It is pleasant to see dreams come true . . . (Proverbs 13:19 NLT)

 

A few months ago, our youngest son sent me this invitation in a text: “Let’s ponder constructive rest.”

And later that week my oldest son posted a reflection about rest on his Facebook page: “Sabbath is not an obligation, but invitation.”

Sabbath comes from Hebrew, and is an invitation from God to create space and time to rest. This practice of rest is something, I think as a writer, an artist and a person evades me the most. Our culture is not designed to include extended times of rest. To take time to rest is a radical idea with far reaching benefits.

Take some time today to ponder this invitation. What is your perspective of rest? What would your life or creative practice look like if you considered rest, as crucial to your well-being?

Journal about it.

To me constructive rest means . . .

What would your most restful day look like? Make a collage including restful images.

Here are a couple examples of using collage that seemed constructive and restful to me this week:

Freeday Fun from The Sylvr Pen

Wanderlust Gluebook (Part 1) by Christine Heister

Wanderlust Gluebook (Part 2) by Christine Heister

 

 

 

A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul . . . (Proverbs 13:19 NIV)

 

We are nearing the end of our journey, this adventure called 29 Days of Seeing NEW.

I hope that your perspective has expanded. That your awareness has increased. That your longings and desires have found their way into your journal and creative practices.

Today, I’d like to encourage you to go back and browse your journal entries and any art practices that you tried. Choose one or two that revealed a NEW awareness for you.

Then take 2, 3, or 5 minutes to answer one of these prompts in light of the entry or art piece that you choose:

I notice . . .

I am surprised by . . .

I am aware of . . .

Giving yourself feedback is a great tool to discover and document your aha moments. And along the way, you may even determine action points that enrich your created self.

Here’s an example of mine, where I reflect on the above collage.

I notice that random images glued to a page really makes me happy! The collage itself becomes “the perfect escape for a meditative moment or a chat [with my created self]”

I am aware that the tree roots and octopus tentacles remind me of the beauty and complexity of life.

I am surprised by the arrangement of the lounge chairs facing each other, the perfect setting for a conversation. I am also surprised that I didn’t add any additional color, the images themselves add pops of color and pattern and texture to the collage.

 

 

A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul . . . (Proverbs 13:19 ESV)

 

Sometimes it is interesting to take a quote and break it into prompts for our journals.

So let’s try that today with these two.

A desire fulfilled is . . .

_____________ is sweet to the soul. (With this one try to use just one word to fill in the blank.)

It is the function of art to . . .

To renew my perception, I . . .

Collage is a favorite way to add image to my journal. Check out this video by Packer Di to get another perspective on how to play with collage.

By the way, the word, collage comes from French, and literally means to glue. I love how a word, like collage, elevates gluing things on paper to art.

Did you know Pablo Picasso, along with George Braque revived the use of collage, as a novelty art during the early twentieth century?

Here’s a video from MoMA describing the collage.

Go have some fun and PLAY!

 

Souls who follow their hearts thrive . . .(Proverbs 13:19 The Message)

 

It seems that the work of adult life is to clean up messes. From household chores to taking garbage to the curb to cleaning out the car or the gutters, our clean-up work is never done.

So when I first started trying my hand at art play, I spent a lot of energy chiding myself for the clutter and messes that my play left behind. Yet secretly, I just wanted to play, to get paint on my hands, to rummage through paper fodder to glue into my journal. It took practice and patience with myself to let my art be messy. And once I got over my frowning adult self, I started enjoying the process, and watched with wonder and surprise to see how the “experiment” worked out.

When I don’t have time to paint or play with various mediums, I gravitate towards simple collages. I use a Elmer’s glue stick, the purple kind, so I can see the glue covering the back of the image I’m gluing down. I often just pick random images, overlapping them on the page.

A few days ago, I referred you to Grid Love. When I first tried the technique, I didn’t really like it, but the experiment challenged me to think and to plan a differently.

Changing up a technique, and especially choosing one that doesn’t immediately resonate with my usual practice opened up a fresh perspective. And the more I made these, I started to really enjoy seeing how they came together.

Here are two more links to the DaisyYellow site, where she pushes her experiment to see where her creative play takes her.

Grid Collage (The Expansion Pack)

Grid Collage (Fast Forward)

And now for your daily prompt:

The last time I allowed myself to be messy was . . .

 

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from? (Psalm 121:1 NIV)

 

A few days ago, I mentioned that I didn’t really know how to explain positive and negative space. And I still don’t really know how to explain it in words. I could go search the internet and give you a definition. But sometimes the best way for me to learn how something works is to just try it. A visual perspective often gives me a better understanding. you can use collage to create a positive space and a use a silhouette to create a negative space.

Two of my students, and artist friends, helped me understand this concept better, with their own perspectives. Janet made this collage and silhouette as part of our class work.

 

Susan, sent me a helpful explanation and an example of how cutting an intricate snowflake shape demonstrates negative space.

Susan says: The way I understand Negative Space is Empty space, sometimes your mind fills in the space, other times it looks through the empty (perspective), & yet other [times] at the empty. 

If you have another way that you explain positive/negative space, I am open to your perspective. Feel free to share your ideas in the comments.

And now for today’s prompt:

When I don’t know how to do something, I . . .