Many thanks and delicious cocktails to all the participants for this week's challenge! Here are the submissions we received:















...and we also received Moonlight Warrior by ~mistikelf, which doesn't technically count because the challenge called for a visual piece and not a written one. However, we at The Artery have a soft spot for misguided effort, so we've included it anyway!

It was fantastic to see so many poets leaping into the breach and trying something new, no matter how timid they may have been about their actual artistic skills. I can tell you it's hard! So a great deal of love goes out to them.

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The Artery Database And Chatroom

Get chatting in #artery today!

Bowing to popular pressure (or at least the pesterings of a few particular devotees) the Artery chatroom is now up and running. To celebrate it, we'll be giving out subscriptions at random over the next few days to visitors - particularly if they say something especially intelligent or make us giggle!

The first edition of the Artery Database is up and can be found here. Take a stroll and find that special someone - in a purely creative sense, of course! And if you're interested in adding yourself to the database, just supply us with your name, your particular skills and what you'd like to be involved with and we'll include you in the next edition.

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This Week's Challenge - brought to you by =zebrazebrazebra!

Last week we had a fantastic challenge which involved the themes of birth and rebirth. But no artist can remain at the birth level forever - sooner or later we have to work with our own innate skills and develop them into something brighter. With that in mind, here's this week's challenge!


Basic Motor Skills

This challenge comes in three stages, and is for written submissions only. However, it's designed for all artists to participate. It doesn't matter if you think you're a dreadful poet - the rest of us know you're wrong. And the skills you learn here could be useful in your own discipline, as well!


1) Get yourself a piece of paper and a pen, and write down the first five words that come into your head. Right now. Without even thinking about it.

2) Done that? Now, fetch yourself a timer of some sort, and set it for ten (10) minutes. In these ten minutes you're going to write yourself what's called a stream-of-consciousness poem, using the five words you started with as a basis.

A stream-of-consciousness poem, for those who don't know, is where you simply write what comes into your head without considering it or revising on the way. It's possible to write a stream-of-consciousness poem in some sort of structure, but generally they're a bit of a ramble. That's okay. You'll need that extra material later on.

3) Time for a break! Get yourself a snack - you deserve it. When you get back, set your timer for ten (10) minutes again. This time, you're going to take your stream-of-consciousness and revise it into a finished poem. Cut words, add words, even remove the five you started with - it's up to you, as long as you're happy with the finished product.

As soon as the ten minutes are up, it's pens down. Now's the fun bit - post all three stages here on dA. Let us see the development of your motor skills from start to finish, from nothing more than five words to a completed piece. And then go and find out how other people developed, too!

Deadline for submissions: 5th of February 11PM GMT

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Next week - a competition for artist/writer collaborations brought to you by both =zebrazebrazebra and ~maxine!