artruckish 2025

Original prompt of the Ben Franklin Planner

Kristen Neveu: I’ve always been a morning person; I wake up optimistic and energetic most mornings, and I exercise and journal after my coffee. I also love to see the sunrise, it gives me hope to keep going. I get what Benjamin Franklin was trying to say with his saying “Early to bed and early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy and wise.” As I crafted my painting collage, I decided to use picture of books with “Aristotle” writted on the spine. I realized that Aristotle also believed in early rising as being productive and healthy in his Economics. In the collage, I utilized recycled vintage magazines. There are images of ibeds, furniture, and items used in everyday routines. I also incorporated patterns or bricks and color samples, to help illustrate the structures of every day. On a related note, I tend to organize my days into colors and how that color makes me feel. As a kid, I assigned a color to each day of the week: Mondays – blue, Tuesdays – purple, Wednesdays – peach, Thursdays – green, Fridays – pink, Saturdays – silver, Sunday – yellow

Julie Cowan: Thinking of Big Goodness

Joyce Elias

Mark DeBernardi: What good shall I do this day? (Lucky Strike)

Ben Blount

Darren Oberto

Leslie Riley

Ellen Galland

Todd Jacobs

Lisa Zschunke

Sherry Smith

Socorro Mucino

Sherri Koenig

Chai Wolfman

Alicja Pulit

Laura Leith

Cie Bond

Lindsey Caplice

Mary Ridley

Kathy Pilat

Ren Picco Freeman

Fran Joy: Stretch - I start the day and end the day with a stretch in more ways than one; mind, body, and soul.

Chris Heisinger

Stacey Foisy

Marjorie Davidson: A delicate sunset - end of day. Contemplation of tasks completed, music and some reading as the sunsets.

Janet Webber

Mardy Sears

Janis Post

Larry Pinto: In contrast  to Benjamin Franklin’s time course of single day in his life, this Japanese style woodblock print tells a story that unfolded over billions of years.   500 miles to the NNE of Evanston lies the eastern shore of Lake Superior, the largest lake in the world by area.  The granite (reddish brown) was formed 3.5 billion years ago under the earth in a ‘pluton’. The rock’s shape was carved by the last glacier about 20,000 years ago. The basin of Lake Superior (and the other great lakes) was formed by a failed rift (separation) in the continent a billion years ago. The waves  of the lake shape the beach’s profile every day, and the trees grow slowly so that even small trees can be very old. 

Patrick Perry: There is something about the juxtaposition between aspiring to do good in your day and documenting those efforts hour after hour. It's striking that one must commit to 'do good'. To ' do good ' takes effort, whether because of human nature or all of life's distractions and competing priorities. It is not our natural state.   It intrigues me that Mr Franklin felt compelled, not only to make a commitment, but to track and record his efforts. Was it a way of holding himself to account? Was he recording it for posterity as a reporting of his life's efforts?Regardless of his reasons, it is that connection between time and 'doing good' that strikes me. Add to that the concept of what it means to 'do good'. Time is so quantifiable and exact, while 'Good' is broad, ambiguous, and open to individual interpretation. And it is the pursuit of those ideas that inspired my work.   Laid on the framework of stained glass, I attempted to explore the balance between what inspires us and what distracts us. Between what we want to do and what we have to do. Between fleeting moments and lasting impact. Between what constrains us and what sets us free. 

Lee Oberlander

Terri Michaels

Val McCune

Julie Cowan: Ben Franklin

Kathy Mandell

Robyn Hurtig

Hope Hasan

Michele Gorski

Bill Friedman: Life with T

Anna Marie Crovetti: “What good shall I do this day?”  The contributions of Benjamin Franklin are vast and full of wonderment. One such example is a simple but insightful written entry for his daily schedule.  Every day his respected plan was thoughtfully recorded as a guide for each waking hour until he finally rested in the evening.  This chart, a diary of sorts, arranged time spent as to not waste a single minute.  It proposed the morning’s question, “What good shall I do this day?” and the evening’s response, “What good have I done today?”.  In pondering these bookended questions, the thought that goodness brought to others daily is a purely golden experience and it came in a flash.  Like Mr. Franklin’s lightning in a jar, an idea sparks the imagination.  What is better than the gift of present time, at the beginning through the end of the day, for precious captured moments when reading to a child?  The spoken word brings the letters on the page to life and a child finds a new world in each story as it unfolds. Dreams, visions, and connections are born within their mind’s eye, which can be recalled as joyful childhood memories and treasured for a lifetime. Indeed, he had something pretty special in this modest exercise that continues to serve to this day and it has proven to be a mindful and impactful resource for managing overwhelming tasks. It offers the opportunity for deep work and meditation, bringing space to rest & recharge, all the while providing meaningful gestures and accomplishments that are to the benefit of many.

Carol Bobrow

Melanie Deal

Zuleyka Benitez: Ben Franklin's Diaries are taught all over the world to help others "focus". His image adorns 130 different Amercian stamps. The 1cent Franklin has sold over one billion! I used stamps in this image.

Barbara Murphy: WTF - Benjamin Franklin

Charlie Friedlander: "Make Ben Franklin Great Again." "MAGA - A Day in the Life."

Mary Seyfarth: Ben Franklin spends a day with Piet Mondrian

Marla Seibold: The organization of time was the inspiration for this piece. I combed through vintage magazines to find images and text that related to the theme then cut shapes and glued them down. I can’t really explain what happened next as I began to draw and paint on top of the collaged pieces–pushing back and pulling forward the space . For this piece I saw a wing-like shape spanning the middle and I painted it red-orange. It reminded me of the Chicago Calder sculpture The Flamingo. Over the next week I returned to the piece, adding and subtracting till I decided that it was finished. I searched out a connection between Calder and Franklin and it turns out that a Calder museum and garden is being built on Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. 

Andrea DeMers: The cheerful, tidy quality of Franklin’s schedule left me somewhat skeptical. Recent historical research on our beloved polymath suggests a more complicated man with a problematic side; a man of vast wealth and property holdings, including slaves, and an ambitious and competitive self-promoter who often used false information to achieve his goals. And of course, he was a key figure in the creation of the Declaration of Independence, which primarily focused on the rights of white male property owners. With these thoughts in mind, I cut out certain words from the schedule and embedded them in my painting, changing the context of the words and hinting at the darker side of the man.

Chris Chaudruc: What good have I done today?

Deborah Newmark

Bonnie Katz

Larry Lundy: Waiting for Lightning

Pam Baumgartner: Building character, with a Ben Franklin Stove.

Sharon Hyson: I am bonded to a writing device and a journal or found scrap of paper.  Making a list at any time is my tool to fit things in.   Morning lists and creating an evening list helps me work on returning to myself; to being the carefree person, full of flower days, dancing music, and iridescent colors. Breaking down goals and making a map list for small and large events helps me to plan to get things done. Short lists for the day, the week, and monthly sometimes make things gloomy but workable.