Challenge Directory

I started a short list of art challenges on my new website. I've listed all those I know of, but would love it if you could point me in the direction of any challenges I've missed (and I know there are plenty).

You can find the list here - Challenge Directory.

Any help greatly appreciated. I thought it would be a useful list.

Nutty
(off the edge, but learning to fly)

Inspired.gumnut.net

 
Okay, I've done it. A year later than I had planned (that whole having a baby thing just interrupts everything :D), I now have my own blog on my own website with my own domain name.

Gumnut Inspirations

Eventually I will be moving from this blog to my new website. I set up Blogger because at the time I didn't have the time to delve into Wordpress. I still don't, but I fluffed my way around parental duties and I am now entering 2011 with a new website, new logo and a new mission to make something of my artwork.

And I couldn't have come as far as I have without all of you.  You've all been a fantastic support to me over the past six months (yes, I've been here six months now). I've managed to do more artwork in those six months than I have done in the past ten years. My entry into the creative blogosphere was like finding the path I lost thirty odd years ago. Thank you for all your wonderful support.

In return, I hope to help a few of you with a little inspiration. Several of you have expressed an interest in my art experiments, so I've made that the focus of my new blog - Exploration to find Inspiration. I'm going to document my experiments like the bubble paintings and my other painting experiments in the hope that some of you might gain some inspiration from my dabblings. So I would love for you to come and join me over on my website. I will be here for a little while longer, but eventually I will be retiring this blog and I'd hate to lose you, so please join me. I've even set up Google Friend Connect over there to make you feel at home :D

In any case, I wish you all a very Happy New Year as Adelaide has slipped into 2011 and I'm waving at most of you from the future. Here's hoping 2011 is even more arty than its predecessor.

Nutty
(12.38am, 1 Jan 2011)

Experiments - Paper mosaics and motion

Motion, paper mosaic and acrylic, approx. 480 x 370 mm.

This is what happens when you experiment. You never quite know what you're going to end up with. This one is slightly weird. I could have added more to it, but it had such a sense of motion to it that I stopped in case I spoilt it. It is also a lousy photograph. But I'm fairly happy with it. It keeps asking me for more colour variety, but I have no idea what to give it, so it stays as it is.

Can you see the movement?

Nutty
(building a new blog on her own website - http://inspired.gumnut.net )

Flying Spark

Do you have trouble finding inspiration some days?

Any word, object or emotion can spark a masterpiece, but sometimes it is really hard to locate a place to start, a focus that can sharpen your mind in a productive direction. The Flying Spark offers a daily challenge to set you on a path to find the inspiration you are looking for.

Though designed primarily for visual artists and writers, the challenges can be used for anything that requires inspiration.

Starting January 1st, 2011, every day a word, an emotion, a memory, a concept, a scene, something to do, or other category will be posted via the Twitter account http://www.twitter.com/flying_spark. It can also be found on Finding Inspiration at http://inspired.gumnut.net

For example, a word challenge, 'Word: Moonlight' (First the type of challenge : then the challenge itself). A participant could quite easily draw or write about 'moonlight'. Challenge met.

But that isn't all this challenge is about. The Flying Spark is only the beginning of your path to find inspiration because not all of us will want to use a challenge like 'moonlight' so literally. The challenge is fully open, anything can be derived from 'moonlight'.

Perhaps a play on the word? 'Moonlight' becomes 'moonlighting', something that has nothing to do with earth's satellite (well, very little) and leads your mind in a completely different direction.

Or perhaps 'moonlight' makes you think of the moon shining down on a deserted beach – you could be inspired by the scene – but on that beach walks a lone woman – who is she, where did she come from? - inspired by the woman – she steps on a shell, what kind of shell? A red one, dark in the light – you begin designing using the shell as a starting point – sand is rough and wet between her toes, you can feel it on your fingers, what an interesting texture – you use texture as a starting point – a bird flies across the moon – what kind of bird, feathers, ooh, you had some feathers in your art cupboard waiting for a project – inspired by feathers (hmm, sounds like a condition :D). It goes on like that. The listed challenge is only a starting point, a place to settle your mind and start seeking.

Or, moonlight → sunlight → sunburn → pain → red → roses...a chain of thought leading you in any direction you choose until you find that inspiring thought. The result could have absolutely nothing to do with the challenge that was posted, but the important thing is the result. That is what we aiming for here. A piece of art needs inspiration to be born.

Take the offered challenge and look at it from as many angles as you can think of, let your mind wander until it hits pay dirt. (Go have a shower, it works wonders for me when I'm looking for inspiration, and take the challenge with you :D)

When practised regularly, this can become a skill that you can access automatically. It speeds up your productivity and enables you to find inspiration faster and in a more on-demand basis – something of extreme importance when you are using your art to make a living – you don't have time to wait around for inspiration, you need to find it and find it now!

And when you have a wonderful piece of work that has been ignited by the Flying Spark, please let me know. I'd love to see it.

Nutty
(armed with matches)

Drawing Lab challenge #10

Speaking of eyeballing...

This is the tenth challenge post for the Drawing Lab Challenge. Grab your copy of 'Drawing lab for mixed media artists: 52 creative exercises to make drawing fun' and join us as we tackle the book together. Details of the challenge and joining can be found here.

This week the challenge is...

Lab 12 (Page 42).

I've always loved drawing these. It will be fun to explore further.

Nutty
(it's great when your drawing stares back at you :D)

Drawing Lab challenge #9 results - scribbles

I thought this one would be easy, and while technically it was, I'm not sure I've actually done it the right way. I had a great deal of trouble discerning between scribble and sketching and I think pretty much all my drawings leant towards the latter.

First up I thought I'd play with my gel pens on some black paper. I like black paper :D

I had no idea what to draw and I couldn't be bothered digging a photo out of my photography files, so I drew what was in front of me - some flowers my sister brought over for KJ.

The gel pens certainly gave the exercise an interesting texture as they both lay down ink and picked it off as the lines crossed. I was as free as possible, not really caring where the lines went.

Wanting to continue to experiment I then went back to good old black pen on fineliner paper. Again I had no idea what to draw so I eyeballed what was on the table and picked a subject (I was sitting at the dining table, hence the rather odd occurrence of candles).

But they were incredibly boring, so I stopped drawing those about five seconds after I started.

Looked around for something slightly more complicated and came up with my jar of gel pens.

So is that scribble or sketch? I was as rough as I could be and it was drawn very quickly. ::shrug::

What else could I draw? Perhaps a more defined shape?

Okay, so I was getting totally lazy and lame drawing the sharpener that just happened to be there with me. After that I gave up and blamed my slightly off mood as the culprit for lack of inspiration.

But! I did complete the assignment and I do plan to explore scribbling further down the track.

So how did you do? Post a link to your creations in the comments, I would love to see them.

Nutty
(and now for the next challenge)

Painting experiments - Caught

Caught, acrylic, watercolour pencil and gel pen, approx. 265 x 195 mm.

Here you go. My attempt to create a painting from this. I love bits of it, other bits, not so much, but hey, it's only an experiment :D

So Christie, you scored :D It was a fish I had in mind. It would be interesting to see if it was the same fish :D

Nutty
(dashing off back to all consuming motherhood - I painted this in the last hour or so while the kids were asleep, bit of a rush job)