Creativity with the Kindle Fire

My daughter gave me a Kindle Fire for Christmas and I was initially skeptical of its value to me.  I'm an avid reader and have been known to finish a book in one day.  I love my books; I love having bookcases full of them and stacks of them by my bed.

Some of my creativity related books.  Recognize any of the titles?

When I moved from a 3 bedroom house to a small 2 bedroom apartment, I weeded out a lot of reading material.  I donated to thrift stores, to the public library and even took stacks of books to the local used bookstore and donated over $100.00 worth of book credits to a friend when I moved.  Five bookcases stuffed with books became three bookcases and then two.  I know my kids were entertaining thoughts of my having only one bookcase, or even none, but I couldn't even contemplate letting go of more.

I'm pretty sure that my kids are hoping that having the Kindle will mean that I'll stop collecting physical books.  But do I think that it will replace the feel of a book in my hands, the touch of pages on my fingertips or the visual beauty of having book spines lined up in glorious color on a shelf?  Definitely not!  I am, after all, still the little girl who spent hours each day at the library around the corner (I ran into my favorite librarian 20 plus years later - and she still remembered me!) and dreamed of having a library of her own.

I have to admit though, that I am liking this whole Kindle thing!  A month after the holidays, I have over 200 ebooks saved to this new electronic gadget of mine, most of which I've found for free via a newsletter - Kindle Buffet.  I actually started collecting ebooks in October, using Amazon's free Kindle for PC or Mac program.

And, while that's wonderful enough on its own, what is really making me love the Kindle is that I've discovered that I can download videos to it from my computer and this is where the creativity with the Kindle Fire comes in.

Yes!!!  Art videos, art journaling videos, craft videos...oh, my goodness!

Do you like the background?  My four year old grandson and I created it together with homemade alcohol ink sprays and tissue paper!

I'm over the top excited because it means that I can not only watch my videos from last years Willowing's Lifebook  class, but also from Effy Wild's Book of Days class, Stephanie Gagos' wonderful workshops and Sheri Ann Ponzi's Angels In My Studio workshop - but I can also take the videos with me into my corner of the bedroom studio!  Woot!

That may not seem like a big thing.  But I wasn't often able to watch the videos on my computer because my computer stopped doing whatever it needs to do to allow it (can you tell I'm technologically challenged?  Lol) and I haven't been able to find a solution or afford repairs.  Not a problem with the Kindle!

It also means that my fibromyalgia, fibro fog, arthritis and disabilities won't be as detrimental to my creativity because I won't be having to travel from the computer desk in the living room to my art table in the bedroom.  All of that back and forth traveling just wasn't helpful for my pain levels OR my memory issues.

Creativity with the Kindle Fire - oh yeah!  I'm totally looking forward to getting back into my art journaling and other creative projects this year!

Are there things that interfere with your own creativity (whether or not you have health or disability issues)?  Have you found ways to move around the roadblocks and challenges that keep you from creating? Please share...it's something I always need help with, and I know I'm not alone!

Shared on the Friendship Friday link-up

Shared on Paula's No Rules Weekend Blog Party

Elements of Art Journaling - Earth/Body

I can't believe that it's been almost a month since my last post - or that I've been ill for almost that long!  I've been trying to 'tough it out' since I don't currently have medical insurance, and it's definitely been tough dealing with whatever it is I have in addition to the fibromyalgia.

The focus for the second week of The Elements of Art Journaling is the element of earth and our bodies.  Being ill, the biggest concept I found in my mind for this was "My body is a betrayer!" followed by phrases such as bones, death, caverns, pain and mud.  Every inch of my body seemed to be hurting, so I definitely wasn't in a good place when thinking of my body and its multitude of relationships to the Earth element.

I decided to do a two part journal page.  One page to express my initial feelings, which I then covered over to make way for more positive perspectives.  This was a technique that I learned last year while taking a workshop on Willowing's site called "Art, Heart & Healing".

The image that kept coming to mind as I worked on the original page was a painting done by Frida Kahlo which showed a multitude of nails being driven into her body.   It just seemed a perfect representation of what I was experiencing!  After scanning that first page, I journaled about the negativity, the pain, the frustrations of being ill and of dealing with chronic illness and disabilities too. 

It took quite a bit of introspection, getting myself centered and grounded, before I could start work on the second half of my project.   I love that I felt so supported and encouraged to do that work - simply by watching the videos and following the suggestions given in the workshop materials and by popping into the group on better days to get my 'fix' of positivity, glitter and warm fuzzies!  I only had the energy to briefly lurk, but that didn't diminish any of the things that I've so come to love about Wild.Precious.