Art Every Day Month – Page 6 – Life Unfolds Blog

AEDM Day 6: Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper

juicy pens, thirsty paper

I never write in my books. I love pristine pages, tight spines and the smell of a new book. The thought of dog-earring a page or making notes in the margin makes me shudder.

That being said, SARK’s book “Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper” just beckoned for bright markers to dance all over it. So, I got some juicy pens and filled out page 80 – the list of reasons why I don’t feel like writing. There are so many things that I let get in the way of working on my book. This was a great exercise in putting it all down. I’m sure there are plenty more distractions and excuses (in fact I just thought of another one – I need to go exercise!).

I think these same reasons also stop me from doing art more often. So, I’m loving being part of the Art Every Day Month Challenge as it’s helping me to just do it anyway!

AEDM Day 5: Hue Are U?

I’m always learning new things from my clients, which is one of the things I love about my job! Today, one of my clients came over for a session and she brought along a card deck called “Hue Are U? A Deck For Discovering Your True Self” by Dewey Sadka. I’m a personality-typing nut, so I was all over this system, especially given that it’s based on simply picking colors you’re naturally drawn to. You also pick colors you don’t like (what you resist persists!).

Earlier tonight, I drew my cards. You pick your favorites and least favorites out of different groupings of colors for things like your basic motivation, how you relate to people, your hopes and fears, how you take on the world, your suppressed emotions/needs, etc. There are descriptions on the back of each card. My faves were in the green/yellow/blue family and least faves in the reds/purples.

It was a fun and enlightening exercise and I decided to diagram my results (see below).

AEDM Day 4: Having Fun With Values

What an amazing and historic night!!

Earlier today I finished my 10th collaged value card. I’ve been having so much fun exploring my values in a visual, tangible and creative way that I just had to create a card to honor my value of fun and play!

fun, play, enjoyment, experiential, in the body

Fun / Play / Enjoyment / Experiential / In the Body

Those colorful striped tights remind me of the whimsy, adventurous spirit and independent spunk of Pipi Longstocking. When I was a kid, I used to love watching Pipi Longstocking. I wished I had her crazy sideways braids and her unusal strength!

I also found a super cute image of a beagle to remind me of how fun it is to cuddle and play with Emmett.

values

I’ve been really enjoying interacting with my value cards – which makes sense considering “experiential” is an one of my values! Today, I placed my deck of cards on an easel by my computer. I choose to display my value card of grace, elegance and flow as I spent a good part of today writing. It reminded me of the ease and flow I enjoy when I’m in my creative groove.

visual values list

I also played around with using my cards to see how well certain aspects of my life stack up against my values. This spread here shows all of the values I’m honoring by working on my book. I’m looking forward to using this visual process to help me make future decisions, assess my commitments and align with what brings me most alive.

AEDM Day 3: More Collaged Values Cards

For Day 3 of Art Every Day Month, I made a couple more collaged values cards.

integrity, authenticity, wholeness, true to self, integrated

Integrity / Authenticity / Wholeness / True to Self / Integrated

love, connection, friendship, meaningful relationships

Love / Connection / Friendship / Meaningful Relationships

This has been a great exercise that I look forward to continue working with more deeply. In fact, earlier tonight I coached a client who is preparing for her certification exam. To practice and get feedback, she coached me for a bit. I got some great coaching on something I’ve been stuck around for the past several weeks. By asking about my values, she helped me get clearer on some actions to take. The biggest realization for me was that by avoiding direct requests and boundaries, I was out of integrity. Not doing anything was actually not speaking my truth. And that violated my value of integrity, authenticity and being true to myself.

I love that I now have a visual reminder to help me stay connected with this value. To help reinforce how speaking my truth from my heart keeps me on my path.

AEDM Day 2: More Collaged Values Cards

I finished three more collaged values cards today. Again, I was only going to do one and then I just got caught up in the fun! Turns out I was honoring my values of creativity and flow :).

risk-taking, stretching, branching out

Risk Taking / Stretching / Putting myself out there / Accomplishment / Excellence

peace, tranquility, harmony, inner life, meaning

Peace / Harmony / Tranquility / Inner Life / Meaning

learning, personal growth

Learning / Personal Growth

As I look at today’s cards and my cards from yesterday, I’m reminded how sometimes core values may actually conflict with each other and how they can all be interconnected as well. For example, when I put myself out there (like I did for my TV appearances), I might disrupt my sense of peace and tranquility for a bit but I’ve usually challenged myself to learn and grow so afterward I feel great! Another place where my values sometimes rub up against each other is around creativity/expression and my need for at least some order, structure and efficiency. My value of creativity ranks higher than my value for structure, though, so usually that wins out. I know structure and efficiency are important to me though, because when they’re not there in some form I get frustrated. The key is having awareness and making conscious choices about what values you’ll honor in any given moment.

