February 04, 2010

LET YOUR ART GUIDE YOU


I recently saw the movie "Julie And Julia". It was superb. It was not only entertaining, but spoke to me in many ways. I related to Julie and her search for something more than the day to day humdrum of her government job that was uninspiring and did not fulfill her real potential. Like her, I am just starting my 30's, trying to figure out in more depth who I am, and wanting to see more of my creative side.

I am sure I am not the only mother or artist who gets in a rut. Being both a mother and artist can be hard! As a mother you are very often last on the "totem pole" because of the desire to be the best mother you can be for your family. As an artist you can doubt yourself, sometimes get in a rut and need inspiration. Mix the two, and finding time to paint, craft, sew and generally create much of anything, can be a struggle. I often struggle to find time in the day to do things that make my heart pump a little faster and my creative voice start to sing. Like anything in life, if you don't outline a goal, it will never will be achieved.

So, just like Julie who put herself under immense pressure to cook through Julia Child's cookbook in 1 year, and blog about it, I am challenging myself. I am hoping that the pressure will turn my skills and my abilities that are untrained and potholed with doubt, into diamonds just like it did for her.


Here's the goal. I will create a painting each week that I am proud to share with you all. Or I should say that I will share with you, proud or not. It may not seem like much, but for me, this is an undertaking, one that I am gladly going to embark on. I need it. I need to push myself and find more of "Emily, the artist" and hone my skills.

~I WANT YOU~
to join me!

Each Thursday I will show you what I created that week. I want you to do the same. I will have a link that you can sign up with next Thursday and we can all see each others "ART" .

My hope is this will spur all of us on to finish projects, or start some we haven't had the courage to do. Like a group of friends going walking together, we are creating together and putting ourselves under the pressure to do it! To really do it! Through our comments, we can cheer each other on.

Anything goes, a sewing project, a drawing, a scrapbook page, a recipe. It is all art when it is created by our own hands in my opinion.

Are you pumped- are you excited?

I am.

This is my painting for this week.

I made it into a poster for you to use on your blog post. I will have a button next week for our sidebars. I hope you will not be scared, but will join me as we grow together.

Let your ART guide you!!


I promise- we will all grow in ways we could only dream of, if we let our "art" guide us.

xo Emily xo

16 comments:

Deedra said...

You bet I'm in, sister :)

Anonymous said...

Im in! This just might be the motivation I need!

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The Haley Family said...

I'm in girl!

Anonymous said...

when do we start? Im so exited!

Emily Anne Leyland said...

Yay!! I am so excited some of you are joining me. It starts tomorrow Maria. I am SO happy you are as pumped as I am ;-)

Alyson | New England Living said...

What a great post! I'm not a visual artist, so I can't bring anything to the table, but I do want to write more. I am a writer and I want to write the novel that's been knocking around in my head.

Anonymous said...

OK I made something quick last night to meet the deadline :D
http://herkaleidoscopeye.blogspot.com/2010/02/artsy-thursday-tania.html

Emily Anne Leyland said...

SO excited you guys are joining me!!!

Alyson- Ok- well it doesn't have to be visual. I know you are a FANTASTIC writer so maybe write and just join us in the process or write something small and post a link to it. I want this to motivate all of us to push ourselves creatively.

Heather said...

How fun! I've been in a bit of a creating rut myself...Im sure you can understand, having just moved yourself!
I think you will have so much fun finding emily the artist! I think she's closer than you realize...

Julie said...

I would love to join...thank you for the invite! If I don't have something for this week....can I still participate next week? Can't wait to see your piece. : )

Emily Anne Leyland said...

Julie- of course!! Get something ready and join us next week. YAY!!

andrea said...

Hi-thanks for the invitation :)
I've never done anything like this so please be patient as I learn ;)
This will motivate me to get some work done,finally-lol

Laura Lynne said...

My kids are grown now, so I don't have that to block me from creating...but...I am a full-time art educator. You'd think that would inspire me to create artwork of my own, and it does to some extent...but by the end of each day of encouraging my students to do their very best, I'm out of time and energy to pursue my own! So...this is a challenge I need to be more than sporadic with making my own art.

Cherylann said...

Sound's Interesting! I'd like to give it a try.