Bex Hall

Bex Hall > Art Projects

Art Projects

The wonder of enthusiasm

Artistic, creative expression and experimentation feeds joy

Ellie’s hands

So lucky to have my 7-year-old granddaughter Ellie in the studio today. She discovered the wonder of watercolor powders and a spray bottle. The magic of a heat gun’s effects on a wet index card; the curling action is wizardry. That it’s okay to have stained fingers, and elbows, and hands.

Most importantly, that she did not need permission. She asked if she could pick up the paper and let the water drip. If she could use any color she wanted. If it was good to mix pan with powder, fingers or brush.

My answer every time was “Let’s find out.” Eventually she stopped asking and she simply dove in with wanton abandonment.

In the studio

She has beginner’s mind and enthusiasm has very little space in a culture that expects perfection, mastery, and control. Enthusiasm is messy, exuberant, and irrational. But most of all it’s full of joy.

“The grace to be a beginner is always the best prayer for an artist. Exploration leads to accomplishment. All of it begins at the beginning, with the first small and scary step.”

—Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

She made lots of paintings this morning and now needs a cork board in her room to post them. Just like Mimi.

You KNOW where I’m going today and what I’m going to pick up for her. 

I hope today you share your enthusiasm with others and approach your work with wanton abandonment!

Ellie’s and Mimi’s hands

The end of the challenge

Art challenge recap, part deux

The birds like to get together sometimes and spell things
“On occasion the birds like to get together and spell words.”

“Bird is the word” is today’s final 28 Feathered Friends art challenge prompt. Which leaves 72 days of The 100 Day Project and I’m uncertain what I’m going to do for the remainder of the time.

But, I’ve learned the answers to “What am I going to draw or create today?” appear as long as I don’t force it. The answers come where they will, not where I *will* it.

Some other things I experienced during this art challenge:

Showing up every day whether I felt like it or not, helped build my confidence. And sharing my work, whether I liked it or not, gave me accountability.

Some surprising things like The Secret Life of Birds showed up on the page. Some realistic drawings came out. Some not so good.

I listened to an interview on the Art Juice podcast with Gabriel Lipper and he talked about the Rule of 7s. If you do seven sketches, at least one of them is going to teach you something. And probably true with paintings too. We can’t land them all. There’s always a standout. One of the seven will certainly be better than the other six.

I like this concept very much and agree wholeheartedly. 

Having a daily prompt gave me the constraint I needed to focus and create. Parameters are conducive to creating.

Conversely, comparing my art to others is detrimental to my creativity. I love the quote by Jon Acuff, “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.”

And last, creativity lies not in the done, but in the doing.

Let’s keep making art and see what happens.

Onward!

Bird is the word

Mama Robin and her baby

Just look at that face!

Mama and baby on my back porch

It wasn’t long after a Robin made her nest on our back porch before her babies appeared. Downy covered and gangly with big beaks and unwieldy smiles. The most beautiful babies ever. Just look at that face. 

This is my favorite photo of Mama Bird taking care of her fledgling, so I used it as reference for this sketch and today’s prompt in the 28 Feathered Friends art challenge.

Keep a look out this Spring for nest construction near you.

How do you know it’s done?

Sometimes you don’t, and that’s okay

Nesting Robin

A few years ago a Robin made our back porch her temporary home. I used one of the photos I shot as a reference for today’s prompt, “Nesting Bird.”

I sketched it with a Derwent water soluble pencil (light wash) instead of a regular, have-to-use-an-eraser-to-get-rid-of-the-lines kind.

After inking, I brushed water on the leftover pencil marks and they provided just the shading and softness I wanted.

I struggled with whether to add color; the reddish brown on the breast. I made a photocopy and applied color to it, and my eye was still drawn to the black, white, and grey version.

I also tried playing with it in Procreate, but my skills with the app aren’t up to speed. Yet.

Sometimes it’s hard to know when a drawing is finished. There are so many videos I’ve watched of an artist drawing or painting a subject and just when I think it looks perfect, they’ll add a touch or two and like magic, it’s even better.

For now, I’m leaving this one as is. I’m happy with it.

What’s next?

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

What does that even mean?

Bird in the hand

According to The Phrase Finder, it means that it’s better to hold onto something you have rather than take the risk of getting something better which may come to nothing.

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

—Anais Nin

I’ve been living with the bird in the hand for a while now. Safe. In my comfort zone.

Only in the past few months have I begun to take creative risks. And by risks, I mean step out from my personal comfort zone.

I started this blog, have shared my work, have tried new art techniques, have stumbled and shared anyway. Putting my work out there, to me, is a huge risk.

What if others hate it? What if someone says something horrible? Doubts and fears.

And further, where is any of this going? This creating and making and sharing.

I still don’t know the answers but I’ve found a little joy every day while I create art, or write, or capture subjects with my camera. And maybe that’s enough of an answer for now.

Do something creative every day. Let the bird in your hand fly.