End of week 2. Things worked out a bit differently.

 This was fun!!

I know, I was supposed to be writing short screenplays, but life happened.  My oldest got sick, work got busier, my sleep kept getting disrupted, and the LAST thing I wanted to do was engage in word-smithing of any sort. 


So, when my husband gave me some much-needed downtime, I spent it making this lovely Valentine's present for him.

Valentine's day is my favorite holiday.  Yes, my favorite of ALL the holidays.  :)  It's about love, hearts, the color red, and CHOCOLATE. What else could a girl want? 



Here's a quick picture of  my Dear Husband receiving his gift.  Yeah, I gave it to him two weeks early.  I can never hold onto a gift. Ever.  I think I've given him almost every Christmas, Birthday, and Anniversary present at least a week early since we've been married. Below those pics is the tutorial for how to make one of these yourself. :)




 Oh, by the way, our two-year old doesn't like to wear clothes.

Cover a piece of scrap wood with a coat of gesso.  This helps everything else adhere better, and gives a place for any run-off paint to go. 

Sketch out a grid for your composition.

 Cut out the papers of your choice to fit in the grid lines. 

Now remember, I'M CHEAP. ;)  These Valentine's papers were bought on clearance at the end of *last year's* Valentine's day.

The sheet music was actually found down inside of our piano when we got it! It's an old 1920's upright, and had plenty of little nooks and crannies where things could hide.

 Once you have adhered the papers, cover everything with a thin coat of gesso, to mute any bright colors and unify the surface.  Wipe off any places where you want the underlying papers to show through.



Yes, that is an old sock. That's what mis-matched socks are for---art supplies. :)

 Mix 1-part acrylic paint with 1-part gel medium, then add about as much water as paint.  This gives a thinner paint that holds the vibrancy of the colors. 

Splatter the paint randomly across the surface, then smear the color around using old wax paper, plastic, or magazine pages.


 I then drew lines with a brown pastel crayon to help my grid stand out.

 I used a big background stamp down one side of the grid, and stamped other areas of the surface, using solvent ink. 

That's when I realized that I'd set my wood on top of some quilt pieces, and the board was rocking back and forth. So, remove any ridiculous things that might be on your work space, lol!

Cover the whole surface with gel medium or Mod Podge. 

 Get some fun-looking, mis-matched buttons.  Let the kids play with them---they'll love you for it.

 I made some home-made art papers, using Shona Cole's technique here.  I used junk mail for my base paper, so these are one-of-a-kind upcycled flowers. :)

If you get a chance, look at her video on the same subject.  You'll understand why everyone in the mixed-media art community loves this woman, because she's doing this tutorial with her 11-month-old son strapped to her back. :) 

 Thread the button onto 26-gauge craft wire, or whatever wire is thin enough to go through the buttons you choose. 

Twist the wire into a "stem." Then, punch a hole through the center of your flowers, and thread the flowers behind the button. 

I don't have a picture of this yet, but once the flowers are in place, twist the stem into a little coil behind the flower, to keep the punches from slipping off.

 Gather them into a bunch.

 Twist all the flowers' heads until they're facing forward, then decide where you want to place the bunch.

I raided my husband's tool closet, and used a staple-nail to hold them into place.

I don't have pictures of the next part, because I did this while the kids were watching TV one day. :)

Take an old tin can---yes, the kind that you have in your pantry, but empty---and decoupage thin vintage papers onto it.  Cover the can with a coat or two of Mod Podge.

Then, CAREFULLY, cut the can in half down both sides, but don't cut yourself!  I used my husband's wire cutters (without his permission--he's gonna get me for that) and then,  when I got to the bottom of the can, I simply bent it back and forth until it broke in two. 


I nailed the can into place, then added more nails on the side, wrapped with wire. 

 Stamp text onto vintage papers, using solvent ink.  Cut out, and ink the sides. Adhere with Mod Podge. 

 Put eyelets in the "growing" text block, and wire-wrap the text to the can. 

 Using the same paint from earlier, paint down the sides of your board.  Stamp with solvent ink.

Take a picture *without* flash, because all that Mod Podge and gel medium reflects flash like crazy. :)

Aaah, that's better. :)

Week 2, Day 1: Writing Short Screenplays

The funny thing about having a writing time is that I can't really publish it here on my blog right now. It's not done yet.  :) Rough drafts are fun when you read them on DVD extras, but that's when the finish product is done baking.  Take a cake out of the oven too early, and it just falls flat and tastes goey. 

