Facing Fear

About three and a half years ago I was frozen in indecision. Paralyzed by fear. Fear of making the wrong decision. Fear of making a mistake.

art, joy, lifeAnne ButeraOctober 2, 2020fears, fear, overcoming fear, letting go of fear, getting over fear, how to overcome your fear, cats, love Comments

Keep Going

This week I painted bleeding hearts with the paint I mixed last week.

It’s lovely to be working with flowers from the garden again. But it’s also been a bit frustrating trying to get back into a groove of art-making and gardening and all the other stuff that life demands.

Sketchbook Revival

I talk about sketchbooks quite a bit around here. They’re one of my favorite ways to create. The art I make there, the practice and play, is special. I sometimes share my pages here and on social media and I’ve shared physical sketchbooks with Dana Barbieri, but most of my pages are just for me. And I cherish that.

I Made Shoes!

Last week I shared my fears around hand sewing and how my belief that I wasn’t “good” at stitching kept me from trying embroidery. I’m not sure if it was that belief, or if was other fears that kept me from using the espadrille kit I bought at the end of August.

fabric, sewing, creativityAnne ButeraFebruary 8, 2019patience, sewing, espadrilles, A Happy Stitch espadrille kit, I sewed shoes, I made shoes, overcoming fear, slowing down, learning to be slow, learning to make shoes, lessons from making shoes, learning lessons, overcoming anxiety Comments

The Lies We Tell Ourself and How to Break Free From Self-Imposed Limitations

Are there things you wish you could do, but “know” you can’t because you don’t have the talent?

Around ten or twelve years ago, before I got the rose tattoo on my ankle I studied images of roses and planned out a design. I even made a sketch and brought it and lots of photographs with me to my appointment. I clearly remember telling the tattoo artist “I want something like this sketch, but I can’t draw”.

creativity, inspiration, joyAnne ButeraFebruary 1, 2019creative restraints, creativity, creative journeys, overcoming lack of creativity, barriers to creativity, self-imposed limitations, lies we tell ourselves, overcoming fear, how to overcome your fear, how to move forward with your creative journey, how to break free from self-imposed limitations, false beliefs, living in the messy middle, popular posts Comments

Making Do and Making Art

What are your barriers to creativity? What keeps you from making or doing on a regular basis? A lack of:

time?
space?
money?

Any Step Will Do -- How to Move Forward with Your Creative Journey

For a while now I’ve been in a weird place in my art journey. Knowing that I need to change, or am on the cusp of change, but not knowing how to do it or what that change is supposed to look like. I know I mentioned it last month.

Sketchbooks, Fear and Letting Go

Do you keep a sketchbook? Right now I have nine sketchbooks on the go, which might be a bit overkill.

But each book has a different purpose. They're different sizes and different types of paper. One of them is nearly filled and two I recently started for very specific projects -- one dedicated to color and the other as a garden journal.

I think one of the reasons I have so many different sketchbooks is that I've been chasing the myth of the Perfect Sketchbook.

creativity, sketchbooksAnne ButeraJuly 20, 2018sketchbooks, creativity, drawing, process, art, play, ebb and flow, inspiration, overcoming fear, working in a sketchbook, letting go, encouragement, messages from the universe, quotes Comments

notes from the studio