Hello everyone and Happy how is it October already!? My favorite time of year, and also, the BUSIEST! Out of three of my kids, two of them have October birthdays, also not to mention all the pumpkin farms, haunted houses and hayrides, apple and pumpkin picking, and last but not least, HALLOWEEN ITSELF! There is […]
Hello everyone and Happy how is it October already!? My favorite time of year, and also, the BUSIEST! Out of three of my kids, two of them have October birthdays, also not to mention all the pumpkin farms, haunted houses and hayrides, apple and pumpkin picking, and last but not least, HALLOWEEN ITSELF! There is so much to do within the month of October. What are some of your favorite fall activities? I would love to know! For now, let’s get into this months “Ohkayyay 5 things”.
*As mentioned in the previous months, “Ohkayyay 5 things” is a loose and free monthly based prompt challenge with zero pressure! Just some things to get the gears turning if you need any inspiration, all based around a particular month. See September’s Ohkayyay 5 things list here.*
Here are the “5 things” for October:
Moon:
“When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
`tis near Halloween”
I love the way Halloween gives the moon an excuse to be a big character within illustrations! Especially in vintage Halloween illustrations. Here’s a link to a Pinterest board that has so much vintage halloween inspiration, and even some moon characters sprinkled throughout.
Ghost:
If there’s ever an excuse to draw a ghost, October is it! One of my favorite things to play with when drawing/painting ghosts, is the fact that they are transparent. Playing with bringing the background colors through the ghost is always a challenge for me, but a fun challenge! Here’s an example of what I played with in my ghost character from Peachtober last year here.
Pumpkin:
Nothing says fall and Halloween like PUMPKINS. Every year I go to buy pumpkins I think to myself, how many pumpkins is too many pumpkins? I love them! I would grow my own, but every time I try, the deer come through and eat the blossoms. Haven’t figured out a way to make them stop lol. What do you think of creating when you think pumpkins?
Owl:
Another fun October character, the Owl. Have you ever seen an owl? Last year we had an owl in our backyard in one of our trees, my kids named them “Luna” a very fitting name for an owl!
Apple:
What’s your favorite ways to eat an apple? Apple pie, apple cider, candy apple, or just a regular old apple? I love apple picking, and I love the apple aesthetic, but when it comes to eating too many apples, my stomach is none too happy lol. Such is life! But I love me a good apple cider, or apple frost, a local snack from an apple farm that combines apples and vanilla in an ice cream/slushie treat. One of my families favorites!
That’s it! The “5 things” for the month of October. Hope they help inspire you to create!
*Note: These prompts do not have to be finished pieces, they could be a sketch, a story, a sculpture, anything! If you feel like sharing, you can use #ohkayyay5things and tag me on instagram @ohkayyay. I’ll be sharing creations in my stories throughout the month of June! If you don’t want to share over social media, you can email me at ohkayyay@gmail.com or you can keep your beautiful creations all for yourself. I can’t wait to see what you make!*
Thank you for reading, and have fun creating everyone!
Hello everyone! What month is it? Time seems to be passing faster and faster and here we are, already well into the end of Summer. How are you doing? I hope you are being kind and gentle to yourself! Let’s get into it… The Dreaded BURNOUT I wanted to write about something important today. Something […]
Hello everyone!
What month is it? Time seems to be passing faster and faster and here we are, already well into the end of Summer. How are you doing? I hope you are being kind and gentle to yourself! Let’s get into it…
The Dreaded BURNOUT
I wanted to write about something important today. Something I regularly struggle with, and that is BURNOUT. Or sometimes it can be called, ART-BLOCK. As much as it can try to be avoided, it somehow seems inevitable. Okay, so we know it is probably going to happen, and there is nothing we can do about that. But how can we get ourselves out of it, where we feel comfortable creating again? First let’s start with the why.
Why Do we Create?
