2019 Art Challenge

So here it is, something a little different...

A bit of background:
1. I am an art teacher. I love drawing and painting, but getting all my art kit out to make work can take up to an hour to set up and I don't have space for all my printmaking and painting stuff to stay out all the time. My sewing stuff sits on a small desk and is easily accessible. Hence I do way more sewing that art as my equipment is to hand and I can grab 5 minutes at a time if I want.

2. January is Manic! Once the schools have gone back we get into 3 rehearsals a week for Panto and the show week is next week You can book tickets here. Coupled with parent's evenings and CPD sessions I have very little time to prep and sew anything major (all I've done is mend my son's jeans).

3. My hubby bought me a new sketchbook for Christmas. Its an A4 spiral bound book made by Pink Pig sketchbooks.

So I decided that my challenge would be to try to draw every day, knowing that over these next few hectic weeks that I won't manage every day. I'm trying to follow a few Instagram prompts to keep me inspired. The idea is to draw something every day in any style, media, size and keep it in my book. I'm using the term 'drawing' as loosely as possible as I'm aiming to try a load of techniques I haven't done before or are not part of my normal art repertoire.

So 2 weeks into January and here are some of the things I've been up to.
You can follow more of my progress with this over on Instagram

Spring plans.

So I've been thinking quite a bit about what's next creatively. I've got quite a few things in the pipeline from an artistic point of view, but on the sewing front, I haven't got much planned.


So  - what do I want to achieve?

Art
I have art work to create for my scar tissue project - you can read more about this here. I'm sewing and printing and painting and embroidering all as part of this project. I'm certain the direction will change to reflect the stories people tell me about their scars. This is a long-term project and the first stage will culminate in a "work in progress" exhibition in October.

I want to explore Gelli plate printing. as an artist who uses monotypes a lot in my work. Id love to see how the Gelli plate compares to traditional techniques. I have a plate and am keen to get started. I'd like to do some more work like my black and red pieces.

Sewing wise - 
Ginger Jeans. these have been on my to make list for a while and I've had the pattern since Christmas. just looking for the right denim.

Kalle shirt? I see a lot of love around the blogosphere for this. I'd initially passed it by, but I'm seeing the need for a couple of shirts in my wardrobe and love the styling. Both of these are Closet Case Patterns

I've also got a bit of Selfless sewing planned - I've got a couple of dresses to make for friends. not 100% sure which patterns I'll be using yet.

Exploring new things - 
I've been inspired by the subtraction cutting technique of Julian Roberts, who teaches at the Royal College of Art,  and I'm going to try and have a go - I wonder what I can create? - you can see more of his work on IG @julianrobertsnow

I've also been following the work of Zero Waste Daniel. Love the way he creates fashionable pieces from a patchwork of fashion industry offcuts. I'm determined to try to reduce the amount of waste from sewing by using up as much as I possibly can. I've already started piecing bits together to create fabric yardage. I now need to decide what to make with these pieces - probably something simple like a t-shirt or tank. follow him on IG @zerowastedaniel

Saturday Printmaking

 This weekend I had the privilege of joining some of my year 7 students at a printmaking workshop at the High School. The event was run by one of the High school teachers and a local artist Theresa Easton.

The students had opportunity to create a range of prints and then using the theme birds, collage the prints to create a 3D bird. The students also worked to create a flying bird style sculpture.

They had a fab time and also had opportunity to meet other students from the local feeder schools. Next time it will be the turn of year 8.

Creating a Beautiful Mess.

Last weekend we set some time aside to be creative. John decided to brew. Making his first beer since October last year. My friend Alli, my daughter and I decided to have an arty day. Alli was keen to try some printmaking.

I cleared some space, put a plastic cloth over the table and set aside all other tasks for the day. We started with some simple transfer prints by drawing on a sheet of paper laid over a thin layer of ink, which had been rolled out onto a piece of acrylic sheet, and by impressing objects into the ink and then printing them. The technique is simple and if you are interested I can share a tutorial.

This feather print turned out exceptionally well.

We then started to paint with the ink, rubbing areas away, brushing inks on, adding textures and colours. I worked mainly with landscape images and Alli worked in a more abstract manner. We pegged the prints on the clothes airer, but soon hand more prints and they were laid out all over any spare space.

We used an oil based ink, which generally dries quite quickly, but some areas of ink were very thick and one or two prints are still drying. - Messy but fun and I think i'll work into some of the prints over the coming weeks.

I'm looking forward to trying John's Vanilla Porter, unlike my art work the results are not quite so immediate and it will be several weeks before it's ready to drink.

I'm also working on a series of portraits of family members, these are just the first studies and I may develop and work into them with inks and paint, but I haven't quite decided yet how I want to capture the personalities of each person.


I had left it way too long before having a totally creative day and need to do this more often. What do you find is the best way to stay creative? What stops you creating?