More fun things to do with paint chips

I thought about titling this blog post "More fun things to do with paint chips (and a lesson on craft time)" because that about sums up my experience yesterday.  Every Saturday I try to do something artsy/crafty/creative.  I started the day by having Honey teach me how to rejoin broken joints on a chair I picked up at Good Will.  I was hoping to have the chair re-do finished for today, but I learned that the process is a bit slower than that, and that's okay -- I want the end result to be beautiful.

I had a hair appointment in the middle of the day, so I needed a simple craft project.  Michell at Girl in Air had this lovely idea for wall art involving paint chips.  Flowers!  It was so pretty that I knew I wanted to try this myself.  I wanted to share this idea with others, so I made the mistake of telling a friend "Let's do crafts!" forgetting that some people are a bit more OC than me and get very carried away.  But more on the lessons of craft day later...

First, we picked up more paint chips.

A lot more paint chips. (Please understand that this was not all me. And on the one hand I may feel bad about all the paint chips, but I justify it by saying there were still paint chips in every color left, I don't think it costs this store money, and we're using them not wasting them. Does that make it better?)

My extension of craft invitation to one person ended up being extended to another, and so there were three of us working.

We found out that Behr paint chips work best for leaves.  They actually have paint chips in the shape of leaves that we could've used if we didn't mind having words on the art. Instead, we trimmed those down and used them as templates. We also made a stencil of a smaller leaf, and then cut very tiny leaves so that we can three sizes from which to choose.

We each made a flower and a tree -- all of the flowers and trees turned out differently.  The other two crafters also decided that they wanted to create geometric art like what I did a few weeks ago.

Mine are the top & bottom pieces on the left -- a tree and a flower

 I like my flower, but I don't care for my tree.  Honey tells me to pretend it's something other than a tree and maybe I'll like it.  We'll see.

Now to the lessons of craft day.  I realized that these days started because I was supposed to be doing an "Artist's Date," following the pattern of The Artist's Way, and Artist's Dates must be done alone.  I probably should've stuck with that idea.  I'll know better in the future.  But this day and experience did serve to teach me some valuable lessons:

1. I don't like scheduling times for being crafty or creative (like "I'll craft from 1-3PM"), but I do like having a set amount of time (like one or two hours) that I'll be working on a project because I have too many other things to do to let projects take over my day.
2. If other people are involved, I feel responsible, especially if it's at my house, and this does not allow me to relax.
3. I have no idea how to say no or put up boundaries without sounding rude, at least in my personal life -- somehow I've figured it out (mostly) in my professional life. I think that means that I care what the people in my personal life think and so I let myself be a doormat -- not cool.
4. I've tried very hard to get rid of or tone down many of my OC tendencies and I can now see what a difference that makes. I stop to eat, I put boundaries on the length of time I spend doing projects -- and this includes projects like remodeling parts of the house and gardening.

Right now I think what I have decided is that I will either not invite people to craft with me or I will be very clear about parameters and a schedule ahead of time, something I don't want to do but is apparently necessary so that my house is not completely overrun until 10PM with people sitting at my table and crafting a bazillion projects.  (I did not actually stay at the table that long. I left for a while to eat dinner -- and yes, I cooked and left food out for the other crafters -- and then when I finished my projects I went downstairs to be with Honey.)

Next Saturday I will be crafting alone.  And I will enjoy it.

I'm linking up here:

Good Will + $5 = A Day of Fun

Earlier in the week while I was out running errands I decided to stop by Good Will to see if I could find a bit of inspiration for Saturday's Artist's Date.  I set a $5 limit, as I usually do when searching for craft projects, and happily began searching.  Here is what I found:

An old frame, a bunch of flowers, a small wooden plaque, and a tray covered in candle wax.  Score! A whole bunch of projects for $5!

I started with the wooden plaque, knowing that I was just going to paint a bit and then use it as a frame by attaching a picture with Mod Podge.

Before

After

It works. Now I just need to drill a hole in the back so that I can actually hang it on the wall and we'll be good to go with this project.

The flowers I just stuck in a vase.  No picture. They are just sitting on a table in my dining room, reminding me that spring is around the corner and I'll be able to have real flowers soon.

I wanted to make a tray out of an old picture frame.  This was not an original idea. My sister has a friend who did this and it looked very nice.  Then I saw someone else in BlogLand do the same thing (I just can't remember where right now), so I've been thinking about this project for a couple weeks.  I dug around in my fabric box to find some material and discovered an old table runner I bought one year at the Dollar Store.  It started disintegrating, of course, and was no good as a table runner but the material could still be used for something, I figured, and I hung on to it.

I went to the garage and grabbed some spray paint, thinking that a dark blue would look nice against the white fabric.  It was about the time that the spray paint started exploding all over my hands that I began to calculate how long I'd had that particular can and realized that since I bought it to make art for a child's room and that child is now 6, I've had that can for over six years.  This is what old spray paint does:

My hands after a solid five minutes of scrubbing

There's no way the paint's coming off the soap dispenser.

I also managed to paint some of the grass in my front yard blue because I didn't have enough newspaper to protect against exploding cans of paint.

Moral of the story: don't use old spray paint.

While I waited for the paint to dry, I cut the fabric for the inside of the tray.

Because I am lazy, I actually just used a few pieces of double-sided tape to hold the fabric in place, knowing that the glass and the wooden frame itself would help keep the whole project together.  And it worked!

The last (completed) project for the day was to take the old, waxy tray and turn it into something usable.  By this point in the day I forgot to take pictures as I went along, so you'll have to imagine.  I scrubbed the tray a bit to see if I could get some of the wax off.  When it was relatively smooth I took it outside and gave it a few coats of (newer) spray paint.  Once the spray paint dried I brought the tray inside and cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit the bottom and then used Mod Podge to attach and seal it.  I think it turned out rather well!

I started on a few other crafty projects yesterday, but none of them are anywhere close to being done.  This week is pretty busy, so they'll all probably have to wait until next Saturday.

Yesterday as I was crafting I kept thinking about my grandmother and great-grandmother.  They did so love to craft.  I wish that they were still here so that we could craft together.

I linked up here:

A new use for scrap wood (Artist's Date, Week Three)

Today I tried several different art projects as part of my "Artist's Date." Over the course of the week I found several art ideas that I wanted to try and today was the day! But first I needed to find a canvas (or several), so to speak. Canvas tends to be expensive, especially when one is experimenting, so I needed to find another idea. That's when I remembered: Honey always keeps scraps from house projects, so we probably had plenty of odd-sized wood pieces in the garage.

There were three projects that I wanted to try:

1. A mod podge photo collage that I first saw here.
2. A painting of a landscape with the quote that I love and posted about here.
3. A frame surrounding the quote that I love.

After finding several scraps of wood, I sanded them a bit (just to get the rough edges off) and then put a base coat on each piece.

The dark brown piece I used for the mod podge photo collage. I wanted to create a collage of a few pictures from our holiday trip to New Mexico last month.  It turned out okay, I think. (Yes, I know it's hard to see in this picture. Just trust me.)

I then chose the other rectangular piece of wood to create a landscape painting, thinking that I would use it as a background basis for the quote I love.  As it turned out, Honey liked the landscape. I said "It's not done yet!" But Honey nicely said, "I like it the way it is. It looks really nice!"

So of course I left it that way and then got another piece of wood and started over again.  I did something a little different on the second piece and decided I couldn't use that one, either, for an experiment with the quote.

I put the painting aside for a bit and looked to the frame.  I mod podged the frame, but I used card stock this time and discovered that it's a bit unwieldy. Next time I'll know better, but for now it's okay.

After the frame, I turned my attention back to the last piece of wood, something in the shape of a triangle. I knew that I wanted to try painting a branch and birds on it in addition to the quote, but I have no skill when it comes to drawing.  I went online, found a silhouette of a branch and modeled my painting on that. The bird was more difficult.  I tried tracing a bird silhouette and then painting it, but that didn't work too well, so I decided to stick with a simple line to represent a bird.

Honey is glad that we've found a good use for wood scraps. I'm glad to have an inexpensive way to experiment in these crafts.  The furry babies are glad that I was so preoccupied that they were able to stay curled up together for hours without distraction.

It was a good day for everyone.

