Shared Art

"Shared art has enriched my life."  MaryAnn Shupe

Six words that sum up the theme of this post....and a nod to the six word story book project I shared with Becky and Tracie.

Today I'm celebrating my shared art journey. Blog readers Sue and Roseanne recently asked about this last one in particular (4 x 6 exchange)....so just in case there are others who are interested I thought I would revisit some of the trades I have participated in. It's a long post....and I could have gone on and on a lot longer....so if this isn't your thing....enjoy your day and move on.

This six word story book was one of my favorite art trades.....but to be real honest I've loved them all.  This was the first page in my book before I passed it on....and those six words could not be more true today. You can read about this shared art project here in this post: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2015/01/six-word-story-booka-shared-art-project.html

Because I'm one who likes to dabble and experiment I'm creating something almost all the time.....not necessarily for any purpose other than just to try it out. Shared art gives me a place....and recipient or two to give my experiments purpose... and the chance to be appreciated.  

I have participated in one time exchanges, weekly and monthly exchanges....and even just whenever it suits us exchanges. Some have last a year or more....some much shorter. It all works. The size and scope have ranged from artist trading card size (2 1/2 by 3 1/2) to 4 x 6 cards to altered children's chunky books to different sizes of art journals.  It's all good.  I've even exchanged pieces of an altered puzzle. The sky's the limit.

Some have focused on quotes....or ideas only found on Pinterest....and another called Words and Images...focused on just one word at a time. Becky and I created a two page spread: one side using only words to describe the word....and the other using only images about the word. We traded our journals back and forth....so each word was in each journal....and we took turns picking the words. https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2015/09/words-and-images-journal.html  There can be a clear focus...no rules at all...or just guidelines. It's all good.

This was my entry for "winter."

I even exchanged a whole alphabet set with Lynn and Ellen over the course of a whole year....oh how I loved that project! 

B is for blue, buttons, beads, and bottles. The cards were artist trading card size...just 2 1/2 by 3 1/2. I love my set of cards that includes art from all three of us.

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-abc-project.html 

This is a page from a shared quote book project where we started with a chunky children's book. Lynn, Ellen and I each chose a book to alter and the books rotated around the circle until they were full and we ended with our own. 

This page is from a Pinterest inspired journal I did with Ellen...you can read about it here: 

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2015/01/shared-art-journals.html

Ellen and I did several trades....and I learned a lot of great art techniques from her! 

Anne and I shared a year long "Motto Book" where in the end we mounted our pieces into an accordion book....another one of my favorite trades. 

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/search/label/motto%20books

And of course....one of my most recent shared journal was with 5 year old Eliza.  That was fun!

I also shared a long term shared journal of a different sort with my childhood friend Becky....it lasted over several years and included multiple journals. Because of our shared past... the fact that we raised two children the same ages....and our common interests...we approached it a little differently. We shared memories from growing up, our current joys and struggles....and we also doodled and glued in little art projects and snippets that caught our eye.  I treasure these journals.  https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2015/01/shared-journaling-with-dear-friend.html

I've done several exchanges with my sister Marilyn....including seasonal trades, fabric suns...and even project where we could only use the reply cards in magazines.  I've loved every one!

This is one of my favorite art trade pieces from Marilyn based on Kandinsky Circles.  Most of our trades can be found with the blog label "creative exchange" or with this link: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/search/label/creative%20exchange

Be sure to keep clicking "older posts"  when you get to the bottom if you want to see all the posts in the searches. And remember....blog posts go in reverse order...so the descriptions of the projects are often in the earlier posts.

I could go on and on....I haven't even scratched the surface. Almost all of shared projects are written about somewhere on this blog....and can be accessed from various "labels" along the side of the blog.  I can't tell you how excited this makes me....and it has me thinking.....stay tuned.  Shared art....it's all good!

I apologize if there are errors in this post....It's too long and I'm too tired to edit.  It's good enough!  😉