Right Brain Redux: Day 14 of 30-day Creativity Challenge

Right Brain Redux Day 14: Bluebelly the Pirate

Started today out in the woods with Mini-Me, hunting some 'Seng (Ginseng). Didn't find any this time, but still had a good time. Today's Challenge projects were:

Jess: Create a new Pandora station, then create a piece of art inspired by the third song that plays.

Kev: Finger paint with the boys and post the results.

It wasn't hard to get Mini-me on board with the finger painting. He went to town as soon as we sat down. Little took a little more convincing. First he wanted to wave the paper around. Then as soon as there was paint on his finger, he had to taste it. Must've been pretty bad, based on the face he made and the fact that he didn't try to eat it anymore. After I put his finger on the paper and showed him he could make a streak, he lit up. He was pointing at colors that he wanted and holding his hand out for me to wipe when he got too much paint on it.

Mini-me finished his piece solo while I supervised Little on his first one. Then all three of us got our hands on the third piece (literally. All 3 of our handprints are on it). I even got Jess some of Little's handprints in her sketchbook before we were done. Then, Bluebelly the Pirate made his first appearance. Shortly thereafter, he began to Hulk out and then went for a scrub. But not until he painted MY belly, too.

Mini-me never said what he was painting, but to me it looks like the woods when the leaves start to turn. Which we did see one tree already changing color this morning, so maybe that was in his head still.

Who knows what Little was painting, but he was very deliberate with his color choices and placement on his solo piece. And belly.

Jess: Create a new Pandora station, then create a piece based on the third song that plays.

My song was "Freedom" by Warr Acres. This song brought into my mind the thought of "Crying out to God". So I looked for verses that fit that feeling. I came across "In my distress I called to the Lord". The image I chose was of a hand, reaching out for help. I placed the verse within the hand. Outside of the hand I added the verse "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked way, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. 2 Chr 7:14". After this, I needed to look up the reference/ location of the scripture on the hand, because I couldn't remember it.

It turns out this phrase appears in 5 different places in the Bible, giving me one verse reference for each finger on the hand. I did NOT plan this. God is amazing.

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Right Brain Redux: Day 13 of 30-Day Creativity Challenge

Right Brain Redux: Day 13

It's T-shirt Thursday! Ok, so that's how it turned out, anyway. Today, both of us drew T-shirt design projects from our Challenge Jars. Jessica pulled "Design a 'Dr. Who' inspired t-shirt that a fan will recognize, but you can't use any character's name or face." I drew "Design a t-shirt based on/ inspired by a Bible verse."

(Kev) My first thought was to draw an "Armor of God" picture. I've imaged that in several different ways over the years, and I actually enjoy drawing it. But then again, that is a passage of Scripture, not a verse. Since this is a challenge, I elected to select a single verse to interpret. I went with Philippians 4:13.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. " (KJV)

The original image in my head was of the letters outlined in white with black and white images of people doing things inside. But it just didn't look right. So I went with the text instead. The tough part of these challenges is getting them done in a short time. The nice part is that we are getting something down as a design, but we intend on revisiting the good ideas and refining them to completed designs after the challenge is over.

The thought of "DO" has been on my mind for the last while, especially when I think of that verse. "Do" puts action to something. It is also a command or instruction. "Do this." We say "I AM a Christian." To me, I just keep thinking about "Being" verses "Doing". Are we "Doing" Christianity for the world to see? When "I am", it is a statement. When "I do" it is action visible to the naked eye. Just my thoughts.

Go Do.

(Jess) When I read my challenge, the first thing I thought of was the "Bad Wolf" graffiti because I love graffiti. And that's my favorite season of the The Doctor anyway. Then I realized that there was already a lot of those designs out there. After thinking a bit, I chose to do "Bad Wolf" in Gallifreyan. I found several sites with the alphabet and showing you how to read and write it. There seems to be a couple of different versions out there, but I settled on one and turned the words into this design. How you write it and form words is very interesting. It's far from just being a simple substitution alphabet. I found myself lost in studying how to read it, and I had to make myself stop in order to finish the project.

And as Kevin mentioned, the good ideas we will revisit and refine later. This is one I definitely want to give a second (and third and fourth and...) go over. I really like the concept, but I want to spend more hands-on time with this design and the writing itself. Most likely with my own hands instead of digitally, so I can give it my style. I like... need that control when it comes to design.

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Right Brain Redux: Day 9 of 30-day Creativity Challenge

Right Brain Redux: Day 9

Coincidences do happen, I guess. One way or another, Jessica and I both have the same challenge today:

"Write a Haiku about something you can see right now".

Jessica drew hers in the living room late in the day, while I drew mine early in the morning in our bedroom/ office. This gave us a very different range of subjects to choose from.

Jess: When I pulled my challenge out and saw it, the first thing I saw was the living room itself. I had the indelible stamp of Little on it. All over it, in fact. Every time I looked back at the room to try and choose a subject, the only thing I could see was the room itself. It got cleaned up at least three times today. (Yeah, he didn't feel well today, so he was a little off his game.)

Epic Destruction

Home Lays In Ruins Today

We Have A Toddler

Kevin: I actually had a time picking my subject for the Haiku. What I can see from my desk chair gives me a lot of possibilities. Too many, actually. So I narrowed it down to my desktop itself. (Single letters are words)

Nine S D Cards Here

Fifteen G B Of Treasures?

