Today is My Day and Inspiration

Today is my day in the Diary Project 2011!

And the day I am starting a new painting.

Inspiration Avenue's Weekly Theme is "What Inspires You?" and I have decided this very artistic (haha) photo of my blank canvas is my entry.

It does represent Inspiration to me (or sometimes the lack thereof). It is totally open to interpretation and can become anything. It can be a landscape, a portrait, an abstract. It can be formed using many different media or combinations of mixed-media. It can be a masterpiece or it can be a mess. Which of those it becomes may relate more to skill but how it touches the viewer has more to do with inspiration!

For me inspiration often comes from a word, a quote, a phrase or a prompt - which is why Inspiration Avenue's weekly challenges are so great! Everyone takes the inspiration and comes up with such vastly different interpretations! Other times an image does it. But most often during my experience making 365 creations in/for CED2010 just putting pencil or pen to paper led to the inspiration for a new creation. Often much to my surprise late at night or on brain-dead types of days!

I still don't know what will provide the inspiration for this painting. I think it will be certain colours that I know I want in it. From there, who knows!!

Off to find the colours and make the most of "my day"! I hope inspiration finds us all!

(Oh! P.S. Inspiration struck! In the shower! (Water is AMAZING for providing insights and inspiration!) I know what I will do now!)

(P.P.S. I'm thinking about starting a "challenge" - 52 paintings in 52 weeks. Anyone interested?)

2011 Art Journal Page 2 "Flowers of Propulsion"

I have my Word of the Year. PROPEL.  This led me to think about what is it that I can do to propel forward. And how I could use my art journal to play with these thoughts. 

This is what I came up with - my "flowers of propulsion".

All the flowers are collaged images of propellers and my writing encircles them. I'm not sure if this is the right way to do an art journal page. Or even if there is a right way. But I am hoping it will be a good way to visually think through ideas and questions. 

Do you journal? Art journal? What works best for you? Is writing important?

Trying to get the rhythm of this.... so far it's fun and intriguing!

Stanley the Snake Wanted to Catch Snowflakes...

so he put on his new sweater scarf and ventured outside... for the first time in winter.

And he caught one!! Playing in the snow can be such fun!!

I find myself still oddly inspired by Mr. Toast's bi-weekly theme of "scarf". Plus Stanley is pretty whimsical so he is my submission for Dan Haase's Whimsical Wednesdays.

Hope you're having a great week!

George the Giraffe wasn't so sure about skating after all...

My challenging "I'm sorry I forgot you..." themed Sketchbook Project is finally finished and mailed off to the Art House Co-op in Brooklyn! Yay!! So my Sunday Sketching has lost its forced focus. What to do now? I'm free! (And lost and confused! lol)

Actually, I was inspired by a lot of different challenges this week. First I saw Inspiration Avenue's Weekly Challenge theme of "Colour" (I know the spelling has changed and Americans don't like U(s) but like many Canadians, I do. So while I am usually a meticulous speller, some of my words still deliberately have U's in them).  I immediately thought PURPLE.  My Word of the Year is PROPEL and those two words seem to be meant to go together for me!  

Next I read Mr. Toast bi-weekly theme of "scarf".  Hmm purple scarf... And I always love Sophia's Sunday Sketching, CED2011 and enjoy Dan's Web of Whimsy. This whimsical image of a giraffe attempting to skate started to creep into my mind...

And became much clearer with the addition of the colour PURPLE!! (Dang, that photocopier makes purple look like deep blue!)

This is my submission to all of these incredibly inspiring websites and challenges!! 

One of the things I want to do more of in 2011 is art journaling (and painting - on canvases vs on paper). I am working on an art journal page to help me brainstorm ideas of things that might help propel me forward OR help me to propel others forward. Participating in these challenges is one great way to do that!

I am looking forward to seeing what you have created for one or other of these! If you haven't visited the others, please do. There are great people with wonderfully creative ideas and fabulous art in each of them!

Inspiration Avenue

Sophia at Blue Chair Diary's Sunday Sketches

Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesdays

Whimsical Wednesday

Creative Every Day

What else do you enjoy participating in?

I look forward to seeing what you've been up to creatively!!

New Year, New Word

2011 - New Year, New Word

A few years ago I came across the concept of the "Word of the Year" instead of doing the usual New Year's Resolutions. I liked that idea. A theme for the year or, for some, an intention. Last year I chose CREATE and had my most creative year ever. If you took the average of all my previous years' efforts as a norm and then took last year, it is as if I lived a millennium in 2010 I did so many creations!

So after such a great word, what next? I really liked EMERGE but while I do need, and want, to overcome my tendency to hibernate, it wasn't quite right. I loved EXPLORE but it was too passive, not action or accomplishment oriented enough. EXPERIMENT enticed me. EXECUTE was good - very results oriented but not quite right. Together I liked them even more - like a motto - the four Es:

EMERGE

EXPLORE

EXPERIMENT and

EXECUTE.

But they weren't the word for this new year. Then I was reading something and the word PROPEL leapt out at me and I knew that was it. PROPEL.  Make arrive at a certain situation or result. Stir to action. Motivate. Move forward.

I haven't stopped CREATing though and I knew the theme for Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesdays was "New Year", so I got out my pencil, paints and new art journal and tried to put an image to my word and motto and it make it come more alive!

It will be a great year!

The Final Sketchbook Project Pages

Done!!!

Yay!!!!

Inside Cover/Title Page

Overflowing tub

Fashion Faux Pas

(Thanks Yves)

Burning Glue Gun

(Yes I did this to myself trying to make a wine cork wreath. Could not believe how much it hurt! I highly recommend Second Skin for any burns you might get. Amazingly effective!)

Wilted, Unwatered Plant

 and the unfortunate way my year ended...

(still works (poorly) except for the a, s, and d keys but a USB keyboard solves that temporarily. It was time for a new computer anyways but I hate that my forgetfulness and carelessness has forced the issue. Sigh.) 

You can see a slideshow of the full sketchbook, in order (rather than the order I did and posted the pages) on Flickr here.

And that is it!! I am now done!
To those of you who are still working on it, my thoughts are with you!!

Sunday Sketching 02Jan2011 SBP Cover and More Pages

The deadline approaches. Argh!!

I have been sketching like a mad woman trying to get it all finished!!  I am making progress and I "think" I might have enough ideas to complete it. Here is what I've done today and in the past few days (as always double-clicking makes the image clearer):

The Cover

(the words on the boat say "Sailing on a Sea of Forgotten Dreams" and the others say "People", "Deeds" and "Things".

Accidental Biology Experiment

Forgotten Smoke Detector Battery

Forgotten Protection

(Thanks Scott for this idea)

I wanted to keep most of the sketchbook slightly humorous if possible but this one I wanted to do even though it is so very sad and horrid and not in the least bit funny.

Tire Iron

(Thanks Dad)

Chair

(Thanks Katie. And yes, that lawn chair is frozen into my pool.)

(I'm embarrassed at the number of times I've bought the same book!)

(Still some more pages in the middle to go yet though! I didn't work in a very regular order.)

Today I am continuing to work on this in between taking down the tree and putting away my extensive decorations and checking on your Sunday Sketches. Hopefully by next Sunday, my sketches will be of something other than "I'm sorry I forgot you"!