Perspire, Inspire

Good grief, but it's hotter than the surface of the sun around here! We've had temps in the I-kid-you-not 100's for the past week, with 45% humidity. I hate it. I lived in Miami for ten years when I was growing up, and as soon as I graduated from high school, I went as far from Miami as I could. Do not like excessive heat. We've been spending a lot of time finding indoor fun, and also going out for brief periods early in the morning for fun like this:
One of out local outdoor malls has a fountain and they let the kids play in it. It's like a little water park and it's so much fun! It's even better that there is a Starbuck's right next to it so Momma can have her weekly Java Chip Frappuccino while the kids play.

Because the heat has been so ridiculous, I haven't been able to make any beads!! It's just too hot to even THINK about sitting in front of a huge flame, sweating on my glass rods. Yuck. I wish I could say I have been churning out the jewelry pieces, too, but alas, not so much. I've had a lot of great ideas, and I have been playing around with new (for me) types of wire, but not a whole lot is coming together.

This is a tough time for spending a lot of solitary creative time. The little kids are off of preschool for a couple of weeks, so my days are full of managing them, spending fun time with them, and doing things that are not focused on jewelry or glass or business. I've also been working at my 'real' job (which I do about ten hours a week), and between that, and the kidlets, well, there hasn't been a whole lot of creative time.

So one of the things I have been doing is focusing on storing up images for color inspiration for later. I took these pictures at my kitchen window...
That is one of the zinnias from the kids' garden in our yard. I love cobalt blue glass and this bottle always sits on my windowsill. I think they make a very intense and mysterious combination. It makes me think of the deep end of the ocean, or summer twilight.

Playing with the cobalt blue and magenta zinna, I added in this:
The sheer green of the tomato and the bright orange of the washcloth...I like the blue-magenta-orange, and I like the green-orange-blue, but all of them together isn't doing it for me.
This, however, I like. The sheer green, with the olive green and the cobalt is just pretty.

I might have to see what I can come up with later this week. It's supposed to be-- gasp!--in the 80's for a few days! Woohoo! Time to set up the torch!

Okay, I promise, a new jewelry piece this week. I'm working on something right now as I type (yes, I multitask...I have three kids...).

For now, though, a picnic awaits...

How do you stay in touch with your creative-ness when you can't make art directly?