Finally Sketching Again

It's been a crazy week here in Columbia, SC.  The flooding that occurred was insane and because of it my work was closed 4 out of 5 days this week. In my area we are still under a water boil advisory.  I can't say I've done a ton with my time off other than finally relax and enjoy my new apartment and catch up on sleep.  I did go through some boxes my storage area and bring some more stuff to Goodwill. I also caught up on 6 months of filing. Yuck! And I started working on gathering the information I will need to apply for my LPC and the equivalent of the CASAC in SC.  In addition, I tried to work out most days and I helped my sister out 3 of the days watching my niece and nephew because daycare and schools were closed all week.

I read a few books and watched a few movies. Got caught up on my blog. And last but not least I finally opened my pocket art journal and started creating again.  I will admit, it's been almost 2.5 months since I last created and I was a little intimidated at first. I just had to break into creating not worrying or judging myself for what I created.  Below are 4 images that I created over the past few days.

Finally Back to Creating Art

I got inspired last week after viewing an email update from Sweet Repeats blog.  If you've read previous post I really enjoy this artist style and would someday love to be able to some day go to one of the art retreats I see listed on her blog.  I viewed her video of creating art outside one of her friends stores on site one day.  I finally felt the strong pull again to create art not just craft.

I texted a friend right away and asked if she wanted to come over that Saturday and paint/create outside since it was suppose to be a perfect weather day here in Rochester.  We started our day by going to Craft Bits & Pieces where I quickly used up my gift card I'd been saving since Christmas. My most exciting purchases that day were some plastic stencils and some good paintbrushes. We stopped by the Fairport Farmers Market and I treated myself to a homemade Amish molasses cookie which is my favorite. And then headed back to my house where we pulled all the materials outside on the patio, put some music on and created for a few hours.

I choose a large canvas that I got at Savers last fall for 4 dollars. It had a painting on it already but I had previously gessoed over it so it was ready to go.  I went wild just creating layers and textures using stencils, stamps, spray paint and acrylic paints. I also used a spray bottle with water and would sometimes stand the painting up and spray it down. I did some splatter painting, used some random everyday materials like a coffee cup cardboard holder, a sea sponge, and so on to create lines and patterns.  This was so much fun and I liked the result that I almost didn't want to put anything else on the painting. But in the end I stuck with my whimsical theme of late and lightly added in an abstract hill, tree, flower, and house/or tower. Can you see it?

This was a perfect day! I love creating and need to bring it make more into my life. It's been sliding for the few months and I need to make it a priority again.  I had enough energy after creating on my hands and knees on pavement for 4 hours to go run 7.5 miles! That a testament to the rejuvenating properties of creating for me.

Here's my friend's piece. She seemed to enjoy the day and creating. She purchased this canvas from Craft Bits and Pieces for 1.50 and decided to work on creating a jewelry holder like mine. She's really good at collage and has way more patients than I would have using that medium of art.  She took some nails home with her and hopefully I will see the finished product soon.

Here's my friend's finished piece. It turned out awesome!