Steampunk Artwork

I stumbled on an art form called Steampunk (see wikipedia definition below) that I realized I have had a fascination for quite a while. I just didn't know the name for the culture or subculture.

Who hasn't heard or read H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds" or one of my childhood favorite "Wild Wild West." It probably explains my addiction to various gadgets and love of romance fiction or cyperpunk stories by William Gibson.

clipped from en.wikipedia.org Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, frequently featuring elements of fantasy, that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used — usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England — but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne Steampunk is often associated with cyberpunk and shares a similar fanbase and theme of rebellion, but developed as a separate movement (though both have considerable influence on each other). Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual artisans into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style, and a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk.

Love Defeat Evil - New Assemblage

Love defeat evil 4
Originally uploaded by rehuxley

This bit of artwork was an experiment for an activity I plan to use at a children's art camp coming up after Easter. I didn't conciously intend to highlight the words Love Defeat Evil. It just worked out that way!

The frames are only 3 x 4 inches found at a thrift store. I took out the glass and covered the back board with a torn out sheet from a thesaurus. Then I glued the glass marbles on the sheet, highlighting one word each with a blue marble. I choose the word by what would fit from a design point of view.

Join the Flickr "Ephemera Group"

Ephemera: "A short-lived thing. Printed matter of passing interest."


I started a group on Flickr a couple of years ago to allow lovers of paper ephemera to post their collections. Today there are over 1300 members with over 42,000 posts!

You can view a slide show of the group below or join us at http://www.flickr.com/groups/creativegifts/

Guardian Angel

2010-02-27 07.43.18
Originally uploaded by rehuxley

I have been working on a new series of paintings called Guardian Angels. This photo above was recently entered into a local gallery exhibit called "A Wing and a Prayer." Perfect theme for my angels. Interestingly though, there was only a couple of angel theme paintings in the entire exhibit. I guess not everyone has a fondness for angelic things.

The good news is that this painting was sold on the first night. Very happy about that! Watch for more angels coming this way...

How to use your blog to get a book deal

I have to confess: I haven't tried this method listed by Larry Brooks but it sounds practical. What gives you an edge over other hopeful authors? Perhaps a blog...with a following.

clipped from www.copyblogger.com First, let’s get one thing out of the way. A blog alone, no matter how popular, isn’t enough to score you a book contract. It’s not quite that simple. A book deal is made up of several moving parts First, any successful book proposal needs a credible, straight-line, value-promising connection to a hungry target audience. And because of that, you don’t need huge numbers to make it happen. What you do need is cachet within the niche you’ve defined. While teaching writing on the workshop circuit, I developed a proprietary story development model called The Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling. My blog is about that well-defined niche, within the larger topic of writing. And without that angle, no matter how popular a blog I might build, there would be no book deal. Today, you need an “author platform” to successfully pitch a book to a publisher. What’s an author platform? It’s how you’ll be doing the promotion for your book. Nine times out of ten, it means your blog.

10 Ways for Lightening to Strike you with Creativity

Don't wait for it. Got make lightening happen!!! What inspires you? Tweet us @thirstyfishinfo or comment below...

clipped from www.dontheideaguy.com Waiting for inspiration? Puh-leeeze! You may as well wait for lightning to strike. 1. Read more stuff Magazines, books, blogs, cereal boxes... it doesn't really matter (at least at the beginning) what you read -- just that you're reading at all. Just 15 to 20 minutes every morning and every evening is enough to feed your brain with enough new ideas to make you more strikeable. To increase the quality of ideas your reading generates, increase the quality of the writers you are reading. 2. If you have to watch TV, watch some good shows 3. Go see great speakers 4. Collect quotes 5. Listening to music 6. Play word games 7. Visit museums 8. Find heroes 9. Express yourself -- journal, sketch, paint 10. Radar up! There's a book titled "Personal Brilliance" in which the author lists four catalysts for creativity: Awareness, Creativity, Focus, and Initiative.

I can go for the "no drugs" idea but no television? Hmmmm. What do you do to boost your creativity? Tweet us @thirstyfishinfo

clipped from www.jpb.com 10 Steps for Boosting Creativity 1. Listen to music by Johann Sebastian Bach.   Brainstorm. 3. Always carry a small notebook and a pen or pencil around with you. 4. If you're stuck for an idea, open a dictionary, randomly select a word and then try to formulate ideas incorporating this word. 5. Define your problem. 6. If you can't think, go for a walk. 7. Don't watch TV. 8. Don't do drugs. 9. Read as much as you can about everything possible. 10.