First thing I want to talk about and also a question I have for you to think about is… Why do we create? Why do we do it?! If it brings us so much frustration and exhaustion sometimes, why do we keep doing it to ourselves? And maybe you’re a rare few where you have an endless amount of energy to create, time and resources all in place, ideas FLOWING out of your brain, self marketing comes perfectly natural, you have a store that’s fully stocked and you have a back log of posts, blog writings, photos, videos, all the things and then some, the list goes on and on.
If you do have this, please contact me and tell me all of your secrets, but also (chances are) managing all of these things can be a bit stressful, overwhelming and unobtainable. Bring on THE BURNOUT.
What Causes BURNOUT?
I find that my burnout comes from when there are other outside factors in my life at play. Family, health, friends, relationships. Things that are important need to take priority. Would I love the dinner and laundry to do itself? The kids to put themselves to bed? The second job to take care of itself? All these things done, so I could sit in my beautifully curated office and casually sip my coffee while an abundant amount of ideas and creations effortlessly get put down on paper and magically bring me to where I want to be career wise? Sounds like an amazingly impractical life.
All of this sounds stressful. So why do we do it? Well, the spark. The NEED to create. I can’t get rid of it, can you?
So I find myself writing ideas in a notepad, scribbling characters on grocery lists, stopping in my tracks with a thought or a painting idea or a new color combination I want to try. Sometimes, we loose the spark. The spark burns out. But it’s never gone. Just know, that want and feeling you have to create something, will probably never be completely gone, sometimes it just doesn’t burn as bright.
The Three Steps to Recovering from BURNOUT
Step One: The Social Media Dilemma
Okay passion and sappy talk done, now what to do about it?! I’ve come out of several burnouts, all different, all terrible. I want to start off with my NUMBER ONE thing to do when dealing with that artblock, burnout feeling, and I cannot stress this enough. GET OFF OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
Social media platforms are a great way to stay connected to a large community of artists. So many resources at your fingertips! But you have to know how to use it. One thing that instagram is specifically good at is focusing on the numbers (read more about how I feel about numbers in this blog post here). How many people are engaged? Did your post get a lot of views? What about likes? Are people commenting? The system wants you to know, because they want you to feel like you need to keep posting, to do better aka get your numbers higher.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve fallen into the numbers game. It has gotten to the point where I was posting purely off of what I thought everyone would want to see; what I thought would get me the highest numbers. Endlessly scrolling, not even looking at the beautiful art that people were creating, but just looking at how many likes it got. I was working for the algorithm, I wasn’t letting it work for me. As soon as you get this feeling, or notice yourself looking at the numbers only, take a step back and walk away. This is the first place to start in conquering BURNOUT.
Step Two: Finding the Source of the Burnout
One of the biggest things that brings me to a burnout, are the outside factors. Life moments becoming bigger and taking up a lot of space in my mind. Holidays, birthdays, big life events, all of the things that come up naturally, can make me need to pause and step away. Not step away because I want to, but step away because I have too. If you have kids especially, it can be hard to balance all of the things, it takes a village!
Not having clear direction can be a source of burnout for me as well. When I’m working on a project, I have a direction, I know what needs to get done. But when I’m left open ended and completely alone to come up with my own projects, it can be a little daunting. Mix that with the outside factors and it can seem like, what’s the point of it all. Your spark is dwindling.
Finding the source of your burnout can help you recognize what needs to be done. Am I overwhelmed with family life? Focus on what your family needs. Am I lacking a project or direction? Brainstorm ideas with no intention of finishing a project. Do I need inspiration? Go visit a museum, buy a new sketchbook! Is my head feeling cloudy? Go for a walk. I’ve just recently read about the benefits of “Silent Walking” (link to the article here) and I can’t wait to try and implement it into my everyday. Stepping away, finding the source and taking the time to address it can be a huge help.
