just a thought

here is my journal entry for saturday.  i was doing some research on creativity and came across this excerpt from ira glass that hit me like a ton of bricks.  it was what I was trying to say last week about pushing through fear and doubt in the creative process.  but here it is, better said than i ever could.

i printed the quote on a piece of transparency and then taped it to my book with washi tape.  maybe not so artful but the words are what i want to remember.

check out this video.

keep doing the work.

40 days of art

in thinking about my post yesterday and seeing that there are other people who have the same struggle and thinking about lent and sacrifice and reflection, i came up with an idea to make art over the next 40 days.  how do art and lent go together?  well, what i really want to do with this exercise is give up the negative talk.  let go of judgement.  free myself of fear.  i'm hoping it will help me be kinder to others and to focus less on the negative and more on what is good and beautiful with the world.

sounds like a big plan? i'm ready for it.

so i bought a journal with 40 pages.  every mixed media book i found came with 40 pages.  that's a sign if you ask me.

i do have a few rules, cause mamma likes structure.

rule #1 - no judgement.  make it and be ok with the outcome.  this is about the process not the result.
rule #2 - no more than 30 minutes thinking about it.  come to the table with an idea and go for it.
rule #3 - no comparison.  i often look at other people's work under the guise of being inspired but then get anxious when it doesn't look like that.  none of that here.
rule #4 - one page per day.  that means no practicing, no do overs. go with the mistakes and own them. and it means i get to do something creative everyday.
rule #5 - smile.

no rules on supplies; i can paint, scribble, write, cut and paste.  anything goes.  my thought is to go through my day and find a moment or thought that i want to record and let that be my inspiration.

today's entry looks like this.

"it's reciprocal" is an inside joke with me and bobby.  when i saw this definition i knew i had to record it somehow.

so for those of you struggling with creativity, make something, write something, create something.  maybe we can inspire each other in some way, but more importantly, we can cheer each other on.

i will be posting some of my journal entries on instagram.  if you want to follow along you can find me here.