

2. Move Your Body
Getting to the gym can be a challenge with a busy schedule, but I feel so much better when I get exercise in. I have started to incorporate a small amount of exercise into my morning routine. After my morning stretches I will focus on one part of my body and work on that. For example, I will do as many push ups, squats, lunges, crunches, etc. as I can. I usually only have time to focus on one of these, but even that little bit will get my heart rate going and help me to have more energy through my morning.

3. Hydrate Your Body
After a night of sleeping, my body is generally pretty parched. Drinking a full glass of water gives me an instant boost and helps to keep away headaches and other aches and pains that might deteriorate my mood throughout the day.

4. Fuel Your Body
Your body needs fuel to function. So make sure that you keep breakfast as your most important meal of the day! I have personally found that 1 egg on a slice of multigrain toast will keep my body satisfied for hours. I will often pair it with a green juice or acai juice so that I get a nice dose of fruits and veggies too. Play around with what breakfast works the best for you, but stay away from overly processed items and make sure to throw in some fruits or veggies.

5. Stay Inspired
I personally find a great deal of inspiration in the bible. So I have an app on my android called Laudate that I refer to every morning for the daily mass readings. Each reflection that it has also contains a prayer. However, if this isn't your thing, there are plenty of apps and websites that have daily inspirational and motivational quotes, such as http://www.dailyinspirationalquotes.in/. Words of wisdom are always inspiring!
For art related inspiration, 'The Daily Book of Art; might be a good option for you. It has 365 readings that teach, inspire and entertain. It can be found on amazon.com here

6. Stay Cheerful
When you are in a good mood, it instantly changes the mood of others around you. You will also find yourself better able to handle the problems that you encounter throughout the day. I find that driving to work with my local Christian Rock radio station instantly changes my mood. I drive to work with Wally from The Wally Show (website here) and his show makes me laugh so much that it's difficult to be in a bad mood. We have all encountered the drivers who should never have been given drivers' licenses. Often these encounters leave us in a less-than-amicable mood. If I am playing music that makes me happy, I find that I stress less, drive slower and enter my workplace in a calm and happy mood. If you don't already have a favorite radio station, start experimenting. Otherwise, grab some of your favorite CDs or your Ipod.

7. Make Goals for Your Day
I find that setting realistic goals at the beginning of my day really helps me to stay on track. I'm personally a list maker, so I keep a small notebook where I can physically write these tasks down. I love being able to physically cross things off of my list. As I get things done, I feel a sense of accomplishment that helps me to keep my good mood going.

What are some things that you do in the morning to keep yourself healthy and happy?

Which of the things that I've listed would you find to be the most challenging to incorporate and why?

Introducing Laura Stamper Designs!

I promised to share with you an amazing fantasy jewelry artist, and here is she! I can't tell you how much her work inspires me. Much like me, her inspiration is rooted in story. As such, each piece of miniature wearable sculpture has its own personality and its own story to tell.

Laura grew up in rural Minnesota where she was surrounded by the natural elements that would become her greatest source of inspiration. Laura originally studied portrait painting. Even today, her first love is painting and illustrating.  She still uses the same creative approach to her jewelry that she used for her portrait paintings, thinking in terms of color, composition and negative space. Her artwork first evolved from portrait painting to creating miniature porcelain paintings, sculptures and jewelry pieces. Soon she learned how to work in metals and began to incorporate metal work with her jewelry.  Each of her unique pieces is crafted from porcelain and gemstones, and set in precious mixed metals.

Laura is a wonderful example of an evolving artist. Rather than continuing in only one area of art and doing portrait paintings her whole life, she has sought to grow and evolve so that her art takes on many new and exciting forms.  We have a shared love of learning and I admire her tenacity and perseverance.  

Often artists have a hard time letting go of certain pieces. Laura has a wonderful theory about her art that helps her to part with these beautiful creations without shedding a tear. She believes that each piece is waiting for her human twin.   "They tell me who they are and I just provide the hands to help them get here.  I also think they know who they are going home with long before I do. " What a wonderful way to look at it! 

