Sunday, December 28, 2008

365 Day Alpha Challenge

I put out a challenge to my Guild and ByHand Artists Yahoo Group for a 365 Day Alpha Challenge. Now we'll see how well I can keep up. BIG Grin. Why not play along.

I originally saw this I think on Cyberscribes. There was a lady who had done it and I was inspired by what she did. I kept it in the back of my mind. Don't remember who she was, and my computer has crashed since then, so I lost the information I had saved. But I'm thanking her anyway for a great idea.

Here is the Blurb I sent out:
It will start on the 1st day of January 2009 and end on the last day of December 2009.

You don’t have to be a calligrapher or an artist, but you do have to want to be CREATIVE and learn to be observant.

The RULES:
Every day you MUST create one letter of the alphabet (sequential starting with “A”). No excuse – we all say we’re too busy and we’ll do it tomorrow. That’s a NO, NO. Even if you only can do 2 minutes worth of a scribbled pencil letter, DO IT. Some days you’ll be able to spend more time, other days will be a challenge. AND don’t throw any of them away. We’re all our worst critics. This is a journey of both the good and the “bad”. There will be many days our “muse” deserts us and then there will be days that everything just falls into place.
When you’ve finished the 26 letters of the alphabet, then start all over again starting with the letter ”A”.
This is strictly between you and yourself. You do not have to tell anyone you’ve started or that you’re doing it, or even if you’ve failed along the way. Only you will know. You don’t have to show your work to anyone except yourself. But if you want to share, that would be great.

Make sure you DATE each day’s art. If you want to put them in a journal – wonderful. If you only want to store them in a shoe box – that’s fine too. At the end of the year, look through them and I’m sure it will bring back a bunch of memories, you’ll probably see growth and who knows what else.

SIZE: anywhere from 2.5” sq to 6” sq (must be square and no smaller or larger than these sizes but anything in between is fine). If you wish to do different sizes each day that’s fine too, although it will be harder to bind or store them if that’s what you’ll do in the end. And I’m sure there is someone out there that will say “I want to do a rectangle”. Well there’s nothing stopping you from doing a rectangle within the square format, just black out the negative portions – BIG GRIN.

Medium: Use pencils (graphite, colored, watercolor, pastels), pen and ink, watercolors, gel pens, whatever tools you feel like using that day. Be CREATIVE.

As I said above – you don’t have to be a calligrapher or an artist. Use your computer or magazines to help you. Trace or copy something onto your square or even use a TOUCH (but only a touch) of collage stuff. Your squares must be hand done. We are not doing actual letters, unless that’s what you want to do, but the nuances of the letter. Maybe you’ve seen a shadow that looks like a letter, or the tines of a fork that look like the letter “E”, or the iron work on a door that may look like the letter “S”, a magnet may be a letter “C”, or the negative portion between your feet may be the letter “V”, or... Of course if you’re stuck for what to do with a certain letter, you can always just draw the letter, but do something artistic with it.

Keep your eyes and mind open and look around you. What do you see. Is there anything out there that reminds you of a letter. Make sure you jot the thought down. That’s another BIG GRIN.

Keep a few loose squares in your purse and work on them when you’re standing in line, or sitting at the doctor’s office, or having lunch.

Push yourself a bit at the beginning, but once the habit is formed it becomes so much easier and then the most important thing is to enjoy the process.

No comments: