Day 24: like an ocean

Day 24/28: like an ocean

When I first started therapy, I was barely holding myself above the water, barely keeping myself from drowning, and I knew I needed help.

Now, two years later, I have a goal: to be like the ocean. I want to be strong and everlasting, to let my fury be known but also to provide comfort to the lives of those who seek my presence. I want to provide life to people, to rejuvenate those who spend time beside me. I want to become necessary in someone’s heart, something that they can’t live without because they need me so desperately.

One day, I will become an ocean.


Brittany’s ocean
Tynan’s ocean

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Day 23: smudges

Day 23/28: smudges

Somewhere along the line, my edges became smudged. I don’t really remember when it happened, but somewhere between my transition from Maryland to Rhode Island I lost the sharpness that defined me. It vanished in the packed boxes and the goodbyes, leaving behind grey smudges and blurry colors where my feelings leaked out.

Smudges can’t ever be erased. They’re always there, like a shadow, even when you redraw the lines. They’ll always be there as a reminder of what happened.

Brittany’s smudge
Tynan’s smudge

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Day 22: Those who went before us

Day 22/28: those who went before us

As much as we hope we don’t end up like our parents, each of us is a shadow, a reflection or even a patchwork quilt of our ancestors before us. And not all ancestors are blood-related. Who came before you? Who are your artistic or political or career or familial predecessors? Who’s shadow have you walked in and how does it feel?

Brittany’s Ancestors
Tynan’s Ancestors

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Day 21: (w)hole

day 21/28: (w)hole

I am whole, but there is this hole inside of me that cannot be seen, cannot be touched or healed with anything but time.


Brittany’s
Tynan’s

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Day 20: apple of my eye

Day 20/28: apple of my eye

None of you will ever convince me this song by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is not the cutest thing ever I don’t care HOW OLD IT GETS.

So what’s the apple of your eye? What’s being reflected there most often? What do you love the most?


Brittany’s apple
Tynan’s apple

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Day 19: honestly.

Day 19/28: honestly



"Honestly, I don’t care."
"Honestly, why do I put up with you?"
"Honestly, tell me how you feel."


Brittany’s Moment of Honesty
Tynan’s Moment of Honesty

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Day 18: lull & storm

Day 18/28: lull & storm

((TWO FOR TUESDAY));; There’s always a lull that settles over the earth before a storm. The wind isn’t blowing, the birds have all hidden themselves away, where everything is quiet. It’s peaceful, almost, a deep breath before the wave crashes down over the world.

If you’ve ever been by the ocean before a storm, with the cloud lingering on the horizon, the smell actually changes. Everything sort of becomes sharp, and while the only thing you can hear is the soft lapping of the ocean against the rocks, the smell of the ocean, the crisp freshness of it, becomes clearer to your senses.

And then the storm crashes around you. Maybe you were expecting it, maybe you weren’t. Maybe you board up the windows and weather it like you always do. Maybe you’re so caught off guard that the glass shatters as the wind whips around your house, blowing everything precious to you around. It had the strength to knock over trees, to obliterate whatever is in it’s way.

Storms can be hard, but sometimes, the lull—waiting for the storm itself, when you know it’s coming—is the hardest part.

Brittany's Tempest
Tynan's Tempest

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Day 17: Dust

Day 17/28: dust

I was always told at a young age that everything returns to dust eventually. The Lord created us that way, so that we can then replenish the earth in return. Of course, when I got older, I learned about science, how our molecules break down and cells die and fall apart and that’s why we become dust.

Dust is comprised of lost things, of dirt of cells, things that are left behind. A lingering memento of something discarded and neglected.

Brittany’s Dust
Tynan’s Dust

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day 16: while everyone sleeps

Day 16/28: while everyone sleeps Today’s prompt is back to the general idea category. Maybe create something at night while everyone’s asleep, maybe depict people sleeping, maybe write something about a character that does something super secret while everyone else is sleeping. Pretty open-end here, even though it’s a little more specific that our one word prompts. ALSO we’re past halfway through the challenge, everyone! Stick with us! Brittany’s slumber Tynan’s slumber

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Day 15: Echo Day 1

Brittany

Today we’re gonna be playing with a form we adore here at 28 to Create: the echo poem(painting/song/cupcake/etc). The echo poem is a Surrealist technique where one person would write a poem on one side of a piece of paper and another person would respond to the right of it (usually in opposition to the first poem). It could go on and on and on until, say, ten people were all writing a new poem based on the poem before them based on the poem before them.

