Happy Day (With My First Creative Process Video!)
Today IS a HAPPY day!
I originally wanted to to do these words because of what Luca said this morning about how today is a happy day because there was a bird chirping in the tree outside the window of his bedroom.
While making my bed, on the other side of the house and before Luca even said something to me, I even heard the birds.
I thought to myself "Wow! Birds are chirping! In the middle of winter, too! I thought they all flew south? Wow! I love it!"
Then I walked down the hallway, toward the kids room, and was stopped in my tracks because I haven't seen this view in quite some time.
I ran back to my room to get my iPhone to take a picture!!
They used to ALWAYS be in the window like this when we were ALL home together all day because full-time school hadn't started for them yet.
So seeing this moment set my mama heart on JOY fire.
And, yeah, it was a must to snap AND a must to doodle!
Luca had his bird chirper toy and Camille was trying to whistle. Luca LOVES birds!! He reminds me of my late Memere so much in this way. She loved birds, too. She had them all over her house. It warms my heart when I think to myself that he gets his love for birds from her. :)
Later on that day, the kids were playing contently and no one needed me (yet!), so when times like this pop-up, I love to sit on my comfy couch or on my comfy rocker in my bedroom and doodle my uplifting words.
It just FEELS SO CALMING and comforting to me...especially after running around non-stop during my busy mama day. Like it's my own little spa moment.
Well, right when I sat down on my comfy couch to get my inner, creative calm on, I felt deeply motivated to go upstairs and document it with my new video camera set up that my hubs set up for me a few weeks ago.
I've been wanting to video my creative process for over a year now, and now that I have my set up all ready to go and waiting for me, I said to myself, "Yeah! Get up there and do it!!" It's upstairs in the guest bedroom...Ha!
Because getting out my comforting chair (and my comfort zone!) isn't easy.
I do all of this to FEEL CALM and one of the ways I do that is by sitting my comfy chair while creating my words. But, because I really want to share my entire creative process here on my blog more, it's a must, that right now, I get out my comfy chair and go upstairs to my not-so-comfy art desk and chair.
And, yeah...I think it's time to invest in a comfy chair for my art desk though...that, of course, I won't mind getting paint on. Ha!
But, the whole point is...it would have been SO nice to stay on my comfy couch and say, "Oh, I'll just document it another day, when the kids are at school and no one is home to interrupt me."
Well...I've said those words too many times and I finally listened to my inner voice that's telling me to do what my heart has been wanting to do for so long now. And, man, it felt good!
I'm SO glad I listened because I can't get over how awesome it is to see something I've been envisioning myself doing for years now FINALLY come to fruition.
I've always wanted to document the entire process, all the materials I used and, eventually to come, talk about how I felt before, during and after I created in this mindless way.
I also can't get over how much JOY I FEEL when I look back at these videos. I thought they would be SO hard to make and they'd make me feel depleted. Boy, was I wrong!
Not only am I enjoying it but I'm also LOVING how it looks this way.
There are SO many times when I'm in the process of creating and I'm looking at my work and for the majority of the time I bashing it...telling myself how awful it looks and how I need to start over.
And I do...I go through paper after paper after paper. It's crazy!
Well, when I look at the finished video, the entire time I'm telling myself, "OH MY GOSH! I LOVE IT!! It doesn't look bad as I thought it did!! OH MY GOSH!!" I can NOT believe it!! Ha!
Even my kids LOVE watching them...and that right there is my #1 reason why I do this and share it here. I do it for my kids!!
Because I want to them see their mom ALWAYS creating and I want them to ALWAYS know the calming and JOYful benefits that CREATIVITY provides each and every one of us!
So...with further ado...here's my very FIRST process video! YAAAAAY!!!!
And, yeah, Luca was right!! Today IS a HAPPY DAY!
Now...let's get UPlifted through CREATIVITY together!
Here you can see how my words come to life. I didn't start off writing my words this way. I actually started with just reconnecting back to my cursive writing.
Cursive writing is the ultimate slow down and calming tool.
The more I did these words in cursive, the more creative ideas starting coming to me in how I wanted to do them.
So now, I love to add some hand lettering techniques in there. But, I only this freehand...I never trace the word beforehand.
And yeah, that can cause me to go through LOTS of paper, but I don't care, because I'm not doing this to be perfect. I'm doing this because it easily calms my mind and IGNITES my JOY like no other!
The final look.
Then my inner-kid JOY ignites as I start to add Sakura Koi Watercolor paints to it.
I pretty much use the same colors; purple, red and sometimes blue and green, because that's what I'm currently drawn to. Then once I play with it for a bit, I pull it into Photoshop to make it come even more JOYfully alive.
Finished watercolor look!
Then I import it into Photoshop, where I play with the black and white levels to make the whites, whiter and the blacks, blacker.
When I do this, I love seeing how the colors change up, too! It really brings me so much JOY!
And there it is, all digitized and FUN!
I used to think that doing this wasn't really wasn't calming for me, because I tend to over-think the way it should look A LOT when I'm trying to add in some hand lettering techniques to it.
Like how the thick and thin lines should perfectly look and flow with each other.
And because of that, I almost quit doing them, because I'm trying to create CALM, not frustration and more to "think" about, because being a busy mom is enough for me to handle.
But, the other day, I realized, that yes, it might not be as calming as when I do my cursive words (future process video and blog post coming soon on this!), but, boy, do I absolutely LOVE creating them.
And in the end, once I get passed my over-analytical, left brain thoughts, I'm INNER-gized with SO much JOY...just like when I take my savoring life photos.
Photography isn't as calming for me either. I have to constantly figure out the settings and the lighting and squat down and stand up and get into all kinds of different positions and, at the same time, I'm thinking MANY thoughts at the same time.
But, just like with my uplifting doodles, in the end, when I'm editing and getting them ready to share with my family, friends and here on the blog, I'm ALWAYS JOYfully ignited from within.
I'm JOYfully INNERgized!! High on life! Smiling BIG! Excited! Feeling like a kid again!! ALWAYS!!
And that my friends, is why I'll keep on doing them.
Because MY INNER JOY is the only thing that matters.
But now, instead of just showing you my end result, I'm SO JOYfully excited that I now get to show you how they come to BE. Once a teacher, always a teacher! :)
Because if you're anything like me, I bet you LOVE watching all the creative process videos that are out there these days in blog, vlog and social media land.
Woohoo!! I can't wait to share more!
Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you'd like to see more also! I've love to connect with you there!
Until next time,
I hope your day is a HAPPY DAY, too!
Why do I hand letter uplifting words? Because it easily calms my mind and soothes my soul so I can connect more to what my heart truly wants and needs no matter how busy and stressful my mama day may be (something that's hard to do when my mind is running five miles ahead or behind the present moment).
Tools used: black super sharpie | canson mixed media sketchbook | sakura koi watercolors | edited in Adobe Photoshop
