What Kind of Joy?
In my book, there's joy and there's JOY. The first arises spontaneously out of doing something I enjoy: preparing raw food, hiking in the woods on a brilliant spring day, or creating custom illustrations for someone's book. It's a great feeling, and I encourage it as...
Where do the ideas come from?
Over the years I've learned that there is no end to ideas. They just keep appearing in the thoughts. I used to think that I had to act on every one of them. I drove myself crazy for years, thinking that I was somehow shorting someone if I didn't play out every single...
The Joy of Lettering and Things Like That
Today I am in the midst of hand lettering 130 envelopes in fancy calligraphy with a real fountain pen and teal ink. Somebody's gotta do it, and I LOVE that I get to. There is something about just sitting in contemplation with pen in hand and address list before me...
Brand Me Successful
I decided to improve my brand. Me, Dena McKitrick: not one of my businesses, but me, the individual. Recently, I have been thinking about who I am on the inside vs. how I appear on the outside, with the focus on congruency. Am I congruent with myself in appearance and...
Joy is a Fountain in my Heart
Many, many years ago I was first starting on another path toward living my life in integrity with my spiritual self when I came into an inspired epiphany: that I could choose how I experience my life. Simply put, no matter what it is that I am walking through, I could...
The Joy of Doing Art
I love to sing. I love to dance. I love to write a well-turned phrase. And I love to express through pen or brush or camera or carving tool or with my well-worn mouse on the computer. To me it is all the same in that it is a place of joy I enter when I open up to be...
Combining “Old World” art and Computer Savvy
I started doing graphic design before computers. I'd pull out my rapidograph and carefully, tediously draw a fine line border for a certificate. I would then letter it with my calligraphy pen. I loved doing commercial art that way. I loved pin-striping a car, or...
Art, The Artist, and Daily living
Each and everyday is a new one, with new experiences, new challenges, and a new list of things that I absolutely have to get done yesterday. I love doing art. It is the center of me. What I mean by that is that when I am fully engaged in creative expression, I am...
Blending Fine Art and Technology
Every time I approach a new project it seems I must re-enter beginners mind in order to learn some new technological trick. There is a blessing to computers and ALL the stuff you can do online, as it opens up whole new venues that you can explore endlessly. A downside...
Each New Day
Everyday gets better. Everyday I wake up in gratitude for the wonderful gift of life and the brand new day. I am a peace maker, a peace keeper. It is my job (as it many others) to keep peace in my heart no matter what life looks like on the outside. One way that I...