Mindfulness Archives - Page 3 of 6

Let’s Make Perfectly Imperfect Art

05.04.2018 by Amy Johnson Maricle // 2 Comments

Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

In my Diving Deep class, we focus on learning to dance between intuition and technical skill. The skill we have been focusing on this week, blind and semi-blind contour drawing, is one that can really call up the inner critic. Blind contour drawing also offers tons of opportunity for self-reflection, surrender, mindful attention, gorgeous attention to detail, and the development of your intuitive, personal style. As a teacher, I dance between guiding students in technical skills, while also helping them to hear their own inner wisdom about what each art piece needs. Above all, I’m encouraging us all to be on a journey of making perfectly imperfect art. The magic is in the imperfections.

As with anything, folks come to class with a range of experience and comfort level with the techniques. One of the things I offer in addition to the live videos is to continue practicing and posting the techniques myself. I try to offer a mix of inspiring images, and images that show my mistakes, and how to dance with them.

Here’s a good example: I tend to do blind contour drawings in a very slow, detail-oriented way. I almost never do completely blind contours, unless it’s for an exercise. I enjoy semi-blind drawing where I peek at my paper a little. I also take my time and don’t go too quickly. One of my students shared a video of artist, Phil Hansen, doing blind portraits of people in 1.5 minutes. I thought this sounded like a fun challenge.

I decided to use a picture of my brother as a child and do 3 drawings this way. As you can see, there’s not much recognizable here at first glance. However, look more. See if you can find some details of accuracy, even in the distortion. See if you can find playful creatures in these drawings. They are really quite fun, actually.

One of the things I love about teaching live classes online is that it pushes me too. I had this rich background, and while looking at ostriches in National Geographic one evening, I had the idea to put an ostrich face staring at the viewer on this page.

I went to our friend, Google Images, to find the right expression on the right bird. I found it and here’s my semi-blind contour drawing of her:

Now, I don’t have rights to the picture, so I can’t share, but I can tell you that I’ve changed several details on this model. The biggest difference is the right side. The mouth and the eye got smushed up because I made some “mistakes.” However, thank goodness I do blind drawings in pen and could not erase, because that mistake made the sassy expression that is the magic of this bird.

The right side nostril was also drawn in the wrong spot, so I gave myself permission to adjust that when I painted her in.

How to draw a blind contour, blind contour drawing, perfectly imperfect art — Meet Jeanine the Ostrich. “Whatchoo lookin’ at?”

Let’s get busy making some mistakes.

Oh and speaking of embracing imperfect art, I’ll be co-hosting a super cool workshop this coming Wednesday, May 9th at 12pm EST on a private webinar page. Lauren Hooper, of Lauren-Likes and Get Messy Art Journaling and I will be talking about Travel Journaling. We want to help you take your journal everywhere. This is the secret to finding time to make art – you carry it with you! We will be sharing all our best tips, prompts, and how to get over the fear of creating in public.

You can register by joining Lauren’s list right here: JOIN THE TRAVEL JOURNALING WEBINAR!

I hope to see you there!

Creatively Yours,

Amy

Intuitive Painting Techniques

12.21.2017 by Amy Johnson Maricle // 6 Comments

Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

The last days of the year are a time for most of us to take a deep breath and sink deeply into the couch after the holiday craziness. It’s also a great time to do some introspective art. Rather than endlessly scrolling through social media or watching Harry Potter for the tenth time, (who, me?) why not make some time for yourself and your art practice by using these intuitive painting techniques?

I had a ton of fun developing these pages and I can’t wait to see what you create. I’ve included a list of tips and supplies below, but first here’s your tutorial!

Intuitive Painting Tips:

Intuitive painting is an invitation to be non-judgmentally present with yourself. See what shows up on the page and follow it. Don’t be perfect, be open.
Stand back and let the painting “speak” to you: Pick up your journal and stand it up. Take several steps back and consider it from a distance.
Trust your imagination. When you think – “Oh, this reminds me of,” or, “It’s sort of like” let that shape the direction of the art piece.
Work on more than one painting at a time. This will help keep you from overdoing or forcing your art pieces in a particular direction.
Turn your work and create from different angles.
Break some art rules. Write on your painting or use art supplies the “wrong” way.
Mix and match different elements of your art practice: Sew on journal pages, stamp on painted pages, or dance while you paint. It will make your work more fresh and more you.
Take your time. Give yourself and your work the respect it deserves and let the intuitive painting narratives unravel slowly. It might be a narrative about a character, or simply about color. Be open to whatever offers itself to you. Our art is after all, a gift.
If you’d like to learn more about working this way, check out my class, Fluid Art.

