Recycled Bits and Pieces in Art
December 11th, 2009, 12 Comments
A little sneak peek of something I've been working on for a book by arist, writer and teacher extraordinaire, Carmen Torbus, that I'll be featured in along with an amazing group of artists. So exciting! And it's so hard not to share the whole thing because I love the way it came together! But soon enough.
I share this little snippet because it fits well with the recycle theme going on this month for the Creative Every Day Challenge. In this piece and in a lot of my art, I recycle bits and pieces of paper to create the collage backgrounds for my paintings. In this small section, is a bit of to-do list stationery and some sheet music.
Where do these bits and pieces of paper come from? Well, like many creative folks, I'm a collector. I see interesting pieces of paper and I have trouble throwing them away. So, they get stored in boxes and eventually used in artwork. Sometimes I buy the scraps at fairs that sell antique goods in the summer, sometimes I trade with other artists for scraps (I loved doing this for a 6x6 collage project), and sometimes I find the bits myself in everything from my own scribbled notes, junk mail, and doodles on rice paper. My sister-in-law recently gave me a great stack of old blueprints that I adore using and my bff recently gifted me an old book of design forms. I like having the variety, so when I sit down to collage, I can pick through my supplies intuitively and use what works for me in the moment.
Sometimes it's easy to forget what we have, so it's good every so often to sort through it all. Whenever I do this, I'm always inspired by what I find and re-discover amongst the boxes. What are some of your favorite recycled goodies that you use in your artwork?
p.s. I was recently interviewed as part of the "Inspiring Women" series on the All Things Girl blog. All Things Girl is a fabulous zine filled with great articles, art, and interviews (and you can submit your artwork too!) that I highly recommend checking out!
Creative Recycling Linkage
December 9th, 2009, 4 Comments
After an intense period of creating over the weekend, I've been taking some time to rest with the hubster who has the week off. We've been enjoying a lot of relaxing, movie-watching, and reading. It's been lovely.
I'll share some of what I've been up to soon, but in the meantime, I've collected some super fun ways to play with the totally optional theme of recycle this month for the Creative Every Day Challenge:
* I love the look of this plastic bag wreath seen on Vickie Howell's blog. So cute with Target bags. I also loved Vickie's instructions for turning greeting cards into tree ornaments!
* Recyclart might be the coolest recycling find I've discovered this month. It chock full of amazingly creative artwork and diy projects that utilize recycling to make super cool things like this vintage button rings, inner tube vases, and beach plastic artwork.
* This cool project shows how to make a wastepaper basket out of...waste paper!
* Here's a great interview with artist William Wagenaar, owner of Reclaim2Fame and creator of super fun recylced, sculptural creations.
* I enjoyed this Craft Sanity podcast interview with author and clothing designer Cal Patch, someone who strives to make all her own clothing and do as much repurposing as possible.
Creative Every Day Challenge Check-In: December 1 – 13
December 7th, 2009, 20 Comments
This weekly post is a place for CED participants to share their creative activities.
Ways to share: Leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a post (or posts) about your creative activities during the days of 12/1/09 - 12/13/09. Normally, this would be a check-in for one week, but because of Art Every Day Month ending on a Monday, this is the first check-in post, I've put up in December. Feel free to post links to posts from last week and this week here or you can just post blog address once.
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) 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 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.)
You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to.
Join in the Challenge: To find out more about the Creative Every Day Challenge check out the details here. The 2010 Creative Every Day Challenge is starting up soon! Find out more and fill out the sign-up form here to join in!
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for December is recycle. I'll be posting about the theme throughout the month. You can find out more about how you can use the inspiration theme here.
Happy Creating!
The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web. -Picasso
Full Cold Moon
December 3rd, 2009, 22 Comments
Last night, in between a bunch of other projects, I took some time to sit in bed and make this little drawing for the full cold moon. I've loved making art around the full moons along with Jamie Ridler's full moon dreamboard group. This drawing represents my desire to have some more flow and ease in my life this month. In fact, I think I'd like that to be my theme for the year...flow and ease, ease and flow, like the babbling brooks I watched on a walk this afternoon.
