Make art with me! Because we ART better with art!

Hey, Friends! For the moment this is just a transcript of this week’s video posted below the video. There’s a link to my recommended economical art journal, the mentioned 52-Week Art Journal Journey video, and email/Facebook group sign-up link at the bottom, I’ll be back with a post soon!

Welcome to Better With Art. I’m Melinda, and I’m here to encourage you to reclaim your creativity and establish a healthy habit of creative self-care with one small art prompt every week that can be done in an art journal or on paper if you don’t have one. Recommendation in description. This is another video that didn’t go as planned and because last week I said, it’s okay I have to say it’s okay. I had one idea from Instagram I was really looking forward to trying, and then I saw this fun heart idea and thought it would be ideal since it’s the week of Valentine’s Day. If you missed last year’s Valentine’s Day week Mending Hearts project, I recommend going back and checking it out.

Because life is hard on a heart. But as long as it’s beating there is hope.

This year, well, it’s way simpler. And, well, you’ll see. You need to cut the outline of a heart. We don’t really need the inside part. Just, well, the frame. And, get all fun, squiggly, scribbly, swirly in it. I was struggling with my paper frame.

Cardstock may be a better choice to make life easier, and a project like this, if it’s stressful, is defeating the purpose. Second try Well As it turns out, I just wasn’t getting my lines close together, and I wasn’t quite doing them the best way for this project. Attempt three was good, but I apparently had the camera running opposite of when I thought it was running, and my pen was dying, and the Sharpie was just too heavy.

But I kept going because it was a fun project, and you can do it in any color you want. And in any shape you want, whatever frame you would like to make, you can loopy scribble and then color in some of the spots. I got off track and my pen was dying and I was frustrated and as I said, if the art isn’t calming then it’s kind of defeating the purpose.

So I decided to go back and try the original project I’d wanted to do. And it was a train wreck. I will be trying it again though, because I like the concept and the way it turns out when I figure out how to reshape it for a rectangular page. Anyway, enough about that.

The art, the relaxing, the creative self-care.

Dying marker, not so relaxing. Sharpies are great, but as I said, they were just too heavy for my fine lines and also the little tiny shapes that I was able to make with my smaller pen squiggles. So I decided to fall back on one of my old favorites. Well, I can’t really call it old because I only learned about it last year during the 52-Week Art Journal Journey.

My take on neurographic art.

I gave myself a frame this time. Sometimes I don’t, and I can like that look, but it can also get a little messier. You can use a frame or not. You can also just have some fun with the project I couldn’t finish with my shocking lack of pens. I have ordered new pens, though, so, yeah, I’ll be able to make finer lines again soon. Finer lines without wanting to tear my hair out.

But back to the neurographic art.

Take some time making slow, wavy lines if you decide to do this project. Make sure they overlap in many places. Don’t think too much about it. And you can always add lines at any point before or after you start smoothing out all of those sharp pointy places where the lines cross.

I often extend my enjoyment of the relaxation of neurographic art with extra lines. Sometimes, I keep building up the thickness of the lines until it looks more like a bed of lake pebbles or river pebbles. Do what works for you. You can even do the heart as neurographic art. Whatever you decide to do, enjoy it.

And if you decide to share it on Instagram to encourage others to take time for creative self-care, I would love it if you tagged me, better. with. art. You can also share in the private Facebook group. Very small, slowly growing, and only encouraging. You can get a link to sign up when you sign up for my email at the link in the description.

The weekly email takes each prompt further with a writing prompt, which also can be done in your journal or in a separate journal.

This week’s video again was a little frustrating. It has been a week and stressful weeks, long weeks, weeks with hard things in them happen. Probably more frequently than we would like. And when my first attempt, which honestly, I thought was a really cool project. I really liked the way it looked, or would look if my tools were working properly.

I completely lost where I was going. Actually, I forgot where I started from. The art that was relaxing to start That was meant to be relaxing when I started wasn’t So I shifted gears. That’s okay. Do what works for you. I’m here to give you some inspiration and encouragement to take the time to make the art.

To remind you that it’s not a waste of time and creative self-care is important. We are wired for creativity, made in the image of the Creator. When we aren’t taking time for creativity in ways that are meaningful to us and that we enjoy, we are not as healthy as we could be. And I know I say this a lot, because it’s true, and everyone hasn’t heard it yet, and we can always stand to be reminded.

If you have been around a while, you may know that the Better With Art videos are basically a chapter two to my 52-Weel Art Journal Journey. My 52-Weel Art Journal Journey was inspired by my 100-Day Art Journal for the 100 Day Project in 2022. I was really feeling the need to get back into a regular art-making practice, and I used the 100 Day Project that year as motivation. As an excuse, if you will, to make art every day. I allowed it to give me the permission. And participation, the act of every day making art was transformative for me. There were some other things that happened over the rest of that year that developed that sense in me that I needed to share what I had found with others.

And that was how I started the 52-Week Art Journal Journey on YouTube in 2023. And here we are in 2024 with Better With Art. And it’s February, the month of The 100 Day Project. And despite the fact that I am not only not keeping up with everything I need to do, I’m kind of far behind, I’ve decided to participate in The 100 Day Project again.

I am going to make 100 collage papers. I will use some techniques that I love, but a lot of it will be exploring new things. And I’m very excited to be sharing that with you as more encouragement to be making your art. And, at the end of the 100 days of collage papers, I will be offering a multi-part workshop of getting comfortable with intuitive collage-making.

Basically, I’ll be inviting you along to learn and get comfortable with it with me. I am excited. I’m excited to be, in a way, getting back to my roots, at least the roots of the woman I am now, in this stage of my life, where I am regularly making art, where I have fully accepted the artist part of my identity.

I am an artist. I make art all the time. I make it for myself. I make it to encourage you to make art. And I make art and art jewelry to sell. I am an artist, and I love continuing to grow my skills. And I love sharing what I’m learning with you.

I will be back next week with another small-art prompt.

Don’t forget to show this video some love. If you are planning to make art this week. Give me a thumbs up or even a comment. Share with someone you know could use some encouragement to make some art. And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss any reminders to keep a weekly art date with yourself.

And the likes and the comments and the subscriptions help show YouTube that what I have to say is worth sharing with others, so it really helps me expand my reach, my ability to encourage even more people to take time for creative self-care and make art. Because we are BETTER WITH ART.

Click here for the 52-Week Art Journal Journey Week 7: Mending Hearts prompt. Because life can be hard on a heart. But as long as it’s beating there is hope.
You can also click here to go straight to the YouTube video.

Click here to receive a weekly email that takes small-art prompts further with a writing prompt with other creative self-care encouragement. You’ll also receive a link to join the small, private, encouraging Facebook group.