A Month of Experimentation

In my last post I mentioned how inspired I was by Melissa Sweet during SCBWI's summer conference. I felt like it was an artistic awakening of sorts and I'm eager to put into practice what I learned.

The first point Melissa stressed was working everyday. She said it gave you "a larger vocabulary, more facility with materials, and it allows for possibility." She also mentioned working with a medium we've been dying to try. Allowing for possibility and experimentation is something I certainly need to make room for. Because of time constraints in the past, I've always felt like I had to be productive when I sat at my drafting table. I put my head down and plowed through my process, eyes on the finish line. There was no space for those wonderful surprises that the muse likes to throw out there sometimes.

Like this scribble. Made this during a meeting. There was mention of cake. Mmm...CAKE.

Well, no more! Play is going to be taken more seriously (ha) around here. Every morning, I will sit at my work table without expectation. Whatever happens inside the little 3 x 3 squares happens and I'll be happy regardless. I'm going to remember how much I enjoy the process of creating and forget about the end product for a bit.

My drafting table with a bunch of new toys spread out.

To help with accountability, I'll be posting my little experiments here on the blog for thirty days. If I'm successful, then I'll push for another thirty, and so on. My hope is that they become a well-ingrained habit.
In honor of the artist who inspired me, I'm calling my experiments: Sweet Squares. I invite you to join me in a month-long expedition of experimentation without expectation. I know I'm not the only one who was inspired in LA, or who would like a goal to stretch themselves artistically. If you think you have the gumption to play along for the next thirty days, feel free to enter a static link to the post of the daily art you've created in the form below. It will be nice to see how others are approaching the stretching of their art muscles!

Note: Each day I will have a linky tool at the bottom of the post. Be sure to post your day's square with the correlating post so we can see your progress! :)