Because of these behind the scenes projects going on, I may be quiet over the next few days, but in the meantime, do check out the information on the 2010 Creative Every Day Challenge that I posted about yesterday. I'm so excited by all the sign-ups pouring in! It's going to be a fabulous year!!
2010 Creative Every Day Challenge
December 2nd, 2009, 16 Comments
The second year of the Creative Every Day Challenge is wrapping up and I'm getting ready to launch into a beautiful new year of creativity, community, inspiration, and sharing in the 2010 Creative Every Day Challenge! So exciting!
If you're new to the challenge, here's a little information about it:
Creativity is meant in the broadest sense, so it doesn't have to be something art related. Your creative acts could be in cooking, taking pictures, knitting, doodling, writing, dancing, decorating, singing, playing with your kids, brainstorming ideas, gardening, or making art in the form of collage, paint, or clay...or whatever!
You do not have to post every day! I know for myself that having to post every day for a year would be too much. You can post about your creativity in whatever form you like, whether that be once a day, a few times a week, once a week, or once a month. Do what works for you!
This is a low pressure challenge, with the idea of bringing more creativity into our lives. I will not be the creativity police. I hope that we can all find ways, simple and grand to express our creative selves. Have fun with it!
Once again, this year I'll be doing a (totally optional) monthly theme that you can use to inspire your creativity throughout the month or you can ignore it and do your own thing! Like last year, every Monday, I'll have a check-in post with a Mr. Linky widget, where you can leave a link to your blog post (or posts) from the week. I'll also be posting regularly with my own work, things that are inspiring me, ways to play with the monthly theme, and interviews with amazing creative people. Plus, I'll be throwing in some fun surprises!
Themes: Last year, I had all the themes planned out way in advance. This year, I've got most of the themes planned, but would love your input. What themes would you like to see? You can see all of 2009's themes here.
Sign-Up: In order to keep the sign-ups more organized this year, I'm going to be using a sign-up form. This will also allow me to get in touch with everyone with any important announcements or updates. I don't plan to send out group emails that often, most announcements will happen on the blog, but this will make it easier to be in touch.
Simply fill out the form below to the best of your ability, then check your email, and click the link provided to confirm your sign-up. The details I'm asking for below will help me know how to list you in the list of participants which will go up in my blog's sidebar later this month.
Although I won't be putting up the 2010 list in my sidebar until the end of the month, I appreciate getting the sign-ups early, so I can build the list over time instead of all at once.
Check out the Creative Every Day Challenge info page for more information about the challenge, how to participate, and details about how to post an the logo in your blog's sidebar.
I'm thrilled to be starting another year of creating with you!
Heading into a month of Recycling!
December 1st, 2009, 19 Comments
Hello, all! So we've moved into the month of December (ack, time flies!) and the (totally optional) theme for the Creative Every Day Challenge this month is Recycle (which you can read more about here.)
The first thing that came to mind when I thought of this month's theme was a project I did back in June, when I recycled and old, unused yoga mat and created stamps and stencils from it. You can read all about that here. I then used the stencil and stamp of a eucalyptus branch and a leaf stencil to make fun art like this:
Fun, eh? What sorts of unused things around your home could be recycle into fabulous art tools?
p.s. The details and sign up form for the 2010 Creative Every Day Challenge will be up either Wednesday or Thursday, hopefully tomorrow. Til then, toodaloo!
Chair Tree
November 30th, 2009, 23 Comments
I'm not sure how I feel about this piece, but what I do like is the chairs in the tree. I imagine it's a tree that just sprouts chairs, instead of leaves and the one on the ground is one that was shed, like a fall leaf. Perhaps I'll play with it more later, but for now it's at a stopping point. It may grow on me too. This was another intuitively created piece with layers of rice paper over collage with ink and acrylic paint on 6"x6" clayboard.
