Hello, and welcome to MARVIN ARTISTS. Kit and I came up with this little project idea after wandering through Borders and discovering a wonderful book called “Creative Grab Bag” by Ethan Bodnar. Basically, Bodnar came up with a list of over 30 art ideas, little assignments to spur the creative juices, and handed them out to a bunch of artists he knew. The book showcases how the various folks interpreted the assignment. Kit and I thought it might be fun to use the suggestions given to spur us into being creative. When we saw there were tear-out cards in the back of the book that had all the suggestions on them, we were hooked. MARVIN ARTISTS was born.

Here’s the plan. Each week around Wednesday, we throw all the cards into a hat and draw one. Then we challenge ourselves to come up with a unique creative interpretation of that assignment, and post the result to the blog by the following Wednesday. Some of the cards say things like “paint a painting” or “take a picture of a stranger”. There were also three blank cards, which Kit and I filled out ourselves. The examples offered in the book were mostly “flat arts”: drawings, painting, photographs, etc. We here at MARVIN ARTISTS say “go wild!” Unless the suggestion is very specific as to the media, we say interpret the suggestion in whatever way and whatever media you wish. The whole point of this exercise is to be creative.  Stretch yourself; try things you haven’t dared before. Most of all, enjoy.

We’re going to try to do this every week. We invite anybody who wants to join us to come along for the ride—the more, the merrier! We’ll post the random suggestion here each week. If you’d like to join the Tumblr group and post your creations as well, email Kit at marvinartists@tumblr.com and he’ll invite you. If you’d prefer to post your art in a place of your own choosing, we’d love it if you’d send us the link so we can include it here (you know our email addys). And if you’d prefer to remain not-so-public with your proclamation, we’d also love for you to shyly walk up to us and offer us a peek at your genius.

You can find out more about the book here: http://ethanbodnar.com/books/creativegrabbag/
The Marvin Artists’ page is here: http://marvinartists.tumblr.com/
If you’d like to join, email Kit here: marvinartists@tumblr.com

(I am not a visual artist.)   F. self-portrait.

“On the contrary, Watson.  I knew everything I needed to about our young client before I had spent five minutes in her company.”

“I fear I must be exceptionally obtuse, Holmes, but I drew very little at all from this lady besides that she was perhaps remarkably brusque for a young person of comparable station.”

My companion laughed at this, and shook his head.  “Of that much there can be no doubt, but everything else was written just as plainly, for one trained in reasoning and observation.  Our guest is a student, Watson, I imagine you won’t have guessed that.”

“I should have sooner guessed a dock-worker.  Her boots were large, and steel-tipped, and her hands were square and rough, weathered, I would even say.  Neither of those facts point to a particularly studious upbringing.”

Holmes shook his head.  “Rough, certainly, but not callused.  Her palms were smooth, and the only significant callusing was on the right middle and index fingers, the third knuckle of both.   While the index is an anomaly, the presence on her left wrist of a mechanical watch, needing to be wound, explains this, and the other suggests the frequent use of a pencil, likely for several hours a day.  Thus, a student or an artist. The latter was a possibility, of course, but the absence of any charcoal or paint on the hands or sleeves settled the matter absolutely.”

“You’re brilliant, Holmes!  But what else could you deduce?”

“The lady is disorganized, somewhat clumsy, prone to insomnia, and hates the Irish.”

“One moment, Holmes.  I’ve seen you prove your deductive talent before, and I have little reason to doubt you on any of the other attributes you’ve listed, but how could you possibly know she hates the Irish?”

“Simple, Watson.  Everyone hates the Irish.”