For now, I'll just do a check-in on how the past week went.  I spent some time just journaling over the weekend, and the truth is, I really, really loved doing the collages.  My goal was just to paint four backgrounds, and I did that and plenty more.(Although, I didn't get to do a L.K. Ludwig homage--I was going to use pics of my kids for journal spreads, the way she did in the latest "Art Journaling" magazine. Oh well, next time.) 

The criteria I set up for this challenge were:

1) Did I enjoy it?  Ooooh yes.  :) It felt easy, cathartic, like I was soaking myself in color and beauty. I felt free to practice and learn new things.   I got lots of great ideas for future projects. ("Oooh, let's make a couple of journals with these covers, a bunch of bookmarks, and maybe some hand-made scrapbook embellishments, and put them all on an Etsy shop!") 

2) Does it fit with our current lifestyle?  Absolutely.  Collage feels like the perfect medium for a mom--which may be why it's dominated by women.  The kids absolutely love paint, glue, paper, scissors, and the assortment of tools that they can break.  They especially love poking each other with said tools--so sharp ones have to stay waaaaaay out of reach.  :)  

Seriously, though, it was easy to work on a project early in the morning, walk away from it to change a diaper/fix a meal/do some laundry and come back to it later.  By contrast, writing seems to possess me.  I get an idea, a character, a situation, or a "what-if" scenario in my head, and it burns like a fire in my bones, puts a knot in my stomach, and won't let me return to my normal life until I get it on the page.  Kids do not like asking mommy 500 times for cheerios while Mommy tries to get her characters out of an exploding building. 

On the other hand, I've recently made some *good* changes in my life that may allow writing to join me in a more controlled, structured manner.  ADHD meds and a gluten-free diet have cleared my head and structured my time in a way I didn't know was *possible.* 
Anyway, on to:

3) Does it help my family reach our goal of being totally debt free in 5 years?  Eh, maybe, but I'm not sure.  On the one hand, art supplies are really freaking expensive.  In order to learn to paint an apple, I have to buy paint, brushes, and something to paint on.  Classes and instructional books cost a fortune.  On the other hand, there seem to be five gazillion opportunities to make money with this craft--everything from Etsy, to teaching classes, to custom work, to craft fairs, etc.  Also, I'm simply the best thrifty crafter in the world, lol, because I'm determined to get my supplies cheap.  I simply don't have enough information right now to tell if this is profitable for me, but I'm going to add a couple of new "week's goals" to my list:

Make 5 journals to sell on Etsy or Ebay. 
Research how much people make on their craft, why they make that much, and how long it took them to get there.

There are tons of resources on doing a successful craft business, so I just need to take the time to learn them. 

In the meantime, last weekend I also came across an opportunity for a temporary writing gig.  I'm not sure if I'd be a good fit for this company, but I've got some queries and samples in, and we'll see what happens.  Pray for me!

My goal for this week is to practice writing 11-minute screenplays.  The 168project is for Christian filmmakers to make an 11-minute film in one week, from start to finish.  The biggest obstacle is that you don't know what the topic is until the company releases the verse and the theme--then you write the thing!! :)  It's great, but I want to get in some practice writing in that short of a format before I even *think* about putting a team together, and doing that amount of work.  

Aah, I'm going to sleep while my daughter sleeps. :)

Week 1, Day 4

Sigh. :) It's been a good day. 

Yesterday, I attempted to do a background that the fabulous Pam Carriker had published in the latest issue of Somerset Workshop.  It totally fell apart.  Her instructions were great, but sometimes my brain simply cannot process basic English at 3am. (Yep, that's when a lot of artist moms get up)  I felt like a heel--a total waste of artistic space.

Just to make life more fun, I had to do a messy, painful job for my daughter, that involved my wearing rubber gloves.  I will not go into any more detail than that.  We were all exhausted, traumatized, and not thinking anything even remotely artistic.  I collapsed on the couch, and my evil anti-art twin said, "What was I thinking?  There's no way I can finish this challenge. I was dumb for even trying."

Then, at just the right time, I got a quick note from an artist I (really, really, really, like REALLY) admire. "Dotty, I showed my wife your blog.  She loved it, and thought you should open an Etsy shop."  



The next morning, 3am couldn't come fast enough. :)

Today, I did a background outlined here by the amazing Shona Cole. ( She's a homeschooling mother of 5, a pastor's wife, and a fabulous artist.  Yes, you read all that right.)  I needed something quick and simple, but that would give a dramatic effect.  With 5 kids, I think Shona has become a master of those types of techniques.

I started with a layer of gesso on my journal spread. Note that I always wrap the other journal pages in plastic to keep them from getting ruined/splattered/stuck together.

Then, while the gesso was still wet, I dropped three colors of paint on the page...

...and used a credit card to scrape it all around.  And yes, I am a Dave Ramsey nut. I think this is a fabulous use for credit cards.










Then I thought, "Dang, I've only got so much time before the kids wake up, and I really don't want to work on something else while I wait for the paint to dry." 

So, I took some serious creative initiative, and invented my own tool.

    

I used the tip of this to do some journaling directly into the wet paint, and made some really cool effects. 

No matter how much I painted over the pages later, you could always see a hint of it.












I used acrylics to paint the tree and the tulip, Pitt Artist Pens for some flourishes, and used yellow and black pastels for accents and outlining. 


The most fun part was adding the Bible verse.  It was from my grandfather's old Nave's Topical Bible that was falling apart.  I love using these books in my work.  He was a preacher for 61 years, and I felt like his books, even the ones that are outdated and almost dust, can live on in this way. 

Lisa Kauss was a big inspiration for the tulip, and I hope one day to be able to paint 1/5th as well as she does.

The Plan

These are the projects I want to tackle in the next year.  I've always wanted to do them, and now I will. :)   At least one project per week, for 52 weeks.

1. Mixed-Media
   1. -ATCs
   2. -Art Journaling
      1. Marriage
      2. Birds
      3. Flowers
      4. Trees
      5. Bible Verses
      6. Collage Techniques
      7. Book-Making
      8. Motherhood
   3. -Photography
   4. Canvas Work
      1. Tulips
      2. Square Canvases for the girls
   5. Jewelry
   6. Drawing
   7. Altering other items
      1. Cigar Box Purses
      2. Beaded Bobby pins
   8. Card-Making, a la “Take-10” style
   9. Christmas items
2. Sewing
   1. Altering My Clothes
   2. Altering the Girls' Clothes
   3. Sewing from a pattern
   4. Quilting
   5. Christmas items
3. Writing
   1. The Play
   2. The Veggie Tales Spec Script
   3. Skits for church
   4. Short Stories
   5. Short screenplays
   6. Non-fiction
   7. Songwriting
      1. Worship Songwriting
      2. Comedy Songwriting
4. Guitar Practice
   1. Learning new songs
   2. Learning new techniques, such as scales and new chords
5. Practicing stand-up comedy.

Oddly enough, this is the perfect time to begin such a challenge. 

First, I have everything I need.  I've spent the past several years slooooooooowly building up a collection of art supplies, collage ephemera, stamps, sewing notions, and other assorted tools. This stuff is *expensive*, and takes a while to collect.  One of the best ways to do this is to figure out what projects really speak to you, then stalk the "arts and crafts" section of Craigslist.  I do mean stalk.  You are a hawk, baby, and you know there's a bunny just quivering under a bush.  When it jumps out, you swoop down in all your glory and grab that sucker!



My husband has known me to be perfectly slow and sleepy on a Saturday Morning, then suddenly stand up and shout, "HONEY! There's a craft store going out of business in Grandview, and I've got sixty bucks.  Can I go? Please please please can I go?"  I would get both of my kids dressed in the first clean outfit I could find, then drive them all over kingdom come, with promises of donuts if they were really, really good.  Then I'd buy $400 worth of craft supplies at some garage sale/closing sale/warehouse sale for my sixty bucks.  Tee hee hee.  Aaaah, that made my heart happy.  Enjoy the donuts, kids.  :) 

Once, I mentioned, "I'm building up my art supply collection," to an artist I knew, and she kind've snarkily said, "You should be making art, not buying art supplies!"  Gee, thanks.  The fact that I had a new baby and a husband in grad school kind've meant that things needed to move a little more slowly. If I got my teeth brushed during that season, it was a successful day.  A shower was heavenly. Picking up a set of water-soluble oil pastels w/ my 50% off coupon at Joann's on my way back from the grocery store meant that I could stare at them and dream while I nursed my baby. :) Now, my oldest is in school, and my youngest wants to create with me.  It's TIME. 



