What’s always been the hardest part of creating for me? Starting.  Especially when there is a blank page involved.  I used to be stopped by thoughts such as, “Will it be good enough?” or “I don’t have a good plan” or “I don’t have the right supplies” or “It won’t be good enough anyway”.

I still have all those thoughts but they don’t stop me anymore.  Kurt Vonnegut was right when he said, “To practice art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.”

For me, this  quote is all about giving myself permission to make something no matter if it is pretty or a hot mess.  Perfect isn’t important.  What is important is the  starting, the doing.  So that’s what I do now anytime I hear those thoughts.

In the video, you’ll see how I take that quote to heart. This starts out as one hot mess where I am doing it all the “wrong” ways, and it brought me such joy.

Watch How to deal with the blank page by stenciling all the wrong ways on YouTube.

I am honored to be the featured artist this week at Colour Me Positive, a weekly journal challenge. Thank you Lisa! I love all the positivity and creativity happening there!

To get started,  I grabbed my Verbage stencil since verbs are all about doing. I stenciled all the “wrong” ways with the Dylusions paints- too much paint, going side to side instead of up and down, stenciling on top of wet paint.

I had a blast doing it!  Paint ran under the stencil. Colors smeared together. I can’t even read most of the words.  Who cares!

Then I turned it into a giant hot mess with random marks with oil pastels. I could have stopped any time but I didn’t want to – it was just too much fun scribbling away!

In that chaotic background, I saw a garden so I used a couple of masks.   The Bold Flower masks (that come with the stencil) and one of the butterfly masks that also come with my Butterfly Journeys stencil to create a garden. 

I even managed to temporarily clog the hard to clog fine liners. It wasn’t a problem at all because there is a little metal pin in the cap so that I can unclog it with that. Of course, I could also change how I was holding the fineliner…but that is a crazy thought!  If you’re new to fineliners I have a video about them here.

What started as a blank page taunting me became a total mess and then turned into a very colorful garden of play!  Next time you face that blank page, take Kurt Vonnegut’s advice and just start doing it!

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!

InLinkz.com

Cheap plastic balls are becoming pattern making tools for Gelli printing® in this week’s Let’s Play video!  These balls are meant for kiddie ball pits but just because they aren’t supposed to be an art supply doesn’t mean they can’t be one!

Be sure to get entered into the Let’s Play $50 gift certificate giveaway by leaving a comment- details at the end of this post.

Start by getting some paint on the Gelli plate®…you can put as few or as many colors on as you want.

Then use the plastic balls to create the patterns.  In the video below, you can see how I smush them to create these loose patterns.

Watch How to make colorful patterns with a gelli plate® on YouTube.

Want to know more about Gelli printing®?  I’ve got free resources for you to get started and a tutorials for keeping the play going!

You an use one or more than one ball at a time, after all, there aren’t a lot of rules to this!

See those bits of pink in the print on the right?  That’s all because I don’t clean off my plate completely between pulls.  That allows for serendipitous color play!

How does this help me play? There is no wrong way to do this so the pressure is off! After all there is no “right” way to use flattened plastic balls on a Gelli Plate®!

What is Let’s Play?  It’s a series of videos all about rediscovering the ability to play. Each month I share a specific strategy that helped me ditch the stress and rediscover how to play. You can see all the previous ones here.  Each month has a theme, and this month’s theme is turning non art supplies into art supplies.

Giveaway! This month’s giveaway is a $50 gift certificate to Dick Blick! Leave a comment to be entered -details at the end of this post.

The randomness is addicting and all these colorful papers will end up in my art journals, in collages, and even a few gifts I am making.

Want to see more Let’s Play videos? You can find all the weekly posts here.

Sharing your play:   I, and a whole bunch of others, would love to see what you’re creating!  We’re sharing it in the Facebook group called A Colorful Place to Play. Why Facebook?  I’ve listened to your feedback about how and where you’d like to share your play instead of the link parties.

Monthly giveaways:  Leave comment on any (and all for more chances) of the weekly Let’s Play blog posts to be entered and one winner each month will be chosen by random.org.  Want more chances to win a $50 gift certificate to DickBlick.com?  Pin any of the images from the page or share about it on Facebook- then come back and leave a comment telling me what you did and you can have more chances to win! Giveaway closes the Sunday, July 3rd at 11 pm EST and the winner will announced on the blog the following Monday.

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!

InLinkz.com