The Summer of Color - PINK

"Seek Joy"

8 x 10 Watercolor Journal page

This page was inspired by the following quote:

"If we were talking to you on your first day here we would say, 'Welcome to planet Earth. There is nothing that you cannot be or do or have. And your work here - your lifetime career - is to seek joy'."

- Abraham

You continue to amaze me . . .

Just two weeks into color prompts and The Summer of Color has already proven to be an incredible journey. Your Green work was beautiful, diverse and so obviously created from the heart. Thank you for your comments to one another, your dedication to the project and the enthusiasm and passion you bring to your work. I love the community we're building here and am honored that so many of us are sharing it together. 

Have you checked out our Flickr?

I must say, it is really impressive! At last count, there were 100 pictures in our gallery and it continues to grow daily. If you haven't added your work to the Flickr pool yet, I highly encourage you to do so. I love seeing our work in one place and I'd be thrilled if we were all represented. If you have any questions about Flickr, please feel free to go here. For more Summer of Color community and connection, check our our Facebook page. It's quickly becoming my favorite new hangout . . .

Drumroll please . . .

The winner of last week's Green Giveaway (pictured in the post below) is . . .

YOU

Please email me your address and I'll get your Green goodies right out!

Now, on to PINK week!

I'm thrilled to hear that many of us are already excited about this one. If you haven't joined The Summer of Color and have been wanting to, now's a perfect time to start. Judging from your reactions, I can already tell that it's gonna be a great week. . . As of Monday the 27th through Sunday July 3rd, you may link your artwork inspired by the color Pink in the widget below. This week's Bonus! challenge is to in some way incorporate wax into your work. In summary, (A) please link your work in the widget below so that others can find you, (B) leave one comment if you created a Pink piece and (C) leave two comments if you completed the Bonus! challenge. Good Luck! 

And what is this week's pretty in Pink giveaway?

Bazzill basics 8 page scrapbook in pink, several pink bingo papers, two vintage (written on and stamped) postcards from the 1920's, one vintage nursery-rhyme playing card, several pink "keep this coupon" tickets, Liquitex soft body acrylic paint, Hubba Bubba bubblegum ;) and a sprinkling of clear, iridescent and pink Swarovski crystals and beads.

And what is next week's color?

YELLOW

(Monday July 4th to Sunday July 10th)

"How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun."

-Vincent Van Gogh

"What a horrible thing yellow is."

- Edgar Degas

Is there a Bonus! challenge for Yellow week?

But of course! Next week - should you choose to accept it - your Bonus! challenge is to incorporate metallics into your work. Metallic ink, paints, leafing, embellishments or otherwise, the choice is yours.

Have Fun . . .

Kristin xo

The Summer of Color: BLUE

"The Wishing Well"

8 x 10 Journal loose-leaf page

Can we talk?

Before we go any further, I want to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude for the tremendous response we have had for this event. I'm blown away by the amount of participants joining The Summer of Color and am honored by your excitement and enthusiasm. It looks like we're in for a fabulous Summer of creating, community and connection.  . . 

What's everyone doing?

Last week's challenge was to tell us what you are planning to create during the event. It seems that the freedom to do anything you want was very popular and because of that, we have an amazing assortment of art and inspiration to look forward to. In case you're curious, the majority of us will be doing some sort of art journaling, followed closely by ATC's, color inspiration / altered books and scrapbooking. There will also be some doing canvas work, cards, collages, altered objects, illustrations and/or sketchbooks, digital art and photography. A few are planning to work with fabric or felting and we even have a poet, jewelry artist, one who restores furniture and an artist working on fairies. We will be seeing work with teabag paper (how cool is that?), oils and of course, some who will be doing a little bit of everything. I'm so looking forward to learning from all of you - thanks again for sharing your talents with us all . . .

