Orange Spiral Arts

How To Calm Your Nerves with Photography-Barred Owl Visitor as Healer

Greetings Everyone,

Yesterday, my husband ran in the house announcing that there was a huge owl in our backyard pine tree!

I went outside quickly to be sure I got a chance to see it before it flew away.

First, I went out just to see it with my eyes and soul. Ah, this was wonderful.

Next, since it did not seem to be going anywhere, I got out my digital camera with a zoom lens.

Still, the owl seemed to be napping out there, so I decided to go inside and get out my "BIG camera" and zoom lens. (Aka my digital SLR).

I was able to take many photos of this majestic creature, as it stayed in our pine tree all day long, until it was dark out.

While I was outside taking photos of the owl, I also took photos of other things I found interesting around our yard.

This photo session, and time outside in nature and sun, brought me such solace.

My hope in sharing these photos with you here is that it inspires you to look around and snap some photos. You can use your smartphone or your "fancy camera" if you have one.

Taking photos helps you narrow your focus, and pay attention to the moment.

Photography is healing for mind, body, spirit and soul.

May it be so.

Taking a photo walk in your own backyard or neighborhood is also a great activity to do with children. Children love using cameras!

Sending Love, Peace, and Blessings to You,

Briana of OrangeSpiralArts.com

PS I have many online classes available, if you are looking for art and inspiration right now. My classes focus on the process, not the product, so they are suitable for beginning artists, or people who do not consider themselves artistic. Take a look at the LEARN tab. As a teaching artist who has canceled in person workshops due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), I really appreciate your support. Thank you in advance. -Briana

Getting Started with Visual Journaling-Class at Wet Paint in October 2019 (3 Wednesdays, starting October 9)

“Our creativity-that is, our fearless engagement with the world around us- is the source of our happiness and purpose on this planet.” –Peter Himmelman, Let Me Out: Unlock Your Creative Mind and Bring Your Ideas to Life

 

Dear Creative Ones,

 

I’d like to invite you into the wonderful world of visual journaling. This is a world where anything goes; there is no right or wrong way to express yourself in your journal. My style is not going to be your style, and that is the beauty of sitting with others who are also engaging in the process of keeping a visual journal. You are unique, and your own artistic style will show up. You don’t even have to think of yourself as an artist; you are born a creative being.

 

In my upcoming class at Wet Paint, Getting Started with Visual Journaling, I have a few goals. The first goal is to help you overcome your fears of the blank page. The second goal is to have you feel seen, heard, and loved while you are in class. The third goal is to have fun playing around with various mixed media supplies, so that we may breathe a little easier, let go of the stress we carry, and just be present to the moment.

 

I will be guiding you through creating initial backgrounds, adding to those backgrounds, as well as doing some low stress drawing and journaling exercises.

 

This experience is for you, and I want you to see yourself reflected in your visual journal.

I have been keeping visual journals for over twenty years. Some of my journals have tons of writing, and other journals are explorations into various art materials. The journals that mean the most are the ones where I’ve included bits and pieces of my life. Those bits and pieces could be photographs, ephemera from the day, or a deep writing session.

We are all on a journey, and a visual journal is your companion along the way. Whether you are in a place of healing physical or emotional pain, in some sort of transition, or riding life’s waves with ease, we all need a safe space to express ourselves. That’s what a visual journal is for me. When I am present to the creative process, I connect to something greater. To illustrate this, one woman at a recent MN Visual Journal Collective meeting said when referring to her journal, “It’s time I start working on a better relationship with myself.” That resonated with so many others in the room. Can you relate, too?

 

Gather your supplies, begin to open your heart, and let’s create together.

Register for Getting Started with Visual Journaling here: http://info.wetpaintart.com/index.php/event/getting-started-visual-journaling-taught-by-briana-goetzen/

 

 

“Without dreams, without risks, only a trivial semblance of living can be achieved.” –Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Finding Flow

 

May we all go about our days with a greater sense of aliveness.

May it be so.

