JJ Worden

My finished wax crow from Stephanie's Hand-Formed Simple Sculpture class.
I love this beast.
He is ever so tactile and weighty and substantial.
I *get* sculpture!

And work in progress ... though almost complete ... Sacred Mouse House.
The second in my Crows & Houses 2015 theme.




Obviously more house, less crow, In this one!

So. Longtime readers/followers of my website may recollect I used to do a Weekly Art Challenge and I've been thinking of reinstating it. The idea would be I would come up with an idea/prompt/goal and set a specific time period to complete the task. I would post my finished piece and (maybe) randomly distribute said piece. But I need some input from you.

1.   Does the idea of an Art Challenge interest you?  
2.  Would a Weekly or Monthly time frame work best for you?
3.  Which appeals to you more ... website? Facebook Group? FB Page?
4.  Would having a random draw at the end add incentive to participate?

Please comment below and share with anyone else you think might be interested in this idea. Depending on your input, I'll shoot to start in February.


[crossposted on my FB page]

Not to mention totally in keeping with my Crows & Houses theme.
And ...BONUS... finishing one of my plaster projects from the Hand Formed: Simple Sculpture class.
Yay! I present to you: Guardian Crow

I've been making a list of "house", "home" and/or "crow" inferences for future inspiration.
So far I have:

Murder of Crows
Bird House
Counting Crows ... including

one for sorrow
two for joy
three for girl
four for boy
five for silver
six for gold
seven for a secret never to be told

a house is a house for me
welcome home
home is where the heart is
happy home. happy life.
house of the rising sun
a very, very fine house

and if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

I've noticed that much of what's written these days is in point form.

•  10 Reasons Why ...
•  10 Steps To...
• 7 Reasons Why List Posts Will Always Work 

... and I'm not even kidding about that last one. Real. Blog. Post.

And each New Year they overflow.
Two caught my eye.

This one ... reviewing something called "The 100 Thing Challenge" wherein you reduce all your worldly possessions down to just 100 things. (is that even possible?!? where does one live? in a garden shed?!?)

Clear the clutter with 'The 100 Thing Challenge'

And this one ... a list, one hundred strong, of share-worthy statements to help a newbie artist on their path.

What I find when confronted with really really long lists however, is my brain scrambles to the bottom in order to know exactly how long the thing is ...rather how long I have to pay attention.

Sad that.

The Painter's Primer: A Survival Kit

So.
For today, I will clean off my work table where I'm sure to get rid of at least FIVE things.
And ponder these:

• If you're at a loss for what to do next, do a self-portrait. 
• All doors open to a hard push. 
• If art is hard, it’s because you’re struggling to go beyond what you know you can do.

It's a start!