Creativity Challenge

Blog 3

Looking back at the second half of January, I am happy with the time spent on creative projects. Due to a change in my teaching schedule, I dedicated more time to painting and felting. I created something on five days of the week spending between one hour and almost four hours on a certain artwork at one stretch.

During a weekend at the cottage, I created a drawing of snow-covered trees (see above). I also spent some time preparing drawings for my Cartooning and Comics classes, one of them was a drawing of the cute Sonic the Hedgehog.

Of Flowers and Butterflies, acrylic, 16" x 20"

I finally finished a painting that was a challenge for me. At last year's Navan Fine Arts Exhibition and Sale, we were asked to paint to the pianist's live music. It was a very different experience to let myself be inspired by music instead of painting something that was in front of me. Before the event, I was sure that I would create an abstract piece, but when the pianist started playing, nothing came to my mind. I was very aware of the visitors looking over my shoulder and felt panicked. Finally, I started painting flowers and butterflies, but I was very frustrated with my composition when my time was up. I could have considered the painting as a write-off, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could save it. I increased the size and texture of the flowers and added some additional butterflies. "Of Flowers and Butterflies" is not my style at all, but I am happy with the result.

Real or Not, mixed media, 16" x 20"

I also finished the playful 16” x 20” painting "Real or Not" from my outing to Du Moulin Park with friends last September. My mixed media piece contains real and painted leaves. It was a lot of fun to create this collage of leaves.

As for my latest felted artworks, the first one was inspired by my painting “Hidden in the Fog”, the second is a landscape with trees, this time during the colourful fall season. Both pieces are still unfinished.

While I will not continue with the Creativity Challenge in February, I hope that my new schedule will help me to create more art. Being absorbed in the world of art is a wonderful way to forget about stressors, to re-energize, and to have fun. I feel so much more balanced when I regularly take the time to create something. My next goal is to use new materials or techniques to playfully explore new possibilities. I will keep you posted.

If you are looking for ways to bring more creativity and fun into your life, please check out my winter and spring programmes at https://www.kerstinpeters.ca/product-category/registration/.