Did you make any progress on your creative projects this week? I have to say, this work I’m sharing doesn’t feel in progress at all, but I really want to lay it out — for anyone else who is struggling through creativity blocks, as well as evidence for myself. But: I might need to figure out what I can actually complete, soon! Given that, let’s see how this week went, based on things I remembered to take pictures of.
Learning
I have managed to work through the first lesson in my watercolor class. The end result is some samplers, of a sort: brushes, marks, and ways to blend color.
As I look to understand how this medium even works, this is exactly the information I was looking for: how do brushes, water, and pigment work together to create shapes? Not anything realistic at all — I leave that to the experts. But the lines and texture you can get here have some appeal to me for work down the road.
Scanning
I’m working on getting the spelling book scanned — it’s a thick book. Each scan is just slow and fussy enough that I need something else to do for a few minutes at a time. Good thing I like to collage!
Making
While I wait for the full spelling book to make it to my scanned folder — at which point it will be fair game for a new project — I kept using the scans of my scribbles, and adding them to my aerial grid compositions.
Something I’m noticing, about this group of work as a whole, is how crucial the scribbling is! Sometimes it feels like part of a map, maybe the line a river takes. That helps me think about what would help the series feel more complete as a whole. So far, I’ve got:
- Squares, rectangles, and anything that contributes the feel of a grid, a landscape from above
- Natural lines interacting with those grids
- My existing palette obsession, pink, teal, and brown
- Full to the edges
- Darker rather than light?
Meetings
I helped (barely! moral support?) my friend Andrea during her public artist talk on Zoom, about her installation, Unstable Illusions. Later that day, I joined my first meeting with the Northwest Collage Society board. I’m hoping to help document their history, through a timeline, photo books, and correlation with their newsletters and website.
Other art meetings during the week include studio time with the SLMM folks (Mondays), sharing and discussion with those same folks, recorded (Tuesdays), and various collage hangouts that I’m collecting, and attending, when I can. I was also delighted to catch up with a friend from Waterloo days, who has also found her way to a creative life. Just enough structure, and conversation, to spur me on to making art in between, good stuff.
Applying
Last week, I was looking at an art-fluent show that didn’t feel like a great match. I’m so glad I waited, as they’ve now got a call out for abstract work. Yay! On the list it goes.
Applying to calls for art is its own work in progress. I use a to-do list with a reminder date, and I store upcoming calls in the details section. Whatever call is due next, I set the deadline for about a week beforehand, to evaluate whether I want to apply. Then, I keep the task active, and just move the due date to match the next call. Ta da!
Also last week, I had been thinking about applying to a show, up next on my list of opportunities. The assignment is for 6″x6″ panels, and to not exceed that width. Height is not limited!! Then, I followed an idea from Jane Davies of assemblage rather than collage, and wondered how I could play with moving in and out of the square composition. I don’t know where this is going, but I’m having fun stretching my idea of collage and composition.
Let’s see how I do at knocking something OFF this pile of projects next week, shall we? How was your week?
Wow Liz
So great to see your work progress and ideas. Love reading the experience and explanation ??