Meandering 6.30.2017

"Meandering: adjective; the act of following a winding or indirect course. 

Ramble, roam, zigzag, circuitous. A blog post about a variety of things; 

a little bit of this and a little bit of that."

It's been a while. I have these aspirations about being a regular blogger, putting up posts at least twice a week. The reality is I barely make it happen twice a month! But, I really enjoy blogging so for now I'll post when I can and keep striving for my personal goal of posting more often.

I am on day 78 of the 100 Day Project. My creative practice of choice for this project was to make collages from scraps on Rolodex cards. I combined this project with the Index-Card-A-Day (ICAD) project which began on June 1st, since Rolodex cards are included as index cards. The difference between the two projects is the 100 Day Project is totally self-led, while the ICAD project provides daily prompts. Some days I use the prompt and some days I don't. You can see all of my Rolodex art cards on Instagram (link in the sidebar on the right).

My Rolodex is filling up nicely. :)

Ever since I began this venture into making art with paper I have been drawn to collage. Lately I have been drawn to botanical collage pieces. I have come across a few collage artists whose botanical themed pieces just blow me away. One in particular, Julie Hamilton, paints her own papers to use in her collage art. I'm a sucker for painted paper!

From www.juliehamiltoncreative.com

A few other collage artists I admire for their botanical collage work are: Tiffany Calder Kingston and Jacgui Grace. Click their names and you will visit their websites.

So a few weeks ago, inspired by these artists, I painted some papers. I love to use the bookend papers from the books I take a part. This paper in older books has a great weight to it and I love how the color ages over time. With the painted papers I tried my hand at some botanical collage.

I even found myself wanting to bring home ferns and leaves from my walks in order to trace them for collage! But I didn't go that far. I used some of my stencils and used drawings from plant books to make templates. Then I used some of the painted papers to make a color wheel for my first page for the Get Messy Season of Color.

It's fun to try new techniques with art and I love combining them with my love of nature!

Creative Brainstorming

It's been said that creativity is like a muscle, the more you use it the more it improves. I continually join different classes and groups to keep my creative muscle in use and improving. Recently I joined two groups led by artists who have different styles and use different art mediums than the ones I usually lean toward. It's good to stretch my creativity out of its comfort zone and experiment with new products. 

I joined Tammy Garcia of Yellow Daisy Art to give heavy body acrylic paints a try. Her class, Groovy Grunge, is also stretching me to try new techniques and a different style. The class uses an altered book journal, which is one of my favorite types of journals. My first few pages from the class:

Some observations from the class so far: I love using the heavy body acrylics. They are thicker than the craft acrylic paints I'm used to. They are more transparent also, so more of the background shows through. There are also not as many colors to choose from so I'm getting some lessons in blending colors as well. I am following Tammy's lead and using my fingers more than a paint brush, which is always a favorite with me! I tried some writing using a paint brush and I think it needs a lot more practice.

I am keeping up (kind of) with The 100 Day Project making scrap collage on 3x5 Rolodex cards.The smaller size challenges me to get creative with a limited amount of items and words! Today is day 35 and I am through day 32. 

The other group I joined is an online art community led by Roben-Marie Smith. She offers different challenges and prompts and a place for art journalers to connect with each other. I have not done much with the prompts yet.

And finally, the first page in a new Traveler's Notebook insert. My sister and I introduced our littles to how to go to a different town and have a day of exploration and adventure. Great fun!

Are you keeping your creative muscles flexed and in use?

The 100 Day Project ~ the Beginning

It's been said that it takes 21 days to create a habit and 90 days to create a lifestyle. The 21/90 rule. I have been trying to use this mindset to create a lifestyle of health. When I learned about The 100 Day Project, I thought it might be a good way to encourage my daily art practice. And a lifestyle of art, while not quite as important as a lifestyle of healthy eating and exercise, is healthy for my emotional outlook!

So I chose to make mini collages from the scraps in my scrap box. When I think about what my favorite art medium is collage tends to come to mind immediately. Yet, I don't do it that often. So this project will stretch me to do so on a daily basis. Making them on a smaller scale is also getting me back into my Rolodex art journal. We were encouraged to make our own unique hashtag for the project. Mine is #100daysofscrapcollage.

Days 1 - 14:

2 weeks down! Let's see how I do on the long haul, :)