Art Challenges

One of my goals for the season is to spend more time in creative play, and to share that play. Because I make art as my livelihood, I can get caught up in the work and neglect my spontaneous creativity (which doesn't always present itself as a way to immediately get the bills paid!) In the short term this is OK, but in the long term this neglect can lead to burnout and stagnation in my work. One of the ways I've chosen to keep myself accountable to my goal of more creative play is by participating in two on-line art challenges that I really enjoy: Mixed Media Monday, and Illustration Friday. Mixed Media Monday, as you might guess, focuses on mixed media; the fun, active, friendly, talented community of MMM artists are a nice international mix, mostly women, and mostly those who make art for the love of it and not necessarily for a living. Illustration Friday encompasses all media, and participants run the gamut from professional illustrators to new artists. Both sites announce a weekly theme around which you can create your piece. I invite you to join me as I jump into these challenges!

Above is my (slightly late) submission for this week's MMM challenge, "Maps". These tiny works are Artist Trading Cards made from maps of the Caribbean. I made these during a time when I was doing lots of reading about Afro-Caribbean spirituality, music, and culture; my mind and heart were occupied by both the unspeakable horror of the slave trade, and the brilliant beauty of West African spirituality in diaspora. Something of these thoughts went into these tiny pieces.