What To Do, When You Don't Know What To Do!

It's one of those days.  I want to create some art, but haven't any idea what I want to do.  So... I'm doing a little bit of everything.  Hopefully, I'll end up with a finished piece of something.

This happens to me quite frequently.  I want to get my hands dirty, but my mind is blank.  I am an avid art tutorial watcher, so I'm bombarded with techniques that I want to try, but with so many jumbled ideas, I just don't know where to start.  I think it's like that in every aspect of life.  A person has so many things to do......become's so overwhelmed.....piddles (is that a real word?) a little bit with a lot of things.....and, just ends up more frustrated.  It becomes so easy to put things off until tomorrow.  One of my husband's favorite things to say is "let's get this behind us".  Whether it's running an errand, taking out the trash, or making a phone call that you don't want to make......it's always "let's get this behind us".  There's, definitely, something to be said for that "Just Do It" attitude.  Of course, it does sort of conflict with "Being in the Moment".

So, as far as my relationship with art goes, it's a little bit of both.  I love the process, but I also love looking at my, finished, piece.

This is what I have so far:

Shawn Petite used a heart made out of molding paste in this weeks, Sunday Inspiration.  I also took her Texture workshop a few weeks ago.  I used a palette knife to shape these little hearts out of Golden's Hard Molding Paste.  I, also, wanted to make some out of regular joint compound to see if one was better than the other, because joint compound, from the hardware, is much, much cheaper. Of course, I couldn't find my, gigantic, tub of joint compound, so I'll have to do my comparison another day.  These hearts will take about 24 hours to dry, so I won't be doing anything with them today.  I hope to paint them and use them on a canvas.......if they don't crack.  In the last photo, you can see that I pushed a couple, little, charms into the hearts.

In the three photos, above, I'm working on a background.  I don't know what I'm going to add next, but I do know that I'm going to use the word "Redemption" somewhere in the piece.  You hear the word "redemption" used with regard to all types of matters.  But, what does it really mean?  (more on this to follow.........when the piece is finished!)

And, here we have your basic drippage.  I'm not a big "dripper".  Many of my favorite artists are. But, I'm going to try some dripping today and we'll see where it goes.

Last, but not least.....I have to do something with this catastrophy.  I started a little Shawn-esqe painting a few weeks ago.  I became frustrated and quit.  Thank God that there is always more paint. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just paint over all of the mistakes or things that we don't like in our lives. (I guess that, metaphorically, we can).

Alright, that's where I am today.  I think that my background and "drippage" should be dry so it's back to work for Cyndi!

Peace!

Cyndi

BE in the MOMENT!!

I was talking with my sister the other day.  We were speaking about how important it is to live life "in the moment".  Everyone tends to worry about what's going to happen or lament about what has already happened.  It's important to truly experience what's happening NOW.....but it can be freaking hard.  We all know that life is fragile, volatile, and that there aren't any guarantees, but we still can't stop that little voice in our heads.  Oh, how I hate that little voice sometimes.

Here's how I made my "Be In The Moment" piece.

I started with a gessoed wood panel, then added some scrap pieces of book pages, music, etc.

Then I added some gesso to back up the papers into the board.

Stamped some circles with black paint, using jar lids and toilet paper rolls.

I used my fingers to rub some Dina Wakeley paint, randomly around the canvas.

I used stickers for the "be in the" and rubber stamps for the "Moment".  I also shaded the circles with charcoal pencil and rubbed some charcoal pencil around the edges.  Sprayed with fixative so that the charcoal pencil would stay.

The colors and circles in this piece were inspired by Denise Alloca.  You can visit her art journal page tutorial at:  https://youtu.be/leOrwP0WOLw

This was one of Donna Downey's Artist Gang Teusday videos.  You know that I love these....along with my Shawn Petite's Sunday Inpiration.....can't get enough!!

Peace!

Cyndi

Thank you Shawn Petite

As I've mentioned many, many times here.....I love watching other artists make their art.

In a couple weeks, my husband and I are travelling to Colorado to visit his mother and brother.  My mother-in-law has suffered with Alsheimers for several years.  I was thinking about making a small piece of art that we could hang in her room.  Because we like to pack light I needed something that I could slip into a small suitcase. Then....Voila....I watched a video by Shawn Petite on the very morning that I was trying to come up with something to make, and it was perfect.

These three little hanging pieces are made using cardboard as the substrate.  Shawn attached a piece of ribbon as a hanger on hers.  I didn't have any ribbon that I liked, but I did have some copper wire and it worked fine.  I used different stencils and I didn't have any alphabet stamps that were large enough. I printed out the words in the size that I needed on the printer, then transferred them to the substrate with carbon paper, then painted them with a paint pen (and outlined with charcoal pencil).

I might make some more of these, except smaller, as they would make great little tags for gifts, etc. They were super easy and super fast to make.  So, if you need a quick handmade gift for someone....give it a try.

Again, thank you Shawn!

Peace!

Cyndi