Entries from: October 2011
Preparing for Art Every Day Month
October 31st, 2011, Comments (16)
Tomorrow Art Every Day Month begins! We already have a great group signed up and ready to get started. If you happen upon the challenge mid-month, feel free to join in any time!
For the year-long Creative Every Day Challenge participants, last Monday's check-in goes through today. Starting tomorrow and through the month of November, Creative Every Day participants can feel free to check-in any of the daily Art Every Day Month check-ins.
If you're beginning Art Every Day Month tomorrow and you're feeling a combination of excited and nervous, you're not alone! I always get a bit of pre-AEDM jitters.
One thing that helps me calm the nerves and prepare for the busy month of creating ahead is to do a bit of a brain dump into a sketchbook. I might write out any ideas I'd like to try out during the month, any unfinished projects I'd like to work on, supplies I'd like to use, and supplies I might want to pick up. I also like to just play and sketch and see what comes up. When I let my pen move across the page, ideas will often flow out. I can then turn to these sketches later in the month on days when I don't know what I want to create. Having some ideas to start with is very helpful when I'm creating every day!
When I did some of that this weekend, I started drawing an image of a woman pouring leaves from her hands, which you can see above. I may want to play with this image during Art Every Day Month! It may change as I work with it, but I like having this spark of an idea to start with. (You can also see some of my pumpkin carving idea doodles on the same page! hehe.)
If you're all signed up for Art Every Day Month, but feel like you could use some extra support, motivation, and perhaps a daily prompt, then feel free to sign up for the Survival Guide, which provides a daily post on a private blog with ideas, inspiration, and encouragement to help you make it through the next 30 days of creating.
I'm so excited to begin this month of intense creating with all of you! It's going to be a blast!
Happy Halloween!
Art Every Day Month begins in One Week!
October 25th, 2011, Comments (18)
Time is flying and oh my, Art Every Day Month is right around the corner! Will you be joining in?
I started doing Art Every Day Month in 2003, inspired by Nanowrimo. I wanted to challenge myself for the month of November and so I decided to create art every day for 30 days and share it on my blog. It was a wonderful experience! The next year, some other bloggers joined in and since then I've been joined every year by an amazing community of creators, striving to create every day for one month.
I'm a low-pressure type person, so I encourage everyone to join in, even if you don't complete something every day. Even just giving yourself the challenge and creating more than you usually would is a beautiful thing. But if you can create something every day for 30 days, I highly recommend it! I've learned and grown so much through doing it each year. And the community that develops is always amazing.
Your daily creations can be anything you desire (from painting to drawing to photography to writing, etc...) You can work with a theme or do something different every day. It's entirely up to you! Make it doable.
I know this year will be a little more challenging for me with a 6 month old along for the ride. I may do part of a piece each day or work on smaller pieces. I'm going to play it by ear. I'm excited to take on the challenge this year though and to see how I can make it work!
If you're intrigued by the challenge, but feel like you could use some extra support and motivation, check out the Survival Guide, which provides a private blog with a daily post filled with prompts, inspiration, and guidance to help you make it through 30 days of daily creating!
Excited? Me too!
You can read more about how the challenge works here and then sign up here.
Creative Every Day Check-In: October 24 – 31
October 24th, 2011, Comments (16)
This weekly check-in post is a place for Creative Every Day Challenge participants to share their creative activities.
This week's check-in goes for one extra day (through the 31st), because on the 1st of November, I'll be focusing on Art Every Day Month here, which includes a daily check-in. Creative Every Day Challenge members who are not participating in Art Every Day Month, can still continue to check-in weekly in any of the daily AEDM check-in posts.
The check-ins will become weekly again in December. If you'd like to join in Art Every Day Month in November, you can read all about it here! And then sign up here!
Join in the Challenge: Read all the details and sign up for the 2011 Creative Every Day Challenge here!
Ways to share: Once you've signed up, you can leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a blog post(s) about your creative activities during the days of 10/24/11 - 10/31/11.
The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) or flickr image during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! If you're unsure about how to use the widget, check out the "How to use the Mr. Linky widget" section on the Creative Every Day Challenge page. (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.) If the Mr. Linky widget is missing from this blog post, it's probably a problem with their server and it will come back as soon as it's fixed. You can always leave your link in the comments.
You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to. If you're on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #CED2011 to help others find your Creative Every Day tweets!
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for October is Autumn, which you can read more about and get ideas for here. Next month is all about Art Every Day Month!
Happy Creating!
Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees. ~Faith Baldwin
Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree. ~Emily Bronte
Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance. ~Yoko Ono
Fall At My Feet
October 20th, 2011, Comments (9)
Beauty to behold everywhere. On my jog this morning, I was struck by the contrast of leaves and needles against pavement. Especially the pine needles. And the different types of pavement create such interesting backgrounds as well. So cool!
