Posting for Practice: My 365 Day Challenge

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Inspiration, Jazz Age by Cindy Adelle Richard

I started the new year by setting a challenge for myself: complete and post one drawing each day on Instagram. Here are a few of my sketches:

I really wanted to establish a practice which would require me to draw at least once a day, and so far I have been sticking to it – I just posted my drawing for Day #37! By the end of the year, I hope to have some drawings that would be worthy of starting my online shop (my goal for 2018). I am focusing on practicing, experimenting, and putting it all out there. I always feel a little vulnerable just before I hit SHARE, but people have been really supportive so far.

This is what I have learned so far:

this is a great way to keep creative ideas flowing – the more I create, the more ideas seem to just come to me
having a back up file of content to share is really helpful on the days I cannot create art but I still want to post; whenever I have more time, I draw more than one sketch to keep in a file
this has been great for experimentation; I love so many styles of illustration right now, but ultimately, I want to develop my own style – the only way to figure it out is to try out lots of different styles to see what sticks

If there is a creative habit you have been wanting to establish, I highly recommend taking on a daily challenge of your own. If you would like to follow me on Instagram, my handle is @adellecirca1920

I would love to hear what you all are working on in 2017. Please share in the comments if you have a chance.

19Jan2016

Follow Your Curiosity

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Inspiration, Jazz Age, Self Knowledge by Cindy Adelle Richard

I watched an inspiring video by Elizabeth Gilbert about following one’s curiosity to figure out pathways in life here . Up until now, Gilbert has always been an advocate of the philosophy to “follow your passion” because that has always worked for her. A letter from a frustrated reader caused her to change her perspective; the reader had been searching for a passion for years, and had reached the point of being depressed because she did not seem to have one. It caused Gilbert to take a step back and think about the pathways of various people in her life that did not know their passions, but discovered them over time. She has now revised her theory about passion to accommodate people who are like hummingbirds – people who flit from interest to interest, and then eventually they are able to look over the field of their lives to see what they caused to bloom. I am one of those hummingbirds. I went through life for years frustrated by the fact that I could not seem to find one passion that really rang true for me. Now the dots of my life are finally starting to come together to reveal what I am trying to do.

One concrete example of how I have followed my curiosity has to do with drawing. Over the summer, I went to visit the National Museum of American Illustration in Newport because I was curious to see how they would present the work of illustrators in a house museum National Museum of American Illustration .

National Illustration Museum

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2Dec2015

Summer Memories

Posted in 1920s, Inspiration, Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby by Cindy Adelle Richard

Hello Jazz Lovers,

I have been meaning to share some photos of my jazz inspired adventures from this past summer, but time has gotten away from me. Although summer is long gone, I thought you would enjoy hearing about a few events. I attended a Gatsby themed party at the Star Island Resort, and it was quite the affair. The soirée included a lawn picnic accompanied by a jazz band, lounging on rocking chairs on the massive porch sipping our beverages of choice, and exploring the picturesque island at our leisure. The 1920s style hotel was the main attraction on the island, and there were cottages sprinkled about which made it feel like a little colony. Star Island Retreat Center offers all types of personal and group retreats to fit just about anyone’s interest. I certainly have plans to return to partake of the art and writing retreats! In case you are interested in visiting, here is the link http://www.starisland.org In the meantime, here are some pictures to feast upon:

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The other event I attended was a murder mystery cruise held by the Actors’ Studio of Newburyport. We cruised around the harbor, and watched the antics of a professional acting troupe as they tried to deduce “who done it”. The audience actively participated throughout the performance, so there were some interesting ideas presented. My favorite character was CiCi, the hostess, because she was oh so southern and a master at skating around unpleasant topics (such as the fact that their last ship sank just before our voyage). Here are some fun photos from the event (I am sure you can guess which parts each these actors played just by looking at their costumes):

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I hope you all enjoyed your summer as well. Thank you for checking out my pictures, and be well until we meet again.

22Jun2015

New Beginnings

Posted in 1920s, Creativity, Inspiration, Jazz Age, Writing by Cindy Adelle Richard

I created a new blog header for Notes on the Jazz Age:

What do you think? It took me a few hours to set up the “photo shoot” (if you can call it that) and to take a ridiculous amount of photos. I have always loved black and white photography, and I have vowed to learn as much as possible about it through trial and error and studying the methods of others. I also used this image to create business cards; it is perfect timing too because I only have five cards left with my old blog header.

In addition to learning photography, I have decided that I need to learn to draw. I signed up for a six-week class at the museum in Boston. We shall see how it all turns out. You will definitely see the fruits of my labor because I plan to share my experiments with photography and drawing on this blog. I would love to illustrate my stories in the future. Being a visual person, I have always been drawn to books which incorporate visuals and words.

I just shared a few of my creative adventures. Have you tried something totally new and creative lately? If so, I would love to hear about it.

12Oct2014

On Writing: Summer Writing Woes

Posted in Art, Creativity, Inspiration, Writing by Cindy Adelle Richard

Photo courtesy of Central Home/Pinterest

My writing habits got woefully off track this summer. I wrote….some, but the weather was just soooo nice, and we had suuuch a hard winter that I just had to get outside, and there was just soooo much to do, and I neeeeded a break. Is my whining working yet? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Although I didn’t get as much writing done as I would have liked to this past summer, there is one ritual I maintained even during the most enticing days of summer – I woke up at least an hour and a half early to have time to myself before my day started. During that time, I would at least write my morning pages (for the uninitiated, morning pages are three pages of stream of consciousness freewriting proposed by Julia Cameron). The great thing about these pages is that they let me know what I am thinking about writing, reading, experiences, my responsibilities, and just life in general. The thoughts are not always fun or productive and sometimes they lead absolutely nowhere, but more often than not, they yield solid ideas for taking action. For example, I have written about needing to write more in my recent morning pages, and my exploration yielded the following actions to try:

1. Use morning pages to write about my current project to get my mental juices flowing

2. Work on one project during that time (I always have more than one writing project in play to keep me from getting bored)

3. Read something for inspiration everyday

4. Plan/schedule an artist date once per week (this is another suggestion of Julia Cameron’s – to do something fun once a week by yourself for at least two hours to inspire your inner artist; I’ve been doing this off and on for about three years, and it has changed my life)

5. Make time to just think (this is to remind myself to just be still and take time for daydreaming or pondering ideas I find intriguing)

6. Meditate before bed (while I used to enjoy doing this as part of my morning routine, it takes too much time away from my writing – I’ve decided to try flipping it to bedtime)

In case you are interested in learning more about Julia Cameron’s suggestions to do morning pages and artist dates, I have included her website http://juliacameronlive.com/ (there are two videos under the tab about the artist’s way video program).

These are the tips I have come up with so far to get my writing back on track. What tips and tricks do you use to keep yourself writing on a regular basis?

2Oct2014

Jazz Age Lawn Party – The Crane Estate

Posted in 1920s, Inspiration, Jazz Age, Jazz Musicians by Cindy Adelle Richard

I attended a Jazz Age Lawn Party at the Crane Estate in Ipswich, MA, and it was the bees knees! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist) As you can see, I dressed up for the occasion and so did everyone else. I truly felt like I was experiencing a lovely afternoon in the 1920s because everyone was dressed to impress, live jazz was playing, and people were dancing the Charleston and Lindy Hop. You can see the grand old estate in the background. The lawn extends along a grand alley all the way to the ocean. I will be posting more pictures of the inside of the Crane Estate from a house tour I attended, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy these pictures. I wish you all could have been there!

Adelle Circa 1920

Category Archives: Inspiration