14 DAYS OF LOVE - DAY #14

We did it!  This is the 14th day of love, and if you  have been keeping up and doing all 13 days thus far, you are finally at the end.  Celebrate yourself today!  Remind yourself that you are loved, that you are, indeed, good enough, worthy and talented!  We are proud you have stuck out this little project and have so enjoyed seeing all your work and your creations.

Our final prompt for 14 DAYS OF LOVE is to reward yourself. Write yourself a love poem, or use a poem that speaks to who you are as a person.

You could write a sonnet if you like, an ode to the powerful you.  Or maybe you decide to write a Haiku, or even a little limerick.  However you do it, and however you express it, we know it will be wonderful!

You.  Yes,  you  ARE worthy, talented, creative and all the other very positive things about you that you (and others) love.  Too often we let our inner critic take the lead, and throughout the past two weeks, we have wanted you to focus on your positive, the loving side of your nature and what it feels like to BE loved.

We love that you put your art "out there" for us all to see and enjoy.  We love that you are part of our artful journey and sharing this experience with us.  We love that you embrace our challenges, and take the sometimes difficult steps to get out of your comfort zone with your art.  We love that you inspire us!  We will continue to push you throughout the year to keep stepping out of that comfort zone, but now, those of you who are finishing this challenge can be assured that you have what it takes to see a project through to completion.  You did it!  And we are proud of you!  We're pretty proud of ourselves, with this being our first "series" of  themed art prompts.  It was fun, challenging and at the same time very rewarding in oh, so many ways.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! 

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Here's our interpretation of today's prompt.  We hope you are able to take many positives away from this experience, either through the process, the experience of discovery and experimentation, or through the comfort in knowing that you don't face those inner demons alone.

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BETTY RICHARDSON - Today's prompt was really fun for me.  I was a little bit silly, and a little bit serious.

My silliness is reflected in this little ditty, that I learned as a child.  Why I learned it I will never know, but it has stuck with me all these many decades.  Created as a 4x6" postcard. Background created with scraped gesso;  Liquitex Basics acrylics in 3 different shades of red; lettered with black Signo Uniball pen.  Stamp is one I received from a friend, colored with Copic Markers, and outlined with black China marker.  Embellished with decorative tape and Special Black Copic marker.  It is silly, isn't it, but I love this old lady with her hat and noisemaker.  That's me. Old lady.  But I like to say I'm old enough to know better and young enough not to care! <hehehe>

My "serious" side takes a more conventional approach to today's prompt.  I could certainly have written a poem, a Haiku or even a Limerick.  I have written many in the past because I do love words (can't you tell) and I love writing.  But THIS poem speaks to my soul, my inner me, the strong and independent me.  To me, it focuses on the positive, forging ahead in life no matter what is hurled toward you.  And this has how my life has been. I was always taught to pull myself up by my bootstraps and move on.  Whether I get knocked down or fall down on this journey we call life.  So here, I recite INVICTUS, by William Ernest Henley. I first read this poem when I was about 14 years old and have kind of clung to it ever since.  If you're keeping track, that's about 5 decades. I hope you like it too.

Hand lettered on black cardstock with a silver metallic Sakura pen and embellished with silver, green & pink metallic and Red Sakura Stardust pens.  Nothing too fancy.  And it is super shiny in the light.It may be simple, but it speaks volumes to me.  I think it is a fitting way to end my 14 Days of Love, by loving myself.

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LYNN JACKSON - Using card-stock painted pink and lime green for the background and added heart stamps and once again colored them in with the glaze pens. I must say these prompts were more fun thAn work like I thought they would be.  I hope you all have enjoyed them as well. Thanks for looking!

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Melody is traveling out of state tonight, and poor Tamie has had her grandchildren all day, so Lynn and I will have to do!

Create something wonderful and reward yourself!  Show us your creations on the group feed at Artful Journeys and we'll keep cheering you on!

We're keeping it artful!
"Your" ARTFUL CHICKS

~~Betty, Melody, Tamie & Lynn