Step Three: Slowly Lighting the Flame Again
So what if you’re not doing anything? What if your burnout has led you to a point where you’re not creating, you’re not interacting with the community, you’ve completely fallen off the face of the art world and you don’t know how to jump back in? Well I’ve been there, first of all. Second of all please take comfort in knowing that this is okay. You probably need the time to not think about things for a while. It’s not a bad thing to shut off and take a break. But you miss drawing, and you miss creating, so what are some ways to nurture your inner flame and not smother it back down?
Make a mess:
I keep several sketch books. And one of my sketchbooks, is my messy I don’t care who sees this sketchbook. Everyone needs one of these. Open a page, and just start drawing. ANYTHING. Make shapes, draw lines, put a blob of color down, it doesn’t matter what you do because no one is going to see it. You can’t be too precious with your work all the time. If you’re too gentle and cautious, then you are going to start doubting yourself, being too hesitant, and it will show in your work.
When’s the last time you took a crayon, any color, and just ran it across a piece of paper for no reason, with no vision in sight? Do that! Scribble, doodle, make UGLY art! Who cares! It will help keep your creative juices flowing and I think it’s a good place to start. Start with no expectations, end with no expectations, just create something for fun! (Sometimes I color in my kids coloring books to just for fun, it’s 100% no pressure and I find it very relaxing.)
Find Inspiration:
So you’ve scribbled and had some fun, has your spark lit up a bit more? If you’re still not sure what to make from here, maybe it’s time to get some inspiration from other sources! I know I said to stay clear of social media, but Pinterest is a great tool to find inspiration (and also pose references.) I feel like they don’t put too much pressure on the numbers either.
Some other places where I find inspiration are children books. Do you have a favorite illustrator? A favorite author? Some of my favorites are Richard Scarry, The Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel, or any other kind of vintage children books. Go to the library and turn some pages in a book! Researching and absorbing these types of illustrations helps inspire me to create my own art.
Try Something New:
How’s your creative flame doing? One last little idea I have that could help you get your spark back is, try something new! This could be anything from using a new type of paint, to sculpting something with clay, painting on a super big canvas (this has been on my bucket list of things to try for a while now) or even just drawing a new subject matter. Just remember when trying something new to not stress about it, easier said than done, and chances are it’s going to be difficult at first, but what better way to grow than to give a go at something just for fun?
Ending Thoughts
Burnout is real. Art-block is real. Accepting the fact that it is going to happen is important. Your need to create will never leave you. Always remember life moves in waves. Everything can’t always be great, and you need the down time to heal and recover to come back and be stronger. That’s how we learn, that’s how we improve and grow.
Have you struggled with Art-block or Burnout? What are some things you have done to get out of it? I’d love to learn and hear from you in the comments! Thank you for reading, and happy creating!
Hello everyone! How’s your July going? I’ve been working away slowly on a few projects, but MAN is it difficult to get things done in the summer. Between the beautiful weather, all the outdoor activities and the kids being home from school, it can be difficult to find time for myself to get things done. […]
Hello everyone!
How’s your July going?
I’ve been working away slowly on a few projects, but MAN is it difficult to get things done in the summer. Between the beautiful weather, all the outdoor activities and the kids being home from school, it can be difficult to find time for myself to get things done. Do you have kids? How are you doing with balancing it all?
In the meantime, if you’re looking for things to do with your kids or to just keep them busy for a little bit, boy do I have an activity for you! During the summer, my kids love being outside ALL THE TIME. That’s what inspired this…
A Nature Scavenger Hunt!
*Click on image to download, scroll for both painted and outlined versions*
Just download and get searching!
There is a painted version OR an outlined version for your little (or yourself!) to color and also to help save on ink when printing!
I hope you (and your family!) have fun with this one! Feel free to share your finished searches if you’d like.
Again, printable link to the Nature Scavenger Hunt painted version here and the Nature Scavenger Hunt outlined version here. If you would like more printables and things like this, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter “Bit Bobs and Knick Knacks” where I’ll be writing more insights, how-tos, and designing more fun activities. Sign up is below and have fun searching everyone!
