Artsy Fun

A drawing of a cartoonish gold star.

Gold Star!

In my coaching practice I award gold stars for effort (because you have much more control over your efforts than you have over your results.)

And I have gotten into the habit of awarding *myself* gold stars for sticking with a project, for putting in work on tricky task, or for getting around to something I was dreading.

So here’s my gold star to celebrate my hard work this week.

And it celebrates your hard work, too.

Go Team Us!

A drawing of a cartoonish gold star.
A drawing of a cartoonish gold star with a happy face on it. The drawing is on a piece of white index card and the background behind the star includes a bunch of small marks (some dots and some are a little more like lines) and five short lines that are near each point on the star like it is either glistening or in motion. The piece of index card is propped up between the keys on my computer keyboard which is black with white letters.

Tea and Art

Last night, while watching a movie, I made a bunch of patterned drawings* and I really liked how some of them turned out.

I had a few others that didn’t work for me but I didn’t include them in the photo.

It wasn’t exactly deliberate.

I had laid the ones that didn’t work to my left and the ones that did to my right, next to my tea.

I liked how the drawings looked next to my tea and snapped the photo.

A cup of tea and 4 drawings with repeated shapes and patterns
My large cup of tea in a glass cup with white stars on it and four drawings on rectangular pieces of paper. Other art supplies are present in the background. The drawings each feature their own repeated shapes, colours, and patterns. One has features red, blue, and black shapes with gold lines and dots, one features squares in different shades of green with gold dots, lines, and shapes, black shapes and dots and some black lines. One with circles in shades of blue and purple with black lines and dots. The fourth has blocks of bright pink, sweeping shapes of aqua and thick navy lines with some thin black lines as accents.

Then I spent a bit of time considering all of then while drinking my tea.

What is the difference between a bunch of shapes and lines on paper and a unified piece?

How can I tell which ones are done?

Do these pieces need something else?

Why didn’t the others work?

Which elements of these pieces would I carry forward into another project?

Is there anything from the other ones that might work in other contexts?

What other kind of practice should I do before practicing similar work in a larger format?

I don’t have the answers yet but I’m enjoying considering the questions.

*Is this abstract art? I was playing with colour and shapes but I wasn’t trying to express anything in particular so I’m not sure.

Drawing Gold Stars

As part of a series of posts I’m writing this month, I’m drawing a gold star every day.

It’s fun figuring out new ways to present a star, it’s a creative practice in itself.

A drawing of a gold star surrounded by small circles and framed in black.?
A drawing of a gold star surrounded by small circles and framed in black.

Creative Review

I spent a little time yesterday evening doing a creative review of 2023 from some prompts I found online.

I was expecting to feel a bit disconcerted or let down by my results but I felt exhilarated.

Because of my grief over the loss of my Dad, I felt like I had been haphazard with my creativity, working in bits and pieces but not really doing anything cohesive.

Actually, though, I taught lots of workshops and made zines and took workshops and experimented with using fabric in my art.

That means that despite my difficulties, I kept turning to my creativity to remind myself of who I am and what I need.

I’m really proud of myself for that.