Day 3!

Hello rain. You made me wet.

Hrm, yeah, it was a dark and horribly rainy day today. That kind of day when all you feel like doing is snuggle under blankets and drink all the tea in the world. But I had too much to do!
School went by in a rush, and back home I went to work with todays Scrap:

"Make something out of paper, without the use of glue or scissors"

This one was A LOT harder than I thought it would be.
"Okey, so I'll just wrap stuff and make something randomly, piece of cake etc."

Nope. Big nope.
First of all, any paper i have in my possession is hard drawing paper, so those were a no go. So, I had to re-invent my idea, and realized I had old catalogs laying around somewhere.
It took me hours, many frustrating folding attempts and tearing of truckloads of pages, before I had any idea of what I was doing.

Yeah, this is the mess I am left with.

I had a vision of a big collage of beautiful colors, neatly wrapped together. But damn, making 5-10 sheets of glossy paper stay together was practically impossible.
My temper flared and I pulled my hair in frustration.

There were green tufts of hair everywhere!

But after some trying and swearing, I thought, take it easy, nobody cares if you start out small. Next time something like this shows up, at least I know the materials and I know what is needed to make certain things work.
I guess that's my lesson for today; It's not always only about learning a special technique to make things, but to learn how materials feel, how they bend and break. Keep your enemies close, ya know?

So, to the finished little scrap:

Tadaaa!

 A three-layer paper-bracelet.

As a bracelet it's awesome; Lightweight, flexible and airy.
But yeh, the "can't get it wet part" I guess is a downside. But you could probably cover it in resin if you'd like? Or maybe just slap a layer of lacquer over it.
Anyway, Day 3; i am done with you! Now i just have to clean up aaaall the paper pieces. Damn.

/Kaff

Day 2!

Day two, still exited!

Exited indeed! Second day came and went by quickly my friends. Much thanks to my brain that out slept a loud-ass alarm and two screaming cats. Skill point for you, Mr Brain. Good work.

So, away I rushed to school, my calendar clutched to my heart as any child would hold their most beloved teddy-bear. Or blanky. Or... dog. Whatever normal kids have.
Why I brought it? No clue. Maybe to keep that excitement up for when I got home and got to tackle whatever it told me is todays test.

And Day 2's challenge is:

To make something of/or inspired by my favorite animal!
Egh. Animals you say, I thought. I haven't drawn an animal since I was.. 5?

But damn if I couldn't do it.
So I chose a cat, as yeah, they have become my favorites as of late. I have always loved them, but you know, most people say they love "Dolphins, because they're smart!" or "Dogs, because they're loyal".
I love Shetland Ponies and crossbreed cats, for the same reason:
They are utterly stupid!
Not brain-wise, but damn they know how to get on your nerves, and they couldn't give a shit about it. Like little brothers.
But those you have to love, whether you want to or not.

So, my first cat is pretty much... half a cat.
Inspired by my own Peppar who always sits across the dining room table, watching me eat or cook, every day.

Yeh, she makes that sound.

 

Tadaa, my first cat. Isch. But my second project is complete, whether it's good or not and I look forward to tomorrow, and my next challenge.
/Kaff

Day 1!

Woop!

First day of creative challenges! Or well, second because i started yesterday, but used the entire night to set up this itsy little blog to share my doodles with you guys. So you'll get two posts tonight. Yay!

So, day 1 of the challenges was to make something that would "fit in the palm of my hand from materials that lay around me".
As I am a messy gal, I always keeps things spread about myself to pick up and work on whenever I get the urge to. Don't ask what my boyfriend, or anyone who visits us, thinks about it. Isch. Or actually, I think most people have gotten used to it by now. In my own mind it's just a beautiful, creative clutter of an artistic soul. And, you know... two cats who generously helps me spread everything through-out the apartment.

Hrm. Where was I? Day 1 right!

 I made a little granny-square! With a tassel! Hardcore right? But art is anything, everything, you like it to be. I made something, that was not existing before, and that could outlive me if it wanted to. Quite a thought. To me at least.
Anyhow, it ended up as a bookmark in the calendar, so it made itself useful.

See? Fancy.

 And that's how hard it is to start.

To be honest I went back and forth in my head about what to make and realized another thing about myself: I hate making things that aren't instantly functional!
Paintings need to be hung on a wall, and everyone should see what my painting is of, what I mean with it, and it must be perfect.

Why?

Why don't we let ourselves experiment more? So what if this little granny-square gets trashed in a month or two, I made it, I learned from it, and in it's own tiny way, it grew with me.
Is it adulthood that forces us to make sense of everything? Do we lose our childhood craving for learning and making things after many years of grueling reading, tests and exams?
Or am I going to deep here? Being waaay to sketchy about my brainwork?
This is a scrap-blog for goodness sake, woman, get on the program! Right?

In any case, this was a nice start. A small thing, a small step.
 And I was so happy when I was done, I had to show it to my boyfriend like a proud mother: "Look, it's a square! And it has a tassel! It can be a bookmark, or a keyring, or a cattoy, Anything you want!" He looked up at me from WoW and smiled in that way only men can. Like "If I smile and nod she might leave me alone afterwards". Glorious. I love the man.

So, what I'm saying is (I think), that cherish the small things. Every little thing matters, and every new challenge makes you grow.
/Kaff 

Pre-Scraps!

On a whim...

...I picked up an interesting-looking book at the local bookstore. "Kreativitetskalendern; 365 sätt att förändra ditt liv." (In english it's called "365: A Daily Creativity Journal")

Eyeing through it I realized this was an amazing find!
Which artist hasn't tried the 30 day drawing-challenge and gotten bored after a few days, or thought "what the hell, I can't draw feet/hands/animals etc"?
This book put it all in such an interesting way. It gives you a way to really challenge yourself, and at the same time reassures you every step of the way. It addresses every issue you come upon when trying to do a challenge;

• The very exciting start
• The days when you have no inspiration at all
• And the fear of finishing (or not finishing) what you set out to do.

The author, Noah Scalin, tells you about his own yearlong challenges, his ups and downs through-out the process and other people who has fulfilled their own kinds of projects.
Check him out, he has done very interesting things.

But! Now on to my own challenge!

My first day was today, but I will start the posting of my projects tomorrow, since I wanted this to be an introduction of myself, as well as the idea itself.

This is me. Usually.

I'm a 24 year old artist, currently in school, preparing for University classes. I live in Sweden, with my boyfriend of 8 years and our two monster-cats. Every part of my day I think about creating things. Which I guess makes me seem generally spacey. But I don't mind.

Creating to me is not about knowledge, everyone can be creative in their own ways, and I hope to show off a bunch of ways and at least inspire one person to try something new. You live once, go ahead, do stupid shit! Because who knows, that might be the shit you're good at.

But yeah, that's all about me. Let's get on to some Daily Scraps!