30 Days of Creative Practice Day 8 MUSIC

I love music--I am also so NOT musical. So when I chose music as today's creative practice inspiration word, I really wasn't sure what I was going to do. 

I decided to look at album covers at out local thrift store, thinking I might cut some up to create some 3D art. But, when I spied this brand new, wrapped in plastic, black and white album cover, I had another idea.

I had never heard of this heavy metal group, Vatnett Viskar. I afraid they disbanded in 2015 after making two albums. This particular album came out ten years ago and I am not sure who still had an unopened copy, but their loss or donation was my gain.

I decided to update the backside album art to create a modern, unusual, and interesting art piece.

The album artist modeled the back cover art after the "Seated Giant" by Goya. I got out my watercolors and added bits of color to the black and white art.

I added yellows and orange, green, and purple to make some of the white areas pop. I wanted to frame it in an ornate antique frame to contrast the modern style of art. This, chippy, black, embellished frame from a garage sale was in my stash. It elevates a simple album cover and although you might not see my word for the day, MUSIC, when you look at it, the word was indeed the inspiration. I kept the front of the album with the birds and snake for a future art project. Oh, and I did listen to a few minutes of the album.

I hung the artwork on the narrow end of my library, which is shaping up nicely with the spiral library step ladder and the new light from yesterday's challenge. Are you playing along?

Upcoming words for practicing creativity:

June 9th: ICE CREAM

June 10th: PATTERN

June 11th: BOOKS

June 12: FABRIC

30 Days of Creativity Practice Day 7 Light

Forced creativity can be hard, which is sort of the point of this 30 day challenge. Creativity is a muscle that gets stronger with consistent practice. Today's word is LIGHT. I thought about painting something, adding light to artwork is a struggle for me. I thought about a photo with great light because as an amateur photographer I know light is everything and I often chase it. Then, I decided to make a light of some type.

Hmmm...what to make it out of. I hunted around in my stash. Nothing inspired me. I went to THREE thrift stores, nothing excited me. I came back home and hunted around a bit more and finally found a metal fruit basket I had thrifted last year.

I thought it had a good, atomic, mid-century vibe. I had a hanging light with a fabric cord, problem was, it wouldn't fit through the center hold in the metal basket. I ended up wrapping the cord on opposite sides and securing them together in the middle with a black zip tie so it would hang straight.

I only got one, blurry picture of this, but I used creative problem solving to make it work.

I decided to hang this above the bottom landing of my library stairs because this corner always seems dark. 

I wanted to hang it low enough to reflect in the mirror here. I swagged the cord over to and down the dark window trim nearby. The light in the library that you can also see in the mirror picture above is black so the two lights in this area "match".

I thought about weaving colorful yarn around the lamp spines and that still might happen. But, for now I will sit with this how it is and in this spot and see how it feels.

Upcoming words for practicing creativity:

June 8th: MUSIC

June 9th: ICE CREAM

June 10th: PATTERN

June 11th: BOOKS

June 12: FABRIC

Garage Sale Wood Trunk Makeover & Day 6 Creativity

I love getting inspiration from everywhere--stores, movies, outdoors. Watching our grandson recently haul our Costco Pendleton picnic blanket gave me the idea to paint a garage sale wood trunk in similar colors as the blanket.

The trunk was probably originally from Pier One or World Market. It did have a big water stain on the top and I did pick it up at the end of the garage sale, so I talked the sellers down to $7.

Some paint and some patience letting paint cure, and I have a campy, Pendleton inspired wood chest, perfect for a side table.

Keep reading to see my tricks for getting clean lines while painting.
 

I removed all of the black hardware and then sanded the trunk down. It is pine and the finish sanded off quickly, other than it took a bit to get rid of the water ring. I decided to leave the top natural and paint the base.

After sanding and wiping the trunk down, I taped off two alternating bands or stripes on the trunk base. There were natural wood lines and breaks so that was my taping guide. I burnished the tape with a plastic scraper to prevent paint leaks.

I then painted two of the four colors. 

I let the paint cure a couple days before taping on the paint to add the two other colors. I did still burnish the tape, but not quite as forcefully.

I used matte Min-Wax polyacrylic over the paint and on the wood top to finish the trunk. I reattached the black hardware.

This wood trunk is updated and fresh with bright colors. It makes a great side table with storage for blankets, games, books, clothes.

Isn't this lamp fun? I had the base, but thrifted the new shade that breaks all of the lamp decor rules. It is okay to break decorating norms, especially with inexpensive items like lamps. The shade being taller and wider than the base gives it an unexpected look and draws your eye. It definitely makes it look modern and hip as opposed to traditional style.

