Summer of Color 4

Kristin at Twinkle Twinkle Like a Star

has had The Summer of Color (SOC) challenge for the last 4 years.

I joined last year's and really enjoyed the challenges. They kept me busy, creating fun different pieces of art in the colors chosen in the challenge. I joined in every weeks challenge last year in order to win some great supplies in the colors used and to get some creativity out. I didn't win last year.This year even before SOC  started I won the very first random drawing! I was so excited to win because I never win these blog things. Here is what I won...

These acrylic pens are very cool! The ones in the package are fine point but the ones in the mug with Kristin's cool art, are wide and super fun to use. I can't wait to play around with them some more. I used my Pentel and Sakura pens as well as colored pencil on this weeks challenge.

 SOC 4 came and went for me. Every week I was looking forward to the new colors and making art. But life got in the way with babies, tween's and housework there was little time for doing art. So here I am posting weeks after. 

I loved making these! Zentangle mandala fun.

This one reminds me of the sea...

The colors for this challenge were...you guessed it!

 Aqua blue, yellow and a smudge, splash or pop of hot pink.

This one reminds me of a carousel.

Here they are as I drew them together on the paper.

I'm linking up to SOC 4 if you want to see the other entrees. 

Thanks again for stopping by,
Chandra

Word of the Year!

There has been talk about choosing a word of the year. I have chosen words for myself over the years to help me remember what I need to do or become. The first word I chose oh, 10 years ago was smile. When I remembered this word and used it over and over I did smile and was happier. I used this word to help me get through many mental blocks. The second word I used was strength. I felt at the time I needed strength to get through life. I strived to be strong in everything I did. It was many years of this word over and over to help me develop strength. It helped change my view of myself. Then I chose wisdom as my word for many years. I really wanted to be wise to know how to be in the world with wisdom knowing all. 

So now here I am in the beginning of January 2013! I am ready for new words. I am in a group of women who are Artists and they have been talking about how to choose a word for the year. I can do that! So I thought and thought. Last night my words came to me. Not one but two this time! Wow, I said to myself, I am ready for changes. The words I picked are Growth and Joyous. 

So what do you do with these words you choose for yourself? Yesterday I had a mixed media meetup. It was so fun! There were 8 women who came and created their own mixed media art piece. It was great to see Artists in person and talk about all their projects. One woman talked about words of the year and how she is doing all these different things with her word. Like look up the definition. I liked that! Here are the definitions from the dictionary for my words. 

Definitions written in KRR's book

I also picked out a book to write quotes, definitions and anything I wish to write about these words.

My book from KRR for my words

I am growing. I look at my business and see changes and growth. I am increasing and developing my artistic abilities. Yay! I can't wait to see the GROWTH I have this year!

A mandala I made with growth in mind

An Artist in my Flying Lessons group has a mother who makes beautiful mandalas out of words. I thought that was a great idea. But I prefer to do it myself to really get to know the word. Use it over and over again. That's how it really sticks.

Some inspiration for my words 

 I also created some pictures with my words on pic collage! I love this app. It is wonderful! See how my words turned out! Lovely indeed!

I think JOYOUS came to me in my sleep last night. I was thinking how I would like to master being happy in everything I do. If I make a mistake, happy, If I have difficulty in life, happy. I know that these are lessons in growth. 

Remembering to be joyous in all I do. Like this lovely Artist Cori Dantini says in this picture below, "Joyous Living a challenge worth taking"

Cori Dantini I love her art!

I drew this for Joyous

 It feels great to share my words with you! I have never shared them before in all my years of choosing words for myself. I can't express how happy I am to be a part of a community of Artists. I didn't know I was craving this community before. It is fun to have my virtual Artist community and my Personal Artist community. There are many ways to use your word of the year. All of the above and more! I have seen jewelry made with the words. I know I will be working on this for myself. I am just learning to stamp in metal. I'll share this with you in a future post. So I hope you choose a word or words for yourself this year. Enjoy ( the first word I thought of using this year but chose joyous instead ) the power of repetition and imagination with these words. Have a wonderful New Year filled with personal inspirations and love.

Chandra

Now hop on over to Nazmoon Laila's blog to find out what her word of the year is...