Thursday, October 7, 2010

heart the art: week 39 (& SCD!)

our heart the art prompt for week 39 was AUTUMN, which coincided nicely with this week's SHADES OF AUTUMN theme at something completely different; so i made a multi-taskin' 4x6" page that covers both in one fell swoop!

unlike most of my HTA pages, this one has content on the back, as well:


because as much as i do genuinely enjoy the crisp days, cool nights, and vivid colors of fall in the northeastern united states...i can never quiiiiiiiiiiite stay "in the seasonal moment" enough to ignore the fact that these will inevitably be followed by WINTER. bleck.

my favorite parts of this page are texty, fluttery, many-toned, diecut autumn leaves. wouldja believe i spent most of an evening making those?? uh huh. it involved watercoloring (with more enthusiasm than skill!) on various scraps of old book paper & then stamping on top of that...

backing the thinner bits with index stock & diecutting the leaves with the cuttlebug...

swiping the intricate edges (to very little effect) with distress ink ...and finally... wonkily outlining them in black pen.

as you can clearly see from the photos i took afterwards of the leftovers: at NO POINT until the very verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry end of all that did it look like i was going wind up with ANYTHING good! but while i was working, i was half-consciously thinking about bruce mau's amazing incomplete manifesto for growth* (yes, STILL--ever since january!) in this case the relevant points are 4, 6, 8 and 13; and...especially...#3, "process is more important than outcome"!


in the end, as it happens, i am rather *thrilled* with the outcome, but at no time during the process did that seem likely, so i am rather proud that i kept going anyway! ♥


*if you don't know what i'm talking about, why not take five minutes to read these brilliant, inspiring & practical thoughts on thinking and working more creatively? if you DO know what i'm talking about, why not take five minutes and RE-READ these brilliant, inspiring & practical ideas for thinking and working more creatively?! :)

22 comments:

  1. GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS!!!!
    Those leaves are incredible :)

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  2. I love everything Autumn-related.
    The leaves are my favorite part :-)

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  3. i LOVE those leaves. gorgeous gorgeous prompt!

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  4. ♥♥sweet mother of pearl♥♥

    You have such a way of layering...it flows...what a magnificent project...I LOVE it!

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  5. ohmy lauren! your creation is absolutely gorgeous! i love the color palette and the layering and stamping. wowee! thanks for sharing!
    thanks so much for your sweet comments on my blog!
    have a great day! *hugs* steph :)

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  6. GORGEOUS! I am in love with those leaves and the doodling around them; I have got to remember that technique...marvelous. What die cuts did you use to create those wonderful leaves??? I am so inspired, I want to CASE this card. Process may be more important than outcome, but WOW, what an outcome!!!

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  7. Wow, stunning work yet again Lauren! Jo x

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  8. Ooh! the process was defo worth the outcome :) Beautiful, beautiful piece and...as they say...better late than never! Thanks for joining in at SCD this week.
    xoxo Sioux
    So know what you mean about the Winter having to follow the Autumn!

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  9. This is glorious. Well worth the wait. Thanks so much for joining us at SCD

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  10. WOWZERS!! So incredibly GORGEOUS!! Those colors just sing! If you do find something to do about winter...let me know.

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  11. OK, I seriously think this might be one of my favorite heart the art pieces that you have ever done!! And believe me that is REALLY saying something! It is absolutely stunningly gorgeous...with a sense of humor...perfection Ms. Lauren!!!

    (-: Heidi

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  12. This is stunning, and yes, I totally know what you are talking about. :)

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  13. *gasp* The Autumn card is simply delicious! I LOVE it. :)

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  14. OMW!! That is just... divine!! o_0

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  15. Really beautiful page Lauren. All the work with the leaves really paid of. Stunning...And the humor in it is great :-)

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  16. This is stunning, love the work on those leaves!

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  17. I think your leaves are a winner.
    I echo everyones thoughts...Love the leaves!
    I also love the winter image.

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  18. what a fab piece Lauren...those leaves were definately worth the process xx

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  19. Wow, those leaves totally capture gorgeous Autumn colors and textures in all their glory. Appreciate your photos of the process too. Awesome page!

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  20. LOVE the leaves! I am so stealing them, er, I mean, I am sure going to try and do the same thing!

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  21. I *can't* get over those leaves! They're stunning!
    Here in CO we usually go from green to yellow to brown crunchy bits in the blink of an eye. Oh, these just make me want to actually SEE a NE autumn!
    Lovely, Lauren! Just gorgeous!

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  22. Okay.. now I think this is now my fav HTA you have done so far. I want those leaves. I want those leaves tattooed all over my arm. They are too cool. The texture, the print, the stamping, the colors. I'm in hog heaven. LOVE THIS!!!

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