Blogland fun, and what goes with molasses?

While blog surfing yesterday I came across some wonderful new blogs, including one by Joy who is doing a weeklong Marie Antoinette celebration starting this Wednesday! Her site is so much fun to look through, and her broken china jewelry is just gorgeous. I’m going to get in on the Marie spirit too, and will do Marie-themed posts too for the celebration. I’ve got some ideas as to what I’ll do, heh; let’s just say it’ll lighthearted in tone. lol!

Through another fun blog, My Art & Crafts by Itkupilli, I found a fun art challenge: Think Monday – Think ATC. I am going to try this, as I want to make more ATCs…I have a stack of business cards from my old job, and I decided the way to transform the negativity they remind me of is to use them in art!

I am gluing two cards together, printed sides facing, to create one sturdier, blank-on-both-sides mini canvas. I’m doing a mandala ATC swap with the Soul Journal Yahoo group, but a weekly ATC prompt sounds like the perfect way to “art” my way through this stack of cards. Last week’s prompt was “Moulin Rouge,” and I really would like to start with that one (in keeping with the French-ness of the upcoming Marie week), and then do this week’s prompt of “men with beards” (which makes me think of Dr. Weil).

Then again, inspiration comes from all sorts of places…

Speaking of Soul Journal and art journaling in general…I’m currently working on some art journal pages, but am feeling a certain frustration with them that I didn’t expect. I am having a hard time letting go and just creating them, because I want to make them “perfect” or “just right” and I keep telling myself that the entire point of them is to experiment, have fun, and mess up. If I “mess up” (not that that’s really possible), I can simply paint over it all and start again. But I find myself mired in this molasses of “no no no, must make pretty and perfect right away! Must not waste paint or paper!” And calling it “molasses” is not being poetic—it really feels like the air gets thick and my hands slow down and I…just…can’t…take…chance…of…screwing…up…that…pretty…paper. Gah!

So my goal today is to slap paint on, and glue stuff, and sketch, and color, and paint more, and glue more, and sketch more, and whatever else the heck I feel like doing to as many pages as I can andnotbloodywellthinkaboutit. I’m going to play some loud music while I do it. Hmmm…maybe some 80s hair metal…Skid Row? Motley Crue? Warrant? Let’s see what happens.