Skip to main content

The First 31 Days of 2015 #creativedeed365


In the last post [Murphy in the Art Space] I mentioned taking-on a daily art practice called CreativeDeed365 spearheaded by non other than the awesome Gretchen Miller.  Well, it is now a few days into February and I will report that (much to my own surprise) I'm still very much in this game.

I wanted to commemorate the first 31 days (January) with a reflective post and maybe even 1x per month for the rest of 2015 (but who knows what the future will bring -- hopefully more ART!).

My Plan (in review) for #creativedeed365
After a month of daily art making I am happy to report that I have done & stuck to what I said I would do. It worked! Here's a breakdown:
  • Stick to a small format - playing card or ATC sized
    • January cards were 2.5x3.5 ATC cards I had made for another project were now gathering dust & cluttering my art space. Mentally and physically they needed to be given a new purpose -- a new home. 
  • Use older pieces of art first/ re-purposed whenever possible
    • See above. I also raided my travel art pouch from the summer. Since it already contained small items I brought those into my current "daily-art" kit. 
  • Create a 'batch' once or twice a month of 'blanks' which I can easily alter each day
    • Yep using ATCs which already had some color and texture or stains made it easier to incorporate a creative deed per day into my already super crazy schedule. 
  • Document the final image or/and where it was left
    • After a month I found out it works best for me to photograph the piece as I finish it versus where I leave it. Because the muse of creative gifting doesn't always give me a heads-up and several times I realized I left something, dropped it off, or slipped it under a door without ever taking a picture! SO now, I photograph first. 
  • Remember-2-KIT - keep it simple!!! (I tend to forget this one often) 
    • I think the small sizes I'm choosing to work with are helping me KIT and telling myself to work with whats easily available around me.
 All in all, working on these has been as much about me and what I need as it is an act of goodness for much as something for "the other". As I'm noticing that as I compose a card I gravitate towards the images, phrases, words and colors that I seem to be needing to hear that day/moment. It is becoming that "art" I was soo craving and not getting to do because of so many other demands on my time. So, documenting the daily creative deeds will be an important part of the entire journey for me and my self-care endeavors.

That wraps-up January and its 31 days of deeds.
*Here are a few of January's #creativedeed365 in no particular order.















Here's to February and its 28 days! Stay Artsy my friends!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Capturing a Moment: Gelatin Printing

Lets just get right down to it, you've either tried it and loved it or you're currently wondering what I'm talking about. Gelatin prints that's what. A few years ago a student introduced me to the wonders of using homemade gelatin as a printing plate (sugar free kind). As it turns out it is a very versatile work surface that brings an element of intrigue and play into the work space. When my clients first hear I'll be bringing in gelatin, they seek out napkins and forks and eagerly away the obviously tasty snack. The sound of dreams shattering as I pull-out the gelatin plates is audible (if only short lived). Soon everyone is poking and wiggling the gelatin and wondering what we'll be doing with it. Play is an important aspect of what I do. So is creativity and genuine interest. These things are however harder to come-by in adults than their younger counterparts (who jump-into explorer mode instinctively).  Sometimes I have to coerce these attr

Stress Relief Recipe Book

Found some time this weekend to de-stress and what better way than delving into one of those “for later” piles. This particular pile consisted of a menagerie of brown paper bags (and the envelopes they were mailed-in). They were accompanied by notes, quotes, dyed papers, hand made paper, ribbons, and on and on, etc.   These bits of mail have been coming-in at wonderfully random intervals for maybe 2 months. Now it is time to bind the collection into the Stress Relief Recipe Book it was meant for. To the bag full of bits of mail I also added: ruler, pencil, x-acto blade (and scissors), ice-pic, elmers (and other glues), thick string, wax candle (used it to wax the string), thick-blunt needle, and cardboard. *for anyone trying this out for the first time - go ahead and make your life simpler by having the inserts all be the same measurements (or close to it). First there was extensive Pinterest and Google searches for DIY paper bag books, but those mostly consisted

Technique Book #1

Returning from this years’ AATA Conference in San Antonio thankful to have connected and reconnected with so many amazing art therapists. It’s been busy and I didn’t mean to set the blog aside, but here’s some visual yummies to begin to make things up. Last August (yep, 2013) I made a small accordion book. In this accordion style, I essentially pieces together several strips of paper into one continuous page that folds at repeating intervals. I gave the book purpose when I decided to use it as a place to document art techniques. These art techniques were small samplings of ones I would be using in my groups. Today I completed the small book and am posting some of the images here with brief dialogue on some of the techniques. If there's interest I will consider separate posts later-on. Book Cover: Layered tissue paper with pressed leaves. Accordion style pages were 'seamed' with strips of tea bags. On left: Tea bag sheets can be used to age/antique.   On