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.

I’ve been having fun with my little Art Every Day Month 3″x3″ sketch book. I love how the pages are already getting warped and wrinkled. The journal traveled with me to Mexico and I doodled every day I was there. Here are some of my pages from the past week or so.

When we arrived in Playa del Carmen it was hot and muggy and the air conditioner in our room was on the fritz. Thank goodness it got fixed!

I enjoyed a nice yoga class at Yoga by the Way.

I was determined to spend at least some time on the beach, but it was just not meant to be. There was a tiny opening of sunshine while we ate lunch, but by the time we finished up and got our gear ready, the wind was blowing so hard that sand got in our eyes the moment we stepped foot on the shore. Good thing I was able to fit in another yoga class, though!

After a long day of travel, I was glad to be back home. I almost forgot about my art for the day, so I did this quick drawing of our house before I went to bed. There are details missing (like a whole other window and part of my front porch – oops!), but I just have to remember from intuitive painting classes that it’s not about the product, it’s about the process.

You know how when you have a ton of work to do, the closets and fridge suddenly seem to require reorganization pronto? Well, I spent most of Sunday purging and cleaning. It felt good, though, to clear the clutter.

Here’s an abstract painting I did last night. I just let the colors go wherever they wanted.  It kind of looks like there are some eerie dark hands covering up a mouth or a heart.

I’m really loving the structure of my little journal for this year’s Art Every Day Month challenge and may even continue to do daily doodles even when November ends. It only takes a few minutes for me to whip out a little scribble or painting, so there’s really no excuse, right? Plus it’s fun to chronicle my days through art.

The first day of November marks the beginning of the Art Every Day Month challenge. My pal Leah Piken Kolidas started this online challenge seven years ago and now more than 190 have joined this creative community! I’ve been participating for the past two years. I love the structure and accountability and enjoy connecting with so many kindred spirits.

This year I’m taking it easy on myself and trying something a little different. I intend to make art every day, but won’t be posting daily. I plan to use this tiny 3″x3″ book that I picked up while I was at the Squam Art Fair with Leah, Melba and Mindy back in September. When I saw this adorable mini journal, I figured it would be the perfect companion to invite in a little creating each day. Nothing big or time-consuming. Just a quick doodle.

Since I’m juggling a lot this month, my challenge will simply be to stay committed to my small creative practice. Through my intuitive painting training I’m learning to let go of the outcome and just be with the process, so I look forward to seeing what unfolds this year!

Oh and if you’re wanting a little extra guidance during the challenge, this year Leah put together an Art Every Day Month Survival Guide which looks really awesome!

Today is the last day of the Art Everyday Month challenge! What an awesome month of creativity, exploration and play. I also love the community and new connections this challenge fosters!

During the final two days of AEDM 2007, I invented my Right-Brain Business Plan, so it was only befitting that I use the last day of AEDM 2008 to start my new Right-Brain Business Plan for next year!

Part of what I envision is making a broader impact on the creative entrepreneur community and women in business.  While I’m putting myself out there, I want to honor my values of fun/play, authenticity/trusting myself, peace/harmony, and beauty/creativity/expression.

One of my big accomplishments this year was hiring a Virtual Assistant.  I’ve really enjoyed the extra support so that I can focus on the more strategic and profit-oriented aspects of my business.  In 2009, I want to continue that process and develop more streamlined systems so I can work smarter and expand my business in new and exciting ways.

Also, I’ve had a blast this year with creating The Right-Brain Business Plan e-Book and the Unfolding Your Life Vision Kit.  Next year, my goal is to finish my first book and get started on the other two that have also been percolating!  I also want to develop new innovative products and services to offer.

Plus, I want to continue increasing my media exposure. Would love to be back on The View From The Bay and to get on The Martha Stewart Show to demonstrate an Unfolding Your Life Vision collage book, along with other TV, print and online venues!!

Last year, when I set my financial goals, I didn’t realize this, but I focused just on the actual amount rather than also including what the money would actually get me.  While I’ve come pretty darn close to my goal, I know I can dream bigger for next year and beyond!  Since money is not what drives me in running my own business, I brought into my vision more aspects of the lifestyle I want to be living.  I think that’s something that really came home for me when I participated in a money circle earlier this year.

I look forward to fleshing out the details of my plan like I did last year.  That’s really where the rubber starts meeting the road and the vision can come to life!  I also just ordered a book that just came out earlier this month called The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real by Lisa Sonora Beam.  It looks right up my alley and I bet it’ll give me more ideas for detailing out my 2009 Right-Brain Business plan.

All of this creating and art visioning during AEDM has inspired me to revisit the new letter from the future I started writing a few weeks ago.  That will give me additional insights into my plan and I’m sure I’ll now have more things to add to my letter!

The end of the year is a great time to start thinking about what you want the next year to be like, so I hope you’ll do some visioning and planning, too!  Please let me know, I’d love to see!!

Most of today was spent completing my “year in review” project on my exploding box.  It ended up taking a lot longer than I anticipated, but it was great to spend time reflecting on all the exciting events and accomplishments that have transpired so far in 2008.

My moo cards were the perfect size to decorate the pages.

I even made a miniature brochure that unfolds just like the real one!

Wow, 2008 has really been an amazing year!  So many of the things that I had envisioned in my Right-Brain Business Plan last year have manifested.  I look forward to finishing up my year in review next month and to envisioning more for 2009!

This morning I had a flash of an idea for how to decorate my exploding box.  I had planned to do a “year in review” piece and then realized the 12 squares of the box are the perfect format for documenting this past year!  Since I was gone most of the day in Sacramento for a baby shower and visiting friends, I just spent part of this evening planning out the different pages.  I have post-it note placeholders for what I want to include and I started to print out some images.  I look forward to diving into this project in more detail!