Can you solve it?

My friend Jinnie-the-artist (who has finally accepted that she can label herself that way) gathers a group of us every few months to show off our art projects. They’re always in answer to some sort of challenge; we’ve made artist trading cards, things of certain dimensions, challenges like that. Occasionally we get together to play with each other’s supplies and try out New Things.

This month, it was Inchies, things an inch square. But since we like to be easy on ourselves, we said we could do up to an inch-and-a-half. Everyone else knows a lot about various artistic techniques and media, and they turn out really beautiful projects. Pam (new to the group) showed a tiny fabric landscape – a miniature quilt – that was such a good idea I want to try something like it, too. Kathy did something with a new-to-me pigment powder, Betty carved up the Mona Lisa, and Jane helped me with what kind of glue I might try on a project. Once again, Jinnie did something fascinating with textures on paper and showed us a book she made of muslin cloth coated in dry wall mud. She tries things like that all the time, and the texture was incredible. I want to make a mud book!

I think back to why I created this blog. I needed the discipline of structure, something that would demand I face the Blank Page every day. It has been totally successful in that way. But it has limited my creativity in that the art I’m creating is pretty exclusively blog art, illustrations. I’m not doing much experimenting so the art challenges serve a purpose for me.

Usually, I dawdle around, sometimes not getting to them. This time, though, I had An Idea.

I wanted to do puzzles. On puzzle pieces.

So I went to the thrift store and bought a used jigsaw puzzle for little kids for 25¢. Then I painted and decorated some paper and glued the puzzle pieces on it. When I cut them out with a knife, I had brand new puzzle pieces.

I wrote a puzzle on each. It’s from a long list of similar brain teaser type things which I’ve had for about 30 years. Yes, another find from my adventures in de-cluttering. Now it lives again as a puzzle piece.

See if you can figure them out. Maybe this will be your New Thing for today. Enjoy!