I’m still busy over here, with paid work and a range of study, not to mention trying to finish my new art website. I’ve not been making any of what I consider “real” art for a while, still cogitating my next “real art” moves.

In the meantime, I’ve still been keeping my hand in the process, with a bit of art exercise everyday, giving myself little prompts to keep my creative impulses fresh.

This last week, this meant giving myself the assignment of one flower per page, done in collage, on collage papers already in my stash, with a minimal number of pieces, as simple as can be to read visually as “flower.”

Simplicity is a beautiful thing, but is a challenge I felt I needed to practice and face, since I tend towards complexity and maximization.

These four 9″x12″ works are what surfaced from those random parameters, refreshing me while there is snow cover out and I’ve been inside too much.

It’s got me thinking about abstracting flowers in a larger work, but I’m unlikely to do it, since I usually am much more drawn to take abstract ideas and make them more tangible instead. However, we’ll see.

I’ve given myself the permission just to mess around art-wise, with no pressure, knowing that a fallow time is always followed by burgeoning growth and fruit.

Maybe you too might want to give yourself some easily realized guidelines. Make something uncomplicated, keeping your art practice warm on the back burner, while considering your next, larger, creative moves.