I’ve made 6 new sunflower seed paintings remind you to share your love with the world! I’ve published a new video to Youtube for Valentine’s day documenting the process of creating all six and I encourage you to subscribe to my Youtube channel so you don’t miss that. Remember to sign up to the sunflower project if you have not already by visiting my website here.
I discovered that I still had some footage from a 30 day vlog project I was recording in 2018, testing if I wanted to do this video thing. It turned out that I had way too much going on at that time to juggle a regular vlog, and so I shelved the footage. In between then and now two thirds of the footage went missing, but what remained was still an interesting look back for me as I reflected on what happened to those projects and involvements, and how they affected 2019. Now that I have decided to work on my Youtube Channel for 2020, I thought it might be fun to do a rewind and update video based on that test project. One thing I realized watching the footage, I love that haircut! It might be time to book a visit with a hairdresser.
It’s been nearly three years since I started the Sunflower Project. In that time some of you have asked me how you can begin to share your 1000 gifts with the world, and how you can keep your efforts fresh. While that depends on your life and what gifts you have that you can freely share, I have come up with a couple tools to help you along your journey. Click on the images below to download and print these tools.
May you share your 1000 gifts with the world, and may those gifts return 1000 fold to you one day!
For those of you that would like to keep track of your efforts to make the world a better place, here is a handy tracker with spaces to jot down the gifts you would like to share with the world. Each sheet has spaces to track 250 actions, so you can print and fill 4 sheets for 1000 gifts.
For those of you who would like a fun way to introduce simple acts of kindness and generosity to you 1000 gifts I have created a free printable for this Gift Jar. There are 12 preprinted suggestions for actions as well as 4 blanks for your own ideas. When you are at a loss for a kind act, pull an idea out of the jar and look for an opportunity to implement it. Completed all of them?
Congratulations!
You can start over by adding them back to the jar, or fill the jar with all new actions.
Click on the project image above to link to the printable. Then follow the instructions in the gallery below to assemble the Sunflower Project Gift Jar:
Tis the season for thinking of others and giving gifts designed to light the darkness, bringing hope for the morrow’s dawn. Here are 12 suggestions that can help you fulfill your promise to share your 1000 gifts with the world. Feel free to start them on December 25th as per tradition, or to start today!
So last week I told you about the new painted utility box I contributed to the Marlborough community. I also mentioned the references to the sunflower project that I included in the design. Here would now be a good place to include some images of a couple of the other boxes from the project. These artists agreed to let me contribute a sunflower seed to the designs of their boxes, symbolically taking part in the project and growing it further to take root in the Marlborough community. Thanks Sharon Fortowsky and Ashley Oshiro for hosting the Sunflower Project in your projects. Hopefully we can collaborate again soon!
Ashley Oshiro
(Detail with Sunflower seed by Debbie.lee Miszaniec)
Ashley Oshiro
Sharon Fortowsky
(Detail with Sunflower seed by Debbie.lee Miszaniec)
Sharon Fortowsky
Taking it Global, the group behind the Canada Wish 150 Mosaic Project, has asked me to share a funding opportunity for Canadians between ages 15 and 30 to initiate and implement community building projects, from gatherings to gardens and beyond. Funding levels for projects range from $250 – $1500. Visit Canada Service Corps to learn more!
Detail
Acrylic on Panel
I happened to sit beside Debbie.lee and her friend as we made art at Rumble House one evening over a year ago. Towards the end of the evening, she mentioned she was an artist and told be about her website and sunflower project. I was intrigued and inspired! At the time, I had been doing some soul searching after being a stay-at-home mom for 5 years and having done a fair amount of artistic journaling that year as a way of expressing my grief after my Mom passed away in February 2016. I would look at the sunflower seed painting she sent me, pinned to the bulletin board above the sewing area I had created with my Mom’s sewing machine. And then the seed sprouted as I realized I could share artistic journaling with others. I started a Meet-up group called Artistic Journaling for Times of Transition and have offered 12 sessions. This is now sprouting and growing in other directions as I continue to share my gifts with the world. Thanks planting a seed, Debbie.lee!Artfully yours,Kelly Small
These six sunflower seed paintings are the first for 2018, and the first of thirty I was able to purchase materials for, thanks to the honorarium from Taking It Global’s Wish 150 Mosaic project. Thanks Taking It Global!
In honour of the new year, I decided to take these six back to basics with black and white, and to explore active words which might give us thought about how we want to be in the new year.
Root has already gone to a good home. I am sure the rest would also like to find their homes! Go here to learn about the project and sign up to receive one free, or donate to ensure we keep this project going!
Detail
Acrylic on Panel
One year since I started the Sunflower Project, to encourage lovers of art and of life to share their gifts with the world.
This has resulted in 30 paintings completed for the project, 18 of them with the assistance of donated funds from supporters. 25 paintings have been mailed, my gift, to people who have signed up on the web site to participate in the Sunflower Project.
And then, the project grew: Taking It Global and Wish 150 invited me to contribute a piece to the Alberta Mosaic. The detail above is from the panel I contributed to the mosaic, and is based on the Sunflower Project. The Mosaic was unveiled in Edmonton at the end of October, and there are plans being discussed to have it exhibited in Calgary as well.
As a result of receiving the honorarium for contributing to the mosaic, I am able to produce and mail 30 more Sunflower Seed paintings!
I look forward to carrying the Sunflower Project into 2018 and watching as those seeds grow into something beautiful!
These 6 sunflower seed paintings, exploring a red-violet/green-yellow palette, have been brought to you by Amanda Constable, who donated the funds for the materials for these six paintings. They are all looking for a good home! Go here to learn about the project and sign up to receive one free, or donate to ensure we keep this project going!
