Paint stick play

I was recently invited to participate in a fun art swap, at the genius thought process of the very talented Tina Walker. I mostly share scrapbook pages on this blog, and as most of you know, I am not big on adding a lot of art supplies and paint on my pages, but surprisingly I LOVE to draw and paint, I just don't mix the two. I loved the idea of pushing myself to create something to share outside of my normal go to "scrapbook pages".

 

 

After grabbing some paint sticks from Lowes, I went strait to pinterest for inspiration. I sat on these sticks for far too long, creating at the last minute as I always do! I found great ideas, I have been loving folk art, but nothing felt right. I thought to create a mural on all three sticks that could work split up, but again, nothing felt right. In the end I chose to go with a typical painting style of mine mixed with a typical layout embellishment I use on every page.

When painting without reason, I tend to create floating crosses in many colors. I love the movement it creates, and the fun colors it can add. If you look closely at my layout details, I ALWAYS use my bubble punch to create patterned paper dots in multi size, floating them around for added movement. When creating these sticks, it just felt natural to add these two elements together. I chose to add a few more painted orange dots and bright pink glitter confetti for visual interest.

I chose to use some music note washi tape to stamp my words on, and upon stamping, found the dark notes clashed too much with the black ink, so I chose to white wash them with white paint, and than a hint of orange paint for interest.
I searched and racked my brain for the right phrase to use on the sticks, when it just clicked that this is a swap of one anothers creativity, why not create a saying about creativity, and settled on
"Creative is a way of life". I know for me it is, as is music!!!

I was happy the way this project took me and am so glad to have gone with my instinct to join in!!!
We each created and sent out 3 sticks to other members in the group, making for some great art to collect and display! You can view the other amazingly creative sticks by checking out the other participant blogs below!!!
                                                                       Tina Walker  
                                                                   Michele Kosciolek       
                                                                     Susan M. Brown

                                                               Melissa McRay Johnson

                                                                       Sara Vukson

                                                                      DeeDee Catron