Nudge 22, Inspired by Children

Here is my page from last weeks' I Spy nudge. I collected a bunch of red things and then, well, then I made a red painting of me. I challenged myself to just use red, brown, black and some quinacridone gold (acrylic paints). I challenged myself to take about a half hour. 

Nudge 21, I Spy Red

Cassie gave a great idea last week in the comments. She is inspired to use her child's artwork in a collage. I love this. Children's artwork is so fresh, playful and natural. Wouldn't it be great to go back? Well, let's do it!

Nudge 22: Inspired by Children

One of the challenges here will be to try to work intuitively and organically. Kids are fearless. They don't wonder if they can draw a tree or a butterfly, they simply draw it. Can you free yourself up to do this? There is much symbolic drawing with kids. A house is a rectangle with rectangular windows and a door. The ground is on the bottom of the picture and the sky is at the top. Simple, right?

Here is a link to the Global Children's Art Gallery. You may get inspired there. Or maybe inspiration is right underfoot? If you have a little one around, get out the crayons and draw together right in your journal. My kids used to love to do this. Scattered throughout my old sketchbooks and journals are priceless bits of drawings made by my kids. My son loved drawing penguins.

This is gonna be a good one!

Nudge 21, I Spy Something Red

Here is my response to my own nudge and it almost didn't get posted. Why? Because it is unfinished (horrors). Then I thought, well, that wouldn't be fair now would it? We are all on the same train. Some weeks are crazy busy and when it comes to working in my journal, a word or doodle here and there is all I can manage. So why pretend? When the little whisper of meaning came to mind with this Nudge, I was happy and finished for the moment.

Frida Kahlo eyebrows? What's that about ...

I did a sketch

Playing with an extreme head tilt.

and some doodles for my class over at Jude Hill's blog

I'm learning a lot in Jude's class. About cloth weaving and Boro, of course. The bonus is watching her teach online. I wanted to incorporate the concept of "working along" with my students. I thought it would give it an immediacy that might otherwise be lacking. I was thrilled to see Jude doing this (and very well). 

So here's the deal with the Nudges. I'm going to start working along with all of you now. Not doing the Nudge and then posting it all done. But working on them over the week; this and that. What comes up will come up. We'll all learn a lot more this way. 

I'd also welcome any nudges from you! I'd love to be Nudged. If you have an idea, put it in the comments or send me an email. A word, a thought, a material, a technique: all is welcome. Let's really make this a communal Nudging. Whaddya' think? 

And now for Nudge 21. Let's play "I Spy." Pick a color - any color you love (or never think much about). Over the next week, collect bits of that color - in all of its saturated or grayed down forms and stick it in your journal. Or put the pieces, if they are 3D, into a box and then you can take a picture. Or go out with your camera and play "I Spy." Whatever runs the flag up your pole.