Have you looked back over what you created this month? Last night, I looked at the Flickr album I created for this year's Art Every Day Month to see if there were any common themes. There were some that have been constant themes for me over time such as trees, birds, the female figure, and cats. And there were some that had returned after a hiatus, like bears and houses. And some that were totally new, like chairs and silhouettes. I feel like I can read my mood and the things that happened over the course of the month just by looking over this group of images. Have you had any common themes in your work this month? How does it reflect how the month was for you?
Tomorrow, we move into December and I've got loads to keep me busy, but I will be posting here and there about the Creative Every Day Challenge theme of the month, Recycle. I'll also be returning to a weekly check-in post for the challenge, where folks can share links to the creative acts they're up to. And by Wednesday, I'll have a sign-up form for the 2010 Creative Every Day Challenge.
Thanks again to all the Art Every Day Month participants and all those who followed along with us. Your creativity, support of each other, and loving energy has been so incredibly inspiring!!
p.s. Today's the last day to order my 2010 Calendar and get a drawing on your birth date! (You can still order the calendar after today, but today's the last day to get the drawing and guaranteed delivery before Christmas. And I do sell out of the calendars.)
Art Every Day Month Check-In: November 30th
November 30th, 2009, 38 Comments
Today is the 30th day of Art Every Day Month. Congratulations! Hip, hip hooray! You did it!! No matter how much or little you feel like you accomplished this month, please celebrate your success today. I think you are all amazing and it has been my pleasure to create along with all of you. How will you celebrate your AEDM journey today?
Feel free to continue to check-in with the weekly Creative Every Day Challenge posts (which go up every Monday, starting again next week.) through the month of December. And stay tuned for more info and a sign-up form for the 2010 Creative Every Day Challenge later this week. I would love to continue creating with you next year. And of course, please come back next November for another month of daily creating, community and Art Every Day Month fun. Happy creating, everyone!
The box below is a widget that I provide each day as an optional place to share a direct link (blog post or flickr image) to that day's creation. If you don't have something to share today, don't worry about it! Share when you can. In the meantime, be sure to check out what other participants are creating! Check out the links from today's post and the links in the sidebar for instant inspiration. You can also see lots of great work in the AEDM flickr group. Feel free to share your work there too!
If you use the widget, please link to a specific blog post (or specific image if you're linking to a flickr page or other website) instead of your main blog page or website. If you want to share, but don't have a specific page to link to, feel free to use the comments section of this post to share what you're working on. If you're posting less than once a day, no problem! Simply use the latest one of these posts to share a link to your creation. For some, it's too much to keep up with posting every day, but don't let that get you down. Do it if you can and if you can't, just keep on creating, that's the most important part. If you get off track and miss a few days of creating, don't let that freeze you up either. Just pick up where you left off and keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other. You are making your life a more creative one with each step.
If you're new to Art Every Day Month, check out the AEDM info page for all the details, then send me an email to sign-up before you use the link widget to share your creations. (If that email link isn't working, you can email me at leah at bluetreeartgallery.com)
Instructions: Please see the Art Every Day Month Instructions post if you have any confusion about how to post your link or how to sign up.
Twitter: Are you participating in AEDM and you're on Twitter too? I'm on there as @leah_art and I've been using the hashtag #aedm to mark Art Every Day Month tweets. I also started a Twitter list for AEDM which can help you easily find Twitter folks who are participating. If you're not on the Twitter list yet and would like to be, send me a DM (Direct Message on Twitter.)
Your creativity is waiting for you like a dancing partner. -Barbara Sher
UPDATE: Hey all, Mr. Linky is having some techinical issues today, it keeps disappearing and reappearing and there's nothing I can do to fix it, but wait. So if you don't see it, leave your link in the comments. Thank you!!
Chairs in a Row
November 29th, 2009, 24 Comments
I traced the silhouette of this woman onto rice paper last night, but today I came back to it and traced a series of chairs, which got me all excited. Again, I collaged and painted on a 6"x6" clayboard surface, using bits from my collection, things I intuitively grabbed that seemed right in the moment. One scrap looked like it was the shape in the house, so I played with that. I had a piece of rice paper cut in the shape of a eucalyptus that I'd written on months ago, but not used in anything. It seemed like the right time to use it here. Stamps and stamped images of ferns came into play as well. Then I lay the rice paper image over it, using a soft gel medium to bring it together. I love the translucent quality of the rice paper and the way the drawings sit on top of it. I've always been a fan of layers, the way it mimics how layered things are in real life.
