Day two of the Art Every Day Month Challenge, and I was already making excuses for not creating original art. I kept glancing at a watercolor painting that I did a month ago for my website, my own version of the ‘bigger pond’. It was staring at me, hanging on the bulletin board across from my desk, beckoning to me, “pick me, pick me”. Sure, I could cheat and post that today, but who would I be cheating? This challenge is for me to be accountable to creating art every day, to reconnect to artistic expression each day in November. The point is to develop a new habit around creating art. I have gotten so far away from creating on a daily basis, even on a weekly basis, or let’s be honest, on a monthly basis, and making excuses just doesn’t cut it for me.
The key to creating every day is to make it easy so that I don’t get bogged down with excuses, so I quickly came up with the idea of a self-portrait for today’s entry. I came across this simple technique on a ‘how to’ video that I watched this summer. I think it was by Jamie Ridler, but I am not sure as I can’t find it on her website, but she is a cool chick, so check her out anyway.
Here’s how it works: Grab a black permanent marker and stand in front of a mirror. Close one eye and sketch your face, neck, shoulders, whatever you want to include in your portrait. Next, take a piece of tracing paper and trace over your design with the black marker. I used computer paper so I wouldn’t have to transfer my design to watercolor paper. If you want to transfer your design to another piece of opaque paper, simply color on the back of your tracing with a heavy graphite pencil, flip it over, and trace your design onto your new paper. The design will transfer beautifully. I then did a quick watercolor painting over my sketch and voila, instant self-portrait. I decided to take it one step further today and altered the color and saturation in iphoto. (I am not really blue in real life.)
One more thing; I want to be accountable to last Monday’s commitment to make every Monday a ‘Meaningful Monday’. My intention of the week is to make every day creative, not just through art, but through the lens with which I choose to see my world. Every difficult situation can be turned around when viewed through a creative lens, from a tough confrontation to a challenging business client. I will wear my creative glasses this week and see what comes to fruition.
What will you do today to inject creativity into your life? Happy creating!
