What I need this week from you? Your sweet ideas. Literally. Here's the question that will lead to my Free-for-all-Friday drawing. What candy best describes mothers? 

and/or

(for example "B Good" or "W8 for it" - valentine candy hearts style)

I made the call for contents of your purse on my Shannon's Studio Facebook page at the beginning of the week. (You should really "like" it and be a part of it.) Several people commented and many left a list. That's what I was looking for. It's part of a larger project that I'll talk about later but I needed to post this even though it's not done. 

This project is taking waaaaaay longer than I expected. I've been working on it all day and I started with the yesterday. I know it doesn't seem like much but believe me it is. 

You'll see by the text it's called, "Mysteries of a Mom Purse". It's a page with a flap and this is what it looks like closed.

And this is what it looks like opened. I took all the lists and tried to put everything listed into the drawing. I didn't have pepper spray and for the life of me could not find gum or hand sanitizer in our house, which I know we have. I find enough gum smashed into the floor. And at this very moment I realized I didn't put in the diaper. I've carried a diaper in my bag for so many years. I will remedy that. 

We used to call one of my purses, "the black hole" because it was so big and held so much stuff. I've since downsized since I don't have babies. Now, I need to do a count of what's in there. 

This is a close up of the front flap where I'm listing the people who contributed. (I just need to add Wade's name since he suggested 'weapons' if he had a purse.) I asked for their permission to use their names though they didn't know why. I may change it up a bit but this is the general idea. Thanks to all my Free-for-all-Friday friends you'll have to check what I added from your list. 

If you want to be part of the collaborative art projects then check in at the beginning of the week (monday or tuesday here or at Shannon's Studio FB page) to see what I'm looking for and check back Friday. It's that easy. And fun. 

Here's Free-for-all-Friday on Saturday. I didn't finish last night because I dated the Boyfriend instead. Hey, I have priorities. What I did realize is that I have to start FFAF on Monday otherwise life and dates happen. So, on Monday or Tuesday I'll post info for FFAF, that way I can work on it during the week and not wait until Friday. Have to learn as we go but I think that sounds like a good plan.

This is a painting that was started Thursday night at a meeting in which I spoke about education. In my mind, education is part of a larger formula...

Education is wonderful but put it with the addition of Experience and Enlightenment then you really have something powerful. 

Some of the ladies and girls added words they associated with Education. Then I added the words that some of you gave me online Friday. (Dang it! I just saw I misspelled humility. I do that all the time.) There you have it, our collaborative Free-for-all-Friday art project. 

Next weeks project - I need to know what's in your purse. 

Free-for-all-Friday tomorrow but you have to tell me what's in your purse today!

Free-for-all-Friday is here early this week. With a little help. I've wanted to try out what another painter does. He's Dave DeVries and he runs Monster Engine. He takes children's drawings and turns them into paintings. He asks kids to make monsters and then takes it to another artistic level. I'm not into monsters but love'd the transformative idea. To see what I mean here's some of his work.

Well, you can see where I'm going with this. One mom sent in her kid's drawings this week after I asked. I didn't ask for monsters because I didn't want to do that.  I didn't know what I'd get or how I'd do any transformation. I figured I'd just see what happened. That's what Free-for-all-Friday is all about - collaborative experimentation. This is nothing like I usually do but here you go... Eliza & my painting.

When I saw Eliza's drawing I just loved it. (Thanks Eliza for letting me experiment with your artwork.) It was perfect on it's own but I was excited to try this transformation out. I kept faithful to her drawing but added color and a story. I call the painting Me & the Moon - Our Midnight Celebration. Since I just ended my 50th birthday celebration last week this just seemed fitting. The photo's a little dark since it wasn't that light out this morning when I took it.

I kept the same dark color palette DeVries uses. The only thing I wish I did differently was to put a face on that moon. Which I leave the right to go back and do. This doesn't look like anything I normally do but it was such fun. I may have to try this again sometime. Do you think I should?

I explained about Free-for-all-Friday here, but below is the summary.

A while ago, I came across an idea I've wanted to try. Free-for-all-Friday (I'm starting early this week and will unveil on Friday) is the perfect time to try it out but I will need some help from you. What I want are ...

I will take one or two and use them in a project. This is what you have to do -

I'll take it from there and you can see it Friday. That's if it all works out. Experiments are tricky that way; you never know how it's going to turn out but I'm excited to try. Wish me luck and post a picture.