Tonight I discovered Mixed Media Monday.  It’s another meme site that challenges mixed media artists around the world to create something new based on a weekly theme. 

This week’s challenge, Whimsey, sparked something inside so I pulled out my collage scrap box and instantly came across this design I had created a couple years ago during my decoupage cigar box phase.  Most of the design was created using Stampington rubber stamps if I remember correctly. 

It’s the perfect little creation to follow this past weekend where I literally locked myself in my studio.  Didn’t pick up the phone.  Didn’t even really go outside much.  And it was the best weekend ever.  I painted to my heart’s content. 

The painting, untitled for the moment, is quite diffent than anything I’ve painted in the past couple years, and I love it. 

For the longest time, it feels like I’ve gotten so serious about my artwork that I haven’t taken time to just loosen up and enjoy the moment.  As Linda Naimen wrote once, “Delight yourself and delight your world.  Edison, Einstein, Picasso, and da Vinci all loved to play and they loved to explore.  Through play we open our receptivity to imagination, intuition, and daydream.  Play is the root of genius.”

Embracing the whimsical side of art allows us to experiment, to step outside the boundaries of what is considered proper, acceptable, or approved.  So the next time you catch yourself getting too critical or serious about your artwork, just place this quote by Henry Miller somewhere near your easel, “Paint as you like and die happy.”