"The Circle" Daisy Yellow Workshop

I've been deeply inspired by Tammy Garcia's fabulous Daisy Yellow Art website at daisyyellowart.com for the past several years! She's most well known for holding a wonderful free creative challenge by posting 61 prompts (1 per day) during June and July for many years back where many people around the world push themselves to create art on an index card every day (thus the name "ICAD"). She hosts an associated Facebook page where everyone may post the index cards they've created which address the prompts or anything else the person wishes to create! Close bonds develop between thousands of people around the world as they post and sweetly comment on each other's family-friendly index card-size works of art, providing support and encouragement to one another to spur everyone on to posting for the entire 61 days, if possible. It's been a stress-free, supportive, loving place to create.

This year, Tammy developed a new paid workshop called "The Circle" at http://daisyyellowart.com/workshops/  ntended to compliment the ICAD experience by adding more than 61 unique posts to inspire us to dig deeper into our creative practices as we take our creativity to new levels. Projects include everything from collecting inspiration in an idea book to making circles into slices and merging pieces together like slices of pie!

This thought provoking workshop encourages deep thought about art and causes us to move out of our comfort zone and explore the hows, whys and what ifs of our personal journeys with the creative process. Like other projects from Daisy Yellow, we are encouraged to enjoy the process without worrying about the end result. Tammy has always pushed us up the mountain of possibilities into a new chalet of opportunities and now, with this workshop, has provided easy to follow steps to get us to that optimal place we need to go but never realized! The Workshop is online and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week until December 2017. It contains many new projects and ideas. I've been happily enjoying working through the many areas on my own time and in many different media including ink sprays, pen drawings, acrylic paint, collage and more. I highly recommend this Workshop to the novice and seasoned artist alike, since it is a motivational, yet self-paced, warm, and welcoming place to explore ones art and the creative process.

Here are a few pieces I created that work to the prompts of "The Circle."

Video 002. Learn to Stencil and Doodle Envelopes - Uploaded!

I uploaded my second video on YouTube! The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAv6GIlaAUk. I demonstrate how you can use a simple stencil to decorate an envelope and then use a black pen to doodle around the stencil - this makes it uniquely your own! This technique can be applied to art journaling and any type of foundation you'd like! If you like it, please click on the "thumbs up" icon and I'll make more!  Then click on the subscribe button so you'll be notified when I upload new videos. If you have an idea for other happy art you'd like me to demonstrate, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Video 001. Learn to Draw 4 Faces with Pencil - Uploaded!

I uploaded my first video on YouTube! The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzmI5eP2DNQ. I demonstrate 2 techniques I learned in elementary school to draw simple faces and then 2 more that are a little more lifelike, but still fairly simple. If you like it, please click on the "thumbs up" icon and I'll make more!  Then click on the subscribe button so you'll be notified when I upload new videos.

My First Dozen DaisyYellowArt.com "Muse30" Creations

I started working the wonderful MUSE30 prompts found at DaisyYellowArt.com and on the Daisy Yellow Facebook Page in February 2016 and continued through March (see my 2 March 2016 blog where I first wrote abouty the MUSE30 prompt series). I became busy with family, travel and other efforts through May. Then more travel to family across the country and index card creations every day in June and July (Daisy Yellow's ICAD creative challenge). I've been creating other things (mostly greeting cards) in August but plan to complete the rest of the Muse 30 prompts starting in September. I invite you to do them with me! Here's a collage summary of the first dozen which I incorporated into one photo using the excellent app "Pic Collage" which thankfully works on my iPhone, iPad, and Windows 10 PC. I did one of my own ("MUSE") instead of #9-JETSONS, but followed the other prompts. I created acrostic style work on each prompt so far and plan to continue through the end - there are 30 plus a bonus prompt. I also posted this on the Daisy Yellow Facebook page (which I urge you to join), and my FB Pages.