Skip to main content

365 Days of Creativedeeds Comes to a Close


...and just like that 365 days of creative deeds later the year-long project comes to a restful & reflective close. It all began with Gretchen Miller's Creativity in Motion project for 2015. Here's a run-down:

  • Create small pieces of art (about 3x2.5) daily
  • Randomly gift the art pieces "as acts of kindness" + "to spread creative goodness"
  • Date stamp and the # of the card were identified for each
  • In addition, small "tags" were added that went on the back of each deed with basic information on the project and asking to share with  #found + #creativedeed365 on social media cites. I did not include my name, but I did include the name of my town (or wherever I made them, if I was travelling).

In order for this project to be feasible I decided to recycle old pieces of art whenever possible as the base (some of the months with recycled art: January, April). Each month's creative deeds were prepped as a batch. The paper cut into the right size, the information sheet and date attached to each one. Creating mini collages were amazingly time consuming but turned-out to be mini-treasures onto themselves (some of the months using collage: February, May, September, October). Naturally dyed cards became my favorite process with a serendipitous outcome every time (some of the months with natural dye: March, June, July, August, November, December). On a daily basis I could then focus on the inspiring message and documentation (via. Instagram).


I loved using bits and pieces from collage bins or discarded art piles. When traveling, napkins or coasters would be my muse. Quotes came from everywhere and everyone (almost). Search engines, social media cites, friends and family from close and far contributed throughout the year with positive thoughts.

Throughout the year many asked how much I was charging for the cards, and they wouldn't believe me when the answer was nothing. Often the cards were simply left in public spaces or mailed off to friends to distribute as they saw fit. In many ways the cards fired-up the snail-mail connection with many social media contacts who would in turn send me inspirational quotes for the project. A loop of creativity, inspiration, and sharing.


I now plan to use this inspiring year of creative making towards a year of visual journaling in 2016. Stay creative!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

March Days of #creativedeed365

and it continues! #creativedeed365 continued through the struggles of march with lots of support from the Facebook group, family, friends, and even spouse. After the first 2 months of #creativedeed365  with Gretchen Miller , March began with a plan. Using the stained cards from Murphy in the Art Space  which were already cut into 3"x 3" squares I set out to conquer Marchs' 31 days. One day  card at a time. Much like the prior months I prepared the back of the cards with the # of the card and date plus a blip about the creativedeeds. Each day I found a few minutes to create the entry. Saving the cards for distribution once I was in public spaces such as the local university, coffee shops, or restaurants. This month I saw a couple pop-up on Instagram from people who found them and then found me through the #creativedeed365 tag. I was surprised by how exited I was at realizing where these cards had made-it to. Glad they were in good hands. Through the making of ...
1 comment
Read more

Leftover Tie Dye? Work with it!

Summer seems to be the time for tie dye and outdoor activities -- in Florida that also means spontaneous monsoon-like thunderstorms and zillions (yes, zillions) of mosquitoes. So, if you’re stuck indoors with weeks old (or older) tie dye, this post is for you! As seen in previous posts I love re-purposing and up-cycling, however believe me when I say that I do not go looking for these opportunities. I just go with it when the muse calls and sometimes it works out and others it does not. This was one of those creative opportunities that paid off. 1 First, I happen to find some tie dye left by my students (maybe as far back as April or early May). It had been mixed ages ago (months) and packaging instructions say to discard after a few hours...umm. OK so I couldn't bring myself to pouring it down the drain. 2 Finding some pieces of light color or white absorbent cloth (mine were about 4”x4” bed sheet cloth) I set to purposefully experiment. I folded & wrapped e...
Post a Comment
Read more

Layered {Response} Art

Inchies in process of being stained. I recently read artist Seth Apter ’s post on a question we artists are often asked: How long did it take you? The following blog post will be my response to his thought provoking post which I found rang a few bells for me. Seth’s post for October 20th, 2014 can be reached via this link: The Surface of my Work So, how long does it take to create? ...the art therapist’s perspective. I will give voice to some accumulated thoughts on the particular topic of response art. I feel it is important to make the distinction between response art and other artwork I may engage-in for the purpose of “creating something pretty”. Response art to me indicates a creative process (and/or artifact) that seeks to process an experience; usually to do with intense experiences encountered as a part of carrying out the duties of our profession [for more on response art in art therapy see Fish, 2006, 2008, 2012]. Beginning. When the creative bug cal...
3 comments
Read more