Here at 28 to Create we broaden the term a bit and just call them echoes. These are pieces we make (in any form) directly inspired by other’s work (in any form).

Today we’re gonna provide you a poem and a song to choose from for your inspiration.

Tynan

Music has always been a huge part of my creative process. Believe it or not, my ‘fun’ pieces always have a classical music background, where as my ‘darker’ pieces end up with something a little more modern (the demon painting? I turned on my Jason DeRulo Pandora station and let it go).

Recently, I’ve been listening to Schiller’s Opus, a gorgeous mix of classical/modern music. (Also, my yoga playlist!) For today’s echo piece, I’ve picked on of the tracks from that album to inspire you, but I do also recommend listening to the whole thing! It’s a pretty boss album.

The Poem & The Song


Brittany’s Echo Piece
Tynan’s Echo Piece

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Day 14: Nomads

Day 14/28: nomads

OH IS TODAY VALENTINE'S DAY TOO BAD CAUSE THE PROMPT IS NOMADS. Nomads travel, usually in a group, where the the food (or the money or the safety) is. They wander from place to place, never settling on a physical home but a metaphysical one within their group. It was no easy like in humanity's early days and it's no easy life now.

Nomads nowadays are either romanticized or spit upon. But, I mean, if we look at it backwards we're all nomads in a way. Many of us who have steady homes still have wandering minds. And, okay, fine, if you want to do a Valentine's themed creation go ahead. xoxo

Brittany's nomad
Tynan's nomad

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Day 13: Uncomfortable

Day 13/28: uncomfortable

 So many things can make us uncomfortable. A hard chair. Razor burn. Public presentations. Talking about the past. People being racist. Someone else's public presentation. Physically uncomfortable, emotionally uncomfortable, uncomfortable for other people/because of other people. But I think there's a kind of discomfort we don't embrace very often. A necessary one.

As artists and people we tend to plateau out sometimes and just live in a comfortable place without pushing ourselves. So today's about pushing boundaries. Work in a form that makes you uncomfortable or talk about a situation that makes you uncomfortable or create something uncomfortable.

Brittany's discomfort
Tynan's discomfort

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Day 12: Shame

Day 12/28: shame

definition: the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another.

synonyms: embarrassment, mortification, humiliation, chagrin


Brittany’s shame
Tynan’s shame

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Day 11: Childhood vs Adulthood

Day 11/28: childhood and adulthood

It’s another Two for Tuesday and today’s are childhood and adulthood. There are so many competing thoughts about growing up, from C. S. Lewis’s argument that true adults don’t worry about being childish and actually delight in it to the Times article about the selfie-self-absorbed millennials (can I hear a bullshit?). Is youth better than age? It’s sure a lot easier. I mean, until you hit puberty maybe.

Remember, you can just choose one side to create based on, do a separate piece for each, or do one piece to incorporate both ideas.


Brittany’s 2for2
Tynan’s 2for2

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Day 10: Murmur

Day 10/28: murmur

secrets pass between two people in murmurs and whispers, of love and betrayal. its always soft, quiet, as if afraid that a proclamation would break the world around it.

Brittany's murmur
Tynan's murmur

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Day 9: Demons

Day 9/28: demons

They say that demons take many forms. You have the traditional views of ‘demons’ such as Lucifer, bathed in hellfire and cloaked in red. You have the black-eyed snarky smooth-talkers from tv shows like Supernatural.

Demons, a darkness, living inside you, giving you something else to blame for the cruelty in your own heart. “It’s the demon in me.” “My inner demons.”

