The art challenge for week 48 in the Documented Life Project was to: “Depict Gratitude in a creative way.”

Although every week should be a week of gratitude, this week is when those in the USA focus on gratitude with a celebration of a day of Thanksgiving. Melinda and I are grateful for many things, but we do want to express our gratitude for all of you who have become faithful followers of our blog. It brings us much joy when we hear from you about how you have been inspired to express your creativity because of the encouragement you have received from us. That is our desire– to help you find the creativity that is locked up inside of you so you can find ways to play with that. One way Melinda and I have been stretched this year is by doing the challenges in the Documented Life Project. We chose to share them with you not only to inspire you to try something new but also to help us stay committed through the year. Only four weeks left! It is really fun to look back through each of our challenges– some we really liked, some we didn’t, but we can both see growth in our abilities and it feels good to have tried things that were new to us.

We would like to invite you to participate with us in the Documented Life Project for 2015. It is free and you can do it with or without sharing your work. This past year the focus was on a calendar planner/art journal but Melinda and I just did the art challenges (without the planner.) It is our understanding that 2015 will be focused on an art journal and the coordinators are bringing in several teachers to present new techniques and ideas for you to try. Be sure to sign up so you don’t miss anything. You can find out more about it here. Melinda is even considering having her older kids join with her in doing the challenges next year.

Jan:

My heart is full of so many things for which I am grateful. My inspiration for this was a silver necklace pendant I have which is puffy and has open cutouts of hearts and circles on one side.  I used colored pencils, white and black pens and a little acrylic paint on my page.

Melinda:


This was my third attempt at doing this challenge. The tree wasn’t coming out right at first. I like how this turned out. The things I am grateful for are the leaves. I used a black 05 Micron and colored pencils.