I recently came across this quote and loved how it mentioned our current prompt and touched on the different seasons of our creative process: "Wintertime for me is a time when I do a lot of my writing in the studio. It's a time I enjoy. And it's very reflective and a very calming time of the year. Throughout the year I gather a lot of musical inspirations, and this is where I bring them to the studio and see what will evolve musically." - Enya As we transition from winter to spring, to having longer days and more light, from stillness to movement and growth in the world around us, I encourage you to explore what this energy brings to you and how it affects your creativity, flow, and process. I hope these longer prompt periods allow you to do that and offers some flexibility and space! Below is some inspiration from our fellow creatives as we enter the second week of “gather". |
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“After school I decided to gather up all of the art work and notes from my bulletin board to turn into a collage. I know some people will think this is mean to manipulate student art but I get so many new pieces to hang it’s not a big deal. We’ve got some portraits, a Pokémon card, notes of kindness, a bit of a Valentine card and a pin. It’s a mesh of love and creativity.” - R.S. These notes are so sweet! |
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Sue had a stressful week and spent her time taking a break (I think we can all relate that it can be hard to create during times like this and we all need breaks to recharge!) then gathered things from her life these days that make her happy: “Outdoor concert bracelet and stickers they gave out, pictures of skies and sunsets as well as a key chain with a Spotify music playlist that my daughter made for me to listen to when I miss her (unbelievably amazing). Flowers and avocados and apple stickers as well as receipts for specific recipes and breakfast with my girlies!! Business card and new facial moisturizer as well as picture of turtle that I am crocheting, I just joined a group. Wrapping paper and a friend gave me homemade limoncello. I actually enjoyed doing this project since it depicts all of me.” - Sue P. I love all the items she's collected and it inspires me to do the same. When we're stressed or going through a hard time, referring to a pic or collage of these things gathered sounds like such a great reminder of who we are, happy times, and the little and big things that makes us happy. |
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"For the gather prompt I immediately thought of ‘gathering clouds.’ I hadn't painted in watercolor for a while and my sketchbook is maybe not the best paper for it but there's something about watching the paint not absorb and kind of pool and dry that's fun also! So I did a few pages in different colors of gathering clouds." - Claudia I love how these turned out and seeing how the colors blend and fade! |
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"Then I moved on to something outside of my sketchbook. I've had this cardboard bowl shaped piece that was actually a packaging insert insert between bowls in a boxed set. I've been looking at it for a while and then thought a bowl is a perfect place to gather things in so I decided to paint it with "gathering clouds." I just gessoed it in Black and then painted the inside and outside and put a gloss over top. At the last minute I decided to craft some sort of lid which is basically just a flat piece of cardboard and I stole a drawer pull from an old dresser in my son's closet (he hasn't lived here for years and it's mostly empty so it didn't matter! LOL) I'm going to finish the lid this week. I have just gessoed it and I need to get a shorter screw so I'm going to figure that out. Anyway it was lots of fun and I enjoyed the longer work period and will use this next week to finish the top of my bowl!!" - Claudia This is such a fun project! I can't wait to see the finished top. Are there things around the house you can use as a canvas? |
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I recently got back from my first road trip and thought it'd be fun to make a living journal page from things I collected throughout the trip! Unfortunately I kept forgetting to keep stuff so ended up with a lot of receipts lol It was still fun to put together though and I also added a handwritten note that included what we did--I know the details will get fuzzy in the future so I wanted to do this while it was fresh on my mind! Going forward I think I'm going to make a page like this for every trip so I have something tangible to commemorate it with! |
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Happy St. Patrick's Day and spring (spring equinox is Monday)! Have a great weekend and week ahead, I look forward to seeing how this second week unfolds and sharing the next prompt with you soon! |
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PS: I'm working on making some updates to the resource pages and adding PDFs--they should be ready and up by the next prompt! |
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