Monday 2 August 2010

Creative Block?! GET YOUR WARPAINT ON!!!!!



Over the past two or three days I have just been sitting round reading magazines and watching youtube videos on how to sew clothes( yes I want to try) instead of acctually creating anything. I did do the picture above in my art journal, but it is horrible!!!!Ans more importantly I made myself do it and it was not fun. It is time to rise up and put some warpaint on ( aka liquid eyeliner) and get creative.
First let's go onto iHanna's art journaling catagory and see what ideas that gives us...
Hmmm... Maneki Neko Sketch ,
Sounds fun huh? So I went on google and found a cool pic of this cat and drew it.

Better than the girl painting and it was fun!!YAY!! So my tip for creative block: Go onto one of your fave art journaling websites, pick a post they did that looks fun and for which you have all the supplies, turn the music up and start mindlessly working.And voila!!!
At the moment I am really into japan, so i did a bit of research about this cat.
Basically:
Maneki Neko: means Beckoning Cat aka Welcoming Cat, Lucky Cat, Money Cat and fortune Cat.
The raised paw is not a greeting, but has a meaning. If the left paw is raised it means the statue or image will bring customers into a shop( they are commonly placed outside shops for this reason)and if the right paw is raised, it means wealth and good luck. A lot of people think that, the higher the cats paw is raised , the greater Luck or the greatest distance good fortune will come from.The cat normaly has a red collar, which may be red because it reminds of the red flower hichirmen, which was popular during the Edo period when it was first created( 1603-1867) and a bell and/or bib. The bib may be something to do with the bib which grateful parents are said to give to Jizo Botsatu, the protector of sick children.
The histiory of this cat is mysterious. It could be because emperors and other important people say that someone passed a cat, that was waving at him. thanks to being distracted by this cat, the man did not walk into a trap. Thats why cats are considered wise and lucky spirits.

I can't argue with cats being wise and lucky spirits!
I got the info from Wikipedia, there you can also read about the 3 legends around the actual cat statue.

So that did it for me. How do you go to war with your creative block?

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