Dreaming Big on the Full Snow Moon

This month Jamie challenged us to Dream Big! And when I dream big, it is always about Space.

When I first thought about doing something about these Big Dreams I was having, I dismissed it, poo-pooed my desires, felt who was I to be able to contribute? But I overruled those thoughts and did take action. These dreams require many building blocks and there is an incredibly long road ahead. Will I be able to contribute to this dream? In small ways, I already am. I walk through opening doors, leap on opportunities, fret when there are none but keep plugging away. Now I think I will exercise with this on my mind, then revisit my mind maps and agenda to decide on those next little steps that I will take for this month.

It was very difficult to even decide to share these "soul reflections" of mine as they are so different from what I have seen in any submissions. But (big intake of breath) - here they are.

Purple Orchid Zen Doodlng

Last week was fun with the "reflection" challenge so I'm back with an attempt at "purple" at this week's Inspiration Avenue challenge.

Have purple pen, will travel. This one was done on a plane, in the air with a purple pen and my moleskine journal. Not nearly as elaborate as my last attempt but kind of fun. (BTW, it is much more purple in my journal than it seems to be in this scanned image.)

Thanks for another great challenge. Looking forward to seeing everyone's efforts!

Music and Home Melding in My Mind and on the Page

Another week and another 7 days of little creations. Hope you all had a great creative week! This week I had a few songs, and rhymes stuck in my head. So I tried to play with those. As I write this blog post, I am playing with some links to go with those thoughts and these images of mine!

Monday:

 

As you can see, The Beatles "Yellow Submarine" was the first song.  I'm still humming it! (Argh!)

Tuesday: Next was a rhyme or Nursery Tale - but my version looks nothing like the old boots I usually see! This is an old lady who got her home (and style) back in the '70s! And now her home is back in style!

  

Wednesday: Back (way back) to songs, and this one kept creeping in while I was thinking of the theme Home.-

  

Thursday: There were a number of road songs that also came to mind. So many ways to live life on the road or Highway...

  

Friday: While there were doghouse songs, this one wasn't inspired by them. It just jumped in and gave me a chance to play more with Zen doodles.

  

Saturday: Thinking of dogs made me think of cats. Favourite places within a house are where cats feel most at home: Here is one of them (with a bit of a zentangle flavour.)

  

Sunday: I guess I wasn't done with music. A happy home often exudes it...

  

Also this week, I continued my work on creating a fit body and exercised five times. I also continued working on creating a clean, less cluttered home and finished the drawers and shelves in the upstairs bathroom. I went to see others' creativity again - this time to my daughter's Art Teacher's photo exhibit. Awesome!!  Unfortunately nothing on the web to link to that I could find. I tried a new Challenge with my "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" post.  

A few weeks ago, Upsidedown B posted her evolution of headers, so I thought I would change mine. I loved that starfish from Virgin Gorda, so I didn't want to make a dramatic change. For now I am going with a variation of that theme.

Before: 

 

After:

I'm not sure I am in love with this so I suspect it will continue to evolve, but it is a start! I love Bee's idea! Have any of the rest of you evolved your blog header? Have you posted about it? If you do, I'd love to see them so please comment and let me know!

Hope you all have a productive and creative week ahead! Thanks for your comments here. I'm looking forward to seeing your new efforts!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Who is the Most Creative of them All?

This week, while checking out some of the creations of people I have come across during my CED2010 participation, I saw a gorgeous image by Annette Q. She was entering it into a challenge, not CED2010 but Inspiration Avenue's weekly challenge. This particular one looked intriguing and I had this idea that I wanted to try.

So here is my Reflection:

The execution isn't terribly professional but I enjoyed this new experiment. If you click on the image you can see more detail. The creative reflections are saying:

"Come. Join us! There is a place... Here... For you... For All of Us!"

Now that I am done, I will go back and look at everyone's posting!

Hope you are having a creative week!

Thank Goodness for the Eraser! Or - Will I ever Learn to Draw a Straight Line?

The HOME theme continues, so I decided to sketch mine, from a variety of perspectives. I don't think I can draw a straight line even if my life depended on it! But try I did. They are not terribly exciting and appear a bit faint due to my "tentative" sketching technique but they are a bit clearer if clicked on. It was an interesting experiment and I'm still on track with CED2010. How about you? My Creative Every Day this week's efforts were:

Monday: Front and East.

Tuesday: North Side.

Wednesday: South Side.

Thursday: Back and West.

Friday: Overhead.

Saturday: Overhead including more of the lot.

Sunday: And now for something completely different! The sketching was interesting but much of the other experiments I have done have been much more fun. I like the fun ones. So for Valentines Day, this is my fun one: HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS. A message many of you have displayed in other creative ways. I hope you had a great Valentine's Day! 