 

Sending Blessings to you,

Briana

 

Artist’s bio

 

Briana Goetzen, MA of Orange Spiral Arts is an expressive arts coach, artist, writer, photographer, and teacher. With a background in Elementary Education and Human Development, Briana brings gentleness, a sense of calm, and a never-ending enthusiasm for the arts wherever she goes. Briana’s art teaching philosophy is “process over product,” and her personal mission is to inspire your creative spirit.

www.OrangeSpiralArts.com

Briana is offering a variety of classes at Wet Paint in 2019 for children, youth, and adults. Please look at the Wet Paint site for upcoming Events and registration information. Thank you! I am ever-grateful for your interest and support.

 

 

 

Mark Making Monday-The100DayProject and 100DaysofMarksonPaper AND Spectrum 2016 Giveaway Winner Announced

Hello and Good Day to You!

Thanks for stopping by Orange Spiral Arts.

Have you heard of The 100 Day Project by Elle Luna? It's kind of an Instagram thing, but that doesn't mean you can't participate if you are not on Instagram. All you need is an idea and someone to share your progress with!

I have chosen the hashtag #100daysofmarksonpaper for my 100 Day Project. I am already a day or two behind, but I'm not going to sweat it. I can make up my mark making time fairly easily. (Note: if you get behind, it's OKAY! Go easy on yourself and continue where you left off. We are all busy, and no one is perfect!)

Here are some photos I've shared so far. Oh, and if you want an amazing tracking sheet, you can get yours free from Teresa at the Right Brain Planner.

Day 1/100-Sharpie Paint Pen used to create scallops.

Day 2/100-Mechanical pencil used to make quick Xs on the paper. (See those circles above my paper? That's the fun tracking sheet created by Teresa aka @stargardener and @rightbrainplanner).

(For those who are new to the symbols and signs- # is a hashtag, which helps people both tag their photos and is helpful for searching other people's photos on Instagram. The @ symbol identifies the person's name or account. For example, my name on Instagram is @brianacreates, and some common hashtags I use are #orangespiralarts, #mixedmedia, #artjournaling, #100daysofmarksonpaper, etc. I hope that is helpful information.)

Day 3/100-Prince died on Thursday, April 21, 2016. I was feeling shocked and sad about it. I decided to make some "purple rain" using purple acrylic paint and my fingerprint to express my feelings and make my marks.

Day 4/100-Dye-na-flow in green with a "giant" bamboo brush pen

Day 5/100-Red liquid watercolor and a cat whisker

I am experimenting with my mark making. I am likely going to use one sheet of paper for the 100 days, and I am quite curious to see what it will look like by the end.

Today is technically Day 7/100. It's not too late to start, if you feel inspired to do so! The 100 Day Project goes through July 27, 2016.

Artwork Credit by Elle Luna

I am sending love and light out to you!

Have an amazing week!

Blessings,

Briana

PS The WINNER of the Spectrum 2016 giveaway is "Chirp"! Congratulations! Please send me your name and email address right away! Chirp, send me your info by emailing me here: OrangeSpiralArts (at) gmail (dot) com

Thank you to all who entered the giveaway! Spectrum 2016 comes out on Monday, May 2. If you'd like to sign up, you may do so right here.

 

 

 

 

Mark Making Monday-Using Old Papers, Plus Inspiration from Construction Equipment

Hello, hello! Happy day to you! Thanks for visiting Orange Spiral Arts for another edition of Mark Making Monday.

I am doing something a little different today. I am adding another form of creative expression that I love just as much as I love mixed media art. You may or may not know it, but I adore photography. 

When my family went out for a winter walk this weekend, we came upon some large construction equipment. As soon as I saw it, I knew that I had to take some close up pictures for Mark Making Monday!

First I will share some photos from the art studio, then I will share the photos from the construction site.

Let's play with paper and paint!

After you select a variety of papers and you stop drooling over their potential (er-maybe that's just me??), get out your paints. I chose a variety of inexpensive acrylics.