Secondly, I'm organized. 
Thanks to the amazing Lauren Lee Yentch, an organizing guru from Linworth Road Community Church, my basement is the perfect sanctuary for this season.  Also, the book "Organizing From the Inside Out," is a great resource, and of course, the inimitable "flylady.com."  (I'll add the links once I can get my Amazon associates account to start working again. Silly thing.)  I have a separate space for art, and a separate space for the kids to play while I'm creating.  Shona Cole, author of "the Artistic Mother" encourages all mothers to carve this space out for themselves.  However, since I've loaned this book to a friend, I don't have any of her cool quotes from it, lol!  :)

Finally, I was "developing symptoms."  Steven Pressfield, in his amazing book, "The War of Art," proclaims that all major vices--depression, migraines, websurfing, to name a few---are all a part of our struggle against a demon he names "Resistance."  You know Resistance.  You feel it any time you want tighter abs. :)  Resistance was kicking my tail from here to Chatanooga, and I was tired of it.  I don't want to live my life for 40 more years, then wake up and say, "Dang, I wish I'd done all that stuff, but now I can't see."  I'm starting. I'm living like I want to live. There's no time like the present.  

This is the person God made me to be. 

Now I gotta go--we're out of diapers.

Week 1, Day 2: Yeah, I couldn't help myself. :)

I promised myself I would stop working at breakfast time. I promised myself I would only work on the week's project--in this case, lots of backgrounds.  I promised myself that I would never let something like art journaling get in the way of dinner being on time.

Yeah, that all went out the window yesterday. :) 

 

It started when the neighbor boy brought a spine over to play with.  Yes, that is a real spine. :) 

I had tried drawing the girls during their TV time a bit earlier.  Lily took the paper from me, and said, "Mommy, that is NOT how you draw a person.  Here, let me show you."  She showed me step-by-step how to draw a stick figure.  "Now, here's how you add the dress," and she gave her little girl clothing.  Then she handed me the pencil and said, "Now you try it." 

Despite the neighbor, and the spine, being such interesting playmates, Eva fell asleep in the toy room....

....and Lily was just acting weird.  She was tired, she was grumpy, and she didn't want to play--but she did manage to give me a smile and a snuggle. 

So, I sent the neighbor boy, and the spine, home for the day, put a movie on for the girls, and proceeded to follow Lily's directions: "Now you try to draw a dress!" Yes, ma'am. :) I had an idea. :)

Several years ago, I read the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," which totally re-vamped the way I see.  I hadn't been able to practice much drawing yet, but I'm always able to see more accurately, "Oh, that baby has his dad's chin, his mom's eyes, and his grandpa's hairline," and so forth.  This is my first ever drawing of a woman. I used Lily's "Hello Kitty" pencil, and a pad of thin, tracing paper.  No, she wasn't traced, lol!

I had a model that would actually stand still for me, unlike trying to draw the girls. :)  This is an Alfred Angelo website. 

Then, I laid the tracing paper over some patterned scrap booking paper, and cut out the individual shapes of her gown.

I frequently use vintage papers from my grandfather's old preaching books for my crafts.  Here, I cut her upper body, arms, and face from a 1930's book on Christianity and politics.  Seriously. :)

I then reassembled the figure, and pasted her temporarily on the journal page to hold her together. 

That's when I went a little nuts with the process.

I'm in this "I heart Misty Mawn" phase of creativity, so I just HAD to add stitching to the page!  Then I thought, "Oh wow, I could practice Nancy Lefko's black and white lettering," so I just HAD to add that....and then "Oh, I should try out the paper punches, and what would happen if I added black pastel outlining and white-out pen for shading and oh my gosh I frikkin' LOVE pitt artist pens and why the heck didn't I do this sooner....?"

Before I knew it, dinner was an hour late, Lily was asleep on the couch, and Eva had completely covered herself with green marker.  And used one of my Pitt artist pens to decorate my table.  Yeah, those things have India ink in them, so it's never, ever coming out.

Yeah, I need to learn a nifty little thing called balance.  

Tomorrow, back to the plan! 

I love this stuff. :)

Housekeeping goal today: menu planning and grocery shopping! 

Week 1: Four Backgrounds.

I want to start off this challenge by making backgrounds for  four art journal spreads. Making backgrounds is a fun way to just get color on the page, so you're not facing a big blank nothing when you start to create.  This week, I want to use the instructions from four of my favorite artists (Shona Cole, Kelly Rae Roberts, Pam Carriker, and LK Ludwig) to begin adding the layers of color, then next week, I'll create four different spreads using these backgrounds. 

I made this journal from a recycled cereal box, a bunch of paper bags, some craft wire, and some vintage papers.  (Yeah, I'm weird, but this was fun. :)  It's a lot easier for me to experiment with new techniques if I'm not afraid of ruining some 45 dollar Italian journal from Barnes & Noble.) 

Next, I got some old sermon notes of my husband's that we found when we cleaned out our file cabinet.  Yes, my husband keeps sermon notes, sometimes for years. :)  It was really cool to be able to use these for something--we were a part of a church plant that closed down/restructured/whatever, and it was kind've a painful time for our family.  God seems to specialize in bringing beauty from ashes. :) 

I cut these up, and arranged them in my journal. 

