ART on Friday

The first Friday of the New Year - a perfect time to start fresh. I have resolved to make sure that I make time to create more this year - both art and writing. I need to focus on what makes me happy and ensure I just do it.

This week I started with creating my OLW canvas - to help me focus on the word all through the year.
My One Little Word is (appropriately) is FOCUS. (Check here to read how it found me!)

Focus Cards
I am starting a new project - a 52 card challenge, to create 52 cards to highlight my OLW..
I found some round playing cards (about 3" in diameter) and thought they would be fun to work with this year.
Here's the first.

Tag Tuesday

The first challenge of the year I joined was for Tag Tuesday. The theme for the next two weeks is:
New Beginnings.
Here are two tags I created:

CED

The theme for January at Create Every Day is Goals.
Although I don't do resolutions, but rather pick a word to represent the year, I do create a seasonal vision board, which does help me focus on the season ahead.
Here is my winter vision board:

Happy New Year everyone! 
May 2019 be filled with creativity, happiness and good health!


Linking with:

Paint Party Friday

Inspire Me Monday

#OneThingThisMonth January

I have been following Kim and Tanya of GirlXOXO for awhile. I have decided to join in their #OneThingThisMonth as a way to focus on one goal for January.

This month it is all about setting my intentions for the month, and ultimately for the year.

My first step was to create my Winter vision board, which will help me focus on the 3 months ahead.

Then I chose my word of the year - which is FOCUS.

After 2 years of not accomplishing much in my writing or art and experiencing so much stress (re my hubby's health), I knew I needed a change. Thus focus - I have to focus on me first.
I need to focus on: my writing, my art, my health.
I have to choose a focus each day, each month and achieve more.

I am using 4 journals to help me keep focused:

The red flowered daily log to record the books read,
the large blue flowered one to keep a more detailed review of the books read,
the light blue diagonal journal as a catch-all for 2019 to record favourite passages, books to read, ideas, dreams etc;
and finally the dark blue one is my daily to-do diary.

As I signed up for reading challenges (check here to see my master list of challenges), I came across the Bookish Resolution Challenge and The Good Rule Reading Challenge. Both stress the need for setting intentions for your reading life. The Bookish Challenge encourages intentions for your writing/blogging life.

Here are my resolutions for 2019:(as I wrote in my reading journal)

What is your One Thing for January?
What bookish resolutions are you making this year?

ART on Friday

IT's Friday and the first full day of summer!

I created a visionboard/bucket list for the summer months today - to spur me on. As MORE is my OLW (One Little Word), I used that as the basis for the piece.

I also worked on some challenges this week:

Sunday Postcard Art
The theme for Sunday Postcard Art is "birdhouses"

Take a Word Challenge
For Take a Word Challenge the them is "Mostly Black and White"

ICAD
ICAD is the brainchild of Daisy Yellow - and is a fun, easy challenge to get you creating more often - using cheap index cards.
Here are my 3 favourite collages from this week:

Photography
Here are a few photos of flowers in our gardens:
Linking with  Floral Friday Fotos

Linking as well with:

Paint Party Friday

Inspire Me Monday

ART on Friday

It is time once again to share some of what I have been working on this week. I must admit that the past two weeks have seen me creating very little. My hubby finally had his angiogram this week after having it cancelled last week. It has been a stressful few weeks. The finding was that there were no blockages - not sure where we go from here now.

Colour Me Positive
I did complete this week's challenge from LuLu Art - how what we sow today, may not have effect for some time.

Tag Tuesday
The theme this week at Tag Tuesday is "Birds and Nests"

The Collage Workbook
I only worked on 1 challenge - Maps.

Speak Out Cards
Here are the last few "speak out" cards I created for ABC Wednesday:

Spring Vision Board
With each new season, I create a vision board that helps me focus on what I hope to accomplish for the next three months. With spring arriving last Monday, I created this vision board.(My OLW is at the bottom - cultivate)

  Linking with

Paint Party Friday

Inspire Me Monday

Over the Moon Linkup Party

Autumn Vision Board

For the past several years, I have created a vision board, to focus on goals for the coming season. I find it necessary and powerful.

I find that thinking about these goals, and seeing the vision board, helps me to refocus when I need to get back on track.

I found an excellent article at "The Art of Simple" about journaling and writing out autumn resolutions. Katie Clemons poses four questions to help with creating these resolutions. The first really is one to think about:

"What could add to my life this season to bring more pleasure?”

Here is my focus on writing:

and art:

I am looking forward to the challenges, the daily acts of creativity, a healthier lifestyle and lots of reading and learning.

Sunday Weekly Wrap-Up

The past few weeks have been busy with writing and tutoring. Daily art has
 not happened. But I did complete a few projects, including a fun workshop at the Arthouse Studio here in Cambridge. Karen, the owner, is a wonderful teacher and with only 3 students, we had lots of individual attention.

Stencil Course
The course was  using stencils in different ways on a canvas. Although I use stencils a lot with gelli printing (which I haven't done in ages!, I hadn't used them so deliberately in a piece, and definitely not on a canvas.
We used the stencils in several layers to create a background. Then  we added a focal point. It was enjoyable and relaxing.

Summer Vision Board
Last weekend I completed my summer vision board. I haven't made a full moon dreamboard the past couple of months, but I like to focus on the season ahead. Again, I am focusing on 3 areas: health, art and writing.
The flower background was scrapbook paper I had that I just love.

ICAD Challenge
Although I have completed a number of cards, I tend to do them several at a time. This is my latest batch. I am trying to use up my gelli paper scraps. These simple collages will eventually be backgrounds for other projects.

Writing
Writing almost daily has been my goal for the past while. I am finishing up a non-fiction course for picture books with Kristen Fulton and I love it! I am revising my script and eventually, we have all been given the chance to have it read by an agent. How awesome is that! Still have a ways to go though before it's ready.


Photography
We were in Stratford last weekend and had a chance to wander along the river and the grounds of the Festival theatre. Here are a few shots of swans and flowers:

Linking with

Inspire Me Monday

Creative Every Day

Paint Party Friday

Art Journal Every Day

Embracing 2014

           Happy New Year!

2014 has arrived.
I am ready to embrace all it has to offer. There will be challenges to complete, courses to do, art to create, stories to be written, books to be read.

I created a new canvas for my word of the year.

The vision board I created for winter will carry me through to spring. (Check here to see the list of what i plan to embrace the next 3 months.)

I am beginning several (free!)  challenges this week and I encourage you to check them out.

The Daisy Yellow Creative Experiments Challenge

Journal 52

Inspired by Joy

The choosing of my one word for 2013 was an easy one. And since then, that word has sprung up everywhere now.
It has inspired me to complete 3 art projects in the past 3 days:

1. My word for the sidebar

2. The word highlighted in many ways:

And3 , a vision board for the winter months.

The snowflakes came from our Christmas crackers - i saved them because I loved them.  While looking at my Fall tree of intentions, the idea of using the snowflakes just fit. I  then brainstormed goals to achieve in  the 5 areas of my life:


Creative

Health

Spiritual

Carer/Intellectual

Social

My word and my vision board will helpguide me through the next few months.