Week Two Check In

I've decided to run with the spirit of the law, not the letter of it.  If I were to look at what I accomplished last week in Week Two of The Artist's Way and base my judgments merely on what I did in relation to the tasks at the end of the chapter, I would be disappointed.  Have a look for yourself:

• Determine where my time goes by listing five major activities and how much time I spent on them, dividing the list by "shoulds" and "wants." -- I did not do this, even though I thought about it.
• List 20 things I enjoy doing and the last time I did each thing. -- I didn't do this. Or, to be more specific, I started this list. Then I wrote down more things in my morning pages, but I didn't follow up with when I did each activity. 
• Out of that list, find two things to do this week -- even if it's only for 15 minutes. -- I did things that I enjoy, but not based off a list (I didn't create the list in the first place!)
• Re-read my affirmations. -- I'll give this a sort-of. I skimmed the list to re-affirm myself and my direction, but I was not present/intentional in my readings. (Tsk, tsk!)
• List ten imaginary lives (things I think in my dreams, if I were another me, I'd do) and see if there's some activity I could do that's related to a pretend Me. (Confession: One imaginary life is be a singer, like a singer of showtunes or Big Band classics. Today, I indulged in that a big by singing "Don't Rain on My Parade" at the top of my lungs in my car. It was no Carnegie Hall, but then again I'm no Barbara. I think we'll call it even for the week.) -- A bit here.
• List ten "tiny" changes, then see about setting one in motion. -- Nada. Although I will say that the first thing that popped into my mind when I read this originally was "get a new cover for the duvet!" Needless to say, that is on the "sometime in the future" list.

I would be pretty disappointed with myself if I only viewed my accomplishments, my growth as an artist, my journey of self-discovery as check-marks on the way to a goal. Instead I have taken the bold (for me) step to believe that self-discovery, recovery, and becoming an artist is more about the journey and the beauty in the road than it is about the destination.  To that end I can say that in Week Two I accomplished these things:

• I posted on the blog at least once -- sometimes more often! -- each day.
• I wrote my "morning pages" every day.
• I wrote a couple mini-stories, like the one here.
• In addition to the stories that I shared, I started writing a short story for children. It's not done yet, but when I finish I may post on the blog for some feedback.
• I had an Artist's Date that was fairly successful, at least for my first attempt at any sort of painting.
• I spent some time thinking about things that I love and I already have things to add to that particular list.
• I spent some time looking at various crafty blogs, which inspired me to create more art. In fact, in the beginning of Week Three I've already done a few crafty things like make my own recipe for soup and reclaim a picture frame and I am looking forward to the end of the week and my official Artist's Date.

So all in all I think that I am moving in the right direction. Two weeks down, 34 to go. What will the future bring?

Artist's Date, Week Two: A Geometric Painting

A picture Matthew took of a piece of art he liked inspired this week's "Artist's Date."

The piece was made out of metal, which is far beyond my skill level or current desire to master, but I liked the concept.  I thought about painting a canvas, but the size I wanted was a bit too expensive for my comfort level (at least when something's an experiment), so I bought thick posterboard designed for acrylic paints, purchased the main colors that I wanted (knowing I had a few more colors at home and could probably fill in gaps that way), and started on the project.

Whenever I decide to start on an art project -- and it doesn't matter whether it's quilting, painting, writing, photography, or anything else -- the furry babies decide that they must help. "Oh look," Bunny says to Nora, "Mom has a lot of supplies! I bet she needs our help!"  Nora of course responds by saying, "She's such a good mom, we wouldn't want her to do all this work by herself! Let's help!"  This is what happens:

After I spend a good 15 minutes moving one cat after another and trying to convince Lotus not to walk underneath me as I am moving cats, I start working on the project. I used painter's tape to create the patterns on the board. The 4' square, although cumbersome, helped me create squares and rectangles that had actual straight sides.

By this time in the process the cats were tired. They had worked hard trying to help Mommy.

I used a metallic bronze for the borders between the shapes, so it took three coats (instead of the two coats of paint for each shape), but it's done.

It's not perfect, but it's a first attempt and so that's okay. I think that in the future I'll try this type of thing on canvas with smaller borders.  I also thought of a way that I can do geometric designs on the cheap, but that, I think, will be for next week's Artist's Date.

If you show a woman a work of geometric art...

