Day, Month, Year

 

Last year I filled this sheet out daily, if I exercised (at all) I got to color in a section. It was a motivator, as dumb as it truly is, it worked for me. Finally by this age, I've figured out how to trick myself into doing what is actually good for me. So after confirming this for myself, in addition to doing this sheet for daily exercise again, I've found a few more Fill In The Section type of things to keep myself going creatively in 2021. 

Every Day I'm:

Coloring in a square on this cute monthly worksheet from Karen Abend whenever I do something creative. If it works for me, I'll do it monthly.

Taking a one second video using One Second Everyday. This app will make a compilation video monthly, yearly, etc. So far, I've been taking a little snippet of my sewing activity. I saw an online friend's video from December and found it utterly fascinating and charming and inspiring.

Using my iPad and Apple Pencil to sketch a doodle of some kind, sometimes inspired by the prompts from ellolovey and spoonflower. I'm working up to being brave enough to actually share an image online somewhere, we'll see. But I'm enjoying learning to use the tool of the iPad and pencil a lot better.

Happy Happy New Year!

2012 is gone and 2013 is here.  Now what?  After quite a long blogging hiatus, unintentional and unplanned of course,  I'm getting back to it, so here I am.  There will be more art made this year, 2012 was quite a year of fallowness for me.  Not a whole lot got done, and I felt stymied and uninspired to create.  The blockage was created out of many things, and I picked the knot apart all the past year and figured my way out of the mess. 

At least I think so.

The picture above is a detail of a small rug that my husband brought back from a recent trip to India.  I believe it is probably intended to be a prayer rug because of the size, and it feels like silk.  We are not going to put it on the floor, because it would get ruined immediately.  Instead I plan to hang it on the wall.  The colors are intense and the design is lovely, I see something new every time I look at it.

A couple years ago I did a weekly six-word memoir quiltlet, and that was a really useful and inspiring exercise.  This year I am going to do a daily one. Daily, because I need to get back into the daily art making process.  That's what it all comes down to for me, the art doesn't happen unless I'm in the studio.
Many other quilt artists pick a size for projects like this and then stick with it all year, but I know myself and I just can't bring myself to put constraints like that on such a project.  I am going to start out trying a 9x9" shape and see how it goes, if I like it, then I'll stick with it until I don't.  Hey, it's for me right?  The only rules are that there are to be 9 words somewhere on it, including on the back.  Because I found with the six-word project, that sometimes the words don't need to be seen.    I'll be posting those here in groups of three. Yes, you're right, it's all multiples of three.

New Year's Day has such a different feel than any other of the whole year.  Anticipation of what's to come is high, there's freshness and newness that is unlike any other day.  It just feels more momentous somehow, the things I choose to do today, as if they'll echo throughout the year coloring it all with the intention and focus I bring to what I create.  So I'm choosing to make some art, make some good food, go for a good walk, those sorts of things.  I hope and wish for you a wonderful year ahead, may we all have good fortune, abundant health, and joyful inspiration.

All We Ever Hope For Was The Dawn

 Watercolor crayon, words say "All We Ever Hoped For Was The Dawn."  I should have taken this picture after the page was flattened out after drying, it looks so funny like this.

So many layers to this one, I was going for a look of transparency, December 16th, started with pen doodles in a pattern, then stamped the words MESSY MESSY MESSY and another stamp that has always reminded me a bit of fingerprint.  Overlaid on top is a light was of watercolor crayon.

This Could Be A Good Time

 Another imaginary landscape in watercolor pencil and crayon for December 13th.  No words this time.

For December 14th, a collage with fabric scraps, printed paper napkin, stamped images, pen, circular ink daubers.
Words in the margin say: Dragonfly says.  Words in the collage say This Could Be A Good Time.
Which is one of my favorite lines from a great song called "High Sierra Morning" by Diane Patterson off her new CD World Awake.  I had just gotten to see her perform live, and this song was one of the ones stuck in my head (in a good way!)

Blow Me Away

 Watercolor crayon and pencil along with ink drawing for December 10th, words in the margin say:
Blow Me Away

For December 11th, A magazine picture collage, with pen marking, and printed and solid tissue paper. The words say:
Is Your Tank Half Empty or Half Full?

I Find It Trying

This December 8th daily collage or sketch came about because I was playing with the Tangoes that were on my worktable for some unknown reason.  Have you ever played this game?  Really challenging! I traced each plastic shape in each color of fine tip Sharpie that I had (black, blue, green, red) then filled in with color pencil.  Wanted to see what the overlapping would look like.  The words say 

I Find It Trying Being A Square Among Triangles And Parallelograms

The December 9th daily collage, magazine pictures and words along with colored pencil.  Words say: Power Explodes When You Need It Most

Imaginary Landscapes

 This time it was a pen and watercolor crayons in the daily practice journal.  The words in the binding say:  Imaginary Landscapes Draw Me In Every Time.

December 7th just magazine words this time and some pen marking.  Words in the binding are: 

You Know You Do.

Gather Gather

 Gather Gather - the daily collage from December 4th consisting of a magazine picture of a bee, paint sample strip, selvedge edge numbers, stamped words, blue tissue paper.
Words in the binding are: Oh! To Have Such A Purpose!

A little surrealism for the December 5th collage.  A magazine picture of a chicken foot and a kudzu covered structure, colored pencil and magazine words ALIEN INVADERS.  Words in the binding are: 

Aliens have to come from somewhere.  What do aliens call home?

What Do you do when your fortune isn't for you?

Another of my daily collages from December, this from December 3rd.  The power was still out, so I had my battery powered lamp on, and my little mp3 player for music, and my messy desktop for inspiration.

We had purchased some nicely bagged tea from Rivendell in Santa Cruz, and this was the front of the bag which had interesting stamps of horses and Chinese writing as well as the name of the tea (which was quite yummy).  Pen and colored pencil drawings, along with a fortune cookie fortune (You love sports, horses and gambling but not to excess.) Painted paper and rice paper too.  

The words in the binding are: What do you do when your fortune isn't for you?

Collage Practice In The Dark

 For my birthday way back in the start of December I decided to start a collage a day practice.  And I was stubborn enough to actually do it even though the power was out due to a massive windstorm. As my motto goes "Do It Anyways"

 I used my new visual journal, which is a spiral sketchbook thing with bristol paper, nice and heavy and takes watercolor and glue really well.

 First collage done via candlelight, no flash.

 First collage with flash.  The presss here circle is heat sensitive mood ring stuff.
Words are: "DISCOVER the mysterious.  NO RIGHT NOW"

December 2nd collage.  Power was still out, this is a photo taking via headlamp which was how I was working.  Safer than candles, and brighter too.

Ancient's Eyes Are Always Open