The January Challenge

Weird Auto-Collage of The January Challenge images

In my 'end of year' blog post I wrote about the Instagram challenges I'd taken on and how I'd found it a good way of keeping up with a regular creative practice. With this in mind I decided that I'd do 64 Million Artists 'The January Challenge' to kick off 2018. The basic premise is that everybody is creative (something I believe very strongly) and the challenge gives you a prompt/small task everyday to get you thinking and creating. I'm also trying to keep up my daily drawing (so far, so good) so I was hoping that the two might tie in together quite nicely. 

Day 25: Potion
Solar Dye Jar

Day 28: No Place like Home

The challenges were not at all like I expected, I had been expecting more of an artistic challenge but many of the challenges were much more along the creative/try something new line. This is not a bad thing, it just wasn't quite what I expected. Some of the challenges I really didn't enjoy; mainly the ones to do with dancing and noise but what I did like is that all of them made me think. I've enjoyed having a 'focus' each day as often it's been something I wouldn't have come up with myself. I didn't share all of the challenges but I did do them all, even the ones I didn't like. Doing the challenge is definitely good for mindfulness and I think there are a lot of things I've seen and learnt from this challenge that I'll continue to think about and maybe develop going forward. 

Day 10: Paper

Day 14: Sink or Swim
Boat made from baking parchment and yarn

Day 24: Quote

Not surprisingly the challenges I enjoyed most were the drawing and making challenges. I particularly enjoyed Day 19: Over my Shoulder challenge which was to draw with your non-dominant hand what you could see over your right shoulder. I really liked this as it made me draw things I wouldn't normally and pushed my drawing practice. I also really liked Day 10 which was to create something from a sheet of paper. I twisted and wrapped a piece of A4 paper to make a little bird, something I've been meaning to experiment with for a while but not got around to so it was nice to have that incentive.

Day 19: Over my Shoulder

Day 2: Five faces in five minutes
Five 'blind' self portraits

Day 20: Advert

I also surprised myself by really enjoying the writing challenges. I like writing and spend quite a lot of time doing it but I rarely do any 'creative' writing. I often write things in my head but I never get them onto paper so I enjoyed the challenges as it gave me a chance to do this. I really enjoyed the challenges involving poetry, as I created 'accidental' poetry and I really love the random, unpredictable nature of the process. For instance, for Day 12 I created a poem using lines from the books by my bed. I chose a line from page 64 (for 64 million artists) and then pages 12,1,20 and 18 to make up the date. The resulting poem was mostly nonsensical but I enjoyed it! 

Day 12: Our Poem

Abominable is described,
Wearing a pretty painful glove
And over every living thing
Dare to suggest
The most important rule

Day 23: Blackout Poetry
Page from a gardening magazine

One of the things that I have enjoyed most about the challenge is seeing how other people have approached things. Part of the aim of the challenge is to share what you do and I've been really inspired by seeing how differently people approach things and I've enjoyed being part of the community, sharing ideas and inspiration and quite a lot of humour. I've enjoyed taking part in this challenge but I must admit that I'm pleased it's finished! I'm looking forward to keeping up with making a little creative time for myself each day but I'm also looking forward to focusing more on my drawing again.

Day 26: Spirit Animal

Day 16: Story

The light fades fast, the sunset unseen behind dense banks of cloud drifting at speed across the wide sky. Still she sits, waiting patiently, a solid still point in a spinning world.

Darkness gathers but street lights and headlamps keep it at bay. Waiting still, the world slows a little as curtains close and doors shut.

Then the turn of the key in the lock, the sound she has been waiting for. Slowly, carefully, she gets up and stretches out, ready to greet him. They have stories to share and the world keeps turning.

Machine Embroidery Workshop at The Eden Workshop: January 2018

Work in progress during the workshop

Last year I ran a couple of Machine Embroidery and Applique workshops at the lovely Eden Workshop in Plumpton, just outside Penrith. It's a lovely place, Jane has made it feel really welcoming and cosy but the work space is light and airy at the same time. I like running workshops here as it has a very friendly, relaxed atmosphere and Jane makes sure everyone is well looked after. She runs a whole range of workshops so if you're looking to try a new craft or art technique I'd recommend you have a look at her website. 

The view when I arrived

About half an hour later the snow started

I'd been a little bit nervous in the morning as the weather forecast wasn't great and driving isn't my favourite thing but I arrived safely and was enjoying a nice cup of coffee when the snow started coming down. The day before I had been moaning because we almost never get snow in Carlisle and I love snow, unless I have to drive in it so it's true what they say; be careful what you wish for! Fortunately everyone arrived safely and by the time the workshop finished there was barely a trace of snow but at one point it really was coming down so thick and fast you could barely see.  

Practising embroidery with the sewing machine

Creative mess

My trusty Bernina 

Despite the challenging weather first thing we had a productive and enjoyable day. The workshop is based around the way I create my bird portraits and uses simple applique and machine embroidery to build up an image. It's a great way to get to know your sewing machine and we spent most of the morning practising using the machine as a drawing tool. I always find this bit of the workshop really interesting as I like seeing how different machines cope and figuring out how to adjust them if they're not behaving. The best machines for this type of embroidery are the really basic mechanical models, the fancy computerised ones have so many different possible adjustments that they usually take the longest to get set up and performing. I use my trusty Bernina that my Granny gave me, it's solid and weighs a ton and is a great deal older than me but stitches beautifully! 

Work in progress

Work in progress

Work in progress

Once everyone was reasonably confident with embroidering with their machines we started to create our designs. This bit is really fun as you can play around with different fabrics to get the effect you want. I usually just choose one or two sections to applique and use embroidery to add detail and bring all the parts of my design together. I had several templates for people to use and one person had brought her own design as she wanted to create a Staffie. We used fusible webbing to hold the appliqued fabric in place as it makes the stitching so much easier. Once all the fabric had been bonded in place it was time to start stitching! 