Then, I used some techniques from Kelly Rae Roberts' book, "Taking Flight" to color the background.  Kelly Rae probably wouldn't want me repeating her instructions here, so I won't. :)  But her book is awesome, and I'd recommend it to anyone starting out with trusting your own creative voice. The lighting in my basement just stinks, lol! 

It was really hard to put this down today. I wanted to add more washes of color, do a floral theme, punch out some three-dimensional accents, accent with more alcohol inks and pastels, blah blah blah blah....but the kids needed breakfast.  :) 

The dishwasher broke over the weekend, so I didn't get to post pics of the studio, but I'll do that soon.

Thanks for looking!

Where to start? Here.

I have the supplies.  I have the talent.  I have the tools.  After years of struggling, I even have the organization.  I have the most supportive husband in the world.  I have the desire.  I have the drive. 

What I don't have is direction. 

There are at least 50 different art projects I would love to do. That's at least 50 different directions I could run in. I have no idea where to even start. I've spent too much time bouncing back and forth between different options, different loves, different desires. 

The result? I'm a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. 

It turns out that this is actually TYPICAL for adults with ADHD.  Aaah! I did not know this until I asked the amazing artist and speaker  Ben Glenn, "How did you know which direction to pursue with your art?  When you have so many different desires, and so many possible outlets for your talents, how do you pick one to focus on and pursue?"

He answered with: 

"Dotty you just summed up one of the biggest challenges we ADHD-ers have. Our mind thinks it can do everything, however our brain forgets there is only 24 hours in a day. There is no way we can do it all. That's the first thing we need to realize, because if we don't we are just setting our selfs up for constant disappointment. The best tool that I have for controling this on going battle is accountability from someone who understands my ADHD brain. I bounce my ideas off them before I pour any time into them just to make sure the idea lines up with my goals. Goals by the way I set with the same person. The ADHD community calls this a coach. A person who helps you stay on track so you can reach your goals. There are all kinds of coaches out there but an ADHD coach is special because they understand our unique issues. If a couch is not in the budget then the next best thing is a very close friend who you can trust and is willing to take the time to understand better how ADHD effects your life. I hope this helps a little. O and as far as the art medium goes, I use them all because all of them are
fun. Blessings." 

Wow--so in a weird and wacky sort of ADHD way, I'm normal!  :) 

I've learned this lesson in a round-about way.  If I'm required to work out at 5am every morning, as I was in ROTC, I'll get thin.  If I'm required to work every morning, I'll get out of bed. I'll even become a morning person. If I'm required to write and produce a church skit in two weeks with no notice on a deadline, it will be done.  (Long story.)  However, if I have a dream of getting certain art projects done, "whenever I can sqeeze them in," they'll never happen.  They'll stay in the subconcious cobwebs of my brain, in a little file marked "Dreams." 

I have lots and lots of dreams. The cobwebs are thick, and so are the files they cover.  What I need is accountability, structure, and focus.  I need a place to start.  That's what this blog is about. 

One of the greatest lessons from the book,  
is that "EAST is least effective."  EAST = "Everything At the Same Time."  I know now that it's useless for me to work on an art journal, a church skit, and a spec screenplay all at once--NOTHING will get done. 

Here's a new strategy: once a week, I will work on a new artistic goal.  You guys can follow on this journey, keep me accountable, and see the results of my work.  I'm not expecting to produce studio-quality results on anything in just one week, so in a way, it will be "52 first drafts" of art projects.  However, by the end of this year, I will know three things:

1) What did I enjoy doing the most?

      When I sat down to do this project, did my eyes light up, did the creative juices flow freely, and did the minutes slip by without noticing?  Or was the work tedious, boring, and unproductive?

2) What fits most with my lifestyle?

      I have a husband that I adore, two little kids that I love more than life, and a 3rd-shift job that I hate.  What can I create without neglecting the other areas of life I'm needed in? 

3) What helps reach our goal of being debt-free in five years?

     I would love to produce a full-length play for our church, but that would take up four or five months of my life, cost a bajillion dollars in childcare, and pay me no money at all.  I would love to learn oil painting, but the cost of oil paint and canvas is simply out of the question when acrylics are cheap and cardboard is free.

I want to rate each of these three questions at the end of the creative week. 

Ok, I've spent enough time on the computer now---this is my preparation weekend!  The first creative day will be Monday, January 17th.  I've got a lot of stuff to do.  I hope you'll join me.