Daily Courage

You have to know courage to recognize it. In today’s case, creative courage knows no age.

I knew I had met courage square in the face when I rang the bell and Freddy Moran opened her front door. There she stood with her white hair pulled back, and brighter-than-ruby-red glasses crowning her face. In spite of white hair, and at that time a borderline portly figure, she seemed much younger than I was at the time. (Quick note: she decided to “lose some weight” and lost about half of herself which you see in this shot. That pretty much says it without words.) If we’d have swapped driver’s licenses to check ages, I think we’d have discovered about a 28 year divide. But her demeanor, enthusiasm, and whole ‘tude’ made me feel stale and kind of stuck. Entering her house, you are blasted with color.  :)  The inside is painted about 47 1/2 different vibrant hues. (She loves telling you that hers is a perfect marriage, her husband, Neil, is colorblind.)

 She read my energy – or lack thereof. I was there to direct a magazine cover shoot. We quickly raced through the niceties, and were seated in Neil’s office (bright orange and teal, but he doesn’t know the difference). She pinned me emotionally, and called me on being at a creative crossroads. She recommended some reading that I have referred to in previous posts – “The Artist’s Way”. When Frederica speaks, you to listen. She told me she didn’t start quilting until she was past 60 years old. “I had said, I don’t do threads,” she proclaims. Her daughter-in-law invited her to take a quilting class.

The rest is history in Technicolor. Freddy has broken many rules along the way, and while doing so, she teaches us that its better to ignore conventionality and to follow your muse than to conform. In her case its about vibrant color and pattern and not worrying about all the points coming together in perfect symmetry. The best part is that she a world class quilter, author and teacher. And she had not even thought of it until she passed her 60th birthday. 

We give Freddy the Kiss of Courage!

Many creative souls are fans of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I was introduced to the book and the author’s philosophy in 2002 by one of the most colorful people to inhabit the wonderful world of quilting.  Freddy Moran lives in Technicolor and has as vivid a personality as you will ever meet.  

We were photographing Freddy’s home for a feature story, and I was there to be sure the cover shot was just right. Freddy, sensing I had a little creative conflict going on, suggested I read the book. I did, and it gave me the courage to make some changes in my life. That change became Red Lips 4 Courage Communications, Inc.

Out of that first meeting, with a little help from The Artist’s Way, came Collaborative Quilting by Freddy and Gwen Marston. Gwen is a quilting guru of great reknown. The quilts were photographed by Gregory Case, who has emerged as great talent in getting the color just right. He took the candids I am sharing here.

The book has been a hit.

Freddy and Gwen play off each other so well because their styles are so different. If they ever decide to stop quilting, they can tour the world as comedians. They can work a crowd better than any professional performers I have ever seen. 

Don’t these two look like fun, fun, fun?! 

I am delighted that we are working on a second book with Freddy and Gwen. It is going to be filled with design tips and strategies for making wonderful quilts guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of even the most color. There will be over 70 quilts featured, and its going to pop and sizzle in blazing color! Along the way, I learned to have courage, creative courage…the kind that gives you the strength to take a leap of faith and go for it. Thank you Freddy. And thank you to both Freddy and Gwen for working with us and keeping us in literal stitches. Toodles

Many of the creative souls I know are great fans of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and so am I. One of the suggestions the author makes is that in order to inspire ourselves we need to make a regular Artist’s Date. She tells us it doesn’t matter where we go, we need to take the time to do something curious and give ourselves little creative breaks. Susan Rios is one of the creative faithful. You know Susan from her beautiful paintings of wonderfully romantic places and children, and from her many books with Harvest House. By the way, that is her work on the banner of the Crlog. Remember, this is a CReativebLOG (Crlog)

Partners in Play by Susan Rios

Harbour Roses by Susan Rios

We have talked for two years about going on an Artist Date together. Yesterday was the day! I drove from the OC to her home and off we went to the Getty Museum. Perfect place for an Artist Date, don’t you think? We had lunch in the wonderful restaurant, and splurged by having a Blood Orange Margarita. It was as good as it looks! And, it almost made it worth the 4 1/2 hour drive home. I hit the SigAlert jackpot coming home on the 405 freeway. Cheers!!

After lunch we wandered into a fabulous exhibit of Illuminated Manuscripts. These works were done from the 1100’s to the late 1500’s. Unbelievable. If you are even the tiniest bit of a paperholic, you will love seeing the wonderful manuscripts. Here is a peek:

We marveled at how the scribes and artists could have done such intricate gold leaf. There is no doubt it is the real deal because it is still shining after all these years. Knowing Susan, she’ll have it figured out. She did some very unique and wonderful things with texture and dimension in her book Designer Scrapbooks with Susan Rios.

An all around wonderful day!! None of us think we have the time. Maybe we don’t have the time NOT to take a little break to be inspired.

Toodles!