SLOTS The Process Since I most often gravitate toward a cool color palette, I challenged myself yesterday to unfamiliar territory - mixing red, orange, yellow, white, and burnt umber. Painted substrates covered my work table - painter’s paper, tissue paper, and white drawing paper. I guess I was in a swirly mood, combing wet paint with a fringed old insurance card.  The Inspiration Entering my disaster area this morning, I was greeted by my warm-colored, swirly fodder and my fringed insurance card. SLOT. Immediately the colors, swirls, and slotted card screamed to me - SLOT CANYON!  *more stunning photos by Ron Niebrugge in the link below The 5-minute piece :  Rip, glue, DONE. 5 minutes. So here is my tribute to the stunning natural wonder of Antelope Canyon, AZ. (Gorgeous photos in link below) https://www.wildnatureimages.com/gallery/slot-canyon-photos /  # #tuac5minchallenge

Cycle Today begins another Ugly Art Club 5-minute challenge. With the prompt “Cycle” circling around in my brain, I tuned in late last night to see the sunrise at Stonehenge on Winter Solstice 2023. As usual it was cloudy, but just seeing this inspirational place once again LIVE was an experience that warranted the delayed sleep. “Cycle” was a perfect prompt for this beginning of the challenge on winter solstice - the cycles of dark/light, the cycles and rotations of planets, the cycles of birth/growth/death of everything in nature. Winter Solstice is the beginning of a new cycle. Anything is possible in this new year that lies ahead. Winter is a time to rest, to turn inward, to get still and quiet, and to embrace the darkness. A perfect time to indulge in art.  This piece just evolved as I watched the solstice sunrise. It took W-A-Y longer that 5 minutes to create, but I lost time embracing the darkness! On today’s prompt, I will embrace the timer. #tuac5minchallenge

Intention Care December @ Everything-Art with Kasia Avery could not come at a more complex moment. . . the busyness of the season, the joy of giving, the rush of creativity in making presents, the exhaustion of it all combined with the satisfaction and warmth. My intention in my journal entries is to PLAY, to have FUN, and to LEARN. Here I played with my dad’s oil pastels and my great aunt’s soft pastels. I learned that painting leaves with the first use of my new sword brush involves a definite learning curve. Having the focus of this 15-day adventure of daily prompts focused on the endless shades and tones of the color blue makes my heart sing. 💓🎶 #caredecember

  Well, hello 1970. What fun this one was !  I tie -dyed coffee filters with watercolor inks and rubber bands and took a trip down memory lane to the year before I graduated from college at Ohio University. Of course, Kent State was burned into my brain; that was an indelible moment in history for me. I remember a war protest at OU where things got out of hand. The governor of Ohio called in the National Guard, tear gas canisters were dispersed, and on May 15, eleven days after Kent State, the president closed the OU campus. I was walking through the College Green when tear gas filled the air. I remember my parents calling, in a panic, after hearing of the incident on the Cleveland news.   There were so many things I could have included here, but I managed to show restraint. Earth Day was a positive event; if  only we really lived it rather than merely celebrating it.   Music, war, protests. . . . how things change and how they stay the same.

We’re walking in the park, moss-covered trees surround us.  Husband : You’re collecting moss? Seriously? Me: . . . Uh . . yeah. It’s fascinating. The texture, the color, the way it drapes from the tree limbs, the …… Husband : (interrupting) Ok, ok, I get it. Here, I’ll help you.  In the Pacific NW, moss is everywhere! On our roof, our sidewalk, our fence, rocks, trees . . . and now my journal.

  Draw it. Or is it draw IT? I woke up with a sense of humor today. Anyway, I had fun with this one, though it was challenging to draw on the left page of the spread as it had crunchy moss on the other side of the page. Pretty bumpy surface.  Pen, graphite, and chalk pencil. 🤪

Heading into my art room today, my goal was to stay true to the 5-minute aspect of this challenge. I love the idea of not over-thinking and fussing around with mountains of stuff cluttering my workspace. Armed with black paper, chalk pencil, Posca and gel pens, and a Micron, I set the timer and started in with the chalk pencil, aiming for simple and minimalistic. (Note to self: test and prime Posca and gel pens BEFORE starting the timer.) A-l-m-o-s-t succeeded. 🙂