Entries Tagged as: earth

Fall Collage

October 22nd, 2010, Comments (10)

I've collaged together some rice paper prints of leaves and stamps that I made while in Judy Wise's class at Squam. Rice paper collages so beautifully! I plan to work with this image more, painting and/or drawing on top of it once it's dry. It definitely feels like fall and fits right in with the earth theme.

By the way, make sure the top on giant containers of gel medium are closed before you carry them around. Yikes! What a mess! Thankfully, I couldn't help but laugh, scrape up what I could salvage and clean up the rest.

Two quick things:

1. Today, I have a video up at SPRING, all about creativity, cycles and the beautiful community of Art Every Day Month. If you haven't checked out SPRING, please do. It's full of inspiration and this month the focus is all about creativity!

2. Art Every Day Month is right around the corner. It's a low pressure challenge that draws a great group of creatives every year. Your daily art could be jewelry, knitting, cooking, collage, drawing, anything else you can dream up or a great mix of lots of creative activities. I'll write more about it in the coming week, but you can read all about the process here and sign-up here.

And if you want to join in, but would like a little extra support, inspiration, and daily prompts to keep you going, you can sign up for the Art Every Day Month Survival Guide here.

Traveling with Uncertainty

October 7th, 2010, Comments (15)

I did this piece recently to submit for one of Patti Digh's latest books. It was inspired by an essay she'd written about dealing with uncertainty and stepping bravely into the unknown, something I find quite difficult in some ways and quite exhilarating in others. Just now, this piece makes me think of the daring decision I made at the age of 15 to be an exchange student and live with a family in Madrid for a month. What a scary and mind-opening experience it was! It certainly took a leap of faith to do, but I have no regrets about it.

And then thinking about the earth theme, I'm curious about the places you've traveled to, whether that be to a new part of town or an exotic location. What brave steps did you take to go somewhere new and what effect did it have on you? What kind of art might that inspire in you?

By the way, I received Patti Digh's Creative is a Verb in the mail and it's beautiful! Chock full of gorgeous art and inspiring words. Patti is amazing. I've got a piece in the book as well, it's this piece and it's on page x. I love that's it's opposite this quote: "Don't apologize for who you are or the art you create" - C.J. Rider

p.s. I'm working on the Art Every Day Month sign-up page and hope to have it ready to go shortly!

p.p.s. The piece above, "The Unknown," is 11"x14" with collage and acrylic on wood.

Creative Every Day Theme for October: Earth

September 29th, 2010, Comments (15)

At the end of each month I will announce the totally optional theme for the following month. Continuing with the elements theme, for the month of October, the theme will be the element of Earth. As always, this month's theme for the Creative Every Day Challenge is totally optional. Use it if it inspires you, continue being creative every day in your own way if it doesn't, or do something in between.

As the fall leaves begin to turn, this theme feels perfect. I'm thinking of this theme in terms of exploring the idea of earth in creative ways. You could play with natural items in your work, go exploring this beautiful Earth for your inspiration, or play with the colors of earth.

I'll be posting about the theme throughout the month on the blog to help keep you inspired. You can use the posts here for jumping off points or interpret the theme in your own creative way. If you need some suggestions, here are a few ideas to get you started. You could:

  • *Collect leaves and other natural items to make prints from.
  • *Walk your corner of the Earth and take photos of whatever catches your eye.
  • *Sit quietly on the ground and meditate.
  • *Mix dirt into your paint and play with texture!
  • *Make mud pies!
  • *Sculpt with clay.
  • *Find creative ways to take care of the Earth.
  • *Take your sketchbook outdoors.

How to use the CED themes:

If you're feeling creatively stuck or blocked at any point during the month, use the theme as a source of inspiration to get you moving. Feel free to focus on the theme in your creative activities for the entire month or as much as you'd like.

Using the theme is entirely optional for CED participants. Use it if it inspires you, ignore it if it doesn't. I'll be sharing posts throughout the month around the theme (among other things) to get you thinking about how to incorporate it into your life. I'd love to hear how you use the theme in your creative world.

And have fun with it!

If a healthy soil is full of death, it is also full of life: worms, fungi, microorganisms of all kinds ... Given only the health of the soil, nothing that dies is dead for very long. - Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America, 1977

p.s. The art above is adapted from my Fall Birds piece, prints are available here.