The Creative Collective is a year-long community building, creative program (though you can jump in and join us at any time!). I’ve thought of 23 fun activities for us to do (roughly two/month), which are designed to help you exert creativity in all its forms — from writing and photography to painting and even bartending, we’re going to get creative in the best ways! Just visit this post to read all of the year’s prompts. On the specified day, I will hold a link up here, on my blog, where you can share a blog post or photo related to YOUR project. Then, we can all peruse each other’s artwork and make new friends to fuel our creativity during 2014. Can I get a WOOOOOHOOOOOO?

Today’s prompt is a pretty simple idea:

Anything-Goes Art

What does that mean exactly? It literally means that anything goes! The point was to find things in your house — from untouched watercolors to Christmas wrapping paper gathering dust in the garage — and make anything your heart desired in a freeing, do-whatever-you-want kind of way.

You’re going to get mad at me. For my art piece, I did calligraphy. I know, after that preachy speech about gathering eclectic, miscellaneous items in your house, I opted for my new, mainstream artistic obsession instead. But I did push myself to try it in a new way, promise! See, a few weeks ago, I started taking Molly Jacques’ calligraphy class on Skillshare. I watched her videos and practiced along to them for about an hour or two, and then got swept away into my own world of calligraphy. I’ve been using her basic, recommended supplies ever since, but have been dreaming about stretching my skills (and supplies) a little more. Today, I went to Hobby Lobby for the first time (oh my word, can I move in?) and picked up some teal India ink and thicker paper. I got some other things too, like gold leaf paint and turquoise sequins, but ended up keeping my piece simple, the way I usually like things. Anyways, I had an AWESOME time working with my new ink today! It really brought calligraphy to life in a new way for me. Whereas the basic black ink I’d been using produces a matte, consistent coat of ink, my new ink looks a little more like watercolor, with dark and light patches and plenty of character. Unfortunately, you can’t see a lot of that detail in my night-time iPhone photos above, but I promise you it’s there and it’s so so purdy!

I wanted to use a quote about the ocean to complement my blue ink and fell in love with that quote by William James when I discovered it. Really vibes with my life philosophy. 🙂 I hope you like it, too! I’ve been working on lots of calligraphic prints for my upcoming print/paper goods shop, as well as some for my graphic design clients. It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite art forms — I love that it highlights my obsession with words. By the way, I tried doing calligraphy with watercolors the other day and that shiz was HARD. Like, I’m pretty sure I’m doing it 100% wrong. Does anyone have any tips or good tutorials?

Now, I can’t WAIT to see what you’ve created for today’s prompt! You all have been STELLAR about contributing to the previous link ups. Seriously rocks my world. Share your “anything goes art” posts below and spread your creativity! Have a gorgeous day, lovers!

Creative Collective Linkup RULES

1. You MUST leave a comment on the person’s blog who linked up directly before you. Check out their post, share some love, and make them feel like a creative all-star. (Don’t worry, the person who links up after you will return the favor!…Comments for everyone!). 
2. Please link up your posts or photos related to our Creative Collective prompt. Do not share links to unrelated DIY projects or to your blog’s homepage. They will be deleted.
3. If you like this project, share it! The more the merrier, ya dig? I even made a cute little button for your blogs, which links back to the Creative Collective page! Just copy the code and you’re good to go. 🙂

<div align="center"><a href="https://melyssagriffin.com/the-creative-collective/" title="The Creative Collective"><img src="https://melyssagriffin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Creative-Collective-button.jpg" alt="The Creative Collective" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

p.s. Don’t forget! Our next Creative Collective link up is on Wednesday, March 5th. The prompt? “Take a Skillshare Class.” In case you haven’t noticed, I LOVE Skillshare. It’s basically a place where smarty-pants creatives teach other people how to do awesome, creative things. It’s where I learned how to do calligraphy! The classes are cheap ($15-20) for lifetime access, too. So, take a class before March 5th and write about how it went or share what you created! Can’t wait to hear what you sign up for. 🙂 If you’d like to take the calligraphy class I did, click here.