A Square A Day…

Do YOU have any creative goals for 2019?

 I believe creative goals can be a good thing even if we get distracted during the process of completing our ideas.  I see goals as a starting point, like making a recipe…

Sometimes when I start a recipe for dinner, I discover that I don’t have all the ingredients to complete it.  So it means I need to substitute what I do have to make it work.

Completing creative goals can be like making a recipe, sometimes we need to change “ingredients” to make it work for us.

I started, A Square Project in 2018 but I didn’t get it completed as planned.  Perhaps I got bored.  Perhaps I got distracted with other art classes.  It doesn’t really matter as I enjoyed the process while I did it.

I recently started an assignment from Carla Sonheim’s “365 Right Braininess” online class; to paint watercolor in a square format and fill each square with doodles, drawings and paper collage.  I have found that I like creating in a square a day…

How many birds can YOU find in the art piece above?

And it reminded me of this book, “No Excuses Art Journaling,” by Gina Rossi Armfield:

I recently purchased the 1.75 inch punch!

After seeing the journaling ideas from this book and others online, I decided to create my own creative challenge for next year!

I wrote about it in my art journal yesterday:

I hope you will join me in creating a square a day in 2019 with the creative  “ingredients” that make YOU happy!

Happy New Year!!

Cheers! 🙂

May And June Square Projects

Perhaps you remember my watercolor circles I created in April:  My April Square Project…

After my black and white doodle, I was ready for some color!  So I decided to use my black and white doodle for April:  Finding Balance

And I moved on to May and June!

I recently did this playful watercolor from my imagination:

After cutting it up, I mixed it with my colorful circles:

And got not just one… but TWO month’s projects:

And of course I had to see how they looked next to each other:

So fun to play… wishing you a creative day!

Cheers! 🙂

My April Square Project…

My April Square Project is running into May…

Yet, I’m OK with it – don’t sweat the small stuff, right?! 😉

I finally got my watercolor painting completed that I showed you the other day; you can find its beginnings here:  Art As Meditation

Last night I cut it up!  Don’t worry, it was intentional:

This time I cut larger squares and circles to add variety to my monthly project.  (See A Square Project under my categories on the right of this screen).

Next week, I hope to show you my completed collaged piece.

Until then, I’m going to have fun taking photos of these shapes… they are like a puzzle!

And if they don’t all make it into a collage, perhaps they will become part of something else?!

What would YOU do with them?

Happy Friday!

Cheers! 🙂

I Don’t Know…

Sometimes, I don’t know what to blog about…

Does this ever happen to you?

Or do you find yourself not knowing what to create?

I had another busy weekend with not much time to create art.

The new fridge was delivered on Saturday so we spent a greater part of the day cleaning inside and under the old fridge… before the new one could be installed.  (We moved the old fridge to the garage.)

One has to wonder why they have so many bottles of half used condiments just sitting around on a shelf, taking up space in the refrigerator.  😉

There was also those unexpected surprises, like the moldy cheese in an ugly shade of blue hiding in the corner or the lime that is no longer green.  (Oh, that’s what that was!)

The new fridge did get installed but the water hose leaked to the ice maker.  Luckily, my hubby was able to buy a part and fix it himself.  Fingers crossed that it is fixed! :-0

So back to creating art, I realize I got a bit off track…

I spent my evenings finishing this doodle of squares and circles with pencil shading:

I don’t know what month I will use it for my project… I’m finding planning ahead does have its advantages!  Like cleaning out under the fridge more than every 20 years…

Happy Monday!

Cheers! 🙂

 

Finding Balance

I started this drawing of squares and circles recently with a Micron black pen:

I was thinking of using a drawing for one of my monthly Square Projects;  you can read more about my project here: February’s Square Project

I think we all struggle with finding balance in one or two areas of our lives.  I know I do! 😉

Sometimes I wish life was as easy as balancing lights and darks like this collage:

The collage is still waaay too busy for me, much like life is some times… and yet cutting up the original collage and rearranging the pieces helped me to focus on the whole picture, not just the annoying parts!

It also helped me create balance in this drawing:

Creating art teaches me a lot about finding balance in my life.  How about you?

My drawing is almost complete, next I will add pencil shading.

Cheers! 🙂

 

A March Square Project

Rather than cutting circles and squares for March’s Square Project, I decided to use my own gelli-printed paper with a circle pattern printed on it (bubble wrap).

I chose the paper weaving design that I showed you in this previous post from Helen Hiebert:  Washi Papers

And for the squares, I cut a pattern into the gelli-paper using an exacto knife to reveal more of the decorative paper.  I think it is more complicated to explain than it is to do! 😉

I like the colors in both of my papers for March…blues, greens, golds, browns and a touch of white and black.  Not my usual color combos…

Yet, they seem to play well with the other colors from December.

I wonder what colors and patterns April’s project will bring!

Cheers! 🙂

Note:  If you want to see my previous square projects, please look under the art category; A Square Project in the drop down on the right.  Thanks!

A Square Project

A square idea

And a square book…

A square project

That has me hooked!

I’m so excited about this square project that I have planned for 2018!!  Perhaps you remember my paper collaged squares I did in December?

I kept working on it and it has grown in size and dimension:

So I decided I would keep adding to it!  Each month in 2018, I will add a section.  I hope to play with different colors, materials, techniques and inspiration and record my journey in my square journal and here on my blog.

I also want to learn how to create fabric with my patterns on Spoonflower.  🙂

May you be inspired to start a year-long project of discovery too!  I hope you share it with me so we can encourage each other.

Cheers! 🙂