NB: The creative exercises archived here are available for anyone who wants more inspiration and creative expression in their lives. There is no limit on how often you particpate, how many exercises you do, or what order you do them in. They are an extension of my book "Beyond the Stick Figure: hope and encouragement for anyone who has ever wanted to be creative"
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Inspire Create: Creative Exercise 19 Thurs 28 June 2012

Inspire Create: Creative Exercise 19 Thurs 28 June 2012

Todays inspiration: Egg Doodles inspired by photos of tattoos on upper arms

Yesterday I saw a cropped photograph of an upper arm and upon it was a lovely tree tattoo in black ink. A
t first I thought it looked like the arm was an egg that had been decoratively drawn on. This image provided the inspiration for our next creative exercise, just proving that inspiration is everywhere if you're looking for it!

I have created my own 'egg doodles' by using a Sharpie Marker (a thin one) ...you might want to ensure your eggs are room temperature first, so pull them out of the fridge now in preparation. While they are cold, they also are a bit wet and it's hard to use a marker or paint when the surface of the egg is damp. Another thing you could do is 'blow' the contents of the egg out, especially if you intend to use the egg as an ornament :)

Firstly, you may like to prepare the surface of your egg, to ensure there is no debri left on it. Now it's time to decide your design or doodle. What will you paint? I'm leaving this up to you, but will give you a few examples of ideas I've seen and thought of:

1) draw little faces
2) draw silhouette trees or people
3) write all over it with encouraging words, expressions of thanks and gratitude etc (this is something you could give as a gift to a friend by then finding a lovely eggcup to go with it. You could tie the egg into the cup with ribbon or raw string, whatever might compliment your design
4) here is a link to some beautifully painted eggs with step by step images, they've chosen a pretty pastel coloured theme and used paints

Here is a mesmerising video I found absolutely fascinating, I'm sure it will inspire, click on this link to watch how these eggs are decorated through a 'wax resist/dye' process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blp3jF4fGBc&feature=related


Also check out this video where neck ties are used to impart a design onto eggs which are boiled in water with vinegar, resulting in an interesting mottled effect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blp3jF4fGBc&feature=related





NB: The creative exercises archived here are available for anyone who wants more inspiration and creative expression in their lives. There is no limit on how often you particpate, how many exercises you do, or what order you do them in. They are an extension of my book "Beyond the Stick Figure: hope and encouragement for anyone who has ever wanted to be creative"


NB: Please note that this blog is only being used as an archive/storage/resource facility for Inspire Create with artist Karin Taylor on Facebook. It exists to help people find all the creative exercises I have posted on Facebook more easily. To engage and interact, to join in the fun, please join us at Facebook @Inspire Create with artist Karin Taylor and please post your contributions, creations and artwork on Facebook rather than this blog. Thank you and aloha, Karin


Photo: Inspire Create: Creative Exercise 19 Thurs 28 June 2012  Todays inspiration: Egg Doodles inspired by photos of tattoos on upper arms  Yesterday I saw a cropped photograph of an upper arm and upon it was a lovely tree tattoo in black ink.  At first I thought it looked like the arm was an egg that had been decoratively drawn on.  This image provided the inspiration for our next creative exercise, just proving that inspiration is everywhere if you're looking for it!   I have created my own 'egg doodles' by using a Sharpie Marker (a thin one) ...you might want to ensure your eggs are room temperature first, so pull them out of the fridge now in preparation.  While they are cold, they also are a bit wet and it's hard to use a marker or paint when the surface of the egg is damp.  Another thing you could do is 'blow' the contents of the egg out, especially if you intend to use the egg as an ornament :)    Firstly, you may like to prepare the surface of your egg, to ensure there is no debri left on it.  Now it's time to decide your design or doodle.  What will you paint?  I'm leaving this up to you, but will give you a few examples of ideas I've seen and thought of:  1) draw little faces 2) draw silhouette trees or people 3) write all over it with encouraging words, expressions of thanks and gratitude etc (this is something you could give as a gift to a friend by then finding a lovely eggcup to go with it.  You could tie the egg into the cup with ribbon or raw string, whatever might compliment your design 4) here is a link to some beautifully painted eggs with step by step images, they've chosen a pretty pastel coloured theme and used paints: http://acreativemint.typepad.com/a_creative_mint/2012/04/happy-spring.html

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Inspire Create: Creative Exercise 16 - Mon 25 June 2012

Inspire Create: Creative Exercise 16 - Mon 25 June 2012
TODAY'S INSPIRATION: Special words!

Hola! It's Monday... not only is it a brand new day, but it marks a brand new opportunity for creative expression.

We are talking and thinking
about special words that are significant for us. I have chosen the word "love" for example in the photograph below. But what are the important words that have deep significance for you. Perhaps your word will be "gratitude", or maybe it will be "freedom", it could be "patience" or "peace" or "happiness". What is your special word?

OBJECTIVE OF EXERCISE:
The objective of this exercise, is simply to present a special word that has deep significance for you, in a creative way. There are many ways to do this. Here are some examples:

EXAMPLE 1:
If you have stones or pebbles lying around, you can form a word using these on a background of grass, or on a timber paling, on some nice fabric, hessian or calico, you can decorate it with little wildflowers and then take a picture and post it here.

EXAMPLE 2:
You could do as I have done, which was to simply use some little timber letters that I found from a craft shop (already had them laying around from a previous project) and arrange them on a flat surface. Decorate and photograph them. I used iPhone apps to turn this into a more creative image (I just can't recall how I did it lol) but you get the general idea. If you have an iphone or an ipad, I highly recommend Diptych, which allows you to use a number of different photos in the one image.

EXAMPLE 3:
Use shells, beads, rice, coffee beans, candles, ornaments, etc, to create your word and photograph it.

EXAMPLE 4:
Draw, paint, sculpt or write a poem or story around your word, making it the central theme.

I look forward to seeing what you all come up with, don't forget to post it here for us all to enjoy (if you're comfortable doing that) and have a very happy, very creative start to the week!

Smiles aloha, Karin :))


NB: The creative exercises archived here are available for anyone who wants more inspiration and creative expression in their lives. There is no limit on how often you particpate, how many exercises you do, or what order you do them in. They are an extension of my book "Beyond the Stick Figure: hope and encouragement for anyone who has ever wanted to be creative"