Six Words and The Purpose of Art

Here is my first page for the art challenge this year. The four prompts were:  choose six random words from a book, birdcage, resist technique, and a quote from Pablo Picasso. I’m not quite finished, I want to write something using the six words, and I need to add Picasso’s name after the quote.

The background and the photo of myself was part of a page I made for last year’s challenge, addressing the prompt “Celebrate me,” so I wrote around my photo. I didn’t finish the page last year (it was also supposed to have “sew scraps together”), so I decided to add to it. I really liked the colors, and the bird on my t-shirt, so I went with the same combo for this week. (The words on my shirt are backwards because I took the photo in the mirror, but it says “Be free with me”).

For the first part of this week’s prompts, I used the book “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. I opened it to page 168 and randomly placed my finger on the following six words:  man, humble, became, joy, and, wiped. I then changed the order to say “Man wiped joy and became humble.” It sounds very profound at first, and I’m sure I could take it in many intriguing directions, but for now it’s just words on the birdcage. I’ll post a photo of it when I add more.

For the second part, birdcage, I found an image online and printed it out, cut it out, and just used my finger to put paint on the white spaces. Other than the bird on my t-shirt it doesn’t really relate to anything on the page, but I’m ok with that. The essence of the quote could be related to it if I wanted to write more about it, and it’s just a fun image in general. That’s one of the great things about art journals – they sort of grow with you as you experiment and play.

For the resist technique I used one of my favorites, modeling paste. I left a space where the word “art” would go in the quote, and after gluing the rest of the words down I just spread some modeling paste there. Then, before it dried, I took some alpha stamps and pressed them down. I may paint them turquoise….

For the quote, I just took some small alpha stamps and used aquamarine ink on yellow paper, then cut around the words. Nothing fancy but I like the look.

All that’s left now is to journal, and add those few elements I mentioned. For this next week, the four elements are:  use mixed media (my goal is to use at least four different kinds), do an image transfer (lots of videos online to help if you’ve never tried one), earth, and the quote “Not all that has beauty is good, but all that is good has beauty.” I will be using another page from last year for mine, so I already have a good start. More to come soon! Have fun, be creative, and play safe friends!

Love Layered Textures

Today is the end of the first week of the 2014 Art Challenge. I’m curious to know if anyone else worked on a page with the four elements I shared last Thursday. I’ll be sharing my page tomorrow; tonight, I wanted to share a photo of one of the pages from last year’s challenge.

The two prompts for this one (it was week fourteen) were “LOVE” and “Layered Textures”, but as I was flipping thru the journal, I realized it also fits three of the four elements for this week:  6 words, resist technique (I used modeling paste), and a birdcage. All that’s missing is the quote!

The best part is, I didn’t do it on purpose; it’s totally random that it has those three things. So it was a fun surprise.

Anyway, tomorrow I will share my new page. Well, it’s not completely new – I’ve decided to add this year’s to the pages I made last year so I don’t have to buy a new journal. Plus, I only got thru week twenty-six so I won’t be able to do that all year, but I have some fun pages planned already. More to come!

The Dust of Daily Life

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off of our souls.”
- Pablo Picasso

For my weekly art challenge pages in 2014, I will be combining four elements:  an activity prompt, a technique, a tangible object, and a quote. I will post a photo of the finished page on Wednesday, when I share the new ideas for the next week. I made the first page yesterday, but didn’t share the new approach because I wasn’t sure exactly how I wanted to pursue the challenge this year. I took some time today to hammer out the details (a few hours and a green tea at Starbucks).

For week one, the four elements are:  open a book at random and write down the first six words you see (let your eyes wander the page, don’t copy a sentence fragment); use a resist technique; a birdcage; and the Picasso quote at the top of this post, about the purpose of art.

For the activity, you can use a dictionary, a novel, a phone book, a textbook – anything works, it doesn’t even have to be in English! The way you use the words on your page is then completely up to you. Be creative, think outside the box or ditch the box completely. Have fun!

For a resist technique, there are literally dozens of ways you to accomplish this; I would recommend typing “resist technique” in Google and reading about a few of them if you don’t have personal favorites. I’ll talk about the one I used when I share my page next week.

The rest is again only limited by your willingness to try new things – a birdcage and the purpose of art. Combine your elements and cater to your muse my friends! And of course, don’t forget to share your thoughts, ideas, comments, questions, and most importantly photos. After all, I’m a curious crafter!

Plot Twist

Happy New Year!! I am very excited to be in a year ending with an even number, and even better, it’s a 4!! I already know this year is going to be awesome!

One of the many projects I will be writing about this year is a bit of a rewind to the beginning of last year, with a plot twist:  I would like to attempt the weekly art journal prompt cards once more; however, this time around, I will be combining them with something else.

I’m not going to share the details just yet, but it’s going to be fun, and challenging, and hopefully help me to add some much needed structure and busy-ness to my life for the months ahead. I know I’ve talked about it and haven’t backed it up very well, but I really want to try to create something every day.

I have a few other things going right now, too, so be watching for some random rambling about those fun projects – and maybe watch for something in the mail! This next year I hope to be doing a lot more for friends and family, and possibly finding a way to sell some of my art….

There is much to come my friends! And it’s ALL good because this year is a 4 and that’s my number! I’m off to make some magic! Play safe!

Prompt Glass Half Full

This post is about a month overdue, but someone once said, “It’s better late than never,” so I’m writing it now. This year, 2013, was officially numerically half over on July 3; which means, for those of you following my Art Challenge journal prompts, we are more than halfway finished!

Of course, it would be near impossible for all of you to be at the midway point short of creating your own prompts since I have been so remiss in posting each week. I offer my deepest and sincerest apologies!! To hopefully start to make up for that, I’m going to include the first 26 cards in this post, right here, right now:

		Blue Deck (Prompt 1) Weeks 1-13 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

		Red Deck (Prompt 2) Weeks 1-13 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

		Blue Deck Weeks 14-26 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

		Red Deck Weeks 14-26 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I will work on writing posts on each pair I’ve missed over the next month, as well as keeping up with current weekly prompts. I hope you have found at least a few that have inspired something great. I know it’s been an interesting and valuable experience for me so far, and I can’t wait to get back into it!