Day Two Hundred Eight and Nine: The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills Love

No projects over the weekend left me two days behind…

If I count today, I am three…

I am a tad bit uninspired because the rest of my life has been taken hostage and we are just sort of sitting around waiting for stuff to happen.

I am not good at waiting. In fact, I am terrible at it but I will prevail and whatever happens is for the best.

So here is Saturdays heart. It’s made from my son’s Civil War set of army men. I chose to use only the horses and the fences.

Sunday’s heart is puzzle pieces. All scattered about.

 

Tomorrow I will do two more and I will be up to date again. I don’t like to fall behind and I am determined to press onward. I need ideas!

Day One Hundred and Forty Two: Doodle love

"I would hardly call myself an artist in that sense; I doodle, I draw, I'm not a trained artist, I couldn't sit down and do an accurate portrait of anyone." ~ Rene Auberjonois

This turned out to be a much bigger task than I had originally thought it would be. I thought it would be fun to fill a 8 x 10 canvas with doodles – and it was, ultimately VERY fun – but my wrist is killing me. Not complaining though. The end result is fun, bright, and goofy.

Just what I was going for.

I like to mess about and try different things. I used markers for this one – filling in little bits here and there. I didn’t want to cover all of the white background but I wanted a lot of color, too. Not sure I found a good balance but it’s done – another lesson learned, another project completed.

I have discovered something about myself as this year has pushed on… I am much more willing to let things go. Something doesn’t have to be perfect to be finished. It’s just finished. You have to take your hands off a thing and be okay with releasing it.

There are things about this knowledge that allow me to take a huge breath of relief. One is the realization there is no such thing as perfection and – often – the more you try to grasp perfection – the more distorted the end product becomes. In short, you ruin it trying to make it better. Oh that is a tough lesson to learn but once you learn it – you are free.

Another thing? Just handing over a project and saying ‘It’s done’. JUST DONE. That makes me want to dance around. There is no pressure when you let yourself off the hook. You do your best with your idea and put your inspiration to work and then say ‘It’s done!’ – don’t redo it.  Just be done.

I would like my son to learn this. Truly. If he could accept that doing his very best is better than worrying about making something perfect just imagine the things he would be willing to try. If you aren’t hung up with the worry you have to be GOOD at something or GREAT or whatever – you wouldn’t be afraid to do ANYTHING!

So I am going to keep doing what  am doing and loving every minute of it. 223 Days to go!

Day One Hundred and Twenty Two: Cardboard love

"Art is making something out of nothing and selling it." ~ Frank Zappa

Playing with water colors today. I need a break from acrylics. I have been working on a huge abstract acrylic painting and I wanted to work with another format.

So here is a cardboard watercolor for you. It’s around 5 & 1/2 inches by 5 & 1/2 inches. I ripped it off an old box in my garage.

I have to say that I can’t believe one hundred and twenty two days have passed since I started doing this.

If you just wandered in, this project is the result of reading Noah Scalin’s book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal. I decided to explore my abilities and my wherewithal and see if I could create something every day for 365 days. I chose a Sacred Heart, not for it’s religious meanings, but instead for what it means to me personally. I feel the Sacred Heart represents passion, loyalty, love and devotion. You will see these themes also reflected in my blog.

I hope you enjoy the work I am doing and that it makes you smile or think or maybe provides you with some inspiration as Noah’s book did for me.

See you all tomorrow

Day Three: Watercolors

Splash of color

Today’s suggestion in the book was pretty amazing. It challenged me to work with paper without using scissors, glue or drawing on it.  Of course, what you see here is a watercolor that I did instead – since I am trying to follow my creative instincts on this project BUT I have an idea for the paper challenge and I am putting it to work tomorrow morning so watch for it

This is a 4 x 4 inch watercolor Sacred Heart on a thick little block canvas.