Supplies I Used for this Intuitive Painting Session:

High Flow Acrylic Paints:

Titanium White

Carbon Black

Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold

Burnt Sienna

Brushes: Artist Loft Synthetic Brushes

Journals:

Moleskine Art Plus Sketchbook Large

Strathmore Watercolor Journal

Pens:

Posca pen in white, extra fine tip in White

Sakura Gelly Roll in white

Adhesive: Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

I’d love to hear about your intuitive painting experiences in the comments.

Creatively Yours,

Amy

*Most of the links are affiliate links. This means that at no extra cost to you, if you choose to click and purchase something, you’ll support the work of Mindful Art Studio at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

Feeding Your Soul One Mindful, Creative Act At a Time

09.20.2017 by Amy Johnson Maricle // 16 Comments

Feeding Your Soul One Creative Act at a Time, mindfulness and art, mindful art — Photo credit: Tory Williams

Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

I’m coming to you fresh from my first Squam Art Retreat on Squam Lake in New Hampshire. As often happens with such experiences, I’ve arrived home inspired, slightly disoriented, and wanting to carry what I felt on retreat into my everyday life. One of the ways I want to do that is by sharing about it with you.

Choose to Live in Abundance

I was delighted by how every aspect of the environment and my experience was infused with generosity and abundance. Handmade flags, fabric garlands, and pom poms decorated our meeting spaces and popped up periodically on tree branches and swimming docks. Sleeping in cabins in the forest on the edge of the lake, we were blessed each day by still waters, the calling of loons, and star-filled nights sitting out on the dock.

'By doing what you love, you inspire and awaken the hearts of others.' - Satsuki Shibuya Click To Tweet

Of all the gifts I received on this retreat, and there were many, the one I found most transformative was the openness of all of the women I met. Each of my teachers generously shared as much as she could, and each of the attendees included me in her conversations, her projects, and her sisterhood. As I think about how a community like this springs up, it occurs to me that we all have an active role in keeping such a safe, creative, and welcoming environment alive.

We left fear at the door.
We walked in love, in hope, in openness.
We sang songs, danced, and let our childlike selves out to play in the company of women.
We stepped away from screens and dwelled in the company of one another, and the land and water that held us.

artist community, women artists, mindful art — Rae Hoekstra of www.made-by-rae.com

Mindfully Choosing More Creative Magic

I’ve been thinking about what this experience has to tell me about my life right now. Of course, much of it has to do with slowing down, paying attention to the moment, and choosing more art. These are some of my lessons learned:

Getting away to cultivate creative sisterhood feeds my soul. It’s a priority.
I need to limit my screen time and invest energy in the things that feed me.
There is more space for creative magic and wonder in my life.
I can choose to live in an abundant world, giving and receiving openly.
Stay focused on the positive. This brings more light to everyone.

mindful art, the art of mindfulness, art and mindfulness — What I made in my printmaking class with Penny Dullaghan.

mindful art, mindfulness and art, art of mindfulness — One of the many bits of wonder I found on trails around the lake.

imperfect art, mindful art, mindful fiber arts, Sew Liberated — Meg McElwee of Sew Liberated practicing some beautiful sashiko mending on her miniskirt. You can find her gorgeous patterns at: http://sewliberated.com – I want to do this to my jeans!

My Creative Self-Care

With these lessons in mind, I’ve been changing the way I do things. Some of these new habits may stick, some may change, but experimenting and writing about it are important steps in the process. So here’s what I’m doing now:

I’m writing a poem a day on my dry erase board to inject poetry into our family life.
I reorganized my studio to feel more welcoming and cohesive.
I leave my phone in the other room to minimize mindlessly “checking it.”
I keep a question on my art table: Is what you are doing right now feeding your soul?
I gifted a class to a couple of friends at Squam who really moved me.

There are things I still need to do, such as placing a few reminders from Squam around my home, and pulling together an art date with Squam friends. I know I will do these things though, because I’ve been reminded how much it matters.

Mindful Art Resources

Mindful Art Studio Classes – Learn to tune into the moment by playing with art.
Squam Art Retreats – Fall and Spring retreats on Squam Lake, NH – I’m almost afraid to share this amazing secret!
Tory Williams Photography – Her workshop was the BEST class I’ve ever taken. I hope you can see the difference in my photos!
Made by Rae – Find lovely patterns for making clothing at all skill levels. She’s the artsy lady pictured above with the glasses.
Sew Liberated – Meg is the funky lady making the beautiful patch on her mini skirt, and she also teaches and sells patterns, and blogs about sewing, home schooling, and parenting a child with medical needs.
Penny Dullaghan – See her beautiful illustrations and check out her moving post on parenting and pain.

I’d like to leave you with this image: As I drove away from Squam Lake, down sunlit, winding roads flanked by forests and fields, I felt a pure, warm lightness in me that I haven’t felt in a long time. I carry it now still, and hope I’ve offered some of it to you.

Creatively Yours,

Amy