Super Bloom was a culmination of a few different things. I first started thinking along all things tiny after attending an art exhibit at the Church History Museum of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A Visual Journal was a watercolor exhibit by Henry B. Erying, a member of the First Presidency of my church. He had always been a drawer or doodler but was on a family vacation in Hawaii one summer and while trying to entertain himself while his boys surfed and when he had hurt his back he picked up some watercolors and started to paint. What caught my attention when seeing the exhibit was his postcard size paintings. They were amazing! So detailed yet so tiny. I fell in love with the idea of tiny art.

This was in mid January. My time was limited due to my full plate of design work but yet I felt a real need to take time away from my computer and create something, even if it was just a little something every day. Along that same time I started to work on these tiny pieces an artist that I adore and follow on IG announced she was going to fill IG with flowers for the month of February and invited anyone painting to follow along and do the same. I accepted the challenge and began my tiny exploration in watercolor florals. Each day I would take a little time after work and dinner to paint a little floral arrangement. It had been awhile since I’d spent my time in the watercolor medium. Each night I would get on youtube and search out a new watercolor tutorial that looked interesting to me and then practice some of the techniques I was interested in. It became my way of decompressing the day and creating something just for me.

Out of this exercise came 30+ tiny floral pieces. Not all were great. Some I even tore up and tossed in the garbage! But there were some I really, really liked. The more I practiced the more I found myself improving on my skills and making the time to paint.

As I was painting these tiny pieces my friend mentioned there was a small movement a few miles south of me that was also focused on this idea of tiny art. She directed me to the IG account @tinyartshow and I was hooked. We planned to attend one of their exhibits the following week and in doing so my tiny art show solidified in my mind. Hanging and displaying my art had not really crossed my mind prior to seeing this exhibit. I immediately began to bounce off ideas to my friend. As I shared this idea more to others the idea of doing an art show grew and I knew I needed to do this and share these tiny pieces with others. Super Bloom became a reality. Tiny art, Tiny cakes and Tiny notecards and prints to sell.

It’s the Monday after my Super Bloom tiny art show debut. I’m exhausted…but also invigorated! It was such a fun night full of so many lovely friends and everything tiny. I’m so glad I did this. I’m so grateful to those who encouraged and prodded me along. I’m so grateful for those of you who bought art and supported me along this path. I don’t think this will be the last of this tiny art idea. I have now begun to explore tiny landscapes and we’ll see where that path leads.

I started this project at the beginning of the new year in an attempt to spark some creative juices. Based off of Sherri Lynn Woods idea of sewing a small improv piece each day as a challenge to keep coming back to the sewing machine and to do something creative that required little thinking and used up some scraps laying around. It worked! I really enjoyed this process and each evening after a days work I would at least sew for a few minutes, what ended up being at times an evening at the machine. Here's what came of this project. Like the title of this says...I didn't make it to 100 days, but I'm okay with that. It produced some fun pieces that I have since made into one quilt top and am in the process of working through another that I hope to enter into the Quiltcon show this coming year. If you're feeling a little stuck in your process, or need a boost in your creative life, I totally recommend trying this for awhile and see if it doesn't spark something inside. I truly believe creativity comes from doing not from worrying or thinking about it not being a good enough idea. Just do and the creative part will awaken, it sometimes just needs to be reminded it's there down deep inside you.