Art Every Day Month

Puttering about the internet last night I happened upon a blog by Leah Piken Kolidas, Creative Every Day, via Sacred Circle Mandalas. And there I got the details on Art Every Day Month, an idea Leah came up with which is now in its fifth year.

The basics are that participants do some art every day, and then post the results on their blog. Now, I know it's already the ninth, but it's never too late to join in, and so I thought I might just.

But then I couldn't decide what, or how, to do it. At first I thought it would be a great way to get me back into drawing and painting (as I have not done a Goddess painting in more than a year), but then I wasn't sure that would work, making myself draw every day. Because I know that that's probably the surest fastest way to get me to hate (and I mean hate) something, by forcing myself to do it.

So I hemmed and hawed about joining in, figuring it was probably too good for me to be fun.

But then I remembered when I was a kid.

I learned to sew at the age of five. The first thing I ever sewed was, unbelievably, a stuffed toy cat, of a design and pattern (if you can call it that) I made myself. He was made of bright blue fur (since that's what we had around) and his name was (is, actually, as he's still around somewhere) Scottie. Unbelievably, I say, because said design actually made use of a gusset for his belly and the inside of his legs. He was no flat pillow-type silhouette of a cat, oh no--Scottie was a four-legged thing with a separate tail and head.

I should dig him out and post a picture; he is quite hilarious to grown-up eyes.

And every day when I was a kid, just about, I would make something. Usually it was another toy or animal, or a doll or doll's clothes. Every day, nearly. And I wouldn't plan anything; I'd just do it. And finish it, too, that day. There were a lot of homemade critters kicking around the house when I was a kid (including a dozen or so corduroy rabbits--why corduroy? you ask. Because it was kind of fuzzy, sort of. No, it wasn't fur, but it had some pile to it. The first one was named, of course, Flopsy. She was turquoise blue!)

My mom (also an artist) even had a name for it, the mood we kids would get in when we were feeling creative: the Makey-Makey Feeling. "Do you have the Makey-Makey Feeling?" she would ask.

Anyhow, so I decided after all I would join in Art Every Day Month, or at least give it a shot. We'll see how I do. But I thought I'd start off, at least, with the emphasis on fun things, little things I could start and finish in a couple hours. I can't promise how well I'll do; I've never been much good with discipline, preferring to lean on inspiration more. But we shall see.

I figured, also, that since I'm starting late, on the ninth of November, that I'd go on till the eighth of December, you know, to get the full benefits of doing it for thirty days. Stay tuned!