...she may begin to think that she can do that. She will ask for $5 and tell you that she has a wonderful idea. You may want to know about her idea, and so she says that she will tell you but she has to go to the craft store and if you will drive her there she will tell you her idea. Once you get the craft store, she remembers that there is yarn on sale and she simply must look at it. A "quick look" turns into 35 minutes shuffling through all the yarn until she finds the perfect color to knit a blanket for a birthday coming up (in three months). Birthdays remind her of photographs, which reminds her that she needs a frame. She looks and looks through the frames in clearance until she finds one that is nearly perfect except for a minor scratch on the paint. The scratch on the paint tells her she should go to the art supplies section of the store, and when she gets there she remembers what she wanted in the first place: paper and paint to recreate the geometric art. Supplies in tow, you head home so that she can begin her project. When you get home, she remembers that she has other paint already. The paint has not been used in a while and is in the closet underneath a year's worth of other supplies. You help her carefully unload everything in the closet until you find, at the very bottom of a box on the floor, her few paint supplies. The woman is ecstatic: she can paint! She rushes to the kitchen table, spreads out her supplies, and begins work. You wait and you wait. She works and works and works. Finally, hours later, it is done. Wonderful! Time to put everything away. You help wash the paint brushes. You put the paint away and replace all the boxes in the closet. You are just about to sit down and relax when *ding* you get an e-mail from a buddy showing you a beautiful piece of geometric art. Of course you have to share, forgetting that if you show a woman a work of geometric art...

An Artist's Date...sort of...

Today I worked on my dissertation a bit, was distracted by the horrible tragedy of a crazy kid shooting a congresswoman and killing several others and then, eventually, decided that I needed to go on my Artist's Date since it was the last day in my week and I did so want to be good for Week One.  I ended up going to several places and walked around a bit for inspiration.  First, I went to Good Will.  This is always a good place to start, I think, because it is filled with plenty of once-loved-now-discarded odds and ends. Artistic inspiration abounds. I found something I thought might be useful. Then I went to the Dollar Store (this time a failure), went to the local library to pick up some books on hold (and search their used books for sale -- I bought six and spent a total of $3), and then ran to Michael's.  If I had $20-40 I would've made quite the score because all the holiday gear was on sale.  Instead I bought some paper and a few holiday items, spent $2.96 and came back home. Tomorrow we will see what I will create.

In the meantime, as I was driving I heard about the new round of "Three Minute Fiction" on NPR.  I'm considering a submission. Since I haven't written anything yet it's still a pipe dream, so we'll see what happens.  Creativity abounds.

Dates and Monsters

This morning I was thinking about what I would do for my weekly Artist's Date and I came to one conclusion: I have no idea.

In 2008, when I first went through The Artist's Way (Okay, honesty time here: part of The Artist's Way. Go away, Guilt Monster, I don't need you here. I know I chose to stop part way through the book, and no, that does not mean that I'll do the same thing this time.),  I was faithful with morning pages but never gave myself a weekly Artist's Date. Truth be told, I didn't see that as a priority.  And if we look at the whole truth, I gave myself plenty of excuses for ignoring the portion of the book that says "these are mandatory, just like morning pages." 

My resistance to the notion of Artist's Dates this time around sounds very much the same. My Guilt Monster (my own Jewish version of the Critic) rears its (ugly?) head and tells me all sorts of reasons why I just cannot buckle down and give myself time for a date:

• I don't have time to devote 2-ish hours to myself for something this childish. Couldn't I be doing something more productive? (My response, Guilt Monster: Go Away. I am taking care of me. I deserve a couple hours for me. Everyone else can have all my other hours, but these are mine.)
• I have no idea what to do. Isn't that a waste? Shouldn't I have a plan??? (Stupid Guilt Monster! I don't have to always be planned! I could try to paint something, or write a bit of my novel. I could decorate a cake or cookies.  I could go for a long walk.  Or maybe, just maybe, if the Universe gave me the snow day that I want for Thursday and just the right amount of snow, I could make a snowman! Or a snow family!!)
• If my artist is a child, that means I have no idea what my artist wants to do or would find fun because I have no idea what it was like to be a child (although there have been numerous times in my life when I have been childish -- sorry, Honey). If I never was a child, then this is just another ridiculous exercise in futility, this attempt to nurture some sort of inner creative child. (Guilt Monster, I am warning you -- you're on thin ice today! I may not know what children like, but I know what I like and I'll just go with that and eventually my creative child will let me know. Hopefully it won't involve adding more furry animals to the house...I think my child likes animals.)

 So I think that I've come to the conclusion, after a bit of Monster-wrestling (I won't say dragon-slaying because my Guilt Monster is still very much here and he's a bit too comfortable in his lair to leave just yet), that I do not have to decide right now what to do on my date. I will know later this week, Thursday or Friday or Saturday.  I will wake up, write my morning pages, and look out my kitchen window. And if I am really quiet on that particular morning, I will hear the whisperings of the Universe speaking to me on behalf of my silenced creative child, and I will know.  Or perhaps I won't, and that will be the day that I take my child for a walk and we learn to talk together.