Saturday, January 29, 2011

Herbal Ally Challenge #4: Impressions

How is everyone doing? Have you been making infusions with your ally? Noticing any benefits from doing so? I've noticed a slight increase in my energy level. My family has noticed it too, as I "feel" like cleaning house more often, lol!

This week's challenge is going to take us away from the books again and back into our hearts and minds. Read over everything you wrote down about your ally last week and get a picture of your ally in your mind.

Over the course of the next week, do a series of impressionistic drawings, sketches, paintings of your herb. I realize this can be hard without having an actual plant nearby but the internet is a wealth of photographs! Use what you know about your ally, what you remember about him from previous experience and a few photographs you may have or find online.
Try to do 1 drawing a day if possible. Use a different medium each time: pencil, charcoal, pastels, crayons, watercolors, acrylics, colored pencils, markers, whatever you have on hand or can pick up locally. You are not going for perfection and details, just your impression of your ally.

Don't confuse your impression with the famous art period "Impressionism." What you are going for is your feelings about your ally, your impression of his personality, his uses, etc. If there is a doctrine of signatures associated with your plant, accentuate that. For instance, Nettles has a way of causing irritations, his sting causes a reaction of rashiness when you touch him. Therefore, he can be applied to treat rashes. Another example of this would be yellow flowers of Dandelion represent the liver. You don't have to limit your drawings to just pictures either. Feel free to add any words to each piece that you feel necessary. If you have photo editing software such as photoshop, upload a few pictures of your ally and play with the features to transform your ally as well. Print them off and add them to your journal. Have fun with it! Think about your ally and how he is with you on this journey and how he is working with you.

Share some of your creations at the end of the week for us to see!

1 comment:

karisma said...

This sounds like fun. I have been taking lots of pictures the past couple of weeks as well. I do have PS and have Never used it. (much to my families horror when I just post snapshots all the time). Maybe I will give it a go. I am looking forward to testing my artistic side out. Not sure how I will go for time this week. I now have two sick children on my hands and have not had a lot of sleep! :-(

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