Sketch Book Project 2012 and NANOWRIMO
I know, I know. It seems like just yesterday that I was trying to get the seventy-nine pages of the sketchbook finished in time to mail before the deadline. And here I am a year later (give or take a month or three) and it is time to begin filling in another seventy-nine pages of art. I have to admit that I am one of those people who in absence of the muse, find that deadlines work to move me to create. The blank page, the great white-space, the emptiness of nothing in your head to transfer to the nothingness on the paper is daunting. When did making art become so difficult? Truthfully, other than the days in college - art has been hit or miss. I wish that it was more like music where hours of study daily keeps the muse happy.... I've begun leaving little trails of cracker crumbs in my mind to get the attention of the muse. I pick up small pieces of paper and doodle. Doodling is also the equivalent of leaving a trail of crackers for said muse.
I have convinced myself that the lack of space for very large paintings is the block that keeps me from creating. But that excuse is now five years old. Must come up with another excuse. . . .
The sketchbook project, for those of you who might be randomly browsing through blogs, is based in Brooklyn. It has a traveling exhibit that last year went to Chicago, to San Francisco, to Cleveland and a list of other cities that you can see if you go to http://www.arthousecoop.com/ and take a look at the previous year submissions. If you liked what you saw on the previous entry about Sketchbook Project 2011 and want to see more, look up the username -freckledfish. Or, you can look under Willoughby, Kathleen. It was quite an accomplishment to get that many drawings in one place in three months. LOL. So - I will do it again.
This year I've added something else to help spur on the creative mind. I've rejoined the National Novel Writers NANOWRIMO. It is held every November. You have thirty days to write the great American novel. To find out more - go to http://www.nanowrimo.com/ and chase the dream of completing fifty-thousand words in thirty days. There are great get togethers for regionally based writers in your area and the last days are CRAZY wild while the counter counts down and the numbers rise like a loaf of bread left on a cold counter top. You know that if you are very lucky, you will have something that resembles a fully risen bread dough that makes watching yeast grow seem like a high-speed chase. The words come in spurts, spurts that you can feed into a word counter that will tell you there are more or less the anticipated words added than you had hoped for. Sort of like a little "Surprise!" party every night for thirty nights.
So, I thought I would get a little practice at 'free-writing' before Halloween turns into fright-night at 00:00:01 on November 1st.
I hope that you take a look at these sites and I hope that you participate - time is running out to sign up for the marathon of the creative minds! Happy wording!
I have convinced myself that the lack of space for very large paintings is the block that keeps me from creating. But that excuse is now five years old. Must come up with another excuse. . . .
The sketchbook project, for those of you who might be randomly browsing through blogs, is based in Brooklyn. It has a traveling exhibit that last year went to Chicago, to San Francisco, to Cleveland and a list of other cities that you can see if you go to http://www.arthousecoop.com/ and take a look at the previous year submissions. If you liked what you saw on the previous entry about Sketchbook Project 2011 and want to see more, look up the username -freckledfish. Or, you can look under Willoughby, Kathleen. It was quite an accomplishment to get that many drawings in one place in three months. LOL. So - I will do it again.
This year I've added something else to help spur on the creative mind. I've rejoined the National Novel Writers NANOWRIMO. It is held every November. You have thirty days to write the great American novel. To find out more - go to http://www.nanowrimo.com/ and chase the dream of completing fifty-thousand words in thirty days. There are great get togethers for regionally based writers in your area and the last days are CRAZY wild while the counter counts down and the numbers rise like a loaf of bread left on a cold counter top. You know that if you are very lucky, you will have something that resembles a fully risen bread dough that makes watching yeast grow seem like a high-speed chase. The words come in spurts, spurts that you can feed into a word counter that will tell you there are more or less the anticipated words added than you had hoped for. Sort of like a little "Surprise!" party every night for thirty nights.
So, I thought I would get a little practice at 'free-writing' before Halloween turns into fright-night at 00:00:01 on November 1st.
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