Art doesn’t have to be serious!

Hello! Now that the holiday season has passed, I hope you’ve had a chance to catch your breath a bit! We can get so caught up in all the holiday activities, that we forget to take a little time for ourselves and just allow ourselves some “off” time. We forget to make time for play!

What are your artistic goals for 2013?

During the holiday season, we spend time catching up with friends and family, and we are often asked about what we’ve done over the past year. So it’s only normal that as a new year begins, we start thinking about what we want to do this year. Do you have any artistic goals?

Add artistic play time to your list!

I would like to encourage you to include finding more time to play artistically to your list of goals for 2013. Art does not have to be serious! In fact, your art gets better the more you enjoy the process and create from your heart. And being able to create something, anything, just for fun – with no deadline, no challenges, no requirements at all – can be so liberating and relaxing!

Whether you play in an art journal, with mixed media or collage, or just practice using a new paintbrush or other supplies, have fun! Give yourself a break. Allow yourself to play. Give yourself permission to make something that you don’t have to show anyone else and can tear up and throw in the trash can – just do it for the fun of it! Make something silly! Turn up the music and swish your paints around to the rhythm. Have a blast!

Don’t hoard your fancy supplies!

Do you ever find yourself saving your “fancy” art supplies for a “someday” project – a project that will be “worthy” of their use? I know I am guilty of this. There is a voice in my head from my childhood, kinda stuck in my brain like a tape recorder. It tells me silly things like: “Now don’t waste these crayons, because they’re the only ones you’re going to get.” Or “that paper sure cost enough, I hope you make something worth it.” Ouch!

Often our parents cared enough about us to provide us with the art supplies they knew we were craving – even with tough budgets. They tried to be encouraging. But sometimes they got a little stuck on the pain and sacrifice of the expense, and words like that tumbled out. And for some reason, we remember the words, and not the love.

Now that you’re older, treat yourself with more kindness! Remind yourself that you are worth it! Remind yourself that in order to create something awesome with your lovely art supplies, you have to practice with them first. Give yourself permission to practice with them. To get an idea of how quality materials feel when you are creating. To play with them without any expectations that what you will make has to be worthy or valid in some way. That you are allowed to just play, make something silly, and have fun!

Snowflake home décor project

To illustrate this idea of making something just for fun and to not be so serious about your art, I made a home décor item to share with you – the snowflake door hanger shown above. I picked a snowflake to represent the magic of snow days and playing hooky and having a whole day to do whatever you want! How fun! I made it from two snowflake shapes cut from wood that I got at a big box craft store.

To make this project, start by applying Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Medium in Gloss to the tops and sides of both pieces as a sealer. Wood is very porous, so if you don’t seal it, it can soak up a lot of paint. After the sealer coat is dry, apply two layers of Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso as primer. This helps whatever color you put on top to really shine.

Then paint each snowflake using special acrylic paints that are metallic, pearlescent, or shimmery, such as Stewart Gill acrylic paints. It is hard to see in a photograph, but I hope this closeup gives you an idea of the shine:

Once the paint on both snowflakes is dry, use Glossy Accents or another adhesive to adhere the snowflakes together. Place a heavy object on top as a weight while the adhesive dries. Then, add baker’s twine to use for hanging the final snowflake piece.

Hope you’ll make something fun this weekend!

And thanks for stopping by!