Brittany’s demon
Tynan’s demon

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Day 8: letters

Day 8/28

A few days ago my mother and I sat in a floor in front of her hope chest (we’re Southern so that’s a thing) looking through letters my father wrote her more than thirty years ago. We cried. Just a few months before I had read through letters addressed to my grandfather. We have a visceral connection to physical indications of memories before us. Paper and history and words and emotions and my darlings and I miss yous and letters are still more than the sum of their parts.

Consider letters for your prompt today. Maybe write one, make a piece based on one you read, play us the sound of letters being felt as they’re read.

Brittany’s letter
Tynan’s letter

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Day 7: not my usual

Day 7/28: not my usual

I’m usually very regimented in my schedule. Get up for work at the same time. Get the same cup of coffee every morning. Eat the same thing for breakfast. The waitress at the diner down the street knows me by name and knows what I’m going to order, so we skip the pretense of perusing the menu.

But today, today is something different. I skipped the diner coffee today, made some at home. Ate breakfast at home; cereal, half a grapefruit, and some yogurt. Today is different, and I skipped everything that was ‘usual’.

Brittany’s unusual
Tynan’s unusual

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Day 6: Fireflies

Day 6/28: fireflies

I used to catch fireflies in a jar when I was little, poking holes in the top so that they could breathe, and watch them light up and crawl around. I grew up just outside of DC, and in the summer there were ALWAYS fireflies around (I don’t see them often where I live now). Lightning bugs, my brother and I called them, because for just that one split second, they illuminated the world around them, like a bolt of lightning.

I found out years later that it’s actually a little chemical reaction that goes on, to make the lightning bugs glow. Bio-luminescence. But to a small, 7 year old girl, all I could see was a little lightbulb that turned on and off.

Reading about the mythology behind the fireflies later on, I learned that they used to be an almost “slang” term for a cigar; there’s a story where a mischievous fox ‘steals’ fire from the fireflies and gives it to the rest of the world; a Filipino legend says that fireflies were once ordinary flies, gifted with light by the stars so that they may guard the trees of the star apples. There are so many myths and legends about these tiny little bugs that illuminate the night, it’s amazing to me how they’ve slipped out of the legends and become just an insect that appears only at night.

Brittany's fireflies
Tynan's fireflies

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Day 5: hunted

Day 5/28: Hunted

hunt;;
to chase with the intention of catching or killing one’s prey; to drive or chase down something or someone; to search for something.

Predator or Prey?


Brittany’s hunt
Tynan’s hunt (warnings for fake blood/gore, talks about death/murder)

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Day 4: far & near

Day 4/28: far & near

Today is our first Two for Tuesday of the month! If you are new to the challenge, Two for Tuesdays are a day when we give you TWO prompts instead of one. You can do one piece based on both, two pieces (one for each) or one piece for one! We’re super freeform about it!

Far and near, close and distant. It can be the distance between two people, an item close up then far away, something just out of reach. The separation can be palpable, or more subtle.

Brittany’s Far & Near
Tynan’s Far & Near

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Day 3: breathing (breathless)

Day 3/28: breathing (breathless)

We do it so effortlessly. Breathing. Your body will actually force you to breathe, just to keep you alive. A subconscious effort, the inflating of the lungs in the chest, breathe in, breathe out, repeat repeat repeat.

Being breathless comes with a feeling of lightheaded-ness, your heartbeat thundering in your ears, racing to pump oxygen back into your bloodstream. You can feel thin, stretched out, sometimes with a ringing in your ears.

Brittany's breath
Tynan's breath

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Day 2: I Know

Day 2/28: i know

Knowledge is power. Maybe you know a secret. Maybe you repeatedly tell your mother you know something and she keeps treating you like you don’t. Maybe you’re confessing. But you know something, and you have to tell someone. i know. i know, i know, i know.

Post a link to your piece in the comment's section so we can see the results!

Brittany's knowledge
Tynan's knowledge

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Day 1: Daybreak

Day 1/28: daybreak

We felt it was appropriate to start with this, as daybreak is the beginning of the day, and this is the beginning of our challenge. The dawn, the first light of the day, creeping over the edge of the horizon. You can also take on a more symbolic meaning, to new beginnings, a fresh start.

