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

21 Days Does a Habit Make?

They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. CED2010 has just finished 24 days so I may be well on my way to a new habit - creating every day! How about you? Have you formed this habit yet?

So far, so good. I am still on track for a new creation every day. And I am:

• Having fun!
• Learning - so much!
• Trying new things
• More focused on the process than on the results
• Amazed at the results
• Seeing some overflow into other areas of my life
• Still thinking about the theme - BODY
• Happy I am participating!

Monday: I wrote a blog entry about that challenge and posted my charcoal and pencil experiment then.

Tuesday:  Pondering the theme BODY, "dead body" entered my mind and I thought - "Hmm, how about an Egyptian sarcophagus?" and went as far as to look at images. They were already so ornate that it didn't feel right to try to Zen Doodle one. Then a stormy crime scene entered my mind, and this was the result.

Wednesday: Again thinking about bodies, what are bodies made of? Well, at first I was humming Moby We are all made of Stars (and I may still use that...) but really bodies are made of the DNA that forms our flesh and blood. This is my fanciful attempt to represent a body made of DNA.

Thursday: Relaxing....

Friday: I decided that I wanted to try a new medium. Since I had some pastels around and had years ago tried drawing a poppy from my garden using them and liked the resulting piece well enough to keep it, the next two are body studies using oil pastels.

Saturday:

Sunday: I like the zentangles/Zen Doodles I have done so far. I'm not sure quite what they really are or where they came from or how one is really suppose to draw one but I like doing them. Zen - very appropriate. Do you feel a zen/flow state of mind while creating a zentangle? Here is another one based on the body of Rodin's The Thinker.

These are my creations for every day of last week. I am looking forward to seeing yours!

A Toast to Getting it Wrong

Last night, I wasn't totally happy with my creation/experiment using charcoal pencils. I started talking to myself: "It's okay, it's fine. I'm learning. Practice makes perfect. Maybe I'll go back to fun creations before trying serious ones again but I will try again. (Etcetera.)" and then I stopped and laughed at myself.

Monday:

CED2010 is an exercise and an experiment for me, one that I am really enjoying. I surprise myself with the bizarre and silly images I have created in 2010, and while I would love to be a great "artist", that isn't really my goal. Some of  the CED2010 particpants are already excellent professional artists! Others, based on what I have read so far, yearn to be. And some are really hard on themselves. (Maybe we all are at times?) I am so impressed with everyone's creativity and ideas! And I have also found that everyone is so encouraging and supportive of each others efforts, and that is fabulous!

So today when I came across a great post by Mark McGuinness of Lateral Action discussing Creative Blocks, I thought I'd share it. In part 2,  Mark encourages an anonymous reader to go out and GET IT WRONG! Then he quotes e.e. cummings (I love quotes): 

"and even if it’s sunday may i be wrong

for whenever men are right they are not young."

Isn't one of the great parts of CED2010 that we have the freedom to get it wrong and learn from our mistakes? To share if we'd like to? Or not?

Two of the comments on that post also resonated with me (and the first surprised me):
Picasso’s technique was never to refer to his paintings as ‘works of art’ but always as ‘experiments’ or as ‘research’. A little bit of self-deception that got him past the perfectionist road block, resulting in a lifetime of continuous productivity.  Chris Vaughn
and:
"Wow, I just went through that entire thought process on my latest project..”what if I get it wrong? Then I need more materials. Oh, I have those, with enough to spare.” And then..”Wait! I’m making this up, it’s what ever I make it.” funny, how I needed to actually articulate that, actually ask those questions, but then also answer them." Martha Downs

What if you get it wrong tonight? I know that I will just be making it up. Are you going to make something new up tonight?

Hmm, now I have this urge to go listen to the Rites of Spring!

To mistakes!   Cheers.

EVA

Another Week, Another Creation Every Day!

Creative Every Day 2010 continues successfully!

I have been playing around with the January theme of BODY. Silly things, plays on words, come into mind and then make their way into my art book in fashions I don't expect when I start. The unexpected nature of these little creations of mine is surprising and fascinating to me!

