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.
The much mended Make Do and Mend bag is back on the mending pile. The fabric is splitting in the centre on the front and back, where the darning is. I've just been sorting through my fabric stash, and nothing caught my eye as the perfect way to fix the bag, so it's out of action for the time being.
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.)
On my lunch break I popped over to Hobbycraft, really just to get out in the unexpected sunshine, but I was interested in paper punch prices, too. I ended up in a scrap booking and stamping aisle; everything was so cute and pretty! It made me feel totally discouraged, like my work was never going to be nice enough.
Actually, I think I'm just in the mood to be discouraged. I've been complaining to myself about how many bits of paper, pens, pencils, and such I have in my bag and how inconvenient it all is. But really, I'm just making excuses for not doing any work on the bus this week.
So, how to get motivated again? I had thought about signing up with the Book of Days, but I'm not feeling very sociable. I'm also considering limiting the supplies I bring with me in the morning, to give myself a bit more focus, and maybe tap into some morning enthusiasm.
Or maybe I should just revisit Caatje's pages, that made it all seem so fun.
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.
