Art Days....

There is something to say about Art Days. Days set aside to create art by trying new things, new ideas, making mistakes and finding ways to make them work. These are the days not spent in a rush to put class proposals together but days just spent creating. Putting whatever is in your imagination into a tangible, tactile, existing thing (i.e. painting, box, necklace, photograph, etc.).

I was recently reintroduced to these days when my friend Kecia was visiting in June. We sat at my dining room table and drew, painted, journaled, and talked about the process. Today another friend, Colleen, was talking about how we adults should spend more time jumping in rain puddles rather than going around them. It is the ability to abandon what we should be doing rather than what we want to be doing.

What is the worst that could happen? I mean I'm not talking about giving up our morals or integrity here. It could be as simple as dropping the paint brush and dipping our fingers into the wetness of the colors. How about trying a new technique and then posting a photograph of the outcome no matter what the outcome? How about a day in phone photos where you post an image to your FaceBook account each hour on the hour no matter where you are?

Making time to create for fun should be something we all strive for. It gives our artistic side the chance to stretch beyond the norm and to grow in ways we may have believed impossible. It gives us permission, even as adults, to have fun, to color outside of the lines (or our mental boundaries) and to not care what someone else thinks of us, our process or our creations.

Set a time to be freely joyous with your art, to jump in the puddles of your imagination and to embrace what is uniquely yours. Give yourself permission to play.

xo,

Comments

[Colleen Peck]

Fantastic Lesley!!! Thank you for the reminder to just be..... Colleen

[Sandra L.]

Lesley, I love the new look of your blog!

Great post as well.

[Sharon W]

Sweet Lesley: I totally agree about the value of "art play days"....tomorrow my friend Lorraine (she joined me several years ago in your wonderful altered book at Art is You) is coming for just such an adventure. It is so much easier to venture into new techniques when there is a fellow artist there to encourage and even laugh at mangled or distored results! Looking forward to seeing you in October...Love...Sharon