A few days ago, Kelly Kilmer challenged her blog readers to take just ten minutes and see what could be done in that time with an art journal page. I took the challenge and talked about it HERE.
This is page 27 for MYPL and it was not created in ten minutes. But bursts of it were. I selected colors and laid down foundational pieces of collage in ten minutes. In several ten minute segments, I completed the border and the lettering. I both warmed and cooled select areas of the page by applying layers of orange and green ink over the top of the finished page with heavier applications around the border, and I completed this in ten minutes.
Some aspects of a page need to be composed in one sitting. Otherwise the original energy is lost when you leave the piece, and the new energy you bring to the page when you return will be different. Because of this the page can lose it's continuity.
But detail work like lettering or penning a border can be done in intervals. One of the good things about doing parts of a page in intervals is that you come back to the page with a new set of eyes. You see things that you didn't see before when you were immersed in it. You can make new decisions to add or subtract, to paint in or paint out, or to leave something exactly as it is. Or to restore something to what it was before a change was made. These things are hard to see when you've been with the page steadily for a lengthy period of time.
Kelly's idea was that by working in ten minute intervals, you can complete something that you would never begin if you knew it would take you two or three hours at one sitting. And that's true. But there are other benefits to ten minute bursts of creativie activity, too. Knowing you can do anything for just ten minutes ensures that you will exercise your creative muscles at least once a day, and satisfy your creative cravings in the process. Additionally, by working for ten minutes, leaving, and coming back to your page later, you see what you're creating in a different light and can approach it with a renewed freshness.
Exactly.
Posted by: kelly | March 09, 2013 at 10:43 AM
Wow this is very different and the border is the perfect touch. It looks like it was fun and a page you enjoyed making.
Posted by: Monica Smith | March 09, 2013 at 11:54 AM
What a great idea to do 10 minute bursts, and what a gorgeous page resulted!
Posted by: Rosie | March 09, 2013 at 12:09 PM