As the new year gets under way I find myself thinking about my work. My work is Creativity! And so that covers a great deal of stuff. I told you the other day that I was going to focus my energy this year and work harder towards my goals. So today one of the things I want to talk about is Rules!

(A primitive painting by me, just an old house on a hill full of lovely quilts.)

Life is full of rules, there always seems to be something we have to do or should be doing and someone who is always quick to point out that we are not doing it right. I am not sure why the are quick to judge us but they are. I just dont take to heart what they say.

I will tell you a little something about me, I for the most part always like to make my own rules, especially when it comes to my art. That is because I believe that in art there really are no rules. There are ideas, ways that others do things, guidelines but for the most part no real steadfast rules.

My brain instantly looks at an idea and starts to change it, ask questions and try to figure out how I can do my own thing to a project. And that usually means bending and twisting and sometimes even breaking the rules. That is the fun part, taking something and seeing what I can do with it. From my experience in teaching others I have seen that many people can be stuck inside the rules, or even so afraid of doing it wrong that they never ever get started.

(one of my painted snowman designs, I plan to turn into a quilt by next winter)

I believe there is no wrong way to do art, as a matter of fact I have learned some incredible things and created some of my best ideas while working outside the rules. Some people might look at that and see me doing something wrong, I look at that and see me learning, figuring and growing. So I guess it all comes down to how you choose to see it.

One of the goals I hope to accomplish this year is to take my love of quilting, my art experience and my creativity and break it down into elements that anyone can do and thru my classes and encourage everyone to have fun, try new things and make some fun funky thingsand maybe even break a few rules of their own. It doesnt matter how much you know, it doesn’t matter if you do it your way, it only matters that you have fun and try new things.

( my fun funky little painted cats, also soon to be a quilt design)

I love to break the rules, it’s just part of my makeup, I can’t help myself, I dont worry about being wrong, I love the adventure of doing it my way. I would miss so many fun things if I always did it by the book. I invite you to let go, throw the rules to the wind, look at things as a guidleine as to how you can do a partiular thing and then put YOURSELF into it by following your desire. Remember there is no wrong in art, just have fun.