I do like how these pages are looking. I am especially impressed with how well the owl worked. It is a rub on transfer, and I've never used one in an art project before. It works really well, covering the background and paper image. There was a point when I had to re-rub the transfer sheet, but it all worked out. I honestly have no idea how a small sheet of British animal transfers ended up in my stash.
It still needs more work, but I'm feeling enthused about it.
It started with just an envelope, then a second. Than the A4 clear wallet came into use, and a folder. Now there’s 3 magazines on the pile of stuff I’m hording because I might want to use it in this journal.
It’s not the biggest problem (my fabric hording is much worse) but I’ve been telling myself to stop collecting stuff, and yet, the pile of paper keeps growing. I do think the hording makes it harder to be creative; energy is spent managing the collection of stuff rather than using it. But I don’t seem to have the will power to stop collecting stuff or get rid of the excess paper. Somehow, I’m hoping that publicly confessing the problem with make it get better.
Anyway, some of the collected images will be used up as I start work on these pages:
I've been really looking forward to working on these pages, because I just love those nesting dolls.
Again, I’ve decided that the pages I’ve been working on are “done enough”:
Perhaps, “done enough” will be the motto of this project.
I like how these pages are looking, but I'm still not enthusiastic about working on them:
I do like the sea squirt, and the cloud border makes me happy, but it just doesn't feel right. Hopefully, a bit more time will give me some ideas for it.
I am feeling all enthused about art at the moment, because my P and I went to the Dark Matters show at the Whitworth Gallery. I feel more than a bit silly, because when I first saw the poster a few months ago, I didn't find it appealing. But P saw some twitter reviews just this week saying it was a must see, so on this last weekend of the show we went along, mostly for something to just get us out of the flat for a change of scenery. Anyway, we both (yes, P as well) really enjoyed it. I loved the reflection and shadow butterflies in Barnaby Hosking's Thought, and I liked being inside his Black Flood, too, like being underwater. We both liked playing with Daniel Rozin's Snow Mirror and Peg Mirror, and so did the other visitors. The Peg Mirror video on the sight doesn't seem to have any audio, but the sculpture makes a lovely clicking noise when the cylinders rotate, and it should really have some children giggling on the audio track as well.
Still Life No 1 by Brass Art was absolutely delightful. I'd seen a track light over rubbish sculpture before, years ago, while visiting a friend who was studying in Switzerland, that made city skylines appear in the shadows on the wall. It was cool. But this work was immersive, as the light circled the table, the audience's shadows were projected as well as the shadows of the objects. And it put the Kid with the Butterfly Net song in my head, which brought up nice memories for me. (Old memories now, the song was released in 1991; not sure I should thank Google for telling me that.)
Again, I’m not 100% satisfied with the pages, but still feel like it’s time to say “done” and move on:
I do think this is a livelier offering than the previous pages, though not as appealing as the first ones. I am proud of the way the M in “Mostly” uses the top of the s from the first page. Saying that, scanning this page was the first time I really noticed the letters on the right, marking out some of the following pages. I hadn’t been paying attention to how those interact with what is on the open pages. So something else to consider as I move on to these:
The left page is the last of my initial colouring efforts. It’s coloured pencil, and I’m not sure what sort of surface that will make. The roughly stamped pattern on the right sheet was added last weekend.
It seems like with the start of the year all of blog-land is full of resolutions and plans. My P pointed out that one of my problems in getting things done is just having too short an attention span. For years, I’ve been telling myself to finish projects rather than start new ones, but though I always think that’s good advice, I never actually follow it. Maybe I should learn from my failures and just not bother to finish stuff. Perhaps I’m just intimidated by how many blank pages are in this address book; at 3 pages per month, this project should last me a good few years.
Well, I’ve not been working at this everyday, but I feel like these pages have reached that ‘done enough’ stage:
In a way I’m disappointed with myself, because I think the bunnies could do with some watercolour, but I just can’t be bothered. (I mean the bunny paperchain there, not the bunny sticker that is from the Flow magazine as recommended by Caatje) Maybe when I get the watercolours out to add background colour to more pages, I’ll try adding a bit to these. But right now, I’m going to work on the next two pages:
The milkshake picture is just tucked in at the moment, and will probably end up on the green page. I love the green-pink colour combo. There’s the prospect of going for a curry tomorrow, so it may get some work on the bus to Ashton.
Birmingham City Council came up with the term Winterval back in 1997, and I don’t care if I am the only person in the two universes who loves the word. It combines winter, carnival and interval, which is what I want at this time of year. Because I’m off work but not going anywhere, it just has a very different feel to the rest of the year.
So, after my last commute of the year, this is how the journal is looking:
These pages feel a bit boring, but maybe that is just part of the un-finished-ness of them. My plan for Winterval is to keep working on the journal but to time box it to only 30 minutes a day. I can’t really explain why that seems like a good idea, but I don’t want to not work on it, and I also don’t want to burn out my enthusiasm on my first day off. We'll see how it goes...
Here’s how that first page is looking now:
I feel like it could do with some stickers or something, but it’s done enough as it is. It’s like, yeah, I could go back and add stuff if I come across something that would fit, but it’s time to move on to the next pages:
I hadn’t realized that the first page would be visible behind the following pages. I’ll treat that as a feature rather than a problem. The project is feeling fun now; I worked on it a bit when we were going for a curry this afternoon.
I feel like I've not managed to do much with the journal this week. It hasn't kept my attention for an entire trip to/from work, and I feel like I'm spending more time thinking about what to do with it than actually just playing. Anyway, here's how it looks now:
It looks a bit bare at the moment, and I'm having a bit of an odd week next week, so I'm not sure when it will feel 'finished'. Hopefully I won't get stuck on the first page for a whole month.
I'm taking a trip to Utrecht next week and the plan is to travel very light, so the journal may just stay at home for a few days. I feel like that isn't in the spirit of having a journal, but I want to have room in the luggage to bring home Miffy stuff.
