Find Your Voice Week 3

In this week's lesson we explored our own creative goals and how they fit in with the rest of our lives. I chose the craft based prompt: "Create a project that makes you happy... Come up with five reasons that it makes you happy."

I was excessively excited about this prompt, because it gave me an excuse to make something for myself. I used a small piece of scrap wood (about 9" by 3" give or take a bit - I measured it with my eyes, so it's not necessarily accurate.) I then went to town creating a little abstract city with acrylic paints. I took pictures to document my progress. I am definitely happy with the end result (mission accomplished!) I think I will be hanging it on the wall by the computer in my studio to remind me why I love making art - because it makes me happy!

Phase One - it's just a little pencil drawing

Phase Two - I've added the night sky

Phase Three - Leaves on the trees

Phase Four - Everything's finished except for the buildings

The final product - my tiny abstract city shines its lights!

So now for the second part of the prompt - five reasons why my project makes me happy (this is something I typically don't give a lot of thought to, I just know something makes me happy, and I leave it at that. It's interesting  to dig deeper every once in a while.)

1. The city in the night reminds me of when I was very young coming home from a trip to Grandma's house and staring out of my car window at all of the homes and buildings lit up. It's comforting to think about all the people in the buildings living their lives, and it reminds me of home.

2. It's small. Tiny things make me happy - miniatures, puppies, bite sized cookies, scale models of  construction projects - whenever something is smaller than normal I just think, "Oooh... how cute!"

3. There are lots of rectangles in the painting. What can I say - I like rectangles! If there was a competition between rectangles and circles I would vote for rectangles.

4. It's lonely, but not in a bad way. This painting is quiet. It seems like a nice place to take a stroll down the sidewalk and just think. Sometimes if I make something with a lot of bright colors it's almost hard for me to look at it, because I feel like it's screaming at me. I like these muted tones a lot.

5. It's abstract - I like making things up and not having to worry about the logical rules involved. I know this tiny city is missing a lot of things, like proper perspective, driveways, dumpsters, etc. However, it doesn't matter, because it's an imaginary place, so I get to make the rules.


P.S. If you're interested - you can still join Find Your Voice:

Coral - Trees of the Sea

I don't want to give away all of the surprises, BUT - I have a lot of new things made for my Raw Natural Born Artists show next Thursday. New chain styles and new lengths, new characters and designs, even new seashell styles!

If you haven't bought your tickets yet - DO IT! This show will be phenomenal. And, in case you need a bit more convincing, if you buy your tickets by May 20th from my profile (or select my name in the drop down menu for artist you are supporting) I will mail you a Totally Coral Bookmark (you may have to provide me with your address if I don't already have it.) Each mark is a laminated original painting by me that represents my watercolor shells line.

Git yer tickets here: http://www.rawartists.org/kristischmit 
$15 each ($20 if you wait until the night of the show) - well worth it for all the fantastic creative folks you will see that evening!

You could find one of these one-of-a-kind bookmarks in your possession if you buy your RAW tickets from my by the 20th of May!

A small sample of the NEW things you will find in my jewelry collection. Copper colored chain and angelfish!

Now, after that shameless little plug, onto my "character" of the day (character being a term I'm using rather loosely today.)

Coral. Trees of the sea. The residents of Aquatic Avenue take great pleasure in using the abundant varieties of coral to landscape around their homes.