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Adventures in Paper and Fluid Paint: An Accordion Journal Flip Through

07.28.2017 by Amy Johnson Maricle // 4 Comments

Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

What’s happening in your creative world this summer? I find it’s important to find a technique that lights your fire and makes you want to return to your art table every chance you get. Do you know what I’m talking about? Like when you get up 15 minutes early just so you can make a little progress on that painting, or stay up much too late working on that collage. I’m not saying you need to be in a constant state of inspiration, but feeling excited about your art will help you build a sustained art practice and creative self-care habits. Right now I’m having adventures in paper and fluid paint.

My Accordion Journal Flip Through

I’ve continued to have a blast discovering what I can do with my high flow acrylic paints, gel pens, hole punches, and mixed media paper. I’ve realized that not only can I use these beautiful little paintings as the centerpiece in my tiny Moleskine journal, but I can also cut my accordion journals to create almost sculptural pieces. While I enjoyed my sculpture class, I would never have said it’s my forte in visual art, so discovering these techniques has been a surprise, and a delight. I’m happy to share my adventures in paper and fluid paint with you:

Making art is always interesting because I find there’s often a moment in the process of making an art piece where I feel my choices are too safe, and I realize they don’t give me that fire of inspiration. That’s always a sign that I need to take some risks. For your art to be really alive and energizing, you have to be willing to make risky choices and chance ruining the piece.

If you are not sure what sets your heart on fire, why not find out? Search online for art techniques that spark your interest, take an art class in your community or online, go to museums, look through art books, and give yourself permission to be a beginner and try something new. That’s how you feed the creative fire. Sometimes to get to the point where you are willing to let go and be a beginner, you need to get the inner critic taken care of first, if that’s the case for you, check out this post first.

Adventure is adventurous because there’s an excitement attached to the fear. There are always risks and mistakes along the way on a journey, don’t you think? So why not in our art? And for that matter, why is it not okay to feel disappointed at times with what we create? I think it’s unrealistic to expect that everything we make will be “good.” We need to expand our idea of what a “good” art process is, instead of focusing so much on good art. After all, most of us are making art in order to have fun, so why don’t we relax and have some fun making art?

Enough of playing it safe in your art. Let's have an art adventure together instead.… Click To Tweet We need to expand our idea of what a good art process is, instead of focusing so much on good art.… Click To Tweet

Creatively Yours,

Amy

P.S. If you’d like to learn more about how to use these fluid acrylic paints, you can click here to learn more.

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. That means if you choose to click a link and purchase something, at no extra cost to you, you will support the work of Mindful Art Studio to empower the artist in all of us. Thank you!

How to Make a Little Art Everyday

07.17.2017 by Amy Johnson Maricle // 12 Comments

Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

I’d like to share a personal story about why I make a little art everyday. My parents both grew up poor. Their families were raised in the depression and so they learned to be resourceful and practical. They both scraped together what they could, and worked from a young age to contribute to the family. Neither went to college. While they both found success in adulthood, neither was exposed to, or ever developed an appreciation for art.

When I came along, with all my various creative passions, they thought my creativity was “nice,” but they never got excited about my art. Several years ago I was shocked to learn that my mom had an idea for a mystery novel, and had even written a bit of it, but then let it go. I asked if she thought she would write it now that she had time in retirement. She said, “Maybe someday.” She died a year later.

I don’t want to live – and die – in the “maybe someday.”

Something else will always be a higher priority than making art if you let it. We tell ourselves we can’t because the “right” art supplies are “expensive,” and taking time to make art is “indulgent.” In the context of a culture that tells us that only “gifted” people are allowed to make art, it’s hard to ignore the negative talk of our inner critic.

The truth is there is always time for a little art. A little writing. A little dancing. A little art piece. If you make it a practice and a priority to do a little everyday, it becomes a habit, and then a need. Your life begins to subtly shift around this new art habit and then you wonder what you did with your time before. As a bonus, when we “indulge” in creative self-care and art making, we can see how nurturing, healing, and adventurous art time feels, and those around us can see the positive impact in our mood.

Making art is not indulgent, it's necessary. #inchies #mindfulartstudio Click To Tweet

The Inchie Challenge is Still On!

We’ve been making teeny, tiny art all week, and I’ve heard from so many of you who feel like they are just getting started, so I’ve extended The Inchie Challenge through all of July! Working small has been so helpful to entice me to make a little art everyday, and I think has helped me to avoid many of the pitfalls that entrap us into thinking our art is not a priority.

What to Do with Your Inchies:

There are MANY more ideas in the Fluid Art e-course on how to use your small art in creative ways, but heres a few more ideas on what to create with your inchies.

Here’s 3 simple ideas for how to use your inchies:

1. Use an inchie to inspire a journal spread: Paste it down and create around it.
2. Make a grid of inchies in your journal or on crisp paper and frame it.
3. Give inchies with messages of love and gratitude to someone who needs it.

Fluid art, fluid art class, fluid acrylic paint, make a little art everyday, fluid acrylic paint techniques — Learn to use the natural properties of high flow acrylic paint to create in your journal.

