artsy fun

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.

Repurposing

Maybe 10 or 12 years ago I bought this hat that I really like.

It’s a black beanie with a quote from Neil Gaiman on it ‘Make Good Art.’* He’s not the only person to ever say that, of course, but it’s part of a longer quote and I bought the hat from his website so it works for me.

Except that it doesn’t work for me.

Well, the quote works for me and the idea of it on a bay works for me but the hat itself?

It’s teeny.

It was supposed to be one size fits all but it doesn’t fit me.

So, I have been moving it around from storage spot to storage spot for years. I don’t want to part with it but I can’t wear it.

Recently, though, I brewed some tea in a smallish teapot and needed to finish something before I could sit down, drink tea, and read.

My other tea cozy is for a much larger pot so I didn’t want to use that. This teeny hat came to mind and suddenly I had solved two problems.

A black beanie with white text that reads ‘Make Good Art’ - Neil Gaiman. It appears to be standing on its own on my wooden table but it is actually serving as a tea cozy for my small teapot.?
A black beanie with white text that reads ‘Make Good Art’ – Neil Gaiman. It appears to be standing on its own on my wooden table but it is actually serving as a tea cozy for my small teapot.

*I also approve of making bad art, or any art at all. The process is way more important to me than the results are.

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.