Yep Mostly My Kids

Fun!

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Right Brain Redux: Day 7 of 30-day Creativity Challenge

Right Brain Redux
Episode 7: Revenge of the Sick

Great day for creativity. Every last one of us woke up sick this morning. Even Little slept till after 9, and he's usually up with the chickens. It's a challenge, right? Every day is a challenge of its own, and we keep on getting reminded of that. That very thing has a lot to do with the creative doldrums we are breaking out of here. Accountability and a structure keeps us rolling.

Kevin: Draw something left-handed

Jess: Cook something you've never cooked before













Jess // "Cook something you've never cooked before"

Honestly, it's been a rough day. I (Jess) know I'm sick because I'm sitting here in a long-sleeved shirt and socks. I DON'T wear socks in the summer... I rarely wear anything beyond flip flops/ sandals. Growing up in Georgia, it's easy to push that no-socks rule clear into October. 

Anyway, I slept while our Little One took a nap, and then had to go back to bed again after dinner. I did end up making something I've never cooked before and learned something to boot. Anything in our lives can be seen through a filter of creativity... think "how can I do this different/ creatively"? 

I had some leftover beef and broth from cooking a roast in the slow cooker. It was marinated in Soy Vay Teriyaki, soy, ketchup, onions, and some water. I mostly had stock and just a little meat, so I thought "how can I stretch this?" (Thanks, Mom, for that lesson of many.) Soup seemed a perfect solution, especially since we were all feeling puny today.

Tossed some stir-fry veggies (baby corn, peppers, peas, carrots, sugar snaps, broccoli, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots) with lo mein noodles, and that leftover stock in a large pot. Let it boil then simmer for about 15 minutes. Done. Something I've never cooked before, Teriyaki Vegetable Beef Soup. 

Kevin // My (Kev) challenge for today was the same one Jess had yesterday: Draw something left-handed. She set the bar pretty high on that one, but lucky for me we aren't competing. I wasn't quite sure what to draw, and put it off till later in the evening because I just didn't feel like drawing (see accountability above). A gunfighter and a dragon were both rattling around in my head, so I decided to try both, despite being warned that I was being overly ambitious. The results are below for you to see.

This one really was a challenge. One of the biggest difficulties I encountered was my hand wanted to move in the exact mirror image of what I wanted it to. Up and down were fine, but left-right was reversed. I did not finish. But I did write a story in my head while I drew it.

11x17 on Canson Bristol

Doc walked up on the porch and sat down next to the Marshall. The huge corpse in the street was already drawing scavengers both human and animal. Lots of meat and leather to be had.

"Hated to see that happen, Doc. Ol' Joe been a fixture around these parts as long as I can remember."

"Hated to have to do it, Marshall," came the sad reply, "Joe's the third one I've had to put down in the last month. Had to deal with that big finback out on the McKeever place just last week. Half their herd is gone."

"Doc, I ain't never seen anything like this. They're usually pretty even tempered critters, long as you give 'em wide berth. What you think's goin on?"

Doc leaned his chair back and took a long pull on his freshly-lit pipe, "I tell you this much, Marshall; No one's safe in these parts until we figure out what's got the dragons riled up."

What we're listening to // Music to create by











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Right Brain Redux: Day 4 of 30-day Creativity Challenge

First off, we want to tell Aunt Dorothy: Say hey to Pawpaw Bill for us. We love you. You got your healing when you crossed the river.

Monday. All day. So today gifted us with the challenges of Kev creating a set of inkblots (like an inkblot test) and describing what he saw in them. Jess drew out "Draw a friendly robot". Which immediately caused her to ask "Is there truly such a thing as a friendly robot? They all have ulterior motives." I submit to you Transformers G1 Bumblebee (cartoon version). So friendly you might get diabetes if you hang around him too long...

Anyways.

For my (Kev) challenge, I created about a dozen inkblots using plain printer paper with India ink and some of Little's finger paints.  I pre-folded the papers then opened them back up and applied drops of black ink and in some case some blobs of colored paint. Then I folded the paper and smoothed it out to spread the pigments and unfolded it to dry. A couple of them ended up so full of paint they were almost useless, but I came out with ten really nice ones. Some of them I think made such nice patterns they are practically art and I may explore this as a method/ medium in the future.

That much said, I selected  6 blots to describe. I have numbered them 1-6 and will flip through them and give my immediate first impression of what I see. I will not spend time studying them or seeking patterns, just what jumps out at me.

 #1. Alien woman in a black lace collar and a blue dress with pink ruffles and black shoes.

#2. Hammer-headed lobster

#3. Wolf's head

#4. Pelvis with a vertebra above it

#5. Mothra flying over islands

#6. Blue man with warthog/ elephant head

I give no analysis. Take what you will from what I see.

When I (Jess) pulled out "Draw a friendly robot", my initial thought was cutesy robot. But then I gave it a second thought and mulled over the idea of a robot that was friendly/ helpful but didn't necessarily look friendly. My first thought after that was of the terminator in T2. But even that character, though he was a father figure, wasn't really friendly. Picture an endoskeleton holding a balloon. Then I thought of Handles. Yes, we watch Dr Who. A lot. Cybermen are very very bad. But handles started out useful and even though we didn't get to see but the beginning and end of his story, he spent a long time with the doctor. At the end, he was clearly counted a friend and not just a tool. So without further ado, I give you "Handles." Well done, Mate.

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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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