Paint some simple shapes in solid colors on a few book pages.

On a larger piece of paper with text on it, use up that extra paint by creating a variety of abstract shapes on one page.

While your paint is still wet, make marks in the paint with the end of your paint brush. (See the orange section above or below).

Use the end of your paint brush to remove paint around words that you might want to appear more clearly.

Now, get out a pen or pencil. I chose a Staedtler Mars Lumograph 2B pencil.

Keep your mark making simple and enjoyable.

Move on to another book page with paint.

Add pen or pencil marks.

It's subtle, but even simple marks can add a lot. See the photo below comparing the three book pages with paint. The book page with yellow does not have any additional marks.

These papers can be doodled on, sketched on, or torn up as collage fodder.

Next Up: Painting on an old magazine page

I simply adore painting on magazine pages. There is just something so delicious about the texture of the paper.

If you still have extra paint to use up, like I did, by all means, grab something and keep painting! I grabbed a magazine page.

Try not to be too precious with the page. Let your brush swoop and swirl all around.

Add a few colors and vary the way you use your brush. For example, the cream paint was applied in a varied dash pattern over the magazine page. You are making marks as you paint. Enjoy the process and have some fun!

Magazine Page Number 2

Still wanting to use up extra paint, I played with a circle pattern on another magazine page. I filled in a few circles here and there. I also painted some stripes. I really like the contrast of the colorful paint over a black and white image. What do you think? Have you tried painting on magazine pages? Do you have any favorite methods or techniques? I'd love to hear all about them in the comments below.

Again, these painted magazine pages can be added to with doodles, writing, sketching, or torn up for collage. Have fun! It's all about the process of creating that matters. Enjoy the moment. Unwind from your day, and play with art supplies!

Photography: Inspiration from the Construction Site

Oh, and I had to show you a photo of my little helper who thought the construction equipment was really interesting, too! In this last photo, check out the marks and lines from the dripping water. Feel inspired to go drip some paint? I do!

Thank you for being here.

I hope that you might try at least one mark making technique from this post. 

In Summary, Mark Making Ideas to try:

1. Paint on old book pages. Use a pen or pencil to make some subtle marks.
2. Paint on a magazine page. Use the end of your paint brush in the wet paint to make marks on the page.
3. Play around with different ways to make marks while painting, such as dashes and dots.
4. Keep your eyes open for mark making inspiration, such as at a nearby construction site!

Have a beautiful day!

PS The first lesson for the Beautiful BEing Program ONLINE went out on Friday, January 22nd. There's a private Flickr Group for students to share their writing and painting experiences. We'd love to have you, if you feel called to join us! The Pay What You Can option is still available! 

 

Freedom Through Painting Friday-Maps

There's just something about maps, wouldn't you agree?  The shapes, colors, text, lines, directions, symbols, and their various formats, make them intriguing.  

For this edition of Freedom Through Painting Friday, I'm sharing a few photos of expressive painting over maps.

Here's what you'll need:

A map or atlas

a variety of inexpensive matte acrylic paint

a paint palette (which can be a paper plate)

a size 8 Filbert, long handled paint brush like this one (scroll down list of brushes to find Filbert, size 8, long handle)

Note:  The long handle may help you loosen up when painting.

 

 

I chose three paint colors (light blue, yellow, and red-orange), plus black paint.

Then I scribbled and painted away without a plan or concern about what the results might look like.  Do you know how freeing and fun that is?!!  I highly recommend it!

 

You might also try painting with a dirty, dry brush with white paint.

Simply squirt some white paint directly from the 2 oz. bottle onto various places of the map, then scrub and scribble with your dirty brush.  This makes for a great beginning place the next time you open to this page in your map book or atlas.

 

After painting several map pages in this manner, there's a chance that your hands might end up looking like this!

If your hands do end up looking like the one pictured above, I encourage you to document yours, too!  It's kind of creepy looking, but way cool!

What's Coming Up from Orange Spiral Arts in the Twin Cities?

