Create instructions for something that shouldn’t need instructions:
lighting a candle!
Eh…too much fun stuff this weekend to sketch. Probably not the way this challenge is intended, but I did days 6-8 all at once.
Day six was looking at life from an ant’s perspective; what would you build? I decided an ant sized hot air balloon.
Day seven was creating something that references microscopic organisms. Sort of my take on fast food.
Day eight was creating something then creating it ten times smaller or larger, then again ten times smaller or larger. I don’t know how this could even work on this small page, so I know my scale isn’t right. I think the point is the larger the item is, the more detail you can include. I’ll be honest. I’m tired and dinner is almost ready so there isn’t a whole lot of detail going on here tonight. Tomorrow is another day.
Make something from the contents of your pocket, wallet or purse. I dedicate this to Shelly Grinnell. 
What can you create from your clothing or something else that you regularly wear on your body?
Now spend some time looking very closely at a small natural object and use that as your inspiration.
Just got this great book: “Creative Sprint” by Noah Scalin & Mica Scalin. It contains six 30-day challenges to jumpstart your creativity. The idea is to create an environment for yourself when you need to be creative, so when you need to change hats from doing more analytical stuff to more creative stuff, you have a process. Today was all about drawing tiny things.
Back in 2011, I decided to set a goal for reading. My husband reads a lot, and I decided if I didn’t have a goal to shoot for, it wouldn’t happen, so a book a week it was. I was successful! I reached my goal, and when 2012 rolled around, I looked back at all the books I had read. I started out with professional development books, and after about eight of those I knew I needed to mix it up; curiously, I found that professional development books all start to sound a lot alike.
People asked me how I found time to do this. The truth is a lot of people read a book a week or more. They might be retired! Seriously though, most likely choose reading over things like t.v. They make sure they always have a good book at hand. Tablets and readers make it easier to get reading in. And some people I know listen to books while they commute (awesome idea!). When I was reading more, I read during commercials, but now that we have a DVR, there aren’t many commercial breaks. My reading has been limited now mostly to my book club books. It helps to have a list of books you want to read. Goodreads makes this super easy.
I did some quick calculations:
Breakdown of books I read:
24 Professional Development/Business
7 Fiction
4 Religion & Spirituality
3 Craft & Hobbies
3 Memoirs
2 Beauty & Fashion
1 Historical
1 Language Arts & Discipline
1 Nonfiction
1 Philosophy
1 Psychology & Counseling
1 Reference
…plus a few that didn’t fit in any category.
Here are some other bits of information:
– I estimated that I averaged one minute per page
– 11,266 minutes
– 1,787.76 hours
– 216 pages per week
– 3.6 hours per week
– 31 minutes per day
You’re probably wondering if I still read a book a week, and the answer is no. I probably average a book a month. I do find when I’m reading anything now, I don’t feel pressured—I don’t rush through it—I enjoy it. If you’re considering reading more, I would recommend two books a month, or, one book every two weeks. That should give you time to enjoy it without too much pressure.
If you’re interested in the titles I read, you can view the list here.
When I travel, I take pictures of things up close. This is an example. A pile of bowling shoes! It helps that I love to bowl but even random things will grab my attention…the roots on an old tree, stones and shells on the beach, moss growing on a rock. I always think when I look at these pictures, they’ll take me back to the place where I found them. It helps, but nothing replaces the real deal.
I started a “Sketch of the Week” post last week, and it was a sketch of hearts (for Valentine’s Day).
This week, it’s painting. I did a watercolor wash background and a watercolor painting of a tree, scanned them in and combined them, reversing the tree white out of the wash. Parts of the tree are translucent, allowing some of the wash to show through.
This project rekindled my desire to paint.