Week 50 // Making Art Everyday • Bardot Brush

Week Fifty

“Whenever you do something hard, you are getting better at doing that thing.”

My oldest started Kindergarten this year, and I’m volunteering in his classroom as the “Art Docent” where I deliver prepared monthly art lessons to the kids. We were drawing and cutting out pine trees and one of the kids said defeatedly, “This is hard!” I said to him, “Whenever you do something hard, you are getting better at doing that thing.”

For a kindergartener, cutting shapes out of paper is hard. It’s new. Their hands are still learning how to hold the scissors, how much pressure is needed to cut, how to guide the scissors to where they want them to go. Think about how easy it is for YOU to cut something with scissors. You already put it the work to figure it out. You persisted through the difficulty, and one day, it became easy.

Everything that’s new to us is going to feel hard and confusing and sometimes even impossible at first. But “hard” doesn’t equal “bad.” Doing hard things is how we grow.

What to Do

The prompts this week are not the most straightforward, so approaching them might feel difficult. Give them a try, and let it feel hard and challenging. Doing things beyond your current capabilities is how you learn things.

December Prompts

Celebrations

This week I wanted to try something different. For week 50, I’ve created a list of things that aren’t exactly concrete. They might be a feeling, or an action, or a state of mind. They are completely opened-ended and subject to your interpretation. For some this might feel freeing, but others might stare at their blank canvas and feel lost. Here are a few ideas about how to approach these prompts:

Put on some music you love. Let the word sink into your head. Pick whatever color pops into you head and swirl it around on you canvas. Pick new colors and paint new brushstrokes with absolutely no intentions other than the word in you head. Keep going until you feel done (trust your intuition!!).
Create a lettering piece of the word. Write the word in an artful way.
Draw something personal from your life that makes you feel the word.

What I’m about to say is true for all the prompts, but especially this week: there is no right or wrong way to draw these. Your artwork is going to look completely different than the next participant’s. One more thing: Sharing this week’s art might require a little more vulnerability from you. Sharing what’s in our brain or hearts, when you know other people won’t quite understand it takes a bit of bravery. Share your work, own it, let it be uniquely yours.

Week 50 | Dec 9-15

Togetherness

Mon: friends
Tue: cheer
Wed: wishes
Thu: hope
Fri: happiness
Sat: hugs
Sun: connection

I made the artwork below using suggestion #1 for the prompts. I highly recommend giving this approach a try – its very therapeutic! Top image is “Hugs”, bottom image is “Wishes”

You can access each week’s prompts at makingarteveryday.com

Week 50 progress Tracker

Track your Making Art Everyday progress! See at-a-glance all you’ve accomplished, and reflect on the work you’ve done at the end of the week. Visit bardotbrush.com/progress to download the monthly tracker and weekly reflection sheet. There are also instructions about how to use them.

Making Art Everyday // Bardot Brush

We’ve got a Facebook group just for participants of Making Art Everyday and all things Bardot Brush! Come join our group of supportive artists of all skill levels, share your work, ask questions, and be a part of the community!