Hello everyone and woo hoo July! Wow, can’t believe this year is over half way through now, it’s flying by for me, how is it going for you? As mentioned in the previous months, “Ohkayyay 5 things” is a loose and free, monthly based prompt challenge with zero pressure! Just some things to get the […]
Hello everyone and woo hoo July! Wow, can’t believe this year is over half way through now, it’s flying by for me, how is it going for you?
As mentioned in the previous months, “Ohkayyay 5 things” is a loose and free, monthly based prompt challenge with zero pressure! Just some things to get the gears turning if you need any inspiration, all focused around a particular month. See May’s list here, and see June’s list here.
Here are the “5 things” for July:
Parade: A major staple to the summer season, parades! Our town does a big one for our local fireman’s carnival, and it’s definitely something my kids look forward to every year. I think parades are also fun to draw because you can make them very dynamic by playing with the characters, levels and color palettes.
Fireworks: In honor of fourth of July, fireworks! This is another nostalgic one for kids. Staying up late till it’s dark, watching fireworks, holding sparklers. Great opportunity to play with lighting, shapes and patterns.
Strawberry: My family and I went strawberry picking a couple weeks ago and oh man, strawberries are really cute. Some ideas to think about, whose picking the strawberries? Could the perspective change and could someone be living in the strawberry patch? Could you design a pattern out of strawberry leaves, flowers and fruit?
Picnic: A lovely day for a picnic! This prompt has been one that I’ve been wanting to paint for a while. I hope I have time to tackle it this month.
Jam: This one could be interpreted in many different ways! I think of the jam you can eat, I mean what else am I going to do with all those extra strawberries? Can’t wait to see what you think of!
That’s it! The “5 things” for the month of July. Hope they help inspire you to create!
Note: These prompts do not have to be finished pieces, they could be a sketch, a story, a sculpture, anything! If you feel like sharing, you can use #ohkayyay5things and tag me on instagram @ohkayyay. I’ll be sharing creations in my stories throughout the month of June! If you don’t want to share over social media, you can email me at ohkayyay@gmail.com or you can keep your beautiful creations all for yourself. I can’t wait to see what you make!
Thank you for reading, and have fun creating everyone!
Hello! Welcome to Bit Bobs and Knick Knacks. A home for musings, articles, challenges and writings predominantly revolved around one thing, art. If you’re here, you might know my name is Kay Hunt. I am an illustrator, painter, mother of three, wife, antique lover, vintage children’s book collector, vegetarian and avid nature admirer. Now what […]
Hello! Welcome to Bit Bobs and Knick Knacks. A home for musings, articles, challenges and writings predominantly revolved around one thing, art. If you’re here, you might know my name is Kay Hunt. I am an illustrator, painter, mother of three, wife, antique lover, vintage children’s book collector, vegetarian and avid nature admirer.
Now what exactly is Bit Bobs and Knick Knacks? Bit Bobs and Knick Knacks is an ever evolving space of varying topics from painting to life events to tutorials and everything and anything in-between! You know how in your house there are “junk drawers”? Little spaces filled with tiny treasures that we collect over time? Bit Bobs and Knick Knacks is that. A tucked away space filled with special little treasures. Here are some topics I am excited to write about and explore that will be going on in this tiny space of the internet:
How-tos
Drawing challenges
Life updates
Projects
Q+A
Process videos
Clay Sculpting
Typography
Crafting activities (some that will even get little ones involved!)
And these are just to name a few! Any other topics you’d like to talk or learn about please feel free to reach out to me! I truly love hearing from you and learning about what interests you!
This space has been created out of a need for an artistic outlet and connection. A very open and low pressure space. So please sit back, relax, grab a cup of coffee, tea, juice, wine, water, and let’s create something together.
You can catch up with the current newsletters here. If you’d like to receive email updates you can subscribe below!