I'm so enjoying the rice paper at the moment. I love when a material thrills me and I know I'll be playing with it for awhile until the next medium makes me giddy. It's a good place to be, feeling the joy of materials, feeling in the flow.
I was feeling a big sluggish the last week, although I kept plodding through. Flow in creativity comes in cycles for me and I've come to accept that. Sometimes a down period means I do other things like reading or research, re-stocking the well as Julia Cameron puts it in The Artist's Way. And other times, like during Art Every Day Month, I keep plodding through, knowing that the spark will fire again, if I just keep patiently putting mark to paper. Often times, I don't think the spark has returned to me, until I've already begun, like last night, which makes me glad for those times when I kept plodding through. But other times, a break feels necessary. Neither way is wrong or right. Knowing that both ways of returning to my work can be fruitful helps me come back without judging myself in the process.
What helps you come back to your creativity after a slow period? Are there any sparks happening right now for you?
Art Every Day Month Check-In: November 29th
November 29th, 2009, 15 Comments
Today is the 29th day of Art Every Day Month. The thing about doing Art Every Day Month is, that no matter how imperfectly you do it, there's always some learning and growing going on. Perhaps you posted more than you normally do, perhaps you met some new creatives, tried something new, showed something you'd normally keep private, reached out in a new way, created more than usual, found inspiration in an unexpected place, stretched yourself, or even wowed yourself. With any challenge, we learn something about ourselves, and if we can look at it, without judging how "good" or "bad" we did, we can tuck what we learned in our pockets for a rainy day.
One of the things I learned this year during AEDM is that I may not be able to heal myself through making art through difficult times, but I can help along the healing process. I learned that anxiety and anger can be powerful forces in art-making and that if I push past the initial resistance to starting, creating does wonders for my mood. I also re-learned that creative community is powerful and thrilling and wonderful to behold and I've loved every moment of creating in such fabulous company. What are some of the things you've learned for yourself?
The box below is a widget that I provide each day as an optional place to share a direct link (blog post or flickr image) to that day's creation. If you don't have something to share today, don't worry about it! Share when you can. In the meantime, be sure to check out what other participants are creating! Check out the links from today's post and the links in the sidebar for instant inspiration. You can also see lots of great work in the AEDM flickr group. Feel free to share your work there too!
If you use the widget, please link to a specific blog post (or specific image if you're linking to a flickr page or other website) instead of your main blog page or website. If you want to share, but don't have a specific page to link to, feel free to use the comments section of this post to share what you're working on. If you're posting less than once a day, no problem! Simply use the latest one of these posts to share a link to your creation. For some, it's too much to keep up with posting every day, but don't let that get you down. Do it if you can and if you can't, just keep on creating, that's the most important part. If you get off track and miss a few days of creating, don't let that freeze you up either. Just pick up where you left off and keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other. You are making your life a more creative one with each step.
If you're new to Art Every Day Month, check out the AEDM info page for all the details, then send me an email to sign-up before you use the link widget to share your creations. (If that email link isn't working, you can email me at leah at bluetreeartgallery.com)
Instructions: Please see the Art Every Day Month Instructions post if you have any confusion about how to post your link or how to sign up.
Twitter: Are you participating in AEDM and you're on Twitter too? I'm on there as @leah_art and I've been using the hashtag #aedm to mark Art Every Day Month tweets. I also started a Twitter list for AEDM which can help you easily find Twitter folks who are participating. If you're not on the Twitter list yet and would like to be, send me a DM (Direct Message on Twitter.)
It takes courage to follow your fascinations, wherever they may lead. Yet, creativity demands that you trust and stay on the path despite obstacles. The good news is that it's possible. ~Gail McMeekin, The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women
