I seem to have been stuck for a long time, dabling in this and that but not going anywhere. Over the past 12 months I’ve been doing a bit of patchwork and quilting, a little ICM and some infrared photography but cant really settle to anything. It was at a quiliting workshop that the tutor mentioned that she was starting a 52 week stitching challenge with Anne Brooks. Each week thoughout the year, Anne gives a new prompt and releases a short video showing how she interprets in in stitching; this year the prompts will all be words. The idea is that you build up the work over a 12 month period. This is way out of my comfort zone as my preferred mode of working is to know, or at least have an idea what I will end up with. But, I have signed up to ‘Bobbin along’. The second kick was an email from Artquest reminding us of their annual challenge, 30 in 30, whereby we have to create and upload a new piece of work evrey day for 30 days starting 1st February, today. I signed up to that too though not really confident that I could do both but as both as small amounts of work, why not?
So, where will I find the time? Well, most mornings I have a second cup of tea after breakfast and sit with my iPad for an hour. What a wasted hour! Surely I can use that hour to better effect somewhere in the day.
How will I approach these challeges? Bobbin along is relatively easy, if uncomfortable. We have one work to respond to each week. The first was layers, the second loops, then rolls, then hummock and this week’s word is wrinkles. Anne shows us via a video how she interprets in and how her work is building and we all follow suit. Some weeks it might take an hour and some maybe just 15 minutes, its up to us. There is a forum and a Facebook page so you can see how others have approached it and you can take inspiration from that or do something completely different. Watch this space!
Artspace 30 in 30 is slightly more challenging. For one thing, you must upload a new piece of art each day and if you miss a day you are out. I’m not a great decision maker so where do I start? I’m not confident enough with the stitching malakry to opt for that as I will probably spend more time unpicking than anything else so it has to be photography related. I’m probably not going to be able to go out and take new photos every day but I do have an archive of images I’ve done nothing with including lots of infrared photographs I haven’t processed and a pile of cyanotypes that have sat in a corner of my study for months, some years and that’s where I’m going to start. Much of this will be experimental though, it may work or it may not but isn’t that what art is all about?
Anne Bryson Photography 