To check out more of her fantastic creations, go to her etsy shop.

 

A Trip to the Louvre

I just wanted to thank everyone for the kind comments regarding my last blog post about my trip to France. I'm so glad that everyone enjoyed my photos!

I didn't really cover my trip to the Louvre in that post because the Louvre definitely deserves a post of it's own. That place is mind boggling with the sheer size of the building and it's quantity of art! It contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 652,000 sq ft! It also gets approximately 15,000 visitors a day! I only spent a day there and felt like my head would explode if I took in one more piece of artwork.

I would like to share with you some of my personal favorites that I saw while there.

A Detail of Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss by Antonio Canova - one of my favorite Neo-classical sculptures.

   Young Christian Martyr by Paul Delaroche I had never seen this painting before but feel instantly in love with the dramatic composition and lighting. SO beautifully executed.

                           Diana and Actaeon by Francesco Albani
This piece is beautifully executed like most Baroque or Rococo paintings, but I'll tell you WHY I loved it so much. This piece tells the story of the hunter Diana's bath being disturbed when the mortal man, Actaeon,  accidentally stumbles into the scene. She ends up turning him into a deer who is then killed by his friends when they fail to recognize him. Typical tragic story. Diana stands in the center pointing in an accusatory fashion towards the unfortunate Actaeon while her nymphs try vainly to shield her nakedness. Here is the part that I love. Check out the face of the young nymph to the bottom left of Diana's figure. ( Diana is actually resting her foot upon the nymph's thigh) This nymph is shielding herself like the others, but actually has a slight smile on her face. Does she find the whole situation amusing? Is she slightly enamored with the young man? There is a shy, but definitely intriguing look upon this nymphs face and it's HER face that made this painting one of my favorites. I could spend hours just looking upon the story and trying to determine what exactly she might be thinking or feeling.

                  A detail from The Slumber of Titania by Richard Dadd  I've always loved Midsummer Night's Dream and have myself done several pieces depicting Titania asleep. I hadn't even realized that this piece was at the Louvre so I was delighted and surprised when I stumbled across it. The thing that is so unbelievable about this piece is that it is SO SMALL! All of this amazing detail is done in a 25 x 30 inch painting!

Here are a few more that I really love, but can't give credit to because I forgot to write down the title and artist's name. (the Louvre's database is a bit difficult to navigate if all you have are descriptions) If any of you recognize the painting, or artist, PLEASE share it with me so that I can add it under the pieces! Much obliged... :)

             This sculpture depicts Joan of Arc as she hears the voice of God. I love that the artist placed her in a standard dress, but has the foot peeking out from under her dress in armor. It's a lovely sculpture that beautifully tells a story.

 This is a detail from a portrait of a young girl. ( The photo I took of the full piece had some light glare from the window behind me ) The soft light and way in which this piece was painted just stole my heart immediately. I absolutely love it!

     This sculpture just looks so real to me! I love his gnarled, lined face and hands. The amazing folds in his cloak!  He's just beautiful!


A few other shots of the Louvre itself.

                               Being inside the glass pyramids are super cool!

                      The architecture inside the museum is stunning!

                                The ceilings are breathtaking!

 If you would like to take your own tour of the Louvre, you can take a 3-D tour by going to their website. 
I hope that you enjoyed this brief trip to the Louvre!

Thanks for checking out my blog and have a wonderful weekend!

Falling Beautifully

I was recently able to spend some time in North Carolina. It was wonderful getting away from the stress of my daily life and spend a moment being awed and inspired instead. My family and I were heading to North Carolina to spend time with my little sister and her beautiful daughter who was celebrating her first birthday. In the end, we accidentally timed it perfectly to see fall in all of it's glory. It has been a long time since I've been able to see fall at it's peak and I was so amazingly happy to get to see it this year. I really felt like I needed to see this. It's simply awe inspiring how gorgeous nature, and life in general, can be.

Here are some pictures from my trip. Enjoy!

                                           Happy Birthday Coralie!