Entries from: October 2008
The Slow Re-entry and AEDM
October 6th, 2008, Comments (16)
Well, apparently my re-entry into regular life is going much slower than I thought it would! I just cleared my entry-way table of unopened mail and bills and the feeling of cleaning and clearing is continuing to sweep over me. It's strange, but since coming back from my honeymoon (see pic of rainbow seen from our car in Maui above), I've been at the computer very little. Everything seems to have slowed down and the things I'm most interested in doing are fairly simple...eating, snuggling, reading. It's been lovely. I didn't think to check my email yesterday. Even the hubster thought that was weird.
And I'm also a tad bit overwhelmed by the thought of all your lovely blogs and all I have to catch up on too. But I've continued on my quest for daily creativity. I don't have much to show for it except loads of lovely honeymoon photos and plenty of doodles and sketches. I thought I'd be bursting to paint, but instead I've been sketching and drawing. I suppose I'm in the build-up phase of things which is excellent considering that "Art Every Day Month" (AEDM) which I lead every November is just around the corner. I am quite excited about it actually as I know how the boost of creating something to share with you every day and the energy of the group itself is so fabulous.
I was pondering the differences between the two groups, CED (Creative Every Day 2008) and AEDM and I think they are very similar. CED developed from the desire to extend and expand on AEDM. Both are low-pressure challenges, challenging you (and myself) to be creative in some way (any way you can come up with) every day. For me, the difference is that for AEDM I like to create something tangible, usually a piece of art or working on a larger piece, and then sharing what I've been up to in photos every day. It's a bit of work to keep up with, which is why I don't do it this way year round. The month-long period works wonderfully for me and it has for others who have joined in the past.
I don't require you to do "Art Every Day Month" the same way I do, however, because my main goal is to encourage you to be more creative than usual in whatever way that means to you. So if you do something once a week for the month of November or even once the whole month, that's great. I also want to make clear that I'm choosing to make art in the form of drawings, collage, and paint, because that's what I love to do. I want you to do whatever it is you're drawn to do whether that be cooking, sewing, painting, sculpting, taking pictures, writing poetry or prose, whatever. I think of Art in the same way I do Creativity, in a broad sense, and I don't want anyone to be scared away by the word "Art."
My standard description of AEDM is in the sidebar to the left and I also have photo albums from what I've done for the challenge in past years that I'll put back into the sidebar shortly (they're also on links page now.) I'll have more to say about all this in the coming weeks, including a page for the challenge similar to the CED page, but in the meantime, if you'd like to sign up for "Art Every Day Month" for this November, comment or send me an email and I'll add your blog (or your name if you don't have a blog, a blog isn't required!) to the list of participants. I'll be back with more regularity this week!
p.s. Have you seen the SNL parody of the vp debates? It was definitely good for a giggle. You can see it here.