I’m really enjoying this process of exploring my values in a visual and more tangible way. I hope you’ll make some of your own!

Day 1: Art Every Day Month 2008 Starts Today!

I can’t believe it’s already November! That means Leah Piken Kolidas’ Art Every Day Month challenge has begun. I’m excited to explore art and creativity in new exciting ways each day.

For my first project I started creating collage cards for each of my core values strings. I just wrote an exercise about these values cards in a chapter of the book that I’m working on, so I wanted to experiment with it a bit.

Values are what’s most important to you. When you’re honoring your core values, you feel totally alive, authentic and aligned. When your core values aren’t being met, you’ll probably feel frustrated, angry or resentful. When you’re faced with a decision, it’s helpful to see how well the different options honor your core values. Once I have my completed deck of values cards, I’m going to practice using them to make decisions in a visual way.

I planned to just make one card per day for the next several days, but I just got really in the creative flow so I ended up doing four tonight! They are collaged onto 5×7 pieces of card stock

beuaty, creativity, expression

Beauty / Creativity / Creating Beauty / Style / Inspiration / Self Expression / Uniqueness / Emotions

grace, elegance, flow

Grace / Elegance / Flow

Breath, Spaciousness, Groundedness

Breath / Spaciousness / Groundedness

structure, efficiency

Structure / Efficiency (Yes, I actually used labels from my p-touch because it’s just oh so satisfying!)

I’m looking forward to making more values collage cards tomorrow!

Art Every Day Month Conference Call Posted

Tuesday’s Co-Active Network Creative Artists community call with creator Leah Piken Kolidas just got posted. If you weren’t able to make the call, but wanted to hear Leah talk about her Art Every Day Month challenge please take a listen. Although these community calls are intended for coaches of creative artists, feel free to check this one out even if you’re not a coach or a “creative artist” as Leah’s challenge is an invitation to everyone! The recording has lots of great information about the AEDM challenge, ideas for how to participate AND Leah leads us through a quick and easy creativity sparking exercise. What could be better?!

Art Every Day Month 2008 Starts Soon!

Today artist Leah Piken Kolidas was a guest on our Co-Active Network Creative Artists Community call. She talked to our group of coaches about her Art Every Day Month challenge and how this project could help us explore and express our own creativity and how it could be a great structure of inspiration, support and accountability for our clients. I’ll post a link to the recording soon.

I participated in AEDM last year and got so much out of the experience, including expanding my own notion of what makes art, meeting new creative souls and sparking a product idea. I’m looking forward to being a part of this wonderful community again next month.

And in honor of being the artists of our own lives, I’d like to share a video that both Jamie and Jessie posted on their blogs recently. It’s by artist and visionary though leader Jan Phillips author of Marry Your Muse, which Leah had recommended to me awhile back.

Hope to see you in the AEDM community in a couple of weeks!

Creative Every Day 2008 Begins

Artist and creative blogger Leah Piken Kolidas has rallied the creative community once again with her new challenge, Creative Every Day 2008. I got so much out of participating in her November Art Every Day challenge that I’ve decided to say yes to a whole new year of conscious creativity.

One of my big lessons from AEDM 07 was being reminded that creativity is so much more than artmaking. That we are creative in everything we do – from how we dress, how we live, how we work, how we relate to ourselves and others, and so much more. I like to think that, in the grandest sense, we are the artists of our own lives.

So, my creative act for today was spending quality time with my husband co-creating a shared vision for our relationship. We’ve been together for about 14 years, married for more than six. And through the years we’ve learned so much about ourselves and each other – we’re so different yet very much the same. I feel so fortunate to have him in my life and love that we are committing to consciously co-creating our shared vision together.

Right-Brain Business Plan Blog

In November of 2007, I participated in Leah Piken’s Art Every Day Month. The final two days of the challenge serendipitously culminated in a new creative idea that I call the Right-Brain Business Plan. Well, in the last several weeks, my Right-Brain Business Plan has generated quite a bit of interest – comments on my blog, others posting about my plan on their site, and those who’ve seen it in-person wanting to create one for themselves. I even recently worked with a client and her business partner to develop their own Right-Brain Business Plans. So, given the great response, I figured, hey, why not officially start a movement!

I’ve created a new blog called “The Right-Brain Business Plan Blog.” Please check it out! Stay tuned for more creative ideas for your business and opportunities for connection and community with fellow right-brainers!

This is NOT business as usual!