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday: Thinking about bodies brought all kinds of shapes, and other aspects, to mind. I thought "hard body" and was going to try to draw a body builder. Once pencil was put to paper, instead of a body that was as hard as rocks, a body built of rocks appeared. Not sure if my attempt to also reflect the Northern Lights worked but I am just learning to use these watercolour pencils I bought. (I am learning so much!)

Thursday:

Friday: While thinking about a Body of Water, I started humming to myself Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay and ended up with this relaxing body/bay.

Saturday: As I was exercised (so far so good there too!), I was thinking about what to try next. So this is my amateur attempt at drawing myself. (My, I look so much fitter there!)

Sunday: I really enjoyed doing the Zentangle/Zen Doodle last week and thought I'd try a variation of that - still with the BODY theme. Da Vinci's "Man" kept coming to my mind - unfortunately not very accurately! I looked at the original mid-way through this and realized the head didn't go all the way to the top of the circle! Oops! Oh, well! It was never meant to be a copy.

The overflow of creativity into other areas of my life was limited this week - a new soup creation (using leftover salmon), and a start of a "startegic planner". (Hey! - that typo seems to make more sense! Hmmm.)

I continue to be so impressed by all the creativity I have seen from this group!! You guys (gals) are awesome!! I check out Leah's update page regularly, and the Flickr page occasionally. So many talented artists! Wow! I am enjoying all your work thoroughly and learning so much.

This week I may try to experiment with other tools - I think I have some pastels and charcoal pencils somewhere. (I wish they came with manuals.) Paints will have to wait for the summer when I can use them outdoors.

What are you going to try this week?

Happy Creating!!

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

Have you ever thought of yourself as a fairly bright, knowledgeable person only to delve into a topic and discover just how little you actually do know?

When I used to read almost exclusively fiction for pleasure, I rarely had the need to look up words or look into a subject in more detail. I was entertained and usually enjoyed what I read. I learned, but more than anything else, I learned to look at things from different perspectives and to empathize with the characters. Now I read much more non-fiction than fiction.

So often lately, I am overwhelmed by feelings of ignorance, of lack of knowledge, lack of awareness. “How did I get to this age without knowing ____?” is a common thought of mine. Perhaps it is because I have started to read outside of my usual genres? Or maybe it’s because I am studying some of what I am reading as opposed to just perusing it? Even when I am web surfing, one reference will lead to another and then to another and yet more. Multiple quick trips to Wikipedia later, I have more information on what has aroused my curiosity. Sometimes a superficial glance satisfies that initial curiosity. Or I may choose to delve deeper and read more on the subject, looking at multiple sources and books. Still other times, I set it aside as a topic to return to and pursue at some later date.

Either way, I am learning so many new things! More than anything, I am recognizing I have so much more to learn, in so many different areas. Much of it is fascinating. How exciting!

Richard Feynman wrote a book called “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out”. While the subject of that book has little to do with what I am talking about here, the title really reflects my feelings about gaining knowledge and learning. It is indeed a pleasure!

How do you feel when you find out how little you know? Do you make trips to Wikipedia or other encyclopedia type sites? Or do you go to the library? Or read an actual book encyclopedia? Or do a Google search on the topic? What sources of information do you like most?

Learning Techniques

They say the best way to learn is by doing. And that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Step.

I want to learn how to write better. I intend to write a book. Am I capable of writing a book that people want to read? I truly do not know. Time will tell. Much research needs to be done and much hard work invested before a single word is typed on the manuscript.

Some people seem to be born writers. They have loved it since they were first taught the use of the alphabet. All they have ever wanted to do was write. I am NOT one of them. The pen scares me. I am unsure of my skill and my voice. I have been told I write well. So why the fear and dread those times I have decided to write?

They say the best way to conquer fear is by doing the thing you fear. Good advice, I suspect (unless your fear is of death). So I will take this small step by writing here - in this blog. I'm unsure today what I will use the blog to write about - thus the name - to be determined.

Another technique for learning is to obtain constructive feedback. So while my first inclination is to use this as a private, practice journal, I have decided to leave it open for comments.

Thank you in advance for help or encouragement!