Sunday, January 18, 2009

Handing it to Michelle - GPP Street Team CRUSADE No. 27 ~ Shape Up!

So I have to HAND it to Michelle at the GPP Street Team.

As you may have noticed by the tone of my posts these days, the Queen is stuck in some pretty deep dark blahs (she is working on getting unstuck but the program is slow going !!!!). She hasn't had her usual zest for creative play ! In fact, a lot of the time, even looking at all the wonderful things going on in blogland made her feel overwhelmed and inadequate instead of the usual inspired and motivated !
(Enough of this talking about myself in the third person !!!!)

When I saw the new crusade posted a couple of weeks ago, I so wanted to get excited like I usually would. Usually I jump right in and I am one of the first ones to post my adventures ! But instead, I was just not feeling it.


Don't get me wrong ! Michelle, as always, had presented a fantastic idea for us to play with ! Choose a shape, preferably a new shape that you haven't explored too much before, and revisit some of the old challenges like creating stamps, stencils, playing with size, color, etc...and create a whole new set of tools and lots of play time for yourself ! How great does that sound ? Especially as a way to launch a new year of art making ?


But I was struggling...short attention span, lack of creative drive, feeling like I was a bad artist...you know, the usual bluesy whine !!!



Then this morning, the shape I wanted to explore just kind of came to me ! The snow was falling down really heavily so there was no where to go but the studio. I headed in there and got down to it - it was Kim Time !!!!

When I looked at the time again, 2 hours had passed. I had played for two hours - lost myself, played with materials, and color, and texture, and listened to old music and sang, and just enjoyed life. For two whole hours ! This was really something for me in my deep dark blah state, believe me ! This morning, thanks to Michelle and to my artist's soul, I had a vacation from the blahs !!!

So I have to HAND it to Michelle for encouraging us in our creative play ! She started the GPP Street Team crusades to encourage us to take the time to create, to be in the moment of art creation and then to share our experiences with other artists. What a gift she gives us each month ! Thank you, Rockin' Michelle !


So without further ado - check this out, Baby !

Shape Up - Hands On !!!!
Yup ! I chose HANDS as the shape I was going to run with this morning!

First thing I did was print out a whole bunch of different hands onto cardstock. I got the images from Printshop 21, from copy-right free images I have collected along the way etc...

Then I carved a couple of different HAND stamps - right hand, left hand, little hand...



Then I created a stencil with the same Hand shape which gave me a stencil and a mask :



I have done some pages in my art journal tracing my own hand or making a monoprint of my own hand. Why not a stencil and mask that can be used over and over without getting paint under the finger nails ?



My own hand cut out of an acetate using a stencil burner ! Cuts like butta !

The mask used on a background painted in my art journal :


Then just to get a little fancier, I cut out these stencils of a pointing hand with a flourish cuff - I used a graphic from Printshop as a design.


I tried out these stencils in my journal too.

The bigger hand on another background (My favorite sweet spot of the day !) :

As you can see, it was a productive and satisfying two hours in the shop today ! It made me remember the joy of creating, not just the have to. It made me feel like an artist again when my visions started to come together. And best of all, it beat the crap out of those bloody blahs and made the Queen mighty thankful for this Sunday morning !

Onwards, Crusaders ! Banish the blahs ! Create, create create !!!!

20 comments:

michelle ward said...

Waaaaaaaaaaaaa! It makes my heart sing to see you going after this shape with both HANDS. I love that the shape *came* to you, and love that you've used all your cleverness to design and make your own tools. The JOY of creating, nothing better. Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm with the team Kim, it's infectious. xo

Sherry said...

Kim, even when you are sunk in the depths of the "blahs", you find a way to circumvent that when you've had your fill. Michelle may have inspired you - but do you realize just how inspiring you are yourself?!? ♥ I have to "hand" it to you -- you came up with a brilliant idea!!!

Genie Sea said...

YAY!! Down with the Blahs! Lovely results. I'm so exuberant for you! YAY! :)

Anonymous said...

