Week 29 in my yearlong sketchbook practice. The point of this daily exercise is to play, experiment, to try things in a small un-intimidating way. But sometimes it is still to much and it’s hard to sit down, hard to make a mark – paralysis. There are a few useful tools to get myself started – like ink splatters or a random word or color and one of my favorites is number piles. I paint a series of numbers – one right on top of another at different angles, without much thought, and then respond to the shapes and spaces that the pile creates. It never fails to get me unstuck and open. The square – second down on the right is a pile of 3 numbers: 187.
Thanks for the “three numbers” idea. Those of us who haven’t had any formal art training don’t know little tricks like those, the ones you use when you’re afraid to start. Even though everything I’ve made or sewn usually ends up pleasing me I’m always afraid to start. I’m great at getting ready to start–buying art supplies, organizing them, thinking about projects, but when it comes down to it there’s always some excellent reason to delay: a meal to cook, a bed to make, work. It comes down to fear–that it won’t be good, that I won’t be good, that I’ll realize I’ll never be good–see, on the paper, there’s proof!
When in fact, the happiest hours I’ve spent have been those spent with paint, or a needle and thread, or gluing together a mobile–my mobiles actually rock and they’re mine alone–I really created those on my own.
Thanks again, Ann Wood.