This was my third year doing Art Every Day Month and I have to say that this was the easiest round by far thanks to my itty bitty art journal. In previous years, I had fun experimenting with various mediums from encaustic painting to knitting, from clay to collage, from beads to book arts. This time, I simply focused on filling up my 3″x3″ book with little doodles.
While I’ve been stretching myself and taking up space with my huge intuitive paintings, some of my biggest a-has this month have been from going small during AEDM. It’s been interesting playing with both the wall-sized and palm-sized extremes of the spectrum. To give you a sense of scale, above is a picture of me and my tiny journal in front of one of my big intuitive paintings. Thank you to my intuitive painting classmate and fellow AEDM’er Laura for taking the pictures! (There’s the whole crazy enchilada below and Laura’s sweet dog Ella in the corner).
Here are my AEDM 2009 take-aways and reminders:
- Having limited space to work with was actually liberating. I was free to focus on just creating rather than worrying about form or result.
- Time and again, I proved to myself that with a small surface area all I need is five minutes or less to make art. So really, there’s no excuse!
- With the big paintings I challenge myself to take up space and to explore a wide range of emotions and feelings. With the small sketches, I challenge myself to be focused and succinct.
- The most mundane things can provide the best inspiration. Doing a daily sketch encouraged me to pay attention to the details of my day-to-day life. Adding a humorous twist to otherwise humdrum household matters turned things like dirty dishes or cluttered closets into creative fun.
- While I do well with accountability and structure, it was helpful to let myself off the hook. I set the intention to make art every day, but I told myself that I didn’t have to stress about posting every day or sharing every single piece. I empowered myself to make the challenge work for me and that made the process more doable and enjoyable.
- Just like when I painted every day during the first Expressive Arts Teacher Training, doing art every day in November helped me track my experience. I have a visual record of what I was doing, what I was inspired by, or what I was feeling.
Well, I’m off to go sketch in my journal before the night is up!
Today’s the last day of the Art Every Day Month challenge. The month just flew by! I’ll do a recap of what I learned in another post this week. For now, here are the latest sketches from my itty bitty art journal.
Brian and I watched Yes Man on Netflix the other night. I definitely believe in the power of a consciously chosen YES! This yes deserved some glitter.
I took my first Shimmy Pop class at Hipline with the ultra fabulous Heather Meyer. With colorful scarves adorning our hips and diva sass in our step, the class shimmied off those extra helpings of Thanksgiving stuffing and cranberry sauce. Even if I couldn’t get all the moves down, I still felt like I was in a music video!
Last night I tidied up my craft area. It felt good to toss a bunch of pens that didn’t work anymore and to create space for some of my favorite new supplies. I find it funny that many of my AEDM sketches were about me cleaning up my house. I’m really not that OCD! (Well, um, maybe I am.)
And for the final day, I drew myself a little award for sticking it through the whole month. Congrats to all the other Art Every Day Month participants, too! And thanks again to our wonderful hostess, Leah!
More little sketches from my Art Every Day month 3″x3″ journal. After Emmett’s naughty garbage escapades, we finally fixed the latch to the broom closet where we keep the trash can. I’m happy to report there have been no more incidents!
My hubby was a good sport and went to see New Moon with me last weekend. Go team Edward!
I’ve been having fun just playing with colors.
I love pomegranates. They’re so tasty and the color is simply gorgeous. I used some pomegranate juice on this page.
Another quick adventure with colors.
I ran out of room on my little page to list all the things I’m grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving!
Here are more of my Art Every Day Month little sketches. This one I did after going to the 29 Gifts book launch party.
When I got home from leading the Right-Brain Business Plan workshop on Sunday, I felt energized and full of creative ideas.
One thing I love about doing these 3″x3″ sketches is that it takes just a few minutes to finish one. So, even if I remember close to midnight, I can whip one out!
Brian made an observation last night that the state of the kitchen sink usually matches the state of my mind (teehee). I’ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed the past few days!
And this is the second time this week that Emmett got into the trash when he was home alone. There’s the cute culprit below.
Here are my AEDM little sketchbook pages from the last few days.
I have Aimee of Artsyville’s “Make Time for Your Writing” print hanging above my computer. It’s such a great reminder. I decided to create a little writing mantra for myself, too.
When I showed this to Brian last night he said it looks like a “cosmic mustache.” I like that!
And in honor of Friday the 13th, I drew a black cat under a ladder. I’d say two bad luck scenarios cancel each other out and make good luck! If you like this little kitty, you gotta check out our Art Every Day Month hostess Leah’s adorable itty bitty kitty series of paintings.
