Guest Post By Liz Carren

 

Work! Work! Work!  Seem a little drab?

Well then, give yourself the gift of simple, accessible Art!

We all know work is an important part of our lives.

At it’s best it feeds us, it excites us, and it invigorates us.  It gives our days structure. That structure is often good, as is the discipline it takes to get that structure.

But how about if you applied that same energy to a daily dose of visual pleasure?

Your day would have a planned “NICE” sandwiched in! How great does that sound?

For me, some days are simple. I go out my door and snip a flower to bring in. That’s a true organic pleasure.

Other days take much more effort. I’m here to tell you it is possible!

I’m not going to tell you it’s always easy. But many worthwhile endeavors are definitely not easy.

As woman, we often forget to give ourselves that “break” we grant to many others.

It may be just 5 minutes to perform an action, it may cost just $5 to make a small purchase just because it makes us happy.

That said, there are also days I need to make myself sit down, to start or to enjoy my “Daily Dose of Art.”

For me the equation is simple: art=visual pleasure!

Sounds pretty much like most other parts of your days and life, right?

Effort and energy: if you can do it in the office, or you can do it at home, you can do it for yourself.  With just a little bit of extra oomph.

A daily dose of visual gratification is fun! It’s a pick me up!

Here are some ideas to get you started:

1)    When you make a typical meal, change it up by now “plating it up” with finesse. Carefully place the food and add a colorful garnish! That garnish can be something edible, an origami bird, a paper flower, a child’s artwork wrapped around a paper towel roll!

2)    Do a sketch a day—your drawing skills will indeed get better. No one has to see it but you. And who knows? You may even develop a drawing style.

3)    Picking a color of the day that maybe matches your mood?  Dress with something in that color, then do a quick doodle with that color, or about that color. An easy example is when you’re wearing yellow and it’s a bright and sunny day, you could make a doodle of a dancing banana!

4)    Do as I do and try to do a sketch a day. I do mine on my iPad—it’s easy, it’s green and it’s THE most creative tool I’ve found lately.

5)    Add some COLOR to your day. Maybe it’s funky socks or hot pink  underwear (!). Maybe it’s a colored stone at your desk. Add color somewhere and smile when you see it. We all know “Black is Wonderful.” Many of us wear it repeatedly. But who knows, maybe green is your new black!

6)    A bit tougher is also really the simplest—OPEN your eyes. Art is all around us! Street art is abundant. Nature is gorgeous. Stop and look at the patterns in the world all around. Watch the rain. See the reflections on the glass, the colors as they swirl by on cars.

Get the idea? It’s really quiet easy to add a little fun, see a little art, and have an art smile each day.

Now it’s your turn—tell me about YOUR experience with how you add an art break to your day.

I’d love it if you’d tell me about any experiences you’ve had with art breaks.

I really do want to know! Tell me more. Now, please . . .

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Note from Liz: A few years ago I started creating the Botanical Beauties & Beasties. They began as art, which I hoped would make folks smile. Over time they grew and have been called whimsical “organic transformers.” The goal now is smiles & Eco awareness.  The Beauties & Beasties, help mold us to be ‘earth elves.’ It starts w/kindness to Earth, Self, and Others.

I mix message with art. Each creature has a name and a job fine-tuned towards Earth’s sustainability. On cards, collages, prints, or social media, they are alive, inviting interactions and stories. Living in the mythical, whimsical land of Botaniumaus their mantra is “Live Green/Live Kind.”

The Botanicals are here to help us learn their ways, to pay attention to the details and the whole… and to make you smile!

You can see them here.
And you can read the blog and follow their thoughts here.