A little bit of business:

In all of the excitement of the opening week, there were a few of us who got started on their artwork a little early (so we've had a sneak peek of some beautiful work ;). If you linked up with blue on last week's post, I would be so grateful if you would link it again this week. Those who wrote about their plans for the event qualified for last week's giveaway, which was the assortment of art supplies. Because the first week was a little tricky to decipher, I selected the winner by randomly drawing a name out of a hat (okay, bowl) and checked to make sure she had met the first week's requirements. From next week on, I will use a random number generator from the comments section. This will make more sense when it comes time for bonus weeks, when you are able to enter twice should you complete the bonus challenge. So, the linking is for us to easily find one another and the comments are to sign up for the giveaway. Lastly, you will always know a week ahead of time what your next color challenge will be. That way, you have time to plan and prepare your work.  . . 

Okay, okay, so who won?

Drawing for last week's giveaway of art supplies

Congratulations! The winner of the assortment of art supplies from last week's drawing (pictured in the post below) is: You! Please email me your address and I will get it out right away.

Now, welcome to Blue week!

As of today (from Monday the 13th to Sunday the 19th), you may post your artwork based upon the color Blue. To do so, please share your piece on your blog with a link back here (so that others can find us) and then link your direct post to the linking widget below. To enter the blue giveaway, please leave a comment in the comment section.

The Blue giveaway for the week is . . .

Large Martha Stewart fine glitter in turquoise, 2 bottles of Martha Stewart flocking powder in Robin's Egg and Turquoise, a Martha Stewart ballpoint tip glue pen (and believe me, you want this ;) and a sprinkling of pale blue, clear and iridescent Swarovski crystals and beads. 

Also:

Please feel free to share your work on our Facebook page and our Flickr group which you can always find on the sidebar here . . .

And what will we be working on next week (from Monday the 20th to Sunday the 26th)? 

Green!

"Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which it's loveliness arises." 

- Pedro Calderon de la Barca

Bonus! 

For Green week, your bonus challenge (for a chance to be entered twice in the Green giveaway) will be to incorporate the color Citron in your piece. Have fun . . .

Kristin xo

Willowing & Friends!

"Invitation Angel"

12 x 18 cold press watercolor paper

Full page

Detail of "Trust"

The final assignment for Willowing's Art, Heart & Healing is to create an "Invitation Angel" or figure  intended to represent that which we may be lacking in our daily lives . . .

And this was very interesting for me. I started out week 4's lesson intending to soak up as much knowledge as I could while creating a pretty picture. What I didn't expect was how much the piece would really "speak" to me . . . . Let me explain: as many of you know, we are eager to adopt again and have been trying for years now to find another adoptive situation. To be honest, it has been a long, painful wait. We were connected with Kendra's Birth Mother (her "Tummy Mummy") relatively quickly just over 5 years ago and I guess we expected or hoped that it would come as easily the second time around. But that has not been the case. We waited a couple years after K was born because she was in and out of the hospital and needed our full attention. Then came the recession and an expensive adoption was not possible for us. So, I started finding other avenues to spread the word in hopes to find a Birth Mother on our own. . . Now we are ready financially and otherwise and, well . . . are still waiting. We just this month went through our county to adopt in that way (usually faster than a traditional adoption agency) and were devastated to learn that we would not even be able to begin that process until the middle of next year. So here we sit, ready and waiting . . . 

Which brings me to the piece above. What I am in need of (and a word that I have clung to in the last year) is Trust. I know that this is all happening for a reason and I know that we will adopt again. But I have to Trust that it will happen in the right time, and not just the time that I think is right. . . 

And as I worked on this little one in the last two days, I found myself really connected to her. She was given eyes the color of my husband's and tiny freckles which to me indicates youth. I choose to color her hair both blue and pink and give her the suggestion of a belly . . . and all of this was done with my knowledge but without really thinking about it. . . and when I looked at her this morning with fresh eyes, I noticed that the stripy hair on the left represented Kendra, my beautiful little tomboy. It will be really interesting to look back at this piece later in life and see if there are more hidden clues that will only become evident when our next baby is home. . . 

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Willowing for all of her efforts in bringing this beautiful community together. It has been an amazing experience, one which I hope you will consider doing yourself, if you have not joined already. She will be leaving the course up indefinitely so that everyone can benefit from the healing exercises she has so generously offered. 

Kristin xo