Lovingkindness

Hello Arts For Life crew,

My main artistic practice right now is playing my classical guitar.  My current goal is to play at least two hours/ day, & at least five days/ week.  As far as tunes, I'm fine-tuning Pachelbel's Canon in D  for a wedding I'm playing on June 15, as well as George Harrison's Here Comes the Sun (love George!)

On a completely different note, I managed to unclog the kitchen sink last Thursday.  It took five hours of messy, stinky work , & a brand new tool which I found at Home Depot, but ultimately I had the satisfaction of getting it done.  Not art perhaps, but part of my ongoing effort to fix stuff myself whenever possible. 

For the month of June, I'd like to commit to doing daily Metta practice.  This is simply sending lovingkindness, first to myself, then to someone I already love, then to someone neutral, then to someone I find difficult, & finally to all beings everywhere. 

-Kevin G

And One More...

We are a week in to the 30 Days Challenge. I have done some of what I set out to do and then also had a wonderful trip that was filled with laughter and games - so I am counting that for some added creativity!

Here is one more addition to our challenge below!

"4 things I'm going to try (but may realistically not accomplish all of, since I'm in the process of moving within the next month, and these are lofty aspirations):

 

1. alter a dress to wear for my wear to my friend's wedding next weekend. (simple adding a trim to extend the hem length, and possibly dyeing it--woo, dusting off the old sewing machine!)

 

2. finish a painting (that is near completion) I promised my friend 3 years ago that has still not been finished, due to procrastination and excuses.

 

3. work more on my hand-made greeting cards on a semi-daily basis. I hope to create around 10 stock designs, which can be easily re-created, get them photographed and on my etsy-site  (which needs to get back up and running!)--and have some ready to pedal to local vendors in Asheville once I'm there. This means I have to stop giving away all my goods to friends, or at least have them all documented before I do :)

 

4. design a t-shirt screen (and possibly screen-print them all, but that would be a later deadline) for my family reunion in August. I promised them originally designed/printed shirts 2 years ago, but I didn't have access to a studio (didn't really have space in my closet apartment), and then I got busy with my summer job and put it on the back burner, and it never happened. I would love to surprise them with a design, and maybe even do a printing workshop so that they can print their shirt themselves! (Sarah's idea)."

-Kimberly K.

Welcome Back Creativity! We have missed you!

Here are our challenges! 

"I challenge myself to 30 days of creative writing or painting at least 10 minutes everyday." - Lindsay J

"I will get the books I've started for my boys up to date and if I finish those quickly, I'll bind another book for my AFL memories. To get started, I challenge myself to work at least 10 minutes a day on these projects or doodling if I can't work on the books." - Sarah A

"I figured out what I like to do for this 30 day challenge!  I've begun working with a creative writing book written by a professor at Berklee and there is a practice of "object writing".  You begin with an object and free write using all senses to describe it. The fun part is that the object can just be jumping off point from which you can jump to another concrete object or to some other image or scene, concrete or from imagination, and continue to be descriptive using all senses.  It's a practice in not only capturing tangible items but in free association.  He points out that the exercise should be timed for ten minutes, no more, and that there should be no need for loyalty to the item object that you started with.  Lastly, it should be done every morning." - Grey B

"It is my goal to finish reading and consolidating 30 plus years of my hand written journals, mostly of my own wanderlust and travels that followed, some laced with sketches or paintings.  

It is a project I intended to complete before I turned 50, but life has a habit of getting in the way of projects such as these. I finally began the week I turned 50. That was a year and a half ago. I have no idea what, if anything, I will do with it once it is finished, but for some reason I have a yearning to complete this task. 

Because I have so many and so much of their content is tediously boring, I feel the need to weed through them. And because I am quite possibly the slowest reader in the world, this task is time consuming for me. But, I shall give it my best effort these next 30 days." - Jennie W

Thinking Creatively

Life seems to rush by in just a moment and I often find myself wishing I can make the time to do something creative - away from my already awesomely creative job. I have great ambitions to ...finish making those books, or sew that skirt I've been dreaming of, or sit and doodle for a while... but when the day, week, month comes to an end I more often than not have been wishing I had actually done it and not set it aside for another day. 
Well, today is the day that I put an end to the that.  I challenge myself, and YOU to accept the 

30 days of Creativity!

Here are the guidelines:
Choose a REASONABLE challenge for yourself that you can commit to and accomplish in 30 days. Don't stress about it, just think about one thing or many things you have been meaning to do and actually decide you will do it. Your challenge can be as simple as saying you will work on something creative, outside of work, for 10 minutes a day every day, or finishing writing that song that has been brewing in your brain, or start working on that painting that has been sitting in the corner for years...
This should be fun, not stressful, so choose your challenge accordingly. 
Then, write down your challenge, and email it to me by Monday, May 27th and then get busy creating! I will post everyone's challenges right here. And, as you move through the 30 days, continue to email me updates including pictures if possible. We can check in with each other and get great inspiration from all of the wonderful artists in this group. 
I look forward to seeing what you all create and I also look forward to tackling some of those projects that have been lingering in my brain for years. Who knows, I might dust off the old sewing machine after all.
The challenge will end July 1st (ok, it's technically a 35 day challenge because I will be at Camp Care on the 30th day and won't be able to check in). We will meet back up on July 1st and bring our creations to share with the group. 

And we're off!