I'm also smiling at the play on words: fall, at my feet or fall at my feet. Simple pleasures that fall brings: fall foliage, nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin, the smell of fires burning in fireplaces, children in "back-to-school clothes" they bought in the summer, sweatshirts and warm socks, warm drinks, candles, soup, and scarves.
Arts and Healing Network Award Nominations
October 18th, 2011, Comments (2)
Danny from the Arts and Healing Network asked me to pass on the word about the 2011 AHN Award Nominations. They're looking for nominations of healing artists, ages 18 - 35, who are making an impact in the world and are doing work that combines creative arts with healing/transformation/social change. What a wonderful offering!
If you know someone you'd like to nominate, you can get more details and fill out their form here.
You can also check out my interview from last year with Britt Bravo on the Arts and Healing Network's podcast, here. In the podcast, I talked about Art Every Day Month, which is coming up again next month!
Creative Every Day Check-In: October 17 – 23
October 17th, 2011, Comments (17)
This weekly check-in post is a place for Creative Every Day Challenge participants to share their creative activities.
Join in the Challenge: Read all the details and sign up for the 2011 Creative Every Day Challenge here!
Ways to share: Once you've signed up, you can leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a blog post(s) about your creative activities during the days of 10/17/11 - 10/23/11.
The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) or flickr image during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! If you're unsure about how to use the widget, check out the "How to use the Mr. Linky widget" section on the Creative Every Day Challenge page. (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.) If the Mr. Linky widget is missing from this blog post, it's probably a problem with their server and it will come back as soon as it's fixed. You can always leave your link in the comments.
You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to. If you're on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #CED2011 to help others find your Creative Every Day tweets!
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for October is Autumn, which you can read more about and get ideas for here.
Happy Creating!
My sorrow, when she's here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane. ~Robert Frost
Autumn Flowers
October 14th, 2011, Comments (6)
Oh, autumn. You dazzle me with your colors!
It's like this last hurrah of fall fireworks before the bleakness of winter hits. A mix of death in bare branches and dying leaves and brilliant life in full color. What an inspiring sight to behold.
Normally, I'm immediately drawn to the fall foliage, but this year, I've been noticing the fall flowers. Aren't they lovely?
Anniversary
October 13th, 2011, Comments (14)
Happy Anniversary to my sweet Hubster. We spent some time tonight talking about the 10 and a half years we've been together and the 4 years we've been married and all the memories those years have held.
I know one thing for sure, I've never been happier than when I've been with the hubster. And this little being we've created is the best thing we've ever done.
Happy 4 years of marriage, babe. I love you.
Creative Every Day Check-In: October 10 – 16
October 10th, 2011, Comments (13)
This weekly check-in post is a place for Creative Every Day Challenge participants to share their creative activities.
Join in the Challenge: Read all the details and sign up for the 2011 Creative Every Day Challenge here!
Ways to share: Once you've signed up, you can leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a blog post(s) about your creative activities during the days of 10/10/11 - 10/16/11.
The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) or flickr image during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! If you're unsure about how to use the widget, check out the "How to use the Mr. Linky widget" section on the Creative Every Day Challenge page. (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.) If the Mr. Linky widget is missing from this blog post, it's probably a problem with their server and it will come back as soon as it's fixed. You can always leave your link in the comments.
You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to. If you're on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #CED2011 to help others find your Creative Every Day tweets!
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for October is Autumn, which you can read more about and get ideas for here.
Happy Creating!
Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn. ~Elizabeth Lawrence
The Spirit That Moves Me
October 7th, 2011, Comments (14)
I've been working for a while now on a piece for Kristen's blog, "The Spirit That Moves Me." It took a bit longer than I may have wanted, mainly because I don't have many long stretches for art with Annabelle's (lack of) sleep schedule. But in the end, I told Kristen, that it happened just the way it was meant to because when I was able to work on it, I felt like I tapped into something deeper, some bit of magic and intuition that brought it all together. I love when those moments happen in art-making! The process is a lot like Kristen's blog name actually. How fitting!
Those are the moments you can't plan for, you can only provide the opportunity by showing up and going with the flow. Creating art for someone else is always tricky, partly because the way I work includes a lot of going with the flow, something you can't really describe ahead of time. It's hard to know exactly what the end result will be. Fortunately, Kristen was very patient with the time it took, the way I worked, and happily she is pleased with the result. Hoorah!
It seemed appropriate to share it during this month of autumn because there is an Fall feel to it, maybe something about the color. I do love the colors of fall.
p.s. If you haven't already, be sure to sign up for Goddess Leonie's (totally free!) World's Biggest Summit! There are so many inspiring speakers! My video about living the Creative Every Day life was posted yesterday (day 6), but you can view it anytime once you've signed up.
