Mission #1 = NOISY

One idea I had for this mission was to somehow juxtaposition the feeling of being at one with the stillness of nature versus the utter utter distraction and busyness of our modern lives – NOISY. So which one speaks this concept the best in your opinion (#1, #2, or #3)?

 

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By Julie Yamamoto

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IBM Creatives Mission #1 = NOISY

Here’s the idea for IBM Creatives interested in participating and looking for a little creative inspiration or motivation. Sometimes it’s fun to step outside what you normally like to do creatively, and it can also be fun to do something with or for other people too. So, as a community, we’ll come up with some ideas that we’ll use as our ‘creative mission’ – it could be a topic, theme, or even a photograph/image. Anyone who wants to participate can do their own creative expression of the mission (paint, draw, write, dance, song, etc.). Then share/post your creative effort with the group, and we may also vote on the group favorite for that mission at the end of each month. Here are some of the initial mission ideas that were submitted through our LinkedIn group:

-Noisy
-Personal History At A Glance
-Sparkle and Shine
-Nature
-Red
-Fabric

And, for our first mission, we’ll do NOISY as that seems like a fun way to start. So IBM Creatives, show us what NOISY means to you. Share it by posting your link as a comment to this blog or to our Facebook or LinkedIn group. You could also email the link to us at ibmcreatives at gmail.

Most of all, have fun!

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Family Fun Art Game for Holiday

Our planned day-trip to a nearby lake for our long holiday weekend was overtaken by rain, so we had to come with an alternative idea for fun. This is what we came up with…a family art game that everyone could participate in (even the two and a half year old). What’s cool about it is that we also ended up with a nice piece of art to frame as a memory of the fun too. Here’s the basic supplies and rules of the game:

Supplies
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1) Canvas large enough for everyone to have fun. We have 6 people in our family, so we used a 24×36 canvas which was a good size.
2) Any supplies you would like to use but it’s fun to have ‘experimental’ things. Here’s what we used:

Acrylic paints
Sea sponge
Palette knife (large baker one)
Brushes
Markers
Dyes (water based)
Saran wrap
Salt
Straw (to blow dyes around)
Scrub brush (to flick specks of paint onto canvas)
Glitter

Rules of the Game
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1. Each person gets a total of 5 minutes to do whatever they want in rotation. So 5 minutes each, then next person and so on. You can only work on it again when the turn comes back to you.
2. You have to respect everybody else’s art. Which means you can enhance or paint on top of someone else’s piece but not obliterate it.
3. You have to respect the art supplies. Which means putting tops back on after use, cleaning brushes, not using in excess.

It’s really a lot of fun, and a creative way to spend some quality family time together. If you try it, share your experience with us!

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New IBM Creatives – Oct 16

For the week of Oct 16, we have added 12 new IBM Creatives from 8 countries.   We have an artist from Slovakia who specializes in dramatic pencil drawings but is also experimenting with dry pastels, a artist in the UK who creates custom jewelry, photographers specializing in black and white fine art photography and travel photography, some bloggers who are creative both inside and outside of work including one focused on the creativity crisis we are facing in America, a playwright who has written a play about a famous baseball player, and a musician who also founded a music producers community in 2007.  Here’s the quick list for this post:

• New Artists – Jenny Totterdell (UK), Katarina Zerzanova (Slovakia), Roopa Shanbhag (India)
• New Photographers – Johanna Blankenstein (Netherlands), Aditya Mohan (Ireland), Jakub Marecek (Ireland)
• New Writers – Jim Keller (USA), Sarah Siegel (USA), Zsolt Gálfalvi (Czech Republic), Palak Mathur (India), Louis Richardson (USA)
• New Performing Artists – Jomar Reyes (Denmark)

We are now up to 49 IBM Creatives across 15 countries. Are YOU creative too? Then please join us at https://ibmcreatives.wordpress.com. Also on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

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New IBM Creatives – Sept 2

For the week of September 2, we’ve added several new IBM Creatives from Brazil, India, Taiwan, the UK, and the USA. We have a classically trained pianist who also sings in the choir at Westminster Abbey, an artist who collects ancient seals from the Middle East and China, an art gallery owner who specializes in emerging contemporary art and unique works by Japanese printmakers and painters, a first-time novelist, an artist who specializes in Southern historical art and expressive portraits, and a portrait and event photographer to name a few.  Here’s a quick list:

• New Artists – PH Chen (Taiwan), Ely Bock (USA), Lynn Hutchins Haney (USA), Cathy Santos Gonzalez (USA)
• New Photographers – Niloy Das (India), Fernando Guilger (Brazil), Regan Kelly (USA)
• New Writers – Dave Keillor (USA), Jeb Harrison (USA)
• New Performing Artists – Julian Cable (UK)

We are now up to 35 IBM Creatives across 9 countries. Are YOU creative too? Then please join us at https://ibmcreatives.wordpress.com. Also on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

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New IBM Creatives – Aug 5

For the week of August 5, we’ve added several new IBM Creatives from Canada, Germany, India, and the USA.  We have an artist who paints large, colorful abstract paintings, a pianist and choral conductor,  a first-time novelist, and a photographer who published a book on the 20 year journey he took his Canon AE-1 across, which included 10 countries, 17 cities and 3 continents.  Here’s a quick list:

• New Artist – Erika Gebhardt (Germany)
• New Photographers – Tony Homier (USA), Delaney Turner (Canada)
• New Writers – Donn Shoultz (USA)
• New Performing Artists – David Bush (USA), Projita Sarkar (India)

We are now up to 24 IBM Creatives across 6 countries.  Are YOU creative too?  Then please join us at https://ibmcreatives.wordpress.com.  Also on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

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New IBM Creatives – Aug 2

IBM Creatives continues to grow.  For this week, we’ve added several new IBM Creatives from Belgium, India, Italy, and the USA with some fascinating creative pursuits.  We have a first-time novelist, a scroll saw wood artist, a rock n’ roll cover band that has played in Chicago for the past 2 years, and a photographer who prefers black and white film over digital for the physical dimension of photography.  Here’s a quick list:

• New Artists – Nancy Harsch (USA), Dan Reusche (USA), Chelita Riley (USA), Christof Simon (Belgium), Debra Singer-Harter (USA)
• New Photographers – Alfred Ajit K (India), Michele Borioli (Italy)
• New Writers – Bethany Baxter (USA)
• New Performing Artists – Ken Carollo (USA), Andrea Ghirardo (Italy), Terry Longstreth (USA)

Are YOU creative too?  Then please join us at https://ibmcreatives.wordpress.com.  Also on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

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Watercolor Painter from India

 

   Our second featured IBM Creative is Nirupam Das, a Database Administrator in Kolkata, India.  Nirupam likes to paint in watercolor during his free time.  He has been painting since his school days, and first became interested in painting at that time as he discovered that he had a passion for playing with color.  He chose watercolor as his medium because it’s easily available, and he likes to paint landscapes and scenery.  His painting style is primarily realistic, and the message he tries to convey in his work is to be oneself and fulfill your dream.  He is inspired by various artists, but one artist in particular that he admires is Nandalal Bose, a notable painter of the Bengal school of art whose paintings have been declared as ‘art treasures’ by the Government of India.  Nirupam finds time to paint during the weekends and holidays, and, as for future plans, he hopes to arrange an exhibition of his art in the future.  The main advice he would pass along to other IBM Creatives is this – ‘beside your daily office job, take some time out and brush up your own talent’.

Thanks Nirupam for being our second featured IBM Creative!

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Welcome to IBM Creatives! Featuring Cartoon Artist

Welcome to IBM Creatives – a new community that is being established to help all IBM Creatives discover, connect, be inspired by, and learn from each other!

Our first featured IBM Creative is Mike Barnhouse, an IBM Project Manager in Winnsboro, Texas. In his spare time, Mike has created a comic strip called Small Town Tom, which is now syndicated in 74 newspapers and has a readership of more than 400,000. Mike was actually interviewed by one of the newspapers that runs his comic, and you can listen to that interview here. Mike got his inspiration for the comic strip from his own personal experience after moving to a small town of 3,500 after living in larger cities like Dallas, Raleigh, and Austin. To learn more about Mike and his comic creative pursuit, check out the video and links below:

• Small Town Tom website
• Small Town Tom on YouTube
• Small Town Tom on Twitter

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