2023 – My Weekly Project

Week 19 – Some Sorting and Reorganising

Time for some sorting and reorganising this week.

I had been given a large bag of unwanted buttons at an event recently. Adding them to my existing collection I decided it was time to sort and reorganise them all.

These buttons come from mother’s, grandmother’s and great grandmother’s collections. Handed down and added to with each generation. Most families seem to share this practice and those of a certain generation can recall being given the button box to play with! How would our children and young people react to this today?

Getting Started

As with most things it is always that first move that starts the ball rolling. Or in this case the buttons spilling out all over the table. But once I began it was quite relaxing sorting them into their colours. At times I stopped to admire a particular button wondering when it last saw the light of day.

It is a challenge to find a suitable use for them and its unthinkable that they should be thrown away.

Display

It would have been all too easy to repackage the buttons into plastic bags and put them back in the cupboard. So I decided to make a display of them and sourced some small sliver lidded jam jars. I had plenty of white, black, grey and brown buttons to more than fill the jars. Other colours such as red, orange, blue and green were limited in number. They make a welcome addition to the shelf in my studio now and seeing them may help me come up with some creative ideas in the coming days.

Good Therapy

There is a good feeling that accompanies some sorting and tidying. The very process itself is calming and can help focus the mind. Seeing my little jars of buttons in this way is so much better than occasionally moving the big box out of the way when trying to find something else in the cupboard. In fact I took them to a local market and they were admired as part of the display.

2023 – My Weekly Project

Week 18 – Simply Sourced Words

This week’s challenge is all about taking a chance with words. The intention is to use some randomly selected words and put them together into a paragraph, a poem, a piece of prose or any other format to suit.

Finding Random Words

To begin I picked up an edition of the Countryfile magazine I had received back in 2018. I don’t like recycling these and tend to keep them for future reference. I went through the pages and noted in a book the page number and “word” I had selected. I set a limit of twenty words.

I then proceeded to cut the words out of the pages of the magazine and began to see how they could fit together. There were a couple of lines that came together quite quickly. For the others I had to mix and match. It amazed me that I successfully managed to use all twenty words.

Renewal and Reward

Matured Islands are Unveiled

Where Seven Friends Saunter

Taking in a Tonic of Holy Sound

Watched by an Audience of Green Eagles

A Blessed Haven in a Swathe of Water

An Environment to Think, Imagine and Embroider

2023 – My Weekly Project

Week 17 – Make a Felted Pod

I derive a great deal of enjoyment from the process of felt making. In particular the process of wet felting rather than needle felting. It offers so much scope for experimentation and combination of various materials. The outcome is never quite what you expected. Sometimes it is preferable not to expect any specific outcome.

The brief is simple and straight forward. I have made pods before, but how to do it a little differently? Once I had sourced the required equipment and set up my space to work, I had the enjoyable task of sourcing the wools from the stock cupboard.

It Takes Time and Work

Over the past year or two while my time and energy has been directed in other areas of my life I have done very little felt making. Quite quickly into the process I remembered the amount of physical energy and time required to make a pod. There are various stages to work through before it is completely felted and reduced in size from its original dimensions.

Work from Rest

Rest and Work

My experience of wet felting has taught me that it is as important to leave the work resting and return to work with it again. This can be minutes, several hours later or even overnight. By coincidence I picked up a booklet this week about an alternative approach and mindset to the way we should work and rest.

In this age of speed we all seem to be filling our time with work and activity. When we are exhausted and have to stop we find ourselves at “rest from work”. But when we turn this simple statement around it looks and feels very different. So that we “work from rest”.

Working from Rest

So this week I have adopted a slightly different approach to my daily life. I am reshaping my days with adequate rest so that the times of work are more enjoyable, more focussed and the outcome of this particular piece reflects that change.

It’s not quite a traditional “pod”. It is experimental and now sits quietly on the shelf in my studio as a reminder of the mindful change I have made in my approach to “work from rest”

Balance

Perhaps if our time of rest is of equal quality to that of our time of work we can reshape our every day into something more balanced. Originally I was going to put the small piece of felt that I cut out to make the opening of this pod on the underneath. The reason I didn’t was that it didn’t seem to balance too well. But now that I have written this piece I think I will remove it from the top of the pod and relocate it underneath and title the piece “rest, work, balance”.

2023 – My Weekly Project

Week 16 – Attend a Creative Class or Workshop

Being around other creative people is very important. It provides an opportunity to share skills, knowledge and expertise.

Workshops and opportunities for learning new skills or progressing with existing ones are springing up all over the place. But which ones to join in with or attend regularly?

Life Drawing

A good friend and printmaker happened to see a life drawing session which was being held fortnightly in a village hall just a short drive from home. We decided to go together initially.

It’s a lovely warm hall, plenty of natural light, a good group of fellow creatives all fascinated and challenged by life drawing. Everyone’s style is different and for 3 hours we can focus and work without interruption. However we do stop for a coffee break and a chance to look at each other’s work and approach.

Regular Attendance

I began attending this group fortnightly in February and at each session we begin with 3 or 4 poses of 2 minutes. Quick observation and mark making is needed to begin with. This is followed by 2 or 3 poses of 5 minutes and then we move on to poses of 10 minutes, 20 minutes and after the coffee break 30 minutes.

I do enjoy the challenge of life drawing from the human model. Sometimes it does not go well. At other times a series of quickly drawn lines can capture so much life, form, emotion, strength, movement and beauty.

Looking and Learning

I thoroughly enjoy the sessions and it’s reassuring to see the other artists attending regularly. There is a relaxed atmosphere and when the drawing begins the intensity of concentration and creative energy is all around the room. Sometimes I get over anxious about the timed sessions and how much I want to achieve before the timer goes off. But today was different. I found time to focus on specific aspects, in particular, the head and how it fits onto the neck. The angle of the hands and how difficult they are to draw. The importance of our feet.

The head, hands and feet = the mind, making and mobility.

Looking back over my drawings I can see considerable improvement. My observation is much better and I am not afraid to move a line or change its angle. All too often there is not enough space on the paper for the legs and feet. But no time is wasted. Every minute is used to capture an aspect of the human form.