While I’m catching up on posts, you can check out the previous challenges and enter the Grand Prize Giveaway. I’ll be extending the deadline to make up for the week without challenges.

We also have several more giveaways lined up – be sure to come enter those once they’re live!

CHALLENGE!

Today’s challenge is to take your camera and capture photos of at least one of these 5 themes. If you’re feeling really brave, go ahead and tackle them all. Or use one of the themes as the basis for a photo essay. Be creative!

1. Red
2. Growth
3. Passage
4. Sound
5. Water

Add your photos to our Flickr pool or post them on your blog and leave a link here. Don’t forget to claim your entries into the Grand Prize Giveaway and check out the other challenges for Color Outside the Lines.

Does anyone else suffer from this same overload of inspiration without action? Today’s challenge is designed to get one item off our to-do-someday-when-I-have-some-extra-time lists and onto our wow-I-completed-a-great-project today lists. Want to join in?

CHALLENGE!

Take something from your inspiration station, Pinterest boards, a favorite cookbook, etc. and DO IT. It’s time to turn that inspiration into action.

When you’re done, come back and let us know what you checked off your list! We’d love to see photos, or a recipe, etc.

Winnie the Pooh: heffalumps, woozles

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: gobstoppers

Jabberwocky: jabberwock, brillig, bandersnatch, etc.

Dr. Seuss books: lorax, truffula, wocket, sneetch, etc.

The Hobbit: hobbit, ent, mithril, etc.

CHALLENGE!

Play around with words today and create a few new ones. Give them definitions. Do they describe an action? An object? Maybe they’re colors.

If you’re having trouble putting together some nonsense words, try combining some of these syllables:

Come back and share some of your new words (and definitions) with us, and then claim your entry for the Grand Prize Giveaway.

Here’s a good way to exercise your creativity and your body all at once. Turn on the radio and dance to whatever comes on. Then switch to a new station and dance to a different type of music. You don’t have to look graceful or know what you’re doing – the point is to stretch your creativity. The changing genres will keep you on your toes {pun intended}.

If you’re not sure of what stations to listen to, try creating a Pandora radio station, or download the free songs in this Amazon list I created – it’ll keep you dancing for over 20 minutes.

So put your dancing shoes on and be creative!

Don’t forget to enter the Grand Prize Giveaway and check out the rest of the challenges for Color Outside the Lines.

Photo copyright John Boyer.

{All the songs on my Amazon Listmania list were free as of April 18, 2012.}

50 Artists You Should Know features 50 “Western” artists over an array of styles and eras. Selected artists include well-known masters such as da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Michelango, as well as modern artists like Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol. The book is arranged chronologically, beginning with Giotto di Bondone in the 1300′s and ending with contemporary painter David Hockney.

Four pages are dedicated to most of the artists, though a small selection have only been given two. The first page is typically one of their most famous pieces, but in some cases multiple works are highlighted. The facing page includes a depiction of the artist, a timeline of his life, and a brief biography. Across the top of the two pages is a timeline showing how the artist’s life fits in amongst world events of his time. For most of the artists, the next two pages contain more of their work.

The back of 50 Artists You Should Know includes a short glossary of terminology, and there are other small boxes of information scattered throughout the book, giving the reader more details on topics such as Pointilism, Baroque art, and the Reformation. Because it is designed as an overview of artists throughout the centuries, this book includes artwork that will appeal to anyone – and many pieces that will appeal to very few. Tucked in among da Vinci’s Mona Lisa; Jan Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring; and Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, are various paintings featuring nudes; The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David; and Joan Miro’s decidely abstruse surrealism. While every picture may not be to everyone’s taste, the book does its job of educating the reader on the evolution of art and the artists whose works fill our galleries.

50 Paintings You Should Know, while highlighting 50 works of art, actually contains well over 50 paintings, including some of my favorites like Van Gogh’s The Starry Night and Petunia No.2 by Georgia O’Keefe. Just as in 50 Artists You Should Know, this book is laid out chronologically. I find that the chronological approach is immensely helpful in learning when the various styles of painting occurred, and the timeline across the tops of the pages places this in the context of the artists’ lives and famous world events.

Each of the 50 highlighted paintings is prominently featured on a left-hand page, while the facing page contains an image of the artist, along with a short timeline of his life, and a detailed description of the work. The information contained in these descriptions varies from painting to painting, but typically contains details such as the the inspiration behind the work, symbolism within it, where it hangs now, etc. It’s almost like walking through an art museum with your own personal docent.

There is some overlap between this book and 50 Artists You Should Know, but there is just as much information to learn from both books. As with any art book, some paintings will appeal to most people, and some to very few. For instance, I can’t say I particularly enjoy Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, and I don’t believe I’ll ever understand the popularity of works like Autumn Rhythm No. 30 by Jackson Pollock or Black Square by Kasimir Malevich. (My 4-year-old niece’s opinion of Edvard Munch’s The Scream is hilarious – and pretty much echoes my own thoughts.) However, I do still appreciate that this book includes these, what I would deem, less-lovely works of art, as recognizing them is still essential to anyone who wishes to be educated in art appreciation.

BUY IT: These two books, along with other art books from Prestel Publishing, are available on Amazon.com for around $13.50 each.

WIN IT: Prestel Publishing has generously offered to give a copy of each 50 Artists You Should Know and 50 Paintings You Should Know to one of my readers. Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. (They’re also giving away a second set in the Grand Prize Giveaway, so don’t forget to enter there as well!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

{Disclosure: I was provided with a complimentary copy of 50 Artists You Should Know and 50 Paintings You Should Know in order to facilitate this review. However, all opinions are 100% my own. Additionally, the links to Amazon above are my affiliate links. If you would prefer NOT to visit Amazon via my affiliate links, simply visit the site as you normally would.}

A Girl with a Watering Can

Vase with Twelve Sunflowers

Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies

Cows in a Meadow Near a Farm

CHALLENGE!

Look at the works of art shown above and give them more creative names, or find others that are good candidates for new titles. Art.com is a great place to look, as is www.PubHist.com.

Let us know which pieces you chose, what you would re-name them, and why. Then go claim your entry into the Grand Prize Giveaway – the prize list is about to get longer!

{Disclosure: The above link to art.com is my affiliate link.}

{via}

• Clustering video
• How to Use Clustering to Jump Start Your Writing
• Clustering & Mind Mapping Techniques
• Mind Map Inspiration

{via}

• Select a word or idea and write it in the center of a piece of paper. Circle it.
• Write down the next word that comes to mind. Circle it, and draw a line connecting the two words.
• Now write another word and circle it. Draw a line between this new word and whatever word it’s connected to.
• Continue adding to your cluster until you’re out of space or ideas.

Your finished cluster should look something like this:

If you want to add drawings or doodles, use a variety of colors, or nix the circles, that’s allowed. The goal of clustering and mind mapping is to generate ideas, organize thoughts, and discover connections. You could even use a blank wall and a ton of sticky notes!

CHALLENGE!

Create your own mind map. Use the clustering method above, or turn your mind map into a piece of art by adding images and using color. If you’re stuck for ideas, try one of these:

• yourself
• your favorite color
• vacation
• fruit
• a room in your house

After you’ve finished your mind map, take a photo or scan of it to share with us. You can post it on your own blog or upload it elsewhere and leave the link in the comments below, or you can share it in our Flickr group. Once you’ve shared it, head over to the Grand Prize Giveaway and snag your entries for participating.

CHALLENGE!

The next time you make dinner, consider not only the nutritional value of what you’re cooking, but also of how you’ll present it. A dish with a beautiful color palette is more appetizing than a plate filled with monotones. Cloth napkins and a pretty centerpiece will make your meal feel more extravagant, and may cause your family to linger just a little longer around the table. Or maybe the addition of a tablecloth is all you’ll need to give your dinner that special something.

Take a few extra minutes to add a creative spark to your next meal, then share with us what you did, whether it was adding garnish to your chicken, or an extra color to your meal, or learning a new way to fold your napkins. Take a photo if you can and share it via our Flickr group, or leave a link below. Or leave a comment describing how you gave your dinner a good dose of creativity. (And remember to claim your entries for the Grand Prize Giveaway!)