It's been fun exploring different ideas and I've been good about keeping track of what I've done each day. I'm feeling fairly confident that I will be able to continue this practice of an hour of play before getting serious about a project. Here is some of this weeks play -- flowers drawn with non-dominant hand on scraps of paper.
Musings of an artist who enjoys playing with several different media. Currently my focus is collage but every now and then I go to something different. My aim is to post once a week.
Friday, May 30, 2025
Almost at the end of The 100 Day Project
Sunday, May 18, 2025
Redoing Space and Some Paintings.
Friday, May 9, 2025
Something a little different
This week I spent a little time every day working on a face. At one time I did these often and usually in a recycled book that I had made into a journal. This one is one a plain page in a sketchbook.
Friday, May 2, 2025
The Project Continues
“I like finding things I didn’t know I had lost…..”
Kristin Peterson
My morning project has changed a little, a new question as I start my morning. Now I'm asking myself: What am I willing to let go of. What needs to go away so I
can move forward with clarity instead of distractions? Another plus to this new project is that I’ve
found some things I had totally forgotten about that may stay in the studio for
a while. The image above is one; it’s small and may become a focal point for
another collage. I can see if I want to
do more with things like this once most of this clutter is gone. As I said, this is still
part of my 100 Day Project, just a slight variation.
An artist I follow, Louise Fletcher, posted a blog about
letting go. When the student is ready
the teacher will come. That blog post
connected. She is posting about getting
rid of some hurts in her life as well as old art. For me it was my art.
An aha moment – I can do the same thing with the
clutter that surrounds me and has been distracting me -- too many choices. I’ve always been interested in trying new
things – in all aspects of my life – from swimming across the lake I grew up on
to riding an elephant with my son when we visited a circus. I was always
willing to give it a shot, still am for that matter. The same with my art. If I saw something that looked like fun I
would buy what was needed and give it a go.
Some things stuck, some didn’t.
But the things I bought to try the didn’ts still have a home in the
studio. Time for them to go. I’m also sentimental, I have things on display
that remind me of times past, some good, some it’s time to let go of.
This is one to let go of… a reminder of two small items that
cost me a $400+ repair on my LeBaron. I
did love that car but not this bill. The
LeBaron is gone, these can go too.
Other things leaving are art supplies I know I’m not going to use. So far I have two good size boxes filled for StudioJSD’s DeStash Bash in July. One more box is in process. Progress!
Saturday, April 12, 2025
Almost At The Halfway Point
I'm still enjoying my 100 Day Project, just playing with no thought to what the result might be and only posting on my blog. Sometimes the result is not so great but I still had fun and the result is useful.
Monday, March 17, 2025
Still Throwing Paint Around
This is way too much fun! I'm still working on the 100 Day Project. This is one from a few days ago.
It's more blue than it looks. Today, in addition to starting a few new watercolors I sorted photos, fabric and odds and ends of papers to see what I can do with a canvas piece I tore up. More on that next week.
Saturday, March 8, 2025
The Project Continues
I'm having fun just throwing paint around and not really paying attention to the result.
Friday, February 28, 2025
The 100 Day Challenge
I’m doing it again but a bit different than in the past. Picasso said Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. So I’m going to be working but not posting.
My project is to spend at least an hour every day making art but this year I won’t be sharing on social media. Sharing on social media shifts my intention from fun to making good or at least halfway decent works. The pressure builds, the joy fades and the work shows it. This time it’s just for the fun of doing the work. I will still be posting my quick morning sketches but that isn't part of the project, that's just what I do every morning to start my day.
My intention is to start the morning asking myself what I want to make today. It could be working on something new – or maybe finish one of the many starts I have laying around. I could be drawing or making a paper clay bowl. It doesn’t matter what and it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, only that I do it just the fun of doing. I'm on day 5 and have already had fun ripping up canvas strips from a painting that I finally decided was not working and wasn't going to because I didn't like any of it. I do like the strips I got from the ripping -- now thinking about what I can do with them.
Friday, February 21, 2025
Art Is Everywhere
" You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water"
And you can't make a painting simply by looking at your paints. But you can do a quick sketch every morning and you can do art so many other ways.
You can do art other ways as well. I was reminded of that this morning as I was reading an email sent to me by one of the Gallery Uptown artists, Chris Brown. He wrote: "To me art is every day. I may not do my oil pastels today, but I may cook dinner, trim a few bonsai's, drive to the lake or farmlands and take few photos. Art is everywhere."
I was reminded of my smile this morning as I looked out at the shadows the sunshine was making on the snow in our back yard. It's rare, sunshine in winter in Michigan, and much appreciated when we are lucky enough to get it.
Looking through images for inspiration is another way of doing art, sometimes one stands out, sometimes not but the looking at images of things that have inspired me at one time or another is enjoying art so that counts.
Breakfast with friends is another I think. Sometimes the conversation -- or the art on the walls --or the decor on the tables. Sometimes it's just a bush waiting for Spring when it will begin to bloom again.
Friday, February 7, 2025
It's The Month For Hearts
So I made one for my spouse. He doesn't read my blog or Facebook so he won't see it until it's time.
Friday, January 31, 2025
Fun With A Pot That Wasn't
Friday, January 24, 2025
Collage Papers Fun and a Warm Up
This warm up is too busy for my taste but I did have fun making it. Then I went back to making more collage papers. I was especially enjoying making bubble papers once I finally figured out how best to do it.
Friday, January 17, 2025
Back to Stones and other things
I’ve been keeping a schedule which was one of my goals for this year. Not perfect yet but a start. Another start is getting back to a sketch every day and stones. Here are two small, 4x4 in, stone pieces finished.
As promised, here are the two small ones from that free collage workshop I wrote about last week. These are also 4x4 in. I didn’t realize it until I looked at the photo but the vintage paper on the right will be 100 years old on the 27th of this month.
One concept she was teaching was
pick papers you love for your collage based on what we had done in the
class. Since I had picked colors that aren’t
part of what I normally gravitate toward I wasn’t in love with any of them,
vintage excluded, but I did like some way better than some others and I think
that’s close enough and a good rule to follow. There are a couple shows coming up so I need to
get busy doing more of these.
What else, daily sketching, so far I'm sticking to it.. I finally realized the for me, an art journal is part art and part journaling with the journaling being primary. So, I’m back to doing some morning sketches and sometimes a bit of collage paper in the journal to separate out spaces to write. At the end of a studio day I sit with that journal and write about what I did or did not do that day. The hats are one subject. That started with the one I posted last week. Here are a couple more…
Saturday, January 11, 2025
Back to Sketching and a New Journal
Even if it’s just a quick sketch like this one, I’m back to doing it regularly.
My word for this year is JOY and I started a new
sketchbook/journal with a page writing about why I picked that word. And because it’s a word I have been
concentrating on I keep finding more joy in my life… even on not so good
days. This is the spread.
Instead of what most think of as an art journal, this year mine is going to be a journal with some art.
Another January project was a free Collage Taster Workshop. 10 Days of collage lessons, most of them
preparing papers. I did learn some techniques
that were new to me and some ideas for selecting papers. I found that some of her techniques would
take more practice than I wanted to take time for primarily because I already
knew a way to get the same result with a gelli plate. I was also reminded of
some techniques that I had totally forgotten about. Like using marbles. I didn’t have marbles but I did have fake
pearls, they sort of worked. I’m going
to the dollar store for marbles.
I’m hoping to do two small collages tomorrow using the papers I selected from the many I made during the class. I’ve also added some vintage just because I like vintage. These are the papers.
I’ll post the finished pieces next week.