As soon as this line came to me last week I knew I had my theme for the week for my 52-cars project.

Art making is kind of like skipping stones, right? Throw a flat stone across the smooth surface of a river and watch one idea become the next and the next…and then watch them ripple out.

I spent most of my week last week experimenting and playing and not doing much else. I created figures in different ways, some in ink and colored pencil, some paper cut outs, some watercolor, some collage. And then the acrylics came out and I found myself painting abstracts. I was kind of all over the place.

I can’t say I knew what I was doing—or even that I was comfortable with what often felt out of control.

Here’s what I wrote in my journal:

I really am all over the place—ink drawings, watercolor experiments, lettering, art journal pages, urban sketches, whimsical characters, abstracts…what a freaking hodge podge! Or is this me being self critical? I don’t know! I I wish I could choose! But I want to do it all!

But I also experienced the ripple effect. One idea really did lead to the next. I have to remind myself over and over again. Stand in front of a body of water, let your mind wander at the edge and just throw out the ideas—and that is enough.

Fun fact: Plenty of stones don’t make it. Plonk! They drop like…well, a rock.

I set out to make a very different card for this week’s theme—and I hated all three sketches!

When I decided to go in a whole different direction (this week’s final card), my heart instantly felt lighter—I think you could say it skipped a little :-)