What a wonderful month of creativity, friendship, and inspiration! September marked another year of The Creative Gathering, and together we created and shared 511incredible works of art. What a great way to celebrate 6 years of gathering, creating, and connecting!
Once again, our talented artists brought an amazing variety of styles, mediums, ideas, and perspectives to the gathering. From beautiful paintings & drawings to photography, mixed media, assemblage, and imaginative experiments like puppetry. Every contribution reflected a unique creative voice. What a joy it has been to see everyone’s work!
To every artist who participated, congratulations! Whether you created something every day or joined us when you were able, your contributions mattered. Every piece symbolizes time, imagination, and a willingness to explore and share your creative vision. We can all take pride in what we’ve accomplished together!
Celebrating Art, Friendship, and Connection
One of the best things about The Creative Gathering is how we encourage one another. We exchange ideas & celebrate each other’s accomplishments. We may live in different corners of the world, but our shared love of creativity brings us together. The friendships and connections we’ve made are every bit as special as the art itself.
Our Gallery Video is a celebration of all of us. It’s a chance to look back, revisit favorite pieces, and appreciate the incredible talent and individuality within our creative community.
To those who weren’t able to join us this time, you were truly missed! We hope to see you when we gather again in February 2027.
Thank you all for sharing your talents, your enthusiasm, and your friendship. You make The Creative Gathering something truly special. I’m so grateful to be part of this creative journey with you.
Congratulations, everyone!
You created with imagination and spirit, showing generosity to others & grace to yourselves.
The Gathering wouldn’t be the same without your creativity, enthusiasm, and friendship!
My August included a two-week stay in the hospital. I was having trouble breathing when I walked, although I was fine when sitting still. I was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. High blood pressure in the arteries that carry blood from the heart to the lungs, which makes the right side of the heart work harder. It is related to my COPD and pulmonary fibrosis. Interstitial lung disease contributes as well, and lupus contributes to the ILD.
It came on slowly over a couple of weeks, but I just thought I was tired and needed more sleep. Then one day, I could barely make it to the kitchen and had a hypoxic anxiety attack.
During that same time, I was slowly losing my appetite. Prescription side effects were causing several gastrointestinal issues, including nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. Between the loss of appetite and the GI problems, I became underweight and malnourished. It was further complicated by the specific dietary requirements I have because of a previous Roux-en-Y surgery to control the acid reflux that was damaging my lungs.
The doctors wanted to feed me through an NG tube. After three days of monitoring my food intake, though, I convinced the nutritionist that I could maintain a healthy diet at home on my own. I was released on August 24—the very day the procedure was scheduled! 🙏🙏🙏
Creating with ChatGPT… From a Hospital Bed
While hospitalized, I worked on the materials for The Creative Gathering. All I had was my phone. I used ChatGPT to create the banner, invitations, countdown images, album covers, and inspirational quotes. It did a great job overall, but apparently some of my instructions were lacking! 😂
I asked for watercolor splatter effects, and it gave me little flower shapes. In fact, on the banner, even the oil paint looks like little flowers—I never mentioned flowers! For the countdown and albums, I asked it to keep the same design and change only the number. But the backgrounds in the countdown images ended up completely different. It was even more noticeable in the album covers. As I went along, the colors became darker and muddier, and the images became more pixelated and “piecey.”
Creating all 31 album covers was very time-consuming. It actually would have been quicker for me to do them in Photoshop. Once I have a design worked out, changing the numbers and saving each album cover takes about ten minutes.
Still, I am very grateful I had the option to get the materials completed. I even started the countdown on time! 🤣😆🙏
For the challenge itself, I decided abstract art would be a good place to start. I thought it would take some of the stress out of creating something every day. I began with watercolor. As always, I veered off in other directions. My graphics background definitely showed up in about half of my pieces.
Digital collage and digital art continue to draw me in. So often, I start a mixed-media piece with something particular in mind. But I have absolutely no idea how to make it work. I have to experiment and research—and how do you research something when you don’t even know what it’s called? 🤣😆
It often takes several tries before I finally get a piece to work the way I want. But each one teaches me something new, and that makes the struggle exciting and fulfilling. I think that is true for most artists.
I was really surprised to discover that I like just about every piece I created this month. Half of them made it onto my favorites list! I don’t think that has ever happened before. I can honestly say that even the “duds” have at least one redeeming quality. 😆
My “job” has been to eat and gain weight. I gained a little at the end of August. I’ve been eating every two hours or so—three meals & three snacks a day. I’m even getting up early enough to have a snack before breakfast. (And I am a night owl!)
I’m now just three pounds away from my former base weight. I won’t mind gaining a little more, either. Having a cushion would be a good thing. Just in case I have to be admitted to the hospital again.
This month, I’ll be catching up on some much-needed rest. I had a dozen appointments last month—some of them home visits, along with PT and wellness checks. A few were in Phoenix (An hour and a half away). Those are all-day events, and especially tiring.
Lord, I lift up my friends to You today. Please bless them with vibrant health and strength to carry them through each day. Fill their homes and hearts with deep, lasting happiness and a peace that guards their minds. Wake up their spirits with fresh inspiration and creativity, flooding their days with warm, gentle colors and rich textures. Keep them safe, protect their steps, and let them always know how deeply they are loved. Amen.
July was World Watercolor Month, and I decided to jump in! My only goal was simple: put brush to paper every single day. I didn’t follow the official prompts, and I didn’t feel the need to finish a complete painting each day. Some days I found inspiration in YouTube shorts, and I just let the creativity take me where it wanted. It was such a fun month of making art.
Of course, not everything went as planned. I spent weeks trying to paint a beautiful cloudscape, and as you’ll see…none of them quite worked out. But that’s all part of the creative process, and I learned something from every attempt. Timing is key.
The whole month turned out to be the perfect warm-up for the September Creative Gathering—which is almost here! Time for me to start prepping!
The first nine images were the top performers on Instagram. Most are 5 x 5 in. Some are 4 x 4 in., or 3 x 3 in. They’re not in order. Keep scrolling for a closer look at a few of my favorite pieces!
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.
Until next time, may your world be rich with color and texture & layers of inspiration.
