Joan B Is Wise and Wonderful

Many of you know I'm a long-time fan of Joan B at Dear Paperlicious. Joan is wise and wonderful and so very talented, not to mention laugh-out-loud funny and ever so kind.

If you haven't read THIS POST on Dear Paperlicious, I encourage you to do so now. It's not long, and you get to see a cool picture of the lovely Joan posing amidst a really fabulous work of art.

Are you back? Oh, good!

Joan's words resonate with me so very much. I heard an interview on NPR several years ago during which an artist pointed out that children make art for the joy of making, not the joy of using. As an adult, I've been conditioned to believe that things must be practical and useful to be worthwhile. I want some justification for the effort and expense and time spent.

But how practical, really, are things like Zentangles? Or cards with weird sayings I'll never send to anyone? Or little handmade books that sit in a box in my basement? Or tags and paper trinkets?

Thinking of it another way, how practical was my sister's career as a ballerina? Sure, there are some videos of her performances, but isn't the point of performing arts that, well, you perform them? I saw the American Ballet Theater perform Swan Lake in Chicago many years ago, and I consider that art. But I have nothing to show for it other than the memory. Does that make it less--or more--meaningful?

And can I, a paper crafter, apply anything learned from the performing arts?

Methinks it's possible.

I'm willing to give it a try. I'm going to focus on playing, on creating and making and growing and experimenting, with a lot less thought for the utilitarian nature of the end product.

I'm going "to art."

Art for art's sake.

My own little wonderful, as Joan put it.

Let's see what happens. Care to join me?

(Note: Please don't panic. I'm not going to start doing collage/mixed media art journaling or crocheting doilies. Not that there's anything wrong with those things, actually, but I get that you don't come to a paper-crafting blog called Simplicity for collage or quilling. No. I want to stick to my minimalist style but play with new expressions of it that are, perhaps, less strictly practical. Let's see where it goes!)

Today's card is made with a fun set from Concord and 9th (awesome stamps!) called Love You. Mean It. This simple, hand-drawn wreath is fabulously simple!

In the spirit of simplicity, I created a very simple visual triangle of the small blooms (outlines stamped in Hero Arts stone wash and filled in with soft sky) accented with a tiny branch (in Hero Arts green). The wreath is Hero Arts lime, and the sentiment is Memento Luxe black. I love how the dense flowers contrast with the openness of the wreath!

A note on the sentiment. "Smile" is part of a larger sentiment in the set, but I suspected I would never use the larger one (not my favorite word choice/arrangement), so I actually cut the word Smile out of the sentiment. I'll use it a lot by itself. Thanks to Jennifer McGuire for getting me over my anxiety about cutting stamps apart.

Supplies
stamps: Concord and 9th
ink: Hero Arts, Memento Luxe
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, corner rounder