Art Every Day

For the past several days I have been in somewhat of a funk secondary to finding out that I had a few medical conditions I was not aware of.  Prior to all of this, my mind has been swarming with ideas of what I want to work on artistically.  I'm rarely without an idea for a new project.  I often make lists of new art supplies I want to play with and new design genres that I want to tinker with.

This week; however, has been quite different for me.  My mind has been drawing a blank.  I would assume that it is secondary to the stress I've been feeling and from being mentally tired.  However, last night, I told myself that I would not go a day without putting pen, ink, paint, or anything else I can find onto paper.  I promised myself that even if I was drawing a blank I would just put the tools to the paper and see what I can come up with.

Day #1 went pretty well with this new agenda and this is what I ended up with:

Basically, all I did here was start out with watercolor in my favorite color (PINK).  I just started making swirls around the page with the watercolor.  I then just started adding other colors randomly around the page, pretty much not thinking about what I was doing at all.  When the watercolor had dried I got out the NeoColors and just started adding some colors here and there and even outlining and just filling in the spaces.  I was somewhat happy with this considering I gave little to no consideration at all about what I was actually doing.  All I really cared about was putting color on the paper.   

Day #2 went just as well.  I was still blank in my head about what I wanted to do, so I just did a repeat of Day #1 and voila...here is what I ended up with.

I'm not sure what I will be using these pieces for, but I'm sure that at some point and time they will find a really good use in some other piece of art that I'm working on.  So, just remember, even when your mind is drawing a blank, you can always create something...and that something just might come back to benefit you later on....so keep hoarding all those craft supplies and practice prints!!!

Mother's Memory Journal Page

With Mother's Day coming up again soon, I have found myself thinking a lot about my biological mother whom I lost to lung cancer 4 years ago in April.  I do not typically do "journal" pages in my journal, but I decided that it was time to do so.  I figured that it would be good for me to release the emotions I was feeling.

I found myself digging through all of my art tools and papers to find things I had which reminded me of her, most of which consisted of rubber stamps that I have recently started collecting again.  I found words which reminded me of her and some florals and butterflies also.  I printed an owl on the page, because my biological mother was a very wise woman.  She was very loving and kind and she was my very best friend.

I decided that since I was feeling so down and out regarding her death that I would use warm colors, such as pink (her favorite color) and some oranges and yellows and then I added a spray of turquoise Dylusions brand Ink Spray to remind me of why I was putting this page together in the first place.

I suppose my real point in posting this is that I have  found that when I'm feeling blue and down and out that doing an actual "journal" page is probably the best therapy for me.  It certainly made me feel a lot better and now I have somewhat of a memorial page in which to remember her by.

Happy journaling!