Want something creative and artful to do this summer?

As a way of creative recharge, I've been immersing myself lately in the music of Sigur Ros, an Icelandic band best known for their elegant and enigmatic sounds. You can find their music under rock, but I'm not sure that category does this group justice. There's something deeper going on under the surface as any viewing of their new documentary will reveal. This is a band that serves as both sage and priest for any creative soul looking to make art from the heart of authenticity.

Summer is breakdown time for artists who count on the local public school system to keep kids out of the studio and rightly occupied so creativity can continue to happen on a schedule. If you're a work-at-home-artist like myself with little to no budget for summer camps, how do you make the summer months move you forward no matter who's underfoot?

I am only weeks out from a life-changing trip to Rwanda. This is a country where 5% of the population is on the grid for electricity. A place where the gift of ball point pens are received like deposits of pure gold. I tried to explain everywhere I went that I am an artist, but this word received little to no recognition. Even toting my books via motorbike over vast kilometers of dark red dirt and hot bright sun, the real attraction was the words on the page, not my illustrations.

Wondering what the art blogging scene looks like outside of the United States? Some of the loveliest art and design blogs make their bricks and mortar homes in faraway places I'd love to visit someday. Here's a virtual tour of the very blogs you'll want to add to the art and design tab on your reader before the next post comes around.