Thanks for asking!

If you are local to the Twin Cities of Minnesota, I will be offering an extremely fun, weekend long, art journaling and mixed media workshop on 10/17/15-10/18/15.  The Big A** Altered Atlas Workshop information page is right here!  You're invited to nurture your creative soul for an entire weekend!  

Coming Really Soon . . .

Suminagashi Workshop:  Saturday and/or Sunday, October 3rd and 4th, 2015,

                                       2pm-4pm each day (You're invited to register for one or both                                         days, hence the and/or).

Coming in November

Thermofax Screen Printing:  Sunday, November 15th, 2015  (details coming soon). For now, if you'd like to order a Thermofax screen or two, here's a great place to do so: Smudged Textiles Studio Etsy Shop.  You can order "Ready-to-Print screens" or "Your Image Here screens" (meaning, you can send a digital file of your own image to be turned into a Thermofax screen!!).  Students of the Thermofax Screen Printing Workshop on November 15th will be responsible for bringing their own screen(s).

Using Photos in Your Art Journal

Have you got photographs in boxes, on your camera, on your computer, and/or on your phone?  I encourage you to take stock of what you've got, then print, print, print your photos!  You can use almost any photo in your art journal, even the blurry ones!  Art journals are wonderful containers for the photos of your life. You can include photos of the people you see, the places you go, the things you love, and all that you do each day.  If you know me personally, or have been reading my blog(s) for awhile, you know that I am a fan of self-portrait photography.  When you use photos of yourself in your art journal, you are stopping time, in a sense.  You will get to look back at those photos down the road and recall amazing things about that specific time and place in your life.

Here's an example:  Pictured below is my art journal/visual journal from 2000-2001.  I met one of my favorite singers, Kristin Hersh at Borders Books in Richfield, Minnesota.  I was soooooo excited, and sooooo nervous to go up to her and ask her to sign my CD.  I remember sheepishly asking my boyfriend (now husband) if he'd take a picture of me while I was with Kristin.  He of course said, "yes".  I don't know why it was hard for me to ask, but I knew I would want to document this big moment in my journal.  I am soooo glad I have these photos in my art journal.  As you can see, I like funky photos.  The photos below were likely altered in some way, either as photo transfers, or in Photoshop.  I like that I have both versions on one page.  Repeating photos on a page is one technique to try in your art journal!

 

Of course, cameras, film, and film processing continue to change.  Most people are taking digital photos these days.  I still love Polaroid film, and do you remember the I-Zone cameras?!  Those were my favorite! The film is no longer being made, so don't go buy one on Amazon.com!  

Below is a page spread from an old art journal.  There are stacks of Polaroid photos, the top photo being of my now husband, doing the dishes back in 2002.  It was definitely a moment to capture on film, as he rarely does the dishes!  At least I knew that before I married him!

 

Tip:  Adding the date and time to photos can make your trip down memory lane even more interesting!

Art journal pages can be super layered and take hours to create, or they can be quite simple.  A photo, a sketch, a design, a pattern, some writing; there are many choices on how to create a page.  What has your experience been with photos in your art journal?  How do you like to incorporate your photos?  

I learned the technique of sewing photos into my art journals from the brave, beautiful, traveling, teaching, Miss Mary Ann Moss.  I highly recommend any of her online classes.  They are fantastic!

Recently, I have been trying to keep up with Liz Lamoreux's Inner Excate Along Online Class.  I created a journal that I've worked in a little, but would like to do more.  Here's one page I did, which uses some of my nature photographs:

 Here's another look at a Remains of the Day travel journal (a class taught by Mary Ann Moss). I created this journal after a trip to the Western United States.  If you travel and like to take photographs on your journey, an art journal is a great spot to catch those photos, too!

 

For more ideas on the kinds of photos to use in your art journal, hop on over to the Using Photos in Your Art Journal Workshop information and registration page.  I am offering a workshop in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this coming Sunday, August 2nd, 2015, 2pm-5pm at The Artful Nook.  If you are local to the Twin Cities, I invite you to attend!  Grab your art journal, a stack of photos, and let's make art!  All materials and supplies are provided for your use during class.  No prior art experience needed.

