Missed a prompt or freebie? Find them all here.

If you'd like to share your work, tag me on Instagram @atiliay
or email me at hi.atiliay@gmail.com--I'd love to see what you're creating!

If you’d like a Creative Spark Deck of your own, you can find them in my shop.

If you enjoy this challenge, please share it with a friend--the more the merrier!
Here's the sign up link if you need it.
  

Welcome to a new month of the Creative Spark Challenge! Below you'll find the prompt card, ideas and inspiration, this month's extra and playlist, and details for a free postcard making virtual workshop!

If this is your first month joining in on the challenge (welcome & hello!)--here are answers to some FAQs that are helpful!

MAY PROMPT CARD

ENVISION & EXPRESS

Here are some ideas and inspiration to help you get started! If you're having some decision fatigue, the number in the spark symbol on the prompt card can help: use the text prompt that coordinates with that number which would be 2. nature. 

All of the below is open to your interpretation! Feel free to adapt, change, and adjust as needed based on how you feel and what you feel inspired to do.

Click here or on the image below for this month's mood board:

UP & DOWN

• • Brush lettering was first thing I thought of because it's all about those thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes! Try your hand at this fun art form (you can do it with a Crayola type marker and don't need other supplies!) or if you're familiar, get back into it / try something new with your lettering. This month's free creative workshop will go through brush lettering basics with a marker and the free PDF is a workshop which you can download below!
  • New paintings by Cinta Vidal elude gravity and turn architecture upside down
  • Upside Down World I found this illustration to be so fun! It reminded me of the book Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. What would your upside down world look like?

NATURE

• • Create a field journal page, a nature inspired collage, shadow art, printing and painting with items you found in nature, or using a reference photo to paint a landscape.
  • Photo inspiration For this prompt I decided to share photos I took from two recent trips to local botanical gardens--Bellevue and Kubota. Notice the colors, textures, shapes, and silhouettes. Zoom in for the details! I hope it inspires you as much as it inspires me! 
  • Visit a local botanical garden, park, beach, lake and sit be in nature. Listen to the sounds, take in the smells, feel the weather on your skin. Take your sketchbook or journal, take photos on your phone, or just be in the moment.

VIBRATION

• • Mesmerizing Movements of Bird Murmurations Kathryn Cooper has been documenting this amazing phenomenon, revealing how thousands of starlings create a synchronized display of fluid motion above their roosting sites.
  • Feel unexpected joy I came across this poem because the blog post mentioned vibration: "Unfortunately, the systems in place are also designed to keep us on a lower vibration (fear, scarcity, worry, lack),..." then shared this beautiful poem by Mary Oliver about joy as a salve for when we are struggling: 
    
    “If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happened better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb. (Don’t Hesitate)”
    

FOUND

• Go on a treasure hunt for inspiration and / or materials and tools to use. Walk around your block, visit a local park or beach, check out a thrift store, visit a bookstore, look through magazines, hit a garage sale, or go through your own junk drawers / garage / bookshelves. You can find something tangible to use or take photos to reference.
• Waste Land Ever since I watched this doc years ago, it has stayed with me. Artist Vik Muniz connects with the catadores he met to create beautiful portraits of them using the materials they work with every day, garbage. Read more here.

CRUSH

• Use a hammer as your main tool and find things you can smash: pieces of chalk, flowers, berries, etc. Put a piece of parchment on top of the item you are smashing to keep it from flying everywhere (unless that's what you want!) and to keep your hammer clean. Have fun and experiment! Your page doesn't need to end up being an image--it can be abstract or a reference page.
• Who do you have a crush on? This could be a childhood crush, celebrity / musician, someone in real life or take something you really love--a song, poem, lyric, a hobby. Use this person/subject to inspire your art.

NEW SUBJECTIVITY

• New Subjectivity: Figurative Painting After 2000 At Pratt Manhattan Gallery

COLORS ON THE PROMPT CARD:

• • Forest Green
    • Try pairing it with: blush pink, orange, brown, khaki, olive, yellow
  • Brown
    • Try pairing it with: denim blue, grey, lavender, pink, tan, green

PATTERN ON THE PROMPT CARD:

• Use the pattern as a starting point and make it your own by adding more elements, using different colors, adjusting the thickness of the lines and widths of the shapes, etc.
• Use the pattern as is. Incorporate this pattern into your piece.

And don't forget to consider the opposites of all the prompts above as well as synonyms and see where that takes you!

VIRTUAL WORKSHOP: LEARN TO BRUSH LETTER WITH CRAYOLA MARKERS

Sunday, May 11th @ 10:30AM-11:00AM PACIFIC STANDARD TIME

For the prompt "up & down" I'll be sharing a fun and easy way to create brush lettering! This skill can be used on so many things: envelopes for mail, signs, labels, basically any time you need to write something down :) This is a 40 minute workshop where I will go over the techniques and some examples. Print out the PDF to follow along on some of the exercises if you'd like.

No experience needed, kids and teens are welcome!

Supply list is included in the Evite in the link below:

RSVP FOR THE FREE WORKSHOP HERE

THIS MONTH'S EXTRA:
BRUSH LETTERING - BASIC EXERCISES PRACTICE SHEET

Print this out to follow along and use during the workshop or to use as practice / a warm-up.

DOWNLOAD THE PDF

CSC PLAYLIST #5

Happy creating all month long!