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Bex Hall > temporary art

temporary art

The 7 Permanent Things I Learned Creating Temporary Art

May 23, 2021

Gel pen art on leaves

After The 100 Day Project ended, I wandered around in the artist’s desert, thirsty and chasing mirages for a week. I sat in the sun and noticed a tuft of weeds in the sidewalk’s crack (because there are sidewalks and lawn chairs in my desert) and my imagination sprouted a tomato under the greenery.

So I grabbed the stash of chalk and got busy.

I drew a pink tomato. It was fun, whimsical, and temporary. I was okay with my work eventually being washed away. There was joy in the creation and that was the kind of day I had.

The next day I penned a message on a banana peel. I knew my husband would throw it away, but I made him laugh and that made me laugh and that was the kind of day I had.

The day after that, I gathered items that caught my eye and arranged them in what I intended to be a mandala, a symbol of my inner journey. It was misshapen and odd, and I knew something would naturally dismantle it. But right then I was present and appreciated everything that brought me to that moment. And that was the kind of day I had.

Then after four straight days of sunshine, I felt the urge to draw a sunflower and jot some thoughts on the whiteboard. I knew I would erase it eventually because that’s how life works: you get rid of the old to make room for the new and I was okay with that. And that’s the kind of day I had.

Today I gathered some leaves and decorated them with gel pen. I had to use a light touch and be gentle. With the leaves and myself and my art, and that’s the kind of day I had.

😊

This, my friends, concludes my exploration with ephemeral art forms and here are:

The 7 Permanent Things I Learned Creating Temporary Art

7. There was no fear or resistance, just playful curiosity.

6. It was a good practice for literally letting go.

5. There’s powerful focus on the present, the now.

4. The option to wipe the slate clean frees creative flow.

3. The process is more important than the quality of the results.

2. Mistakes and imperfection aren’t the end of the world.

1. It positively influenced the kind of day I had. 

😊

May you have a creative flow in whatever you do today. 

xox

Filed Under: Art Projects, Creative Education Tagged With: creative life, creativity exercises, temporary art

Wipe the slate clean and start again

May 22, 2021

A dry erase board makes it easy to begin

Dry erase board doodles

It’s a sunflower and notes on a dry erase board kind of day.

Filed Under: Miscellany Tagged With: creativity exercises, temporary art

This mandala is only temporary

May 21, 2021

Ephemeral art brings the present into focus

Is it a mandala or the Chrysler logo?

It’s a mandala created by hand with found items outdoors that looks more like the Chrysler logo than a symbol of an inner journey kind of day.

Filed Under: Miscellany Tagged With: creativity exercises, outdoors, temporary art

Silly and creative a fun duo

May 20, 2021

Bananagrams make unique lunchbox love note

Bananagram

And then there are silly notes written in pen on a banana kind of day.

Filed Under: Miscellany Tagged With: creative life, creativity exercises, love letters, temporary art

Fuel creative energy with back to basics

May 19, 2021

Impermanence of chalk frees creative mojo

It’s a pink tomato

It’s a pink tomato in chalk on the sidewalk kind of day.

Filed Under: Miscellany Tagged With: creativity exercises, temporary art

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About Bex

 

Bex Hall

Her writing has appeared in various online and print publications, most recently in Kerning, a literary magazine, and in the Stories of Hope Collection in Transplant Living. Her artwork has appeared and sold through the Grayson Gallery. She blogs here about creative life and creates in Studio BE overlooking the Ohio River. Her work in progress is a memoir about the secret life of objects.

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  • The 100 Day Project

    50 short stories in 100 days.

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  • Creative practice goals:

    Show up every day behind the pen, the brush, or the lens and share my work.

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