Welcome to 2015.
I'm just a little bit late to the new year party. I wrote in January, but none of those words found their way to the blog; they stayed on notepads and hard drives. I guess some months are like that. For what it's worth, happy new year. We're full on in to 2015 and I hope your year is starting well.
I like to choose a word to use as my theme word each year. This year a few words persisted in my heart and mind and I spent the month playing with blocks and paint and canvas and stickers. I wanted something more three dimensional I could put on my bookcase. I loved learning about the block art from Junelle Jacobson last year and since I had a few blocks left, I decided to go for it.
I looked up the word "brave" after I decided it was going to be my main word of the year.
Brave adjective ready to face and endure danger and pain, courage.
Hmph. Not exactly what I was going for. I was thinking more of exciting or new or sparkly. But the actual definition doesn't cover any of those things. But it was defintely the word on my heart. In fact, the phrase braveheart kept coming to my heart. Synonyms for brave include courageous, valiant, trepid, courageous, lionhearted, daring, plucky, audacious.
Side note: the word "plucky" is defined as having or showing determined courage in the face of difficulties. That's really what I was going for. But who ever says their word of year is plucky? Can you imagine the conversation? "What's your word of the year?" "Oh, my word for this year is plucky. Yep, I'm going to have a plucky 2015." I feel like I've just joined the troup of Huey, Dewey and Louie and I need to go find a baseball cap to wear. I just can't see myself inscribing plucky onto my block.
When I looked up the word heart, besides the definition of the muscle pumping blood through our body, the Free Merriam Webster definition also gave this definition:
heart -noun- the center or innermost part of something.
This is interesting to me. So to have a brave heart would be to face and endure danger and pain in the very center of your being. Authentic, deep, to the core. More things to ponder.
How I Made the Block
Assembling the block was lots of fun. I used the paper method with cutouts I previously learned, but I wasn't thrilled with final result. So I flipped it and worked on the back. Layers kept getting added on. Paper and paint and dots and stickers. I wanted to create a "brave heart" display without writing out heart.
I should have used a different color heart because the black letter on the black heart diminishes the effect. Next time. I cut the hearts out of magazines. There was a magazine with a special advertising section with thick, glossy paper. This held up quite well under the hodge podge. I started the block with a layer of gesso to create a nice painting surface. Next I added colors of paint, followed by scrap book paper and more paint. I cut and hodge podged the word brave on side 1. I painted it white, then colored it. After adding a layer of hodge podge, I outlined it in a black ink pen. More dots and details added. I tried not to go overboard.
What about you? Word of the year? I find that even if I don't concentrate on the word, the theme reverberates throughout different situations and heart matters. It's not in the circumstances, but in my attitude towards them, the attitude I choose to have. If 2015 is indeed a brave year for me, I'm going to intentionally choose something much more light hearted for next year- like 'play' or 'adventure.'
And, by chance if you're like me, and you're bringing yourself up to the New Year celebration a tad late, it's not too late to claim that word of year, grab a block or a canvas or watercolor paper and create away. Creating a piece of word art is a fabulous weekend project.
Whatever you are up to, I hope you have a plucky year, no matter what comes your way.
The post #BeBrave2015 -Word of the Year Art Block appeared first on Launch Your Creative Life.