Tuesday, March 26, 2013

365 Week 13


Congratulations!  You’ve made it through week 12 of our 365 Day Challenge which means you have been creative 77 days in a row!  That is an incredible accomplishment, and I hope you are giving yourself a little pat on the back for making it this far!  And even if you haven’t done a project every day, but you are still reading this blog and working on some projects with us, you are still building your creativity and challenging yourself, which will make you better at your craft.

Now, as we start on week 13, the last week of the first quarter of 2013, take some time to reflect on the projects you’ve don so far.  Look at them really hard and think about the challenges you faced in completing each one.  Do your projects speak to your power word if you have one?  What have you learned about yourself?  Do you have a style or technique that you go to all the time?  Have you developed any patterns or routines in the way you work?  Keep those things in mind as you start the next quarter of projects and see if you can break those patterns and routines or build some new ones.  The idea is to stretch yourself, explore, and grow your creativity until you can be creative in any environment or under any circumstances.  Now wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing?

Day 78 - If I died today, it would be because…

I am such a goof!  Even though I helped come up with these prompts, sometimes I forget what I intended and don’t understand my own prompts!  I have them all listed in a spreadsheet with no gridlines between them, so when I read the prompt for day 78, I thought it said, “If I died today, it would be because -- Watch TV for a commercial and use that as your prompt.”  I happened to be watching late at night, so the first commercial I ran across was for some kind of exercise program.  Sadly, it is pretty fitting these days since I’m so busy I don’t have time for my regular exercise.




Day 79 - Watch tv for a commercial and use that as your prompt

So I mentioned I’m a goof, right?  Half of this prompt showed up on a second line in my spreadsheet, so I read it as, “Your prompt”.   I decided to take one of my paper scraps and go from there.  Whenever I paint with acrylics, I only use the primary colors plus black, white, and brown.  That means I’m always mixing paint, and there’s always some leftover on my palette.  Rather than waste it, I will grab a scrap piece of paper and paint on that until the paint is gone.  This prompt began as one such scrap piece.  The red-orange flower was created by dipping my brush in the paint and pressing it flat in a fan pattern.  I really liked the way it looked, and was very afraid to start adding to it because I didn’t want to ruin the look of the flower, but the quote I found gave me the courage to just “start somewhere”.  From there, it just developed on its own.  I was afraid of ruining the original painting, but as it turns out, I love the result!


Day 80 - My hero

This whole piece was inspired by a movie poster.  I tried to recreate the computer-generated neutral background with paint, and yes, that is Mr. Crafty Neighbor himself – my hero.  The font is called “Adventure”.


Day 81 - Define perfection

This prompt immediately made me think of the Pink song, “Perfect”, so I started with the pink background.  I couldn’t resist adding the lyrics, and then I recalled seeing some of the Tim Holtz Idea-ology mirrored sheets.  I wanted to use my Stampin’ Up Curly Label punch to cut the sheet to fit in the stamped area, but the mirror was too thick.  It fit into the punch, but it just would not cut through.  It did mark the mirror, though, which gave me the idea to put the mirror into the punch, squeeze it down tight, and then use a pencil to trace the shape.  It was a synch to cut it out by hand, and it fits perfectly.


Day 82 - I could teach…

This piece was prompted by a discussion in the car on a ride home from a crop.  It was inspired by the piece that Christen made on Day 12.  Obviously, I am not nearly as talented as Christen!  I’m hoping she’ll have some more pages to share as soon as she gets moved into her new apartment!


Day 83 - My own personal prison

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this page immediately, but was frustrated trying to come up with just the right wording for her forehead.  I never did find the phrase I was looking for, but settled on this one for lack of something better.  I’m also not crazy about the way it looks.  I colored it with Copic markers.  I was going for a “tattoo” effect, but lack the artistic skills/knowledge to get that look.  As with many of my art pieces…it will just have to do.


Day 84 - If I could change the world

I’m not sure what got me on this song lyrics kick, but this song made me think of Eric Clapton and I couldn’t get it out of my head.  The background was a piece of map-themed scrapbook paper and I used my distress inks and a sponge to color it in.  The leaf stamps were from the Stampin’ Up set French Foliage which I stamped with brown Memento ink and colored with Copic markers.  I also practiced my skills at creating a shadow with the markers.



That’s it for Week 12!  I hope it is helping you to be more creative and to explore more possibilities with your art  -  I know it has for me. Here’s your prompts for this week:

Nurture
Something I am proud of
Look through a magazine, clip a picture, and use it as the prompt
Tradition
Pearls of wisdom
Mothers
Daughters


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