We talk all the time about how creating art is good for us and how it relieves stress – but sometimes when we’re not feeling so creative; the very thought of putting pen to paper is stressful in and of itself.

If you’re like most creative types, though – you have a stash of unfinished/unloved pieces hidden away somewhere. Think about the pages of your sketchbook or that cabinet where you throw all those disposable paint palettes (it’s ok, I save them too) whatever it is that caused you to tuck it away can be put to good use if you look at it as simply repurposing what you already have. And, as a bonus, you’re not staring into that big, blank, scary white hole of a canvas/paper/panel, etc.

I had fun with this one tonight.

It started as a sketch except she had no ears or hair. And I just could NOT make myself attempt to draw any either. I suppose she would have stayed that way indefinitely.

I remember one Christmas painting a Nativity set for my mom without a face on any of the figures – animals included! I didn’t want to risk messing the whole thing up after working so long on the rest of it.

For tonight’s art session I photographed the sketch (so, technically I guess she will remain bald and earless indefinitely), imported the image into iColorama, added the ‘hair’ with the cool art brushes in that program, saved it and opened it into Procreate and did some detail work with the sketch and small paintbrush tools in that program. Reminder: these are both apps.

It was a very stress-free and enjoyable time that came together rather quickly since I started with something rather than nothing.