MCBA's Visual Journal Collective May Meeting-MAPS

Hello There!  Thanks for dropping by the Orange Spiral Arts blog.  

Today I will recap the Visual Journal Collective's May meeting on Maps.  The Visual Journal Collective meets once per month at the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts.  It is free and open to those interested in visual journaling, sketching, art journaling, etc.  

For our meeting on maps, Suzanne Hughes shared the resource, Make Map Art:  Creatively Illustrate Your World by Salli Sue Swindell and Nate Padavick.  

We all worked on two exercises from the above book:  a hand map listing "personal passions" and a "what's on my mind" map.  The first two images below are from my journal.

The two books above my sketchbook are resources I brought to share with the group.  The one on the left is by Juliana Coles, and it's called, Ghost Pirate:  The Legend of Juana La Loca.  There are a lot of map drawings and references in this pirate themed book of Juliana's amazing artwork and visual journals.  

The second book I brought is by Jill K. Berry, and is called, Personal Geographies:  Explorations in Mixed-Media Map Making.  Jill has also written Map Art Lab.

We spent some time walking around the room looking at everyone's journal pages, which is of course, such a treat!  Everyone works so differently, even on the same suggested assignments.

(Oh yes, there was a third suggested assignment, which I did not get to; most of us didn't.  It had something to do with the idea of a street map, though.)

People in the group were excited by this map key on the left, describing each part of the the "mind" illustration.

(The guy in the turquoise shirt drew the map key above.  He was new to the group, along with his girlfriend).  We accept "first timers" with open arms!  Well, at least with a big welcome and a big smile; we are from Minnesota, after all.  : )

 (I try to sneak in a little art supply inspiration when I can capture it with my camera!  It is so interesting to see each artist's preferred pens, paper, markers, etc.)

Caran D'Ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayons are awesome!  Just look at those colors!  To see a list of all of the Caran D'Ache Neocolor II colors, click here (small list with colors) or here (larger color squares).

 

After we walked around to see everyone's map art, we went back to our spots and had a general sharing time.  This is a time when people have journal pages or journal related projects that they'd like to share with the group.

TJ Goerlitz shared her journal done in April for Roz Stendahl's International Fake Journal Month (aka IFJM).

 

Jean Shannon (pictured below) shared a special experience of making an image in her journal, then finding something with that pattern at a thrift store!  It was like magic!

Cyndie DeRidder shared an alphabet project she started, based on a something initially done with a friend. I believe it all started with the letter Z (pictured below).  Cyndie liked the letter idea, and decided to create an entire illustrated alphabet, using various art techniques.

Molly Anthony told us about her new mini photo printer she received for Mother's Day.  Since she is a busy working mom, she loves the idea of being able to print "little moments" and put them in her journal.

I believe she has the Polaroid Zip portable printer.  There is no ink, as the "ink" is in the photo paper that you purchase.  Here is a review of the Polaroid Zip from GizMag.com

The Polaroid Zip printed image size is 2x3 inches, which is great for journaling!

Molly also shared that she was so excited after taking my Junk Journal Workshop, that she started another junk journal.  She converted an old hardcover book as her journal cover.

Her next step will be to bind the signatures into the cover.  She was hoping to have that done by the date of our Visual Journal Collective meeting, but that did not stop her from sharing her enthusiasm and her progress thus far on her latest junk journal.  Once you get started, junk journals are quite addicting!  

Here is a link to a previous blog post where I share some pages in my junk journal.

That's a wrap for the May Visual Journal Collective Meeting at the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts. I hope you enjoyed this summary and feel inspired to go work in your journal.  Feel free to share a link to your map art blog posts in the comments below.  

Happy Creating to You!

Briana

PS  If you love stencils, like I do, there are some great map stencils on the market here and here.

