"Stretching Creatively" Journal Prompt

Do you ever try and take big steps creatively and after you have attempted you are a bit let down. Almost discouraged as you know in your mind where you want to be yet things get in the way of that goal. This week for me in stretching I find myself seeing where I need more work, knowledge to help me be able to accomplish my goals. It is hard to look at the tools in front of you and not be able to master them in a moment. Whether those tools are your pencils, paintbrushes, photo shop, editing soft ware.......

So aren't the little struggles suppose to make things feel great when they are completed? Maybe. I know from my own experience if I don't stretch and go through those growing pains I am not going to reach my goals. So there are days when I am hard on myself, disappointed for where I am in the moment, pulling my hair out over things not being easier! But, when all is said and done I know I must keep going. This is what I am choosing to do, and without the stretching you might not find your end result.

I must be positive for the little pushes that help me grow. Open to the process, let the ideas keep flowing and nurture them. And mostly have patience with myself and trust that process.

I came across this quote and I think it says it all for me this week. Maybe if I take some time to be with nature this week, step away and come back it will give me a rewed spirit and her secret of patience will come visit me as I press on with my new learning.  Do you ever get frustrated learning something new? What do you do to push through the hard process?  Take time away and come back? Push on, although frustrated? Find help? Read a book? Take a class? Or a combination there of?

Journal Prompt: Create a journal page about your stretching, growth process with your creativity. The feelings you have about it and things that may help you with it. 

Quote: Adopt to the secret of nature: her secret is patience. Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Food for thought:
If you have an i tunes there are quite a few pod casts on art and creativity for free at the i tunes store. 
                               
                          

Self Portraits & Journal Prompt

This week Inspiration Alley had the prompt to do self portraits. I decided to play along. I think it would be a great journal prompt too so I decided to post it today as both coincide. First to create my self portrait I really had to capture the essence of who I am even if it is not exactly how I look.

Completed Self Portrait

I wrote an entire page about my self, how I feel about my self, what I stand for, my strengths and insecurities trying to capture the essence of me. Then I decided to start to create me on the page.

The intent of a self portrait is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. *

Once I started painting I was able to convey the passionate side of me and the blue side of me by the use of color. I used collage tissue paper almost like a jig saw puzzle  to represent the many pieces of me. To finish it off I chose to highlight the focus on me and blend the background by use of paints and inks. I would not be me without my paintbrush. I also chose to leave readable the most vivid parts of my daily life on a tag around the neck. Only because society loves to label people.

I hope you use the journal prompt to write about yourself and explore creating a self portrait. For more inspiration visit Inspiration Alley to see what other artist's created.

Here is a collage of the process.

  

To read more about self portraits and see some examples and history visit Wikipedia.

I also came across this great article with 4 tips to Mastering Self Portraits at ScottsdaleArtsSchool.org  which I linked directly to the article. I found it after I did mine, but tip #4 suggests making a self portrait more than once and doing it differently. They have some great tips for creating self portraits.
Have you created a self portrait?  

Click to enlarge

 I took a photographic self portrait too

I am never without my camera

Journal Prompt: To write about yourself and create a self portrait.

Quote: A portrait, to be a work of art, neither must nor may resemble the sitter... one must paint its atmosphere. Umberto Boccioni 

Food For Thought: 

Mixed Media Self Portraits

Mixed-Media Self-Portraits: Inspiration & Techniques

Mirror Mirror: Self-Portraits by Women Artists