My Background Papers for the Artistic Mother Art Group are Done

Drum roll, please. My background papers for Week One of The Artistic Mother Workshop are done! Yea. It was fun. Wasn't it? The last picture shows my papers before they were stamped and the edges rubbed with oil pastels. Amazing what a different the stamping makes. Isn't it? I wasn't especially fond of my papers at first. But then after I had stamped them, I fell in love with them. I plan to make more papers with lighter colors. I have a few but not enough. But this will get me started. It's so nice having a stash of papers just ready to go for the future projects and not have to stop to make them later.

I still have to make my Art Action Plan Sheets, but that won't take too long. I'll just choose one of these pretty little papers to print them on.

Now on to Week Two, the poetry journal. I am so excited about this. It will make writing my own poetic words so much more fun. And we get to use bits of our papers. And after the poetry journal, we'll be making the poetry tote to carry our journal in. There will be coordinating elements within each; so they will match. What joy! What joy! Aren't you excited, too?

I need to go and read the Suggested Art Action Plan on Page 73 now so I can make sure that I'm also doing the other parts of the workshop because it's not just about doing the projects. The projects are provided to help us put into practice the concept of doing a little bit of art each day and making time for it in the midst of our busy lives. The poetry and photography assignments will be used in our future projects. So I need to make sure I'm doing those, too, so when I get to those projects, I have everything I need for them. I don't want the stress of having to rush around at the last minute trying to get it done, kind of like cramming for a test. Yuck! Who wants that stress? I want to enjoy this journey as much as possible. I think if I do a little each day in each area, I will get there in the end.

I hope you are all having fun, too. I've seen many of your papers, and they are just totally gorgeous. Remember, don't compare your papers to anyone else's and remember, too, that they are not meant to be works of art in and of themselves. We will be tearing them up and using them for our projects. So we are not going for perfection here.

 For those  of you who haven't done your papers yet or if you are just joining our group, don't fret. You still have time to do them. We are just now getting into Week 2, and we will spend two weeks on it so that everyone has a chance to catch up. I know that everyone's lives are extremely busy and that you-all have so much going on; that's why we are spending two weeks on each project, even though the book would have us do them in one. Because we will all have sick days, out-of-town company, vacations, holidays, other projects we would like to do in between these projects and just life, errands, laundry, cooking, etc., etc. So this workshop is totally doable for everyone. And it will teach us how to balance our lives and manage our time; so we need it. I know I do!

Are you taking photos of your kids, reading a little poetry each day? Week 2 will have us doing a little writing, not poetry, but words. They are short assignments. But each week's assignments will build upon the previous week's. It will take just a few minutes each day. It's really quite fun. I find that it is stretching me in a way that I haven't been stretched before and causing me to look at my world and my family in a more appreciative way. And in the end I will have made some precious keepsakes that will hold my memories.

Let me know how you're doing. How is it going for you? Are you having fun? What are you learning and getting out of The Artistic Mother's Art Group? Have you made any new friends? I know I have. You all have been great, and I feel that I am becoming friends with several of you all ready. You have been such a support to me. And that's what this group is all about, being a community and supporting and encouraging one another. A big thank you to all of you who have been visiting around. It makes such a difference. We don't want anyone to feel isolated. We are in this together.

And please note that several have joined us and I have several more that are about to be added since you've started. I keep my list updated here as well as The Artistic Mother's Art Group Blog List in my sidebar. Whoever has posted most recently moves to the top. To see all of the participants, just click the "show all." If you have made your own list of participants on your blog,  please either update yours with the new participants or come and check out my blog list each day for those who have recently posted because we want everyone to get visits. It's so important that we are here for one another. Thank you so much. I am so glad that I am doing this workshop with you and not alone. You are all amazing!

Also, Shona Cole, author of The Artistic Mother, has just done an awesome post that will be a big help to us as move into Week Two. She suggests making mini collages on playing cards to practice using our background papers before we start making our journals to train our eye to see both bad and good composition and color choices. View it as a little warmup before diving into the journal project. I am definitely going to do this. It looks like fun. She's done an excellent tutorial showing a step-by-step. I'll show you mine in a couple of days when I get it done; then I'll start working on my journal.