Five (More) Reasons to Participate in Online Challenges and Bloghop Winner

About a year ago, I posted:  Five Reasons to Participate in Online Art Challenges, Video and Giveaway.   That post described some of the valuable takeaways from  Mindy Lacefield's #365Faces challenge on Instagram, as well as a video fast forward of one of my faces.  

I've been participating in the #100daychallenge on Instagram.  My theme this year is #100daysofresistanceart.  

I'm challenging myself to not only do a piece of art a day around this theme, but to incorporate creative lettering.  This is something I don't feel confident about.  But with each effort, I gain a little more confidence.  

Here are five more reasons to participate in online challenges (or any kind of challenges).

 1. If you never try something new, you'll never know what you're capable of.  

It's super comfortable to keep doing something I already feel I've mastered and am good at. But if I don´t challenge myself and try new things, I'll never know my potential.  My advice:  choose one thing you´d like to try but are afraid to do wrong, and go for it!

2. Challenges help us grow.

I know that in my life, challenging situations -- even very unpleasant ones -- have helped me grow personally as well as professionally.  Have you experienced this?  Sometimes we have to experience failure, pain, and even near-destruction to grow and realize our true potential.  My advice:  Do something you didn't know you were capable of, and observe whether you become more confident, knowledgeable and skilled.  You'll never grow by just thinking about trying something new. 

3. Challenge breeds creative thinking.

When I challenge myself to do something new and scary, it prompts realizations, new ideas, and new inspiration in ways I never even imagined.  My advice:  do something you feel you don't have the skills for and just see where it takes you, and how you find solutions you didn't even know were up your sleeve.  

4. Challenges make you more aware and in the moment.

When I keep doing things that are in my comfort zone, I get mentally lazy and tired. When I challenge myself, I am much more focused and engaged.  My advice:  Do something out of your comfort zone and be aware of everything about it -- even how it makes you scared or tense or insecure.  And then watch how those feelings change as you make progress.

5. Challenging yourself will help you outside of your artwork, when life throws you curve balls.

One of the reasons to practice difficult poses in yoga is to watch how your mind reacts to the challenge.  We practice maintaining an even breath and holding our calm and peace, even when we are wobbling or throbbing.  The idea is to take that practice off the mat and into the world.  If you challenge yourself in your art by learning a new technique, and practice being kind to yourself as you practice, you will see the value in every experience whether it is good or bad.  As a result, you will be that much more calm and  resourceful when faced with challenging and unexpected events outside your studio.  My advice:  do something new and scary, and know that every time you persevere, you are taking an important step to realize the possibilities that life has in store for you. 

Why did I choose the theme of Resistance Art?  Because I have decided to be involved, on a daily basis, in what is going on in our country.  

We recently celebrated the holidays of Passover and Easter - both of which involve themes of rebirth and renewal.  In addition, in the Passover seder, we recite the reminder: Never turn your back on a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.  

It is an imperative to be an up stander - not a bystander - to injustice whenever you see it.  ONWARD!






AND - THE WINNER OF LAST TUESDAY'S BLOG HOP IS:

Jill commented on all three blogs, and I pulled this comment out of the hat!  Jill - please email me your snail mail address - jessicasporndesigns at gmail dot com.  

Thanks all!

         Visit Stencil Girl Products and RubberMoon Stamps to see all my designs!

If you haven't already - please connect with me here:

InLinkz.com

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you are entering a GIVEAWAY, please add your email address in the event I need to contact you.

To avoid SPAM, please write it like this: jessicasporndesigns (at) gmail (dot) com

Thank You!

Do Good, Be Good; Artists Give Back

http://www.32auctions.com/artistsgiveback

In my last post, I wrote about my yoga teacher's teaching that all of yoga can be summed up in one phrase: Do Good, Be Good.  Well, artists around the world have come together to "do good."  Won't you help us?  100% of the proceeds of this auction will go to Pastoralist Child Foundation, a truly grass roots non-profit that supports rural Kenyan tribal efforts to improve the lives of their girls and women.  Here is their video, where you will see my friend Sayydah Garret, who founded the foundation, speak about its work.  

You can also watch the Pastoralist Child Foundation Official Video on Youtube here.  

I have donated these two pieces:

I created Being Strong using my Five Hamsas stencils from Stencil Girl Products.  You can read all about its creation here.  

I created Be Fearless using my Hearts, Flowers and More stencil for the background, and my Shiva Deity Stencil for the foreground.  Here's a blog post where I talked about Lord Shiva, and what his energy represents.  

There is amazing artwork on the auction site.  The auction starts Monday morning at 7AM EST and lasts until Friday 12/12.  I hope you'll check it out!

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!  

 

Bravely Offer Your Heart

During last weekend at Big Fat Art, being pushed out of my comfort zone led to uncomfortable feelings of not being grounded.  On Saturday morning, I quickly painted this girl into my art journal.  (Do you recognize her - I've been painting her a lot...)  She is feeling so disconnected that she doesn't even have feet!!

I painted her over a collaged background stenciled with Sporn Flowers Negative and then glazed over with Turqouise and Green Gold Fluid acrylics.

Rev. Jaganath Carrera

As the weekend went on, I tried to "just be" with my discomfort, rather than default to my comfort zone.  As Jane Davies said so wisely, the best progress and learning come at the height of your struggle.  When I turned to this girl again, feeling ungrounded was no longer moving me so much.  Instead, what was moving me were experiences I have had with people who are not kind, and not that nice. 

Yoga teaches us to try to see beyond people's surface acts and understand that the effect - unkindness - has a cause; people are going through things we know nothing about.  Moreover, we learn and grow more through how we relate to our negative experiences than our positive ones.

And so this girl evolved to bravely step forward out of the swirling of her thoughts and offer her kindness and compassion.

I added elements of Kae Pea's gorgeous Wheel in the Sky stencil and some journaling.  

She Bravely Offered her Heart is available (without the journaling) on Society6. 

http://society6.com/JessicaBethSporn/She-Bravely-Offered-her-Heart_Print#1=45

 Remember....

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

Linking to Art Journal Every Day and Paint Party Friday!

 

Security and Stability in Unlikely Places

Today's Fall Fearless & Fly challenge is all about feeling safe and secure.  Here are the prompts:

Headline Prompt:  Security:  What makes you feel safe and secure?  What rattles your sense of security?  Where do you go for comfort and refuge?
Color Prompt:  Cool colors (blues, greens, violets, etc.) 

Quote Prompt: You can't make a place for yourself in the sun if you keep taking refuge under the family tree.  Helen Keller 

I decided to go with the first two prompts, which were challenging to contemplate after seeing my states (New Jersey and New York) devastated by Hurricane Sandy.  My sense of security was badly rattled.  Normally, my home, or my cabin at the lake, are where I feel safe and secure, and where I go for refuge.  But I've been rethinking that. 

In the past two weeks, I found stability on my meditation cushion, where I connect to all that exists.   I found strength in the community of my yoga studio, where we dedicate our practices to freedom from suffering and its causes.  And I found refuge in my path - knowing that creating art, teaching yoga, and being a good friend, mother, daughter, wife, and citizen of the world, give me joy and peace.

All of these thoughts went into the creation of this 12 x 12 mixed media canvas.  

As I worked on it, I thought about how having electricity does not necessarily confer the feeling of power -- how often do we feel powerless despite all the comforts in life?  And yet, how many feel strong and stable, even without traditional sources of power?  Weathering an outside storm can be quite easy compared to the storms we weather within.  

I started with a canvas prepped with blue, green and turqouise sprayed paper towels that had been my placemats for lots of fun with spray inks at Joanne Sharpe's class at Art is You.  As I scraped paint and glazing medium around it, I began to see this woman appear, standing in a storm, saying "bring it on."  I created all the circles with layers of Maya Road kraft doilies and layerable flowers.  Among the many stencils I used were Balzer Designs' Leaf Frame Stencil, and Stencil Girl's Swirly Floral Stencil.  I made the winged heart embellishment in Laurie Mika's fabulous class at Art is You -- I knew I'd find a home for it!   

I hope you'll go to Artists in Blogland and see the wonderful piece that Maria McGuire, our guest designer for this challenge, created.  LuminArte has donated two $35 gift certificates so we'll have 2 winners over at AIB.  I also can't wait to visit my co-host, Carolyn Dube, whose art always inspires me.