Oh my GOD!!! I can't BELIEVE it! Kim.....I CHOSE HANDS, TOO!!!!! Here I am, reading through your post and how you've been feeling, and I'm going..."yep, yep, me too. I know how you're feeling. I have not been able to create a thing in weeks now..." and then I get to the part about the hands and I jumped out of my seat. "Release" AND "HANDS" and same mood-funk thing....THIS IS TOO FREAKY!!! But how cool, too! It's so good to have company on this journey. And who knows...maybe, between the two of us, we can figure things out?

P.S. CONGRATULATIONS ON 6-MONTHS SMOKE-FREE! YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

As always, awesome job, lady! You are simply amazing. I finally got my bottom is gear today and took photos of journal pages, edited, them, etc. etc. Even did a new page. Hope I can keep the momentum going. Love the hand play; you are so clever! And, inspiring!

Anonymous said...

Man...you really kicked away the blahs....in a BIG way! First off...Hands...EXCELLENT idea! And all of your pages...really great, Kim..don't you feel fantastic to be out of the funk? On the upswing now...no stopping you!

Anonymous said...

Yay for you - I'm so glad you had a creative couple of hours. Sure does lift the spirits huh? and your hands are great - especially impressed with the small hand carved ones. I think your new tools will be very useful.

Sarah said...

these are brilliant, all of them, especially the fancy schmancy ones at the end :)

like many of us, it seems, I am struggling to create. I am happy for you that you managed to get those blissful 2 hours, and I hope you get many more very soon x

Anonymous said...

Your hands are fabulous - glad that even through blah you could create :-)

carolyn said...

hi kim!
your journal pages are so creative! i love all the different ways you used the hand image. i am glad to see you are back to your creative self!
i can totally relate to feeling unmotivated! (my blog is the perfect example!) you're one of the bloggers that totally impresses me with your motivation and commitment.
it is something i strive to be.
i am all done with the snow too.....we have had "new hampshire" snow this year....meaning LOTS OF IT!

carolyn said...

oooh, i meant to ask you if you and david took the ritz camera classes.
my david purchased the rebel at ritz and it came with the free classes so i am going next month. january classes are filled up (there must have been lots of cameras given at christmas!)

Commuter's Journal said...

Awesome, awesome, awesome! You definitely deserve a hand for what you've accomplished here. (Feel free to groan at pun. I couldn't resist.)

I used to fill sketchbooks with drawings of hands since they are so challenging to draw but so expressive. I love what you've created here. Your hands speak of connection and sensitivity. Great stuff!

And I'm so glad that play time has helped with the midwinter blues.

-- JeriAnn

arlene said...

My hands are applauding you Kim, and giving yo a high five! I've been in a funkish mood too. I have not posted on my blog in almost a month. Thanks for posting here...I lOVE coming by for a visit and seeing lightness and fun, and real struggle and overcoming.
I did get in the studio today and mail out my swap gifts. One is on it's way to you!
xo arlene

Julie said...

Kim, I am so glad that your creating enabled you to gain some light in your dark 'blah times' and I so love hands. What a great idea! Your journal pages look terrific!

Melissa said...

I'm going to pun too....

I gotta hand it to ya - they're awesome! You did a ton of playing. I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better. I knew you would in Kim Time.

YAY - all hail THE QUEEN!

~Magick~
Melissa

Belinda said...

i love hands too and these are all awesome!!! love the texture of your pages

Rosie said...

Brilliant Kim... you ran all the way to the bank with this one - I gotta 'hand' it to you!! I love the pointy fingers... so cool and they look fabulous in your journal!

Lisa Cook said...

Your work is insiring, Kim. I love the use of the hands and I also love what you did on the post where you sliced up your piece and redid it. Very brave. I am terrible at that kind of thing. I have no bravery with paint....Michelle has helped me, but I am still rather paralyzed with it. Maybe I did not like being a messy kid..
Meanwhile, thanks for stopping by my blog for OWOH. Awesome event and awesom people.

Cheryl Gebhart said...

Love all your hands! What a great shape to play with. And it's wonderful that it helped get you out of your blahs.

Anonymous said...

I am really LOVING the hands! They mean so much don't they? Beautiful pages too!