Week 6: Rules or Freedom?

Well, Lovely Art-Making Friends, it’s time to finish what we started last week.

If you missed last week’s prompt, you’ll need to complete if before you can make today’s small-art projects. Click here for Not Knowing… but Enjoying Now.

Here’s this week’s video prompt. If you’d like to read the instructions and journaling prompt, scroll on by… If you want some more details for the journaling portion of this week’s prompt, come back…

It’s time for scissors and a glue stick

The first  thing you need to do is cut your orange and blue paper in half between the orange and blue sections.

Next, cut the orange section into circles roughly dime to penny size. A nickel would probably be too big. And you don’t want to go much smaller than a dime.

Glue three or four along the top edge of the brown section of your journal page, relatively close together. Then a few above those, and so on, until you have what looks like a pile of textured orange circles…Maybe a bit like, say… oranges?

So, yes, you’re correct if you think the next thing you should do is cut the blue section of your paper into something that resembles the shape of a bowl, and glue it to the lower row of your orange circles.

Voila. If you followed the “rules” you have something that looks like a bowl of oranges. A hand-painted cut-paper picture.

If you have your simple still-life small art in your journal, thank you for trusting me enough to just go along with the process.

In the video you can see the difference between how I painted while just testing my idea and how I painted while filming it… It does reveal how we can be constrained by adding external pressure, or at least how I was…

No more rules!

It’s time for the rest of our painted scraps and colors from last week! It’s time to have more fun like we did painting.

I’d thought about playing with layers with a new Mod Podge from my Blick Art Materials sample pack… since I’ve only used one kind, and it is fun. But I decided to keep it simpler with one of my trusty glue sticks.

If any of your painted pieces make you think of some type of picture, or you have one in mind you’d like to build, go for it, or you can just have fun with color and shape, which is what I decided to do. You can see most of the process in the video.

Take some time. Have some fun. I did!

Get into it

I know it can be difficult to find a time and place with no distractions… which is proven in my video… Sometimes you just need to laugh about it and dive into the process anyway.

Maybe you can turn on some of your favorite music. I love being able to just turn up some music, and make art.

Have fun with this.

Time to Journal

After you’ve followed my instructions and had your fun it’s time to journal.

This week and last week, you had to both follow rules, and do things without any rules at all. Except to have fun. And end up with something new and different.

Which better fit your temperament?

Are you someone who likes to have clear instructions, and know exactly step by step what you need to do? Or are you someone who wants to do what you want to do, how you want to do it?

Do rules make you feel constrained, or do you find some freedom in them?

I know that may sound weird.

But there’s safety in following rules, even in rules we may resent. Sometimes we choose limitations, maybe subconsciously, or hide behind them. Because they can make things easier. They can feel more comfortable even in their discomfort. It can be easier to blame perceived constraints than it is to do whatever it takes to move forward.

I’ve struggled with that.

Today we’re journaling about rules, guidelines, and outside expectations versus the lack of them.

Take some time to think and journal about how you function with rules and structure compared to when things are more open and undefined.

If you’re unsure of where to start, if the subject feels too broad to just jump into, start with how it felt to be guided through a process (however you felt about how it turned out), compared to just being told, “Do whatever you want! Have fun with it! Be creative! Come up with something new that’s never been seen before!”

Thank you for going on this journey with me

I’m so excited to have the opportunity to encourage you to reclaim your creativity, and establish a routine of creative self-care. Art journaling, this form of art journaling I came up with for myself, has had an amazing impact on my life. And I have to share it with others.

I’ll be back next week with anther prompt. In the meantime I’m glad you’ve made time for this small art, and if you have the chance, take some time for some more. It’s not a waste of time. It took me a long time to convince myself of that. I’m someone who needs to make art.

We all need to be creative. We’re wired for that. Created in the image of the Creator. For me, making art makes a huge difference in my mental and emotional and spiritual health.

So let me encourage you to be creative, and take the time for creative self-care.

Feel free to follow along on Facebook and Instagram. If you decide to share any of your journaling journey to invite others along to reclaim their creativity and take time for creative self-care, tag me and/or use #artjournalwithmelinda.

I’d love to hear how you are also BETTER WITH ART! Comment below…