If You Are Enjoying The Inchie Challenge, You Will Love Fluid Art
The idea behind The Inchie Challenge is to help you challenge negative art assumptions and begin to form a habit of art making a little bit everyday. If you are finding yourself making more art everyday, and pushing your creative boundaries with The Inchie Challenge, I think you will LOVE Fluid Art. Making a little art in a really flexible way is one of the main principles of the Fluid Art e-course. I want to give you a little peek into what we are doing in Fluid Art.

Just click here to take a peek at our 42-page class PDF:

I created Fluid Art because I want to show you how fun it is to use high flow acrylics. I think you’ll find, as most of my students have, that it’s hard to stop! Once your little paintings dry, you’ll have a group of mini masterpieces, to embellish a little bit every day. Taking them on the go is easy, working a little bit in the car, on a walk, or in the evening while sitting with family. Fluid Art helps you weave more art into your daily life.

Random Drawing Winner
I’m excited to announce that our random drawing winner from amongst all the inchies posted on Facebook and Instagram last week was Reese @warri_her on Instagram. Congratulations Reese! You’re the lucky winner of a spot in our Fluid Art class! We won’t pick another winner, but keep making a little art everyday and post your inchies through July on Facebook and Instagram with #mindfulartstudio to develop your daily small art habit!

Creatively Yours,

Amy

There is always time for a little art. #inchies #mindfulartstudio Click To Tweet

Something else will always be a higher priority than making art if you let it. #mindfulartstudio Click To Tweet

The Inchie Challenge

07.07.2017 by Amy Johnson Maricle // 2 Comments

Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

By now you are probably aware that I am in love with small format art, and perhaps I’ve even managed to give you the bug too. Perhaps, you’ve signed up for my new class, Fluid Art, which teaches how to use high flow acrylics on tiny pieces 3 inches or less and you are eagerly awaiting it’s release Monday, July 10th. (Yes, Monday!) But perhaps you are new here, or perhaps you haven’t yet experimented with tiny art to see how it strikes you and how it might affect your creative self-care practice. Either way, I’d like to invite you to consider some of the benefits of small art.

The Benefits of Working Small

Let me tell you a bit about why I believe in the power of working small. Of course I understand that it may not be for everyone, nothing is, but before you close yourself off, I’d invite you to stay open to the possibilities.

Many of us struggle to find the time and motivation to create. Work, family, house cleaning, and other responsibilities seem to get in the way and always take priority. Making art often feels like an art “project,” or chore – instead of a joy or a release – it takes a large chunk of time to set up, complete, and clean up. If I approached my art practice this way, I don’t think I’d make a tenth of the art I make.

A big part of what I teach you to do through the Fluid Art process is to weave shorter art making sessions into your day, in a natural way. I’ve seen how if you work small, carry a portable art kit, work in stages, focus on process instead of product, and produce a lot of little works, art becomes an ongoing, accessible, and relaxing process that yields deeply satisfying, soulful art. I’d love for you to develop this practice too.

Take the Inchie Challenge

Tips for Doing the Inchie Challenge:

To help kick off the release of Fluid Art, I’m running an “Inchie Challenge.” Participating is very simple. Just create an art piece that is two inches or smaller. You might like to take it to the next level and pay attention to your experience while you work – What comes up for you working small? What do you notice about what you hear? Feel? See? Can you hear your breathing? Can you feel the pressure of the pen or brush in your fingers? This is a way of making your art making a mindful, soothing act. Or, you can just let go and see what flows out. There’s no right or wrong way to create.

Here’s some tips for working small that I’ve found very helpful for weaving more art into my life:

Work small: Use a 1 to 2 inch piece of paper.
Pre-cut your “inchies:” This has helped me to create at a moment’s notice
Forget perfectionism: Your job is not to make “gorgeous art,” its to show up and make something inside of that inch, even if it’s just a color.
Carry a portable art kit: I carry some simple supplies and inchies for creating on the go – I create in the car, while the water boils, and all those in between moments- it’s only an inch after all! (Learn more about portable art kits here.)
Explore a new medium – Use the inchie challenge as an excuse to try a new supply or technique such as watercolor, ink, hand drawn patterns, or tiny cartoon animal drawings. Of course if you are taking the class, post those mini masterpieces!
Post your inchies on social media using hashtag: #mindfulartstudio and share in our private Facebook group, Creative Self-Care.

Win a Spot in the Fluid Art E-Course

Just to make the challenge even more fun, I’m offering a free spot to one lucky random winner out of everyone who posts their inchies on social media between Monday, July 10th and Friday, July 14th. Just be sure to tag #mindfulartstudio on Instagram or post it in Creative Self-Care on Facebook.

If you’d like to learn more about the Fluid Art e-course, just click here to check out the Fluid Art video and learn more. It’s on pre-sale pricing of $99 through 7/9/17 – so if you are thinking about taking the class, don’t put it off any longer, click here to register.

You can also check out the tunnel journals I made using the techniques from the class here. All of the pieces are 3 inches or less and the journal itself is 3 inches tall.

All right! Let’s get creative! I hope I’ve stirred your creative juices a bit. Join the Inchie Challenge and go make some inchies! And post your results. YAY.

Creatively Yours,

Amy

Join the Inchie Challenge all next week. Use #mindfulartstudio to share your work and you could win… Click To Tweet

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to click a link and purchase something, at no extra cost to you, a small fee will go to support the work of Mindful Art Studio to empower the artist in all of us. Thank you!