Post a link to your piece in the comment's section so we can see the results!

Brittany's daybreak
Tynan's daybreak

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D-1!

Hello again everyone! Tynan, popping in to let you all know that the prompt list has officially been dropped for this year. You can check out the list here, on our blogspot, or here, on our tumblr. Also, Brittany and I were lucky enough to be interviewed by Annemarie Lockhart from voxpoetica, which you can listen to here.

The official challenge starts tomorrow, so we'll be posting our first prompt tomorrow morning. Don't wait for us to post, though! If you want to get a head start, DO IT! Get creating! GO GO GO! 

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Introductions: YOU

And now we’d like to hear from all y’all! It’s no requirement but we’ve found it’s only more fun when you know a bit about the people creating near you!

Write a brief introduction to yourself in the comments section. We’d like to hear a fun fact or recent projects, what mediums you plan on using, who’s your fave artist, what’s your fave snack food, whatever you like! Share it with us, what you'd like to get out of this project, what inspires you, etc, etc.

TELL US!

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Introductions: Brittany

WELL HELLO THERE, Y’ALL.

Like Tynan pointed out, you probably got a feel for us through the giveaways, but we figured we’d go ahead with some good, old fashioned intros.

Name’s Brittany. I’m still looking for a grant to spend all day making sassy faces at people (for those of you with us last year) but since that hasn’t come through, here I am.

Fun (vain?) fact, I recently had a play, paper backs, produced by Sundown Collaborative Theatre (some info HERE). I’ve worked with Sundown as an actor before. Sundown Collaborative believes in incorporating all art forms in their theatre and productions and it was the perfect melting pot for me to learn the importance of all types of creation.

I primarily identify as a writer but last year (some of last year’s works are in that link) I dabbled in photography and painting as well. I hope to do the same and broaden my scope and understanding of different art forms as I continue.

We began this challenge as a way to come to the creative table every , no matter what, inspired or no, ready or not. And I could definitely use that accountability right now.

If you have any questions for me at all you can ask them here or at feelingfickle (where I’ll be posting my works again this year).

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Introductions: Tynan

Hello everyone! I know we've already had a bit of introduction through the giveaways, but for the sake of the challenge itself, HI I'M TYNAN.

That's not my real name, but for all points and purposes, that's what you can call me.

I'm really excited about this year's 28 to Create. Last year, for those of you who participated, or have read the old posts on the blogspot account, I was in a really bad spot at the beginning of the year. Like, really Bad. I've come a long way since then, things are still Bad, but they are also Better. And I am really, REALLY excited to see what is coming this year in 28.

I'm primarily a photographer, so I'll probably be doing most of my work in that medium. However, I've had training in other mediums, so I may end up venturing into those as well. (I got bit by the painting bug a few months ago, hahaha, my goal is to do one painting this challenge!)

I've been working on a couple things in the last year, mainly just on taking pictures every day, of things that strike me. (Usually this happens through my instagram account.) I'm working on one thing in particular, which is still basically a secret from everyone except Brittany, because I procrastinate like a boss.

I'm always willing and able to answer questions, about anything, okay? You can send messages to me here, on the blog, or hit me up on my art journal, lightestwhispers. I'm really excited to get to know all of you, and to see your artworks!

The prompt list will be going up tomorrow. I hope this gives everyone a little time to prepare for the challenge!

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D-7!

Hello again everyone, Tynan here.

We are officially 1 week away from the start of the new season of 28 to Create, and there's so much going on already! We hosted 2 giveaways on our new tumblr account, our introductions are going up tomorrow, and the prompt list is being finalized. And, in just 7 short days, we have our first challenge!

There's still some time for you to submit prompt ideas, and the best way to do that is to email us at 28tocreate@gmail.com, or in our new ask box on tumblr. You can also ask us anything you want about the challenge, if something is confusing, or if you've been dying to ask me what my hair color is. Remember, the best way to contact us is through tumblr, or our email address.

I'm so excited, you guys! Seriously!

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