AND...the winner of my giveaway for FF&F #3 is Joanna, who wrote: 

BEAUTIFUL!! I love these pages on the black background, they really stand out!  Would I like to win one of your paintings? Hell yeah!!

Joanna - send your address to me at jessicabethsporn (at) gmail (dot) com, and I will get "Joy" right out to you. 

MY GIVEAWAY FOR THIS CHALLENGE:  Leave a comment below, indicating that you would like to win this Butterfly watercolor/zentangle design, and I will pick a random winner in my post for the 5th FF&F challenge.   Indicate whether you follow my blog and/or my facebook page too for extra chances to win!

Linking up to Artists in Blogland, Inspire Me Monday, and Art Every Day Month.

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

PS - Please consider purchasing my 2013 calendar.  Called "Living With An Open Heart," it features 12 of my mixed media designs.   All proceeds go to Hurricane Sandy relief.  Thanks!

PPS - A few more of my stencil designs are live at Stencil Girl Products!   The Hebrew lettering is a beautiful ancient prayer:

May God bless you and keep you
May God cause the divine light to shine upon you and be gracious to you
May God turn toward you, and grant you peace
(Numbers 6: 24-26).

We can all use a little of that!

Round and Round in the Circle Game

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came,
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Joni Mitchell

This song is very much in my head and heart today.  Yesterday, we had to put down our wonderful cat Tory.  She was a rescue kitten who came into our family over 17 years ago as a present for my then 3 year old daughter, Mariel.  She was my companion through a contested divorce, getting my feet wet again in the dating world, several relationships, a new marriage, a new baby, moving to a new home, and transitioning from working as a lawyer, to embracing a new life as a yoga teacher and artist.  She was feisty and a diva -- she didn't like new people, new animals, or being transported to new settings.  She had a wail of a meow, and a purr that was so loud that it could be heard from another room.  As the lyrics from Stray Cat Strut go - she was a black and orange cat with class and style, who never bothered chasing mice around.  I will really miss her.  Although I don't often try to paint with any realism, this art journal page captures her and her regal, haughty expression.

It was fitting that this was the very last page in the art journal I started June 1.  I started it for Running With Scissors 30 day challenge, which was loads of fun.   Here are some pics of my finished journal!  I stenciled the front and back with Julie Balzer's Dashed Lines stencil and then added a zentangled mandala I did a while back.

Here are some spreads -- all of which I think I've blogged about in prior posts.  It's interesting to look at it all together -- I see that there are a lot of days I only feel like "arting," and not writing.  Because I tend to blog about the art in the journal, I'm not as drawn to write in it.  I save my journal writing for events and thoughts that are sensitive for me.

Of course, I had to start a new journal immediately!  Here's the first page, inspired by Inspiration Avenue's weekly challenge: wheels.

I created this page by:

1. stenciling an 8 x 10 piece of cardstock with Julie's dashed lines stencil using adirondack color wash sprays in stream and lettuce.  
2. I placed a circles template on the page and layered modeling paste on top it.   
3. Once the modeling past dried, leaving raised circles, I pasted the page into my journal using Elmer's art paste and a disposable brush.  The color washes ran, creating a nice effect on the paper.  
4. While it was still wet, I used the wooden tip of a paint brush to scribble into the "glue-color wash goop." 
5. I cut out a clip art of someone doing cartwheels and painted the figures black to make silhouettes and then cut them out and glued them on the large circles.
6. The orange mandalas are from a large sheet of Nepalese Lokta paper.
7. I wrote lyrics from "The Circle Game" on copy paper and sprayed them with color mists before cutting them out and gluing them down.

I really like this message to start my new journal.  Hopefully, in each  "go round," we accumulate the wisdom to change how we relate to our experiences.  The Buddha taught that lasting happiness can be attained only through becoming a “lamp unto yourself.”  Both Buddhism and yoga philosophy teach that nirvana or enlightenment is not a different place -- it is a clear perception of oneself and of the entire range of human experience.  This is the key to self-transformation.  Similarly - “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21).  Every great religious, spiritual, and wisdom tradition teaches that life’s ultimate truth, its ultimate treasure, lies within us.

Linking up with Paint Party Friday, Artists in Blogland, Art Journal Every Day and Creative Every Day.  Click the buttons on my sidebar and go spread some love!

Thank you so much for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.