an art filled challenge

there is no secret about the challenges that I have had in my life over the last little while, so when I attended our edmonton calligraphic society meeting in september and an art challenge was offered I went for it. I love challenges! we were offered a black garbage bag full of unknown items for two bucks. the deal was that in october we return with something made using the items in the bag. if you completed the challenge your name was put in a draw for fifty bucks!

my bag contained some very unique items and after a bit of swearing and regret I dove in. I started decorating some of the papers and just played. no thought or plan at the moment. as I went on I had several ideas. make a book? a torso? a purse? what the hell is a daruma? and then it hit me! pizza! I used the pizza box as my base and covered it in all the papers that I had decorated. tear, rip, glue, smear - again just playing. I ended up cutting a niche the size of the small box I had in the bag and inserted it so that the dolls would have a resting place. splattered some paint and smeared some gold lumiere paint and painted the sides and inside of the niche black. calligraphed the word "daruma" and layered some red, gold and black papers and ta da! done!

or so I thought cause I still had all of this left over:

and I couldn't throw it out! and I needed to release some frustration. and so the art therapy session began. there was a big sheet of paper in the bag and so I used it as my base. collage both sides. again rip, tear and glue - just play!

then I smeared some gesso on and cut the paper into strips. added paint, glitter and whatever else I pulled out of the drawer.

then I cut them into postcard size and rounded the corners. I still had the darn lid from the box so I turned that into a vessel to hold the cards.

and here is an example of what I did with one of the postcards.

great for an unexpected treat in the mail or birthday wishes.

so although I had NO time to play in the studio lately this was a wonderful opportunity to create and it was very therapeutic as well. confirming once again that art saves! it saved me tons in therapy and drugs! it was also wonderful to see all the different things that the other participants came up with.

this would be a great challenge for a group or even a mail swap. and a good way to get rid of all that unused stuff that is just sitting in your studio!