can you believe it's june first already? yeah, me neither, this year is just totally FLYING by! on the other hand it means my favorite 61 days of the year are finally upon us: the index card a day project begins today, devised and hosted by the awesome tammy garcia on the daisy yellow art blog. (can i get a, "woohoo"?! ta v much!) you don't need any fancy supplies, or an official book, or ANYTHING to participate, except a pack of index cards and a writing implement, but something i learned about myself a few years ago is that i will be a lot more excited about... and committed to... a project if i've done a little bit of prep. so yeah, i decorated the cover of my store-bought, spiral-bound index cards in advance:
official ICAD 2015 book cover
you don't have to have a plan, a theme, or a format going into ICAD, either, and i definitely like to keep loose to maximize sponteneity; but again, it's cool to have a bit of a "wish list" right? so this year i'd like to do more drawing and doodling. it's possible my cool cover inspired me a little too much, because on saturday night i saw the (100% optional!) daily prompts and weekly themes were posted at daisy yellow, and i just COULD NOT WAIT one more minute to start! so i did:
001: chevrons
i don't always use the prompts, and i expect at some point this year i'll go off on my own tangents too, but there are definitely times that i see something on the list that shouts inspiration to me, and, "chevrons!" was one of those, lol.
002: carnival
my first thoughts went in the direction of the circus-style tents, thrill rides, skeeball and funnel cakes that inhabited the firehouse carnivals i loved as a kid, but nothing spoke to me art-wise. and then i thought of the carnival that precedes lent and culminates in mardi gras... and *that* got me going.
my favorite thing about this project is that it's a chance to try turning absolutely *ANY* crazy/cool/whimsical idea that intrigues or inspires us into a drawing or collage or poem or... whatever! tammy's very specific, inexpensive and un-artist-y choice of index cards as our base means we have nothing to lose with an attempt that doesn't quite work; and the daily format means there's another awesome chance to try again tomorrow. over the years a few people have said to me that they're intrigued by the idea but they're not art journalers and don't want to be; they're cardmakers or scrapbookers and don't have time and supplies to "waste". the only comparison i can think of is cross-training in sports: swimmers also run to boost their stamina... football players lift weights to build muscle mass... boxers jump rope to increase their coordination. i've never seen a straight line between making little doodle-y bits of art on index cards and feeling different about creativity, but somehow it really is there. plus... it's just sooooooooooo flippin' fun! so if you feel like joining in-- with or without sharing what you make-- i say, "a very happy ICAD to you, darlings!" ♥♥♥
I'm "icading" this year too. I agree with your thoughts here. Love your cards so far!
ReplyDeleteI, again this year, will be icading vicariously through you. And looking forward to it, especially seeing the fabulousness here! *sigh* Sometimes I wish I wasn't such an all-or-nothing gremlin so I could just icad when I had the time. But, no. I gotta do all 60 or I feel like I failed. So I do none, which doesn't make a lot of sense but then I feel less stress, kwim? :-)
ReplyDeleteLoving the cover! What a great idea. And of course your first two cards are simply fantastical! I think I'm going overboard with explanation marks, but they're necessary, very necessary. Thanks again for sharing this event - I've been looking forward to another creative start to the summer.
ReplyDelete