Bex Hall

Bex Hall > Art Projects

Art Projects

Make a mix tape, on paper, for creative fun

A mix tape = the forerunner to a digital playlist

Cassette tape memories

Have you ever made a mix tape?

It’s been thirty years (or more) since I’ve made a real one but the memories surfaced when I found this exercise in the Steal Like an Artist Journal by Austin Kleon.

Steal like an artist journal

It asks to make a mix tape for someone who doesn’t know you.

I took it one step further and drew a stack of old favorite cassettes, some mix tapes among them.

For the handwritten list in the journal I wrote down what randomly came to mind. Looking back at what I chose, I see some themes. If you take the titles as an expression of what’s on my mind and a little bit about who I am, then some positive stuff shows up.

Mix tape songs

What songs would you pick for your mix tape? Write down what comes to mind and send it my way. I’d love to see it!

Day 98/100

Non-linear approach can boost your creative practice

Sometimes you have to mow in circles

Mow in circles

One day I told my artist friend @kaylijohnson_fine_art I sometimes liked to mow the grass in circles.

I don’t recall how we even got on the subject. I remember laughter and discussion about how important it is to shake things up.

A few days later, she surprised me with a piece of art she created. When she pictured me on the mower, she said this is what she saw in her mind’s eye. And I cherish this. Thank you, Kayli!

Shaking things up can boost your creative practice.

Who says things have to be done in a certain order? Twists and turns can take you down paths you didn’t even know existed.

Non-linear thinking fosters creativity. Try drawing something with your opposite hand. Paint with a new-to-you medium. Start in the middle or at the end. Stretch your imagination.

Mow in circles.

Day 97/100

Lunchbox love notes can be art

Blackout poetry on paint chip cards offer twist on traditional form

Lunchbox love note blackout poetry

Know your goal is to waken, soothe, uplift, and add joy and calm down memory lane.

Such is the quirkiness of blackout poetry. Although this morning, it’s Sharpie-dual-tip-purple-out poetry on a paint chip card for another lunchbox love note.

Here’s to using your super powers to do creative things today. And, love you too. 

Day 96/100

Lunchbox love note

What a bird might write for their bio

Midge the Pidge

Meet Midge the Pidge. She’s an independent homing pigeon who gives herself flowers, just because.

She’s fierce, determined, and able to balance on the slippery dome of a glass insulator with no problem. She can fly 600 miles in race competitions as well as raise up to five broods in a single year.

And she always finds her way home.

Day 94/100

Derwent water soluble sketching pencils and Derwent Inktense Poppy Red watercolor pencil.

When it rains look for rainbows

When it’s dark look for stars

Rainbows and stars coffee mug

It was dark at 4 this morning and the cloud cover was thick so I didn’t see any stars. At 7, it was raining and I didn’t see any rainbows.

But I looked.

Robert Fulghum, in his book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” reminds us about one of the first words we ever learned — the biggest word of all — LOOK.

No stars this morning, but I saw the lights of a river barge glide by and twinkle through the trees. No rainbows either, but I did see a V of geese flying over the recently plowed field.

What will you see today when you look?

Happy Mugshot Monday!

Day 93/100

Cooksmart England mug