Right Brain Redux: Day 3 of 30 Day Creativity Challenge

Sundays are busy days for us, so time for the challenge was definitely part of the challenge. My (Kev) Jar pull for today was to write a poem (length and type unspecified) on a subject chosen at random by Mini-me. He chose for me "Spider-Man". I debated for a while over what kind of poem to try. Now, I'm no poetry aficionado. I do enjoy a limerick every now and again, and I can appreciate good poetry. As far as writing goes, I'm merely a dabbler. So here you have it:

Superhero when he crawls the walls

Peter Parker when he walks the halls

Intent for evil brings his attention

Dumb crooks in police detention

Extra headlines for Triple J

Really makes for big payday

May never knows where he's been

Always honors his Uncle Ben

Never lets evil doers win!

C'mon, Monday! Bring it on!

Kev

Jess // Day 3 Challenge: Take a Photograph of Something Intriguing

I had originally thought I'd try to ride around to find my photography subject. I had an idea of something involving old bricks, unexpected pops of color, and/or something you'd most likely pass by with no second thought. Those subjects will surely find me another day though as I'm always looking for them. Like Kev said, Sundays are our busiest days, and by this evening, I was also feeling rough... that sinus infection is coming for me. So I grabbed my camera and headed outside before I lost the daylight. Hope for a couple of pics, probably macro shots, I had, but what I didn't expect was later choosing 1 of 80 shots.

I find unattractive things intriguing. I'm obsessed with rust and chipped paint. Algae, moss, and rotting things make for perfect subjects. Maybe it's drawing out their intriguing qualities that makes me feel like I've redeemed them in some way. I'm sure I could analyze why that's so, but to make this blog entry a little more succinct, I'll move on. Here's the picture I finally decided to post (no small task due to incurable indecisiveness.)

Here's where that indecisiveness hits again... what I like about it: color, rust, paint chipping, something you'd likely pass by or not notice, a bonus spider web, and even a hidden spider to find. Do you see it?

I might get this one printed, and I'll probably post a few of the other 79 shots at some point too. Day 4, I'm ready!

Jess



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Right Brain Redux: Day Two Updated Projects

Right Brain Redux: Day 2

Today was one of those days. You know the ones: those days where everything comes up and goes haywire (especially the toddler) and by the time that you've done all the errand running and putting out fires and hidden the matches (Jess, not really, this is a hypothetical situation) from the toddler again and maybe chased down a bite to eat (that the toddler carried through the house) there just doesn't seem to be any time left for, well, anything. Well, that's where we found ourselves today. Between the errands and getting ready for Kid's Church tomorrow, there really didn't seem to be time to squeeze in a creative project this evening.

We started this little experiment as a way to kick start our creativity after it's been idle for so long, but today it has also shown us that you CAN find time to create. You just have to want to. Maybe you give up something else for it. The relaxing bath. Another episode of Dr. Who. Part of your sleep. You just decide which one is the most important to you.

Today's challenges were:

Jessica: Create a piece from/ inspired by an everyday object.

Jess took her inspiration from something most of us see every day, and incidentally our studio name. She began with a stove burner/ eye from an electric stove and stripped it down to its basic shapes and curves.  Framing a portion of the eye in the image and stripping out the colors, she added some old-fashioned halftones and created an image that I would almost swear was a domed city from one of my old Buck Rogers comics I had as a kid. I love it.

Kevin: Design a T-Shirt based on a visual pun.

I actually thought this one up yesterday without having any idea I would draw this particular challenge today. The phrase I punned was the title of the old hymn "Power in the Blood". I took the image of a blood bag and simply placed a universal style power button in the middle of it. I had thought of doing a blood splatter with the button in it, but I just didn't have time. I went old-school in the creation of this image. Light pencil sketch, inked over and the pencil erased, then colored in with some Twenty-year-old Prismacolor markers I bought way back in art school. The red one gave me its last I think. After coloring in, I went over the red with alcohol on gauze to feather it out a bit and blend.

Neither of these pieces took and extremely large amount of time to create. In fact, I'd guess about an hour apiece. Proof that you CAN find time to create. They may not be perfect design, but they are perfect imperfection. And that's art.

See you tomorrow for Round 3!

Kev

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Right Brain Redux : Day 2 Project Challenges

Our challenges for day two have been drawn from the jars. 

Check back to see how the challenge goes! 

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Pushing Through Towards Something Better // Eating Your Carrots

I'm finishing up my last week of college. It's been all the cliche-ique things... harder than I ever imagined, an up-and-down roller coaster, super expensive, etc. Ten years ago exactly, I was pushing through to finish my Associate's Degree in Arts. I was pregnant and extremely apprehensive about the future. I wasn't even sure I'd be going back to school.

I'm still not sure about the future. That baby is almost ten now. He's a lot of the reason of why I am finishing. My mom and I call it, "eating our carrots." I know school was the right choice for my future,  just like my mom always stressed to us the importance of eating our vegetables.

What I didn't know was the absolute struggle it would be... late night classes, financial aid nightmares, "group work" that I did on my own...

My mother disliked carrots, but she ate them in front of us anyway. She knew she was setting an example.
We laugh now about it, and every time I've had yet another academic hill to climb, we say "gotta eat your carrots!"

My son will later see how hard I've worked towards this goal, and more than anything, I hope it inspires him to eat some carrots of his own.

Thanks mom, for eating your carrots.