What's New and Happening around Here-An Artist's Life in Pictures

 

Pattern and Design Inspiration, Book Lust, and More: Photos from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA)

On Monday, I was at the wonderful Minnesota Center for Book Arts, which is housed in the delightful Open Book building in downtown Minneapolis.  The Shop at MCBA happened to be open later than usual, so I was able to browse inside the shop, as well in the book arts gallery.  

As I prepare for my upcoming Mixed Media and Expressive Arts Workshops, I am constantly seeking inspiration, so that I can provide the best content for the workshop participants.

The next class I am teaching is Pattern and Design Play using Basic Supplies, so pattern and design have been on my mind, A LOT.  

I was drooling over all of the wonderful patterns and designs on cards, books, printed papers, etc. in the shop. Here are some of the photos I snapped for inspiration.

Here are some books I was interested in:

 I own Print & Stamp Lab by Traci Bunkers and Print Workshop by Christine Schmidt.  I highly recommend these two books.

These two looked really great:

 

I could hardly get enough of these papers:

Another great spot to go for pattern and design inspiration, if you are also a paper lover, would be Paper Source.  

Now for you lovers of journals, handbound books and book arts, this next set of photos is for you!

Photos from The Shop at MCBA:

Photos from the Book Arts Gallery:

 Check out those scribbly circles on that pink book cover.  I just LOVE those, don't you?!

 

(Self-portrait and book art).

 Tucked back in the corner was a library of amazing and interesting books.

 

I'll close with a couple more photos of pattern and design from the shop:

I hope this post got you inspired to look around for pattern and design in your world.

Also, I just adore books, journals, cards, and paper, so hopefully you enjoyed some of those photos, too.

Thanks for reading my Orange Spiral Arts blog.

I invite you to take a peek at my OrangeSpiralArts Etsy shop for art, painted paper, e-books, and digital paper downloads.

Have a wonderful time!



 

#CarveDecember Podcast Featuring Me, Louise, and ArleighB

Hello, Hello!

I have exciting news to share with you today!  Yesterday, I was a guest on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's podcast called Adventures in Arting.  There were five of us all together, speaking via Skype.  Here's who was on the call:

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (@balzerdesigns), her mom Eileen, Louise Nelson from Australia (@loolabelle), Arleigh from Colorado (@arleighb), and me (@BrianaCreates). (Just in case you are wondering, the "@", plus a name, is our Instagram handle, or name.  That means, if you use the social media app Instagram on your smartphone, you can search us by name and see our feed.  I am explaining this because I used to be very frustrated by all of the @ and # symbols that I would see, but did not understand what they meant or how to use them).  Anyway . . .

You can listen to the 027:  #CarveDecember Adventures in Arting Podcast by clicking play below.  

I also encourage you to go directly to Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's site to see all of the wonderful stamp photos and read the bio's of the participants on the podcast (me, Louise, and Arleigh).  Here's the link to Julie's Adventures in Arting page. 

For a little more of my story, read below:

One day on Instagram, I saw a post from @balzerdesigns about a CarveDecember challenge.  I did not know what this meant, so I zipped over to Julie's blog to find out more.  I saw this post by Julie.  I loved the light-hearted invitation to just simply play and have fun while growing your handcarved stamp collection.  I loved that she gave us permission to miss a day or two.  Julie wrote, "If you miss some days, who cares!" Yes, that was what I needed to hear.  At this point, I was struggling to get back into my creative routine of making art in the mornings before my family woke up, and honestly, I wasn't sure that I could get up every single day.  Here's how it all went down.

My #CarveDecember Story

I decided to take the #CarveDecember challenge to fulfill one of my long time dreams of having my own handcarved alphabet stamps.  I figured if I carved one of the 26 letters per day, with maybe missing a day or two, I'd end up with a complete set of letter stamps by the end of December.  

Well . . . since I was trying to protect my heart from feeling failure, I started out carving six letter stamps in one sitting.  The next day, I carved six more, then six more after that, and so on.  By December 6th, I had a complete set of uppercase letter stamps, plus a question mark, and an exclamation mark, and a lightbulb stamp.  

I started my alphabet stamps like this:

I had a large (9x12 inch) sheet of Soft-Kut handed down to me by my artist mom.  I did not really know what I was doing, but felt I had to work quickly, due to limited time before my toddler would wake up.  I did not spend time researching how to go about cutting and carving and transferring an image; I simply trusted my gut and went for it!

I used a piece of notebook paper to draw out my letter.  Then I transfered that letter onto my 2 inch by 1 inch block that I cut with a metal ruler and an Xacto blade.  

To transfer the letter, I put the cut piece of rubber directly on top of the hand-drawn letter.  Then I flipped the notebook paper over, and rubbed with my pencil to transfer the image.  

Next, I carved out the letter using the no. 1 Speedball blade, and the no. 3 U shaped blade.  

As I went through the alphabet, I learned more about my tools and how to transfer the image.  For example, at first, I was scribbling with pencil on the back side of the hand-drawn letter to transfer it, but then started just using the side of the pencil to make the transfer

.  That was much less messy, and it was just as effective.  

One tip I can share, is that I found it really helpful to write the correct orientation of the letter on its edge.  This is what I mean:

For some letters, it's obvious, but sometimes printing a reverse image is confusing to my brain.  : )

Here is a picture of the last letters in the alphabet, including the punctuation marks and light bulb stamp.

Since I am an avid journal keeper, both written and visual, I wanted to create a light bulb stamp to help me quickly see the "bright ideas" I document in my journals.

After I completed my alphabet stamp set, I thought it was logical to make a number stamp set, too.

What To Carve Next?

As you can imagine, after carving 26 letters, punctuation marks, and the numbers 0-9, plus a pound/hashtag sign and a dollar sign, I was starting to feel more confident about my carving skills.  It was time to move onto some shapes and designs.  

Since this post is getting quite long, the rest of the story will be told mostly in pictures.

These stars were inspired by Pam Garrison's star stamps I spied on Instagram (@pamgarrison).

I wanted to try carving some white erasers:

This plant image was inspired by Misty Mawn's book Unfurling.

Then I made some gift wrap for my sister's birthday presents.  I love making handmade gift wrap!

 

At this point, it is only mid-December, so I have half the month left to choose more designs!

I decided to be brave and try some of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's repeating image designs from her fabulous book, Carve Stamp Play!  For these stamps, I was using Speedy-Carve by Speedball (the pink kind).

 

Since I love nature, I had to carve another plant image, and a couple of fish, too.

This last fish was taken from one of my favorite Dover image source books called, Design Motifs of Ancient Mexico.

I carved a stamp (or six), nearly everyday in December, and it was AWESOME!

If you'd like to give stamp carving a try, see the list of stamp carving books in this blog post of mine from December.

If you can believe it, this isn't everything I have to share about my experience with #CarveDecember.  In fact, I am writing my first e-book called, Creative Habit Transformation (working title).  This will be a guide on how to start a creative habit and stick to it!  I invite you to sign up for my newsletter (top right of the blog, in the sidebar), and "Like" my Orange Spiral Arts Facebook page to keep informed about my latest creations and offerings.  

Thank you for reading and viewing this lengthy post.  When you are passionate and have a lot to say, I guess that's what happens, eh?

I am extremely grateful to all who participated in the #CarveDecember challenge, and also to everyone who has left kind, encouraging comments on my Instagram pics, Facebook posts, Flickr pictures, and Tweets!  You all are awesome!

Thanks again to Julie Fei-Fan Balzer!  You are a fabulous designer, teacher, inspirer, encourager, and artist!  By the way, I loooooooooove your stencils, too!

Blessings, Peace, and HAPPY CREATING to you!

-Briana

PS  Thanks again for being here and reading this post on OrangeSpiralArts.com  It is the longest one I have ever written!  It took me litearlly 3 hours!!!!