Trish Bee's Art Buzz is a wonderful place where you can sniff out new things to do, or find new ways of doing the same old things, either way, injecting new life into what it is you like to do best by infusing your artwork with something learned. And after all, nowhere in the world is continuing education more important than in the world of art, where we ourselves are what's at risk of becoming stale if we aren't continually improving. Sometimes improvement comes from learning something new. Other times it comes from practicing the same old thing to its limit. Either way, art spoils when you leave it alone, and it takes much less time for art to spoil than for fish and house guests (if you're English, you'll get this).
So, it was with much pleasure that I soaked up like a sponge Trish Bee's web offerings, beginning with her practice of not setting times or limits on her challenges. She posts suggestions, advice and tutorials, and then leaves up to her readers the when where and how of it all. Do the challenge, post a link, or don't do anything, whatever, whenever. Not in place of other more rigid challenges, but in addition to them.
Because for me, blog challenges, besides being just plain FUN, serve two very practical purposes. One, they are a fabulous warm-up exercise for whatever larger piece I'm working on at the time. The same way that dancers don't rehearse without a warm-up, I warm up with a blog challenge before I settle into my current project. Second, the challenge themes push me to learn new techniques, see how other people interpret things, and broaden my perspectives while polishing skills I've already acquired. Because of blog challenges and blogger artists, I am miles ahead of where I would have been, had I left myself to my own devices.
But there can be a dark side, if you let it appear. This is when a challenge becomes an end, in and of itself. And this is where Trish Bee steps up to the podium and shouts to the world, "Hey, look over here! You can do this, or not. You can do it next year, or last week. It's here if you want it!" And I absolutely soak this up because art requires not one or the other, but both, strict discipline and complete freedom. And as much as these things sound like they are at odds with each other, they aren't. They are truly two sides of the same coin. Because it's only when an artist, with complete freedom to do otherwise, decides to practice discipline, that art is possible, and it is only when an artist can remain free in the midst of discipline, that art is has the potential to be unique and great.
So, if I find that I have ideas for artwork that I'm not pursuing because my challenge jones is getting out of hand, then whoa! I need to reassess what track I'm on, and repeat to myself the mantra: "These are prompts, not obligations. They are exercises, not directives". And sometimes it takes a Trish Bee approach to clear the air, and get me back to thinking up and acting upon my own ideas, because it can be so eeeeeasy to use those fun challenges as a crutch or an excuse, and that's NOT what they're there for! Like vitamins, they should be used as suppliments for optimal growth, not end up as a diet unto themselves. So, without further ado, what you see above is my first response to a Trish Bee challenge, challenge #8, to be specific. Check it out for yourselves by clicking HERE if you're interested. I had lots of fun with this one, and it's gratifying in its own way to know that I made it for it's own sake. I have no use, whatsoever, planned for this piece, but I'm sure that one day or another, it will find it's way into a larger piece of artwork. Or not.
Have a wonderful day, Everyone!!
