and i’m not mad about it. i mean, i had some fun during carnival season, for sure, even if the overall vibe was kinda weird this year. i saw some great parades, spent quality time with lots of friends, ate some king cake and lots of fried chicken, and did eventually come up with something to wear on mardi gras day. but it was not in the cards for me to hit the streets on fat tuesday itself, even after waking at 5am and whipping up something silly but political to wear.
i had a cape and everything! lol but it’s ok. i had the day i was supposed to have and it was lovely in its own right. and i still hung out with most of my beloveds and even squeezed in a few hours of painting in my studio. it’s all good.
and now that that’s all over with, i turn my focus back to my art. i’ve been participating in art2life‘s month-long art challenge called the Creative Awakening. the challenge is just to paint or otherwise create in your journal or wherever for 20 minutes every day. that’s it. not make a finished product. just play. paint. collage. whatever. no theme or subject. just be creative. for 20 minutes. (or more if you are so called.)
i wanted to do it because i’ve had a lot of resistance to getting back into the studio, back to my art practice, after the christmas holidays and then carnival. three months of lots of distractions. i needed a little nudge, some help, to get back to it. some structure. and it’s been working. i haven’t made something EVERY day; i’ve skipped a few days here and there, especially this past week of mardi gras madness. but there were also a few days i did two sessions. i think i’ve done pretty well, really. i showed you some of those spreads in my journal in the last post. here’s a few more.
so weird what chooses to come out when i’m not thinking about it, not planning or trying. all my spreads look a little similar because they all use basically the same color palette. i put too much paint down in my wet palette when i started the month and i’ve been trying to use it all up before adding lots more, so there’s a bit of a same-same look to everything. but that’s a challenge in itself, finding ways to use the same colors differently. so it’s been fun.
after this month-long challenge is over, art2life is offering their annual free workshop, this year titled the Creative Visionary Blueprint. “5 days to discover your artistic direction and create the art of your life” is the tagline. from what i can tell, the 5 day free workshop is meant to more intentionally than ever preview the format of CVP, the Creative Visionary Program, the 14-week intensive online art class i’ve taken the past 2 years. i’ll be blunt: yes, the free workshop is basically a promotional vehicle to get folks to sign up for CVP. however – and that’s a big however – it is also really worthwhile and did i mention FREE? there’s no obligation to take CVP or sign up for anything. so if it even remotely sounds interesting to you, you should sign up! (and yes, that is my affiliate link – if you sign up under me i get credit for it and there’s some kinda prize for the most sign-ups for the free workshop, so humor me!)
if you’ve never taken a class from nick wilton of art2life, his approach is a bit different than most art instruction. it’s a little california woo-woo, as it’s more rooted in mindset, intuition and being present than it is in technique or theory. you WILL learn color theory, value, contrast, design and all the traditional art instruction stuff in CVP – plus a bonus module on business – but first you will spend a lot of time on mindset, to set you up for success. that to me is the most valuable part of CVP and what they don’t teach you in art school or traditional art classes. if you can get that, the rest comes easy. so much of art-making and especially being an artist as a profession can be a head game; if you can learn the tools to get your head right, learn to trust your intuition and be present and not succumb to fear, anxiety, and limiting beliefs, you are most of the way there.
but back to the free workshop. it’s 5 days in early march, basically right after the Creative Awakening art challenge is over – march 2-6th. once you sign up, you’ll get daily emails with lesson videos you can watch at your leisure and then there are live sessions at noon each day where nick will go over that material. you can also join a facebook group for workshop attendees to ask questions, post your work and get feedback. there is no individual instruction here – this is group instruction online – but the fb group is always a great community of artists from around the world and makes the whole thing feel a lot more personal. three of art2life’s coaches – kate, insa and nadine, who i know from my CVP years – will also be in the fb group to help answer questions and for general guidance. they are all wonderful.
i plan to do the free workshop myself, just as a way to ease back into my art practice, to keep the momentum going after this month-long art challenge ends. art2life’s programs have become part of my artistic calendar for the year and i’m looking forward to both the free workshop and then CVP again as a way to get me back to producing more art. i’d love to have you join me!