In addition this week, I also did a couple of other little experiments. I went to the art store. (LOVE going to the art store even if I don't know what half of the conttents are for.) I came away with black pastel paper, so here is my first effort. One of my orchids looks almost like a toad lily with variegated purple and mauve smudges and splots. (Deliberate misspelling unless that is really a word.)

At the office supply store I found blank cards, so I made Valentine's cards for my family - first time since I was a litle kid! One of them opened upside down though - oops! Oh well, it was still appreciated!

I also managed to continue with my "creating a fit body" theme and exercised 5x this week again. And I finshed a great new interview for a series I am working on, so I have been very happy about that.

How was your week?

I am looking forward to seeing all the great new creations as you post to Leah's Mister Linky!!!! Now what a great creation THAT was!

Visiting Unusual Homes this Week!

A new theme for CED2010 started this month - HOME! But I haven't quite left BODY behind. I am working on creating a fit body, and so far, am still on track. (Though progress never seems to go as fast as I'd like!) I exercised 5 times again this week and finally got some medical tests done that I have been procrastinating terribly on. Just normal course type tests but I put the requisitions in a "safe place" and it was a bit too safe as it took me quite some time to find them again! Have you ever had that happen? Those "safe places" can be dangerous! Now the tests are done and hopefully my doctor will talk to me when I next need to call.

This week I started to explore the theme HOME - starting with unusual homes mostly in nature. I continue to try to get better with a variety of tools - ink, watercolours and pastels. I'm still starting with a pencil sketch. Wonder if I'll develop the skill and confidence to do without that stage. Or is better to keep that stage? I was also playing around with markers in a different book this week. Interesting! Boy, do they ever leak through the page on to the next one! Maybe I'll post some of those eventually.

Monday:

Tuesday:  I quite like how this wasp's nest turned out. I think waterolours were the right medium for the delicate nature of the nest.

Wednesday:

Thursday:  Tried pastels again.

Friday:

Saturday:  I love this turtle zen doodle!

Sunday:  Playing with letters again - making them into a variety of unusual homes.

I am also working on creating a clean, tidy and less cluttered home. In addition to the usual chores I pick a room or two to focus on for each month. Last month it was the living room and this month it is the upstairs bathroom and under the basement stairs. I've started cleaning shelves and drawers in the bathroom and did a few in the kitchen as well. Breaking things down into very small (manageable) tasks works for me. What works for you?

I also started to create a new interview for an interview series I am working on. Yay!!! I'd been a bit stuck on these the past few months and I am pleased with how this new one is progressing.

I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing all of your efforts over the past week! Hope you had a good one and best wishes for a great creative week this week!

EVA

Last Week of BODY Experiments

This was the last week for the CED2010 theme BODY and next week is the start of HOME. It has been lots of fun experimenting with the BODY theme. Lots of silliness, some seriousness and much learning. These are what I tried and created this week.

Monday: I thought I would try to create silhouettes using charcoal and then I added pastels. I stll have a lot to learn. At first I hated this due to my amateurish strokes but it has grown on me. I really like the effect.

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:  Another experiment in pastels. I've enjoyed these pastel body experiments almost as much as the zentangles.

Friday:  Another creation this week was my Full Wolf Moon Dreamboard. After completing it, I thought it would be fun to create a version of it in my CED2010 book as well.

Saturday:  All month I have been thinking about the theme and the word BODY, playing with variations of the word. I decided not to explore the bodies of too many other animals or vehicles but one that kept coming back was trees. After Wednesday's pastel (which turned out to be the tree pose in yoga) and Leah's recent post on Tree Bodies, with her lovely artwork, I decided to do my own version using pastels and water colours.

Sunday:  A last zentangle/Zen Doodle of one of my favourite little bodies. He looks a bit more mischievous than he really is but it was fun to do!

Thanks Leah for a great month! Many thanks to all of you who have posted comments to my little blog! I really appreciate them! This has been an excellent learning experience so far. I have tried new tools - pencil, ink, charoal, watercolour pencils and watercolours, and a couple of kinds of pastels. I have a long way to go to be skillful in using them but, as with everything else in life, that comes with practice. I am also learning that creating this one habit - creating every day - is spilling over to creating other habits. I have been working on creating a fit body and I was successful in exercising 5 times a week, each week this month. Not quite a daily habit but I think that would be impossible for me while this has been achievable. Although the theme is shifting, that part of my focus won't.

What about you - what did you learn this month? And what was your favourite experiment? Did you create any other new habits?

Have a creative week! I'm looking forward to seeing your efforts!

All the best,

EVA