Work in progress

Work in progress

Almost finished

This is the part where peoples individual creativity really has a chance to shine. Even when people use the same templates they always come out differently as each person has their way of putting things together and stitching is a bit like hand writing-everyone's is a bit different. I'm always so impressed with what people create, I love that I can show people something and they can take it and make it their own, creating something unique to them. One of the people on the workshop today had done the same course with me last year but since then had got a new machine so wanted to have another go. As with everyone on the course it was great to see her confidence grow throughout the day and I hope everyone went away pleased with what they'd created and keen to carry on.

Finished piece

Finished piece

 

Finished piece (detail)

Life Drawing 9.1.18

Black felt tip pen, continuous line

A New Year and some new Life Drawing sessions! I was looking back over my pictures from last year and realised that we had the same model in January 2017 as we did this evening. This is no bad thing as I always enjoy drawing this evenings model and am generally quite pleased with how my work turns out. He's very confident and solid and somehow I find that translates into my drawings, I want to use strong bold lines and just go for it.

Felt tip pen, blind drawing

Felt tip pen, continuous line

Felt tip pen, continuous line

I did have a minor tragedy, I only had one of my favourite drawing pens (where on earth have they all gone? I had loads) and this ran out before the end of the session. However, I did have a lot of fun drawing with felt tips, I really like the way it glides across the page and the strong bold lines it creates. I'm not sure I'd like to draw all of my models with these pens but they were perfect for this evening and I felt like it got me out of a bit of a rut.

Blind drawing

Very fine fine liner

Blind drawing

I also went back to my sticking multiple sheets of paper together approach as I seem to be incapable of fitting a body on one piece of paper. I really enjoyed the expanding drawing and actually spent over twenty minutes on one drawing, which for me is a long time. I think for the first time ever I wanted slightly longer poses as I was really focused and intent on my drawings. Maybe that's what I'll do next session, which I suspect will please the other artists who say that five minutes is not long enough for a drawing!

Blind drawing

Blind drawing

Blind drawing

It was also good to see the other artists after the Christmas break. As usual I was tired from work and could quite happily have gone home and gone to sleep but seeing everyone and getting into my drawing really energised me and I felt very positive at the end of the session.

Felt tip pen, continuous line

Continuous line

Continuous line

Blind drawing

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Continuous line

Creative Beginings

The Dark and the Light, 2018

As in previous years (see here and here) I decided to start the year creatively by making a postcard for Surface Gallery's annual International Postcard Show.  I really like this project at the start of the year as it's small and achievable so I can begin the year with that cathartic sense of having finished something!

The Dark and the Light, 2018
Detail

Last years postcard ended being a bit of a turning point for me, it gave me the confidence to pursue a way of making I'd been dabbling with and have ended up developing a lot over the last year. It's also one of the first pieces I felt confident enough to write about more openly in terms of meaning rather than just techniques.

Feather, 2018

This years postcards continue my feather drawing explorations and use of collage. I've been doing a lot of drawing on tracing paper as I like to exploit the transparent qualities and both postcards feature feathers drawn on tracing paper, one of which I've used 'wrong' side up. For the collage I've used some of my handmade paper as well as bits of gold paper and my handmade silk paper.

Feather, 2018
Detail

The first postcard is called 'The Dark and the Light' and reflects my interest in contrasts and dichotomies. There are two sides to every story so they say and it's good to know both sides before making any judgements or decisions. The second postcard is simply titled 'Feather' and features a single feather embellished with hand embroidery. I'm a bit sad we've left 2017 and moved into 2018 because the number 7 is a heck of a lot easier to stitch than an eight. And on that philosophical bombshell I shall leave you, until next time...

Stitched signature

Even more Sketchbook making shennanigans

Assorted books made by members of Myriad Studio group

One of the things I enjoy about running workshops is the challenge of adapting what I'm teaching to suit my audience. Back in November I got to run my Inventive Sketchbooks workshop twice in one week but for two quite different audiences. The first one was for Myriad Studio art group, led by artist Katarina Prior and based at Eden Arts in Penrith and the second was at Carlisle Youth Zone for the Junior club (ages 7-12.) Two quite different audiences...

Looking at samples

Choosing papers

Choosing papers

The Myriad Studio session was a lot of fun but also really quite relaxed. Everyone was an adult and had come not just to learn something but for the social and therapeutic benefits of art making too. There were also a few people I knew who'd been on some of my other workshops which was lovely. It was a very friendly group and I was able to run the session in a very laid back, informal way, taking people through the process step by step and helping when needed but mostly just chatting! It's lovely working with groups like this, it hardly feels like work at all and I often get to have a bit of a play myself.

Creative chaos!

Creative chaos!

Creative chaos!

In contrast the session at the Youth Zone was what you might call action packed! I really enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun and I was lucky to have some fantastic staff supporting me but I was also very tired at the end of the session. We were busy all evening, the workshop was run on a drop in basis and we had so many children come and join in which was really good. There's often an interesting dynamic with workshops with energy going back and forth between leaders and participants; for this session it was high energy the whole evening and so by the end of the night I was ready to drop.

Finished books...

Finished books...

Finished books...

It's very different working with adults and children and I get a lot out of working with both groups, I like the differences and adapting what I'm doing and how I approach things for each different groups. One of the things that I love about working with people in general is being able to light that creative spark; whether it's showing someone who's already very competent a new way of doing something and sending them on new creative path or seeing a child genuinely proud of what they've been able to create with me. Sometimes I look at my schedule and think I must be insane but other times I look at what I actually do in that crazy schedule and realisle how much I love it how lucky I am to be able to do this.