I think this trunk would be fun in a cabin or camper, but also adds a burst of color to neutral home decor. It is an easy way to add color without a big time or financial investment.

The word for today's creativity practice is METAL. I am not sure how creative my project is, but I still used some creative processing to create it.

First, I dug around for metal that I had. I thought about painting something that isn't metal with a metal technique, but finally landed on using a scrap of corrugated metal from the flower bed we made for our daughter and her roommates.

This is the raised, 8' x 4' garden bed we made. Isn't her fence fun? They painted it last year--her love of color comes from her mama.

I thought about using the scrap of tin for a planter or a light, but then decided I would paint a sign for my garden.

After painting bright colored stripes, I chalked out the lettering and then painted it.

I am not really into cutesy or word signs and this saying is an old one, but it is so true for our green house garden.

I hung it next to the front greenhouse door to add a bit of fresh garden color to the space. Time to go weed, again.

30 Days of Creative Practice Day 5 Flowers

My flowers creative practice started with an idea that didn't quite work out. But, that is ok and part of the practicing creativity--changing one idea into another and problem solving.

I started with a light colored, pine, new cutting board from the thrift store. 

I wanted to try flower pounding to stain the back of the cutting board. I have seen it done on fabric, but not wood. I don't have many perennials blooming yet, but grabbed some annuals, laid them out, covered them with a towel and started pounding.

I am not sure if it was the wood or the flowers used, but I got some faint color blobs that looked like I had been cutting up colorful fruit on the cutting board. 

Hmm, now what to do? I decided to add some watered down paint to make the blobs look more like flowers.

The lavender and African violets worked well. The red petunias okay and the iris left mostly a yellow stain. After the paint was dry, I taped on the cutting side of the cutting board letting the tape overlap the edges.

This tape job allowed me to clear cut the front flowers without getting it on the food side of the cutting board. I used coconut oil on the cutting side to help protect the food.

This cutting board adds a touch of summer to my cutting boards hanging on the cupboard side of my fridge.

And here it is styled with a little cheese, although yes, it is just styled because the flower side is not the cutting side.

Here are the upcoming words for the Creativity Practice 3o Day Challenge and if you have no idea what I am talking about, see this POST HERE.

June 6th: METAL

June 7th:  LIGHT

June 8th: MUSIC

30 Days of Creative Practice Day 4 Time

Ok, so I am a day late on sharing my TIME creative practice project--that is because I ran out of time yesterday. I am not going to do a blog post for every project, but I am sharing them on my facebook and instagram pages. For opposites I chose sweet and sour and used photography as my art medium.

For the word TIME for Day 4 I wanted to create something around a quote I had recently heard: "Time flies, but we are the pilots." I started with a small thrifted clock and a foam airplane from the dollar store.

A little paint and hot glue and I had a fun a and playful representation of TIME FLIES.

I spray painted the plane a mossy green color. I then used Antique Gold Rub-n-Buff on it to make it look like a brass airplane model.

The little flower spots on the foam plane gave it extra texture. I took apart the clock and hot glued the face to the clock front piece. I cut a propeller out of a plastic lid and used the gold Rub-n-Buff on it. I glued the head of a brass brad to the middle and hot glued the propeller to the clock front and then glued the clock to the nose of the plane.

I used the gold on a dowel piece and simply poked it into the foam plane.

I cut a small wood block, drilled a hole in it, and inserted the dowel into the block.

It's a fun piece that I think most people will get after they look at it for a minute or two.

It's a great shelf display piece and looks good sitting among a few of my antique alarm clocks. 

Today's word is FLOWER and I will be showing that on Facebook. 

June 6th: METAL

June 7th: LIGHT

June 8th: MUSIC

30 Days Of Creative Practice Day 2 Breakfast

I am having fun (so far) with my self-imposed, thirty day, practicing creativity challenge. Today's word is BREAKFAST. What I am learning so far is that one word can sure conjure up a lot of ideas, which I love and is hopefully one of the outcomes--the ability to think of LOTS of different ideas. 

For today's challenge I started with this Norwegian wood tray that honestly, I have had for years. The saying on it means, "Here you go".  My idea was to paint breakfast on the wood tray in a cartoon style rather than a tromp l'oeil style.

After painting the wood tray blue, I chalked out a design and then painted it white.

I then played with colors and shading, painting in an exaggerated manner.

I finished the piece with a heavy coat of Minwax Polyacrylic. This piece would be great hanging on a wall or use it to serve up croissants or pastries. It also would be playful sitting on a dining room table that is often used.

If you want to read more about the creativity challenge go to THIS blog post.

 The word for June 3rd is OPPOSITE, June 4th is TIME, and JUNE 5th is FLOWERS.