A Valentine's Gift Crafted by Words Left Behind

"All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original." -- Artist, Austin Kleon.

I first became fascinated with Austin Kleon's work about three years ago. His canvas is a newspaper. His art -- poems created by the words left blank in an newspaper article; only after eliminating the unwanted words with a permanent marker. The exercise has been called "Newspaper Blackout."

I was so enamored by the uniqueness of the art. The message that can be spelled out by simply blacking out unnecessary words. I revisited Kleon's work this morning and almost appreciated it more than the first time I saw it. I thought I would take a page from his book (literally) and try my hand at creating the perfect Valentine's Day gift for my husband.

MAGAZINE RED-OUT

"I love you most. partners for 20 years and for life."

There are really no guidelines or instructions for this project. The best advice I can give is to "have no plan." Don't start the project with a phrase you want to create. Somehow, quite organically, ideas start to form. Read through the article and certain words will strike you more than others. 

With pencil, draw a box around the words that form your sentence or phrase. Using a small-tip or angled paint brush, lightly brush the paint around the word. Paint the remaining white space with a wider brush. 

Once dried, draw an outline of the word (to help it stand out a bit more) with a fine-tip permanent pen. 

If you free yourself from expectations of this project, you will enjoy it more. Let the words speak for themselves and trust me, magic will happen.