Here’s my annual review of what happened on my blog. And some of what happened off my blog, but was shared on social media. I was neglectful of my blog toward the end of the year. No excuses. It just happened. I’ve been considering moving my webpages to a different platform and pondering the value in trying to relocate blog posts versus starting over. More on that in a moment; but first, a look back at my creative journey for the year that was 2021.
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The theme for this month’s design challenge from Art Elements was turtles. As with every monthly challenge, we were free to chose the medium and interpret the theme in as many ways as we wanted. Or, more practically, in as many ways as we have time. A month may seem like a long time but it often goes by quicker than you’d think. Here are my turtle themed art designs for the challenge.
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The design challenge from Art Elements this month was to upcycle. Or, more specifically, to “create something using repurposed items. it can be a beautiful piece of art, a useful practical item or something that combines both.” I used glass bottles and jars, along with craft items and art media, to make three pieces for this challenge. Consumerism is the antithesis of upcycling, so, even though I desperately wanted to purchase more supplies, I limited myself to using only things already in my home.
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When the theme for this month’s Art Element design challenge was announced, I could not have been more delighted. It’s lizards! Lizards! I’ve been hoping for a lizard theme, or even a broader reptiles theme, since I started participating in the challenges. Yes, I know I don’t have to wait for a monthly challenge theme to create lizard-themed art. Let’s just pretend I do, okay?
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Dandelions were the theme for this month’s design challenge from Art Elements. Dandelions peaked in my neighborhood back in April, covering vacant lots, wild lawns, and traffic islands in golden yellow blooms. By the beginning of May, there were still a few blooms here and there, but most dandelion plants had cottony white puffballs replacing the blossoms. And that’s why my designs for this challenge are focused on the seed heads rather than the blooms.
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What do hares and armadillos have to do with each other, you might wonder? Well, I wondered that too, but realized what happens between consenting lagomorphs and turtle-rabbits (that’s what the Aztecs called armadillos) is really none of my business. What is my business, or, more technically, my hobby, is creating jewelry inspired by the “Hares and Rabbits” theme for the monthly Art Elements design challenge and sculptures prompted by an armadillo spirit guide that began whispering to me last month.
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The theme for the Art Elements design challenge this month was “spring.” I designed a few new pieces of jewelry, inspired by the idea of spring flowers. I also had some jewelry design inspiration from symbols of Ostara, the vernal equinox. And I stitched a little spring something too.
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It’s a new year and I’m trying a new art medium: air dry paper clay. I’ve been working with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) based clay (which I’ll refer to as polymer clay hereafter for simplicity) for about 20 years and am perfectly content with it as an art medium. However, there have been sporadic shortages of polymer clay during this pandemic which have led me to seek out an alternative for some of my sculpting projects. These are my first impressions of working with paper clay.
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Well, here we are ready to turn the page on another year. And what an extraordinary year it has been. I won’t dwell on the pandemic or other dire news headlines of the year. Instead, I’m reviewing my creative journey as documented here on my blog. Creatively speaking, it was another productive year although I didn’t post as frequently as I have in some other years. I’m going to say it’s been about quality, not quantity. LOL
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The November theme for the Art Elements design challenge was “mushrooms and toadstools” which is one I’ve been hoping for since I don’t know when. I love mushrooms and toadstools as design elements and art themes. There’s a tremendous diversity in wild mushrooms and then there are “fantasy” mushrooms from imagination. Tragically, I was in some kind of creative funk this month and didn’t do the theme justice. (note that this post, for reasons i don’t understand, didn’t publish in November, or somehow disappeared, so I’m re-posting in December.)
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