The themes for the week were Dandelions and to Make Bad Art. Years ago when I was feeling creative, I would make lists of things that interested me and write them on a stack of business cards. Then, when I wanted to art but didn’t have a subject, I would shake the sack and pull out a random prompt to work with. Along those same lines now, I’m using a spin-the-wheel app that lets me add what ever I want to it. I just spin the virtual wheel and BOOM a prompt to brainstorm with for the week.  That’s where the dadelion theme came from.

Then I just go into free style mode on what exactly that means… Is it a literal dandelion? Is it a Dandy? Is it a lion? I chose for it to be any member of the Aster family like chicory

As for the make bad art, I sat down and listed a hundred or so slogans I’ve seen tossed around pertaining to art improvement and started listing them. This was the top of the list. It’s not really encouragement to make bad art. Nor is it an implication that your art might be bad. Instead, it means your focus should not be on making good art, but just on making art. Even bad art. Especially bad art. Bad art teaches you something new. Everytime you engage in your creative processes, you learn something, but you learn more when you have challenges and mistakes to review. So, make bad art.

These two themes came together on The Artistic Biker Live! last Thursday when I painted dandelions in the art journal. I realized that I should have made the background more dramatic and there should have been more splash in the colors and shadows of the asters. All in all it was a good time. I streamed it straight to youtube and left all the hair-dryer paint drying in. :)  You can watch it here: