Art-entional.

All right, so I said I wouldn’t whine. I planned to be intentionally artful yesterday—and I was—though I had hoped to also have a bit more to show for it. However, though the day didn’t quite progress as I would have liked, I determined to stay “artentional”. The following is a list of the little things that made it so. As you will see, the items are not difficult, profound or flabbergastingly creative but just by keeping the art process in mind, all day long, I kept myself open to the muse and found myself getting excited about some new ideas which I will soon be able to implement.

Day 4, Art Every Day Month:

1. Wrote and posted short entry to blog stating that I would be intentional about art today.
2. Made contact with other artists. (Reached out through Facebook, Twitter, read other blogs/left comments to keep in touch/encourage. Was encouraged by those who reached back.)
3. Took photos of backyard “studio”. (Some good potential backdrops back here! Will make use of soon!)
4. Packed camera to take to work. (No good seeing the perfect shot if you don’t have the tools with you…)
5. At lunchtime, visited a charming boutique and bought the perfect business card holder—like a little piece of art itself—and felt refreshed by the experience.
6. Cleaned my work area and decided to make it more art-friendly. (May be at work, but why not be a little more artistic?Opened up space, made readily available doodle pads, office supplies organized, photos/comics/cool flyers decorating one inspiration nook of my desk.)
7. Talked about Art Every Day Month with co-worker and customer—got inspired myself!
8. Made a short list of projects that I would like to work on over this month. (Some things I’ve been meaning to do for awhile… AEDM gives me the right reason to stop procrastinating.)
9. Flipped through home decorating magazines—always a creative pick-me-up. Planned a trip to thrift/antique stores soon to find new items to refinish/repurpose.
10. Had an evening of food and fellowship with my family, and afterwards, a good night’s sleep.

Like I said, not quite what I had hoped. More like a day of “priming my artist’s canvas” rather than actually doing much “painting”. But I hope other artists are encouraged that we all have days where ground work is all that’s accomplished. And that it is a necessary and important part of the process which we can look on with pride. I am ready to create!!