How a mundane task turned into a creative day out?

The day began routinely walk the cat, re-started morning pages, wash the car, breakfast, do a load of washing and drop the car off to get four new tyres and full wheel alignment. I had booked the car in for a 'while you wait' service taking about one and a half hours. On a whim, well I noticed a bus stop nearby and thought why not. Dropped the car off and caught the bus into town. Of course, there was a bit of looking at the shops, coffee and watch the world go by and finally ended up in the library. 

Allowing the whim moment to keep evolving I went to a section of the library I hadn't previously been and wondered the shelves to see what might grab my attention. A black spined book with white child-like writing peeped out from its bigger neighbours. The way it peeped out reminded me of Calico when we play hide in seek. "Steal like an Artist" by Austin Kloen, intriguing title, unique format 6" square and just one hundred and forty pages long. Page nineteen caught my eye as I thumbed through, right there in black font while on an unplanned trip to the library are the words.

You have to be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else - that's how you'll get ahead. From "Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon.

mmm.. not sure where this will go, oh well!. Let's run with it. I had one of my sketchbook bags with me so pen and paper in hand. I firstly copied phrases, words and ideas that inspired. As I copied, new ideas came to mind, and I ended up doing a form of word association.

Word association is the process of using at least one word that is related to your topic as the starting point, then allowing your mind to spit bull (no filters) additional words and thoughts that spring to mind.

Start by writing the word at the top of the page. Look at the word and write down whatever comes to mind. Keep writing until you feel tapped out. Review the list and highlight the words that resonate with you. Write these words in columns across a new sheet of paper and one word at a time repeat the process. Once you've finished, sit back and have a look at the lists and again highlight the words that resonate with you. Often there are common elements. This collection of words is now the basis for further investigation. 

I was first introduced to this process during a workshop with Textile Artist Carol Wilkes via a dictionary wordplay exercise. We made a list of words that related to the assigned topic and using thesauruses and dictionaries we looked up each word and expanded the idea. The vintage of the dictionary can yield entirely different results.

Dictionary wordplay, word association and mind mapping are my go-to tools when exploring new subjects, deep diving a project investigation, resolving a stuck point or just exercising the mind with a bit of creative playtime. As you gather and collect inspiration include word association as part of the process, you never know where it will take you. My sketchbooks are works in progress and an ongoing resource; they often end up with all sorts of side thoughts, quick sketches, photos, collected bits n bobs and odd bits of paper. To get you started, I've put together a Word Association Worksheet, it's in PDF format.

cut, paste, sketch & stitch

re-purposed magazines, silk ribbon & embroidery thread on paper

pen, watercolor, oil pastels & re-purposed enveloped on paper

re-purposed magazines & photographs on paper

Enjoying creative playtime,

exploring the interaction of stitch and found imagery 

from the sketchbook - studio study

exploring a few of my studio items through the lens and with pen

inspiration everywhere, everyday

from the sketchbook - exploring our river city

A friend and I recently went a sketching near the Story Bridge. It was a fabulous day and a beautiful breeze was coming off the water, very pleasant. Later on in the day when looking through my sketchbooks and images I realized just how much and how often I enjoy getting out and exploring along the River. There are many well maintained walking & bicycle paths especially through the inner city areas. These are a few of the images & sketches that I've captured (thus far) along our river front.

UAB Exhibition: Drawn to Place

Dropped my pieces off this morning. Looking forward to opening night!!

Come along - opening night this Friday 6th December 2013 6-9pm

Exhibition: Drawn to Place by UAB (Urban Art Binge)

 exhibition continues until the 10th December as follows

Saturday 7th, Monday 9th & Tuesday 10th December

Tassie Trip - homes & gardens

Holding the camera to the window of the mini bus and clicking is a really fun way to work, heavily relies on pot luck and full of surprises. This is the method I used as we zoomed along, it's no fuss and lots of fun. While I do enjoy the digital SLR it is also fun to have a camera that one is not so precious about, it fits in the pencil case and can be operated one handed. The old homes and accompanying gardens especially in and around the Hobart area are delightful and we captured a few through the lens and we also paused in a few spots to sketch - a perfect balance.

Tassie Sketching Adventure

 Incredible views, lots of inspiration

 even 1270metres above sea-level mother nature astounds

 the cold wind didn't stop our enthusiasm to sketch

 time for the ink to dry

here we all are, on top of Mount Wellington

What a treat to have a full week of sketching, photographing & discovering our island state - Tasmania. A state so full of preserved heritage, beautiful scenery and delicious produce. The sketching trip was organized by UAB (Urban Art Binge) and we enjoyed five sketch filled days based in Hobart. A mini bus was hired which enabled us to day trip down to the Port Arthur area, Royal Botanical Gardens and up to Mount Wellington. Following the five days two of us hired a car and stayed on a few more days before flying out of Launceston.

from the sketchbook - ginger study part 2

Beautiful and sunny over the weekend perfect for further creative playtime with our gingers. I started with a light rubbing using an oil stick onto fabric and some sketching.

Then I started to wonder what the inside of the flower looks like.

 I carefully cut from the top straight down to discover the inside.

 Inside has a beautiful texture and some parts are slightly raised enabling me to roll paint across the surface and use the flower like a stamp to firstly print onto paper and then onto fabric.

I call these exploration sessions creative playtime 
- the early stages of starting a new project/series -

a good time to explore ideas, products and techniques

Related Post:

From the Sketchbook - Ginger Study Part One

it's a long weekend and we're enjoying a staycation

 slowing down with some hand stitching, sketch our girls & collect the eggs

 drawing onto fabric and laying out the pieces for a quilt challenge inspired by seasons

 pancakes for breakfast, sketch a couple of our garden art pieces

 even a little bit of baking

 mmmm home baked bread spread with real butter and a little more hand stitching

 a snack for us and now a snack for the girls, even a little bit of washing up

BBQ lunch and why not, some more sketching

And we still have one more day to go

got to love a long weekend:)))

from the sketchbook - ginger study

 With all the rain that we've had recently our Gingers have burst into growth and had a second flowering. It was such a beautiful day yesterday, so I grabbed a couple of hours sketching in the garden before heading out. An enjoyable morning observing and sketching one of our gingers. This one is the red hot poker, which has flourished from a cutting a friend gave us. 

I started with the black pen and created the piece in the top slide, a warm up before exploring further. In the other pieces I've used a combination of water soluable graphite pencils, watercolor paints and colored pencil. In the sketch of the flowers, I sketched with the black pen first then shaded a few areas with colored pencil before appling a water colour wash over the top.

The other treat I had yesterday was my wonderful husband cooked a BBQ breakfast. That partnered with the sketching and a fresh pot of coffee really made for a perfect start to the day.

End of Year Exhibition

Dropped off my pieces this morning, I'm looking forward to opening night

Gorged on Creativity...For Now

An Exhibition of Works by Participants of Urban Art Binge 2012

                               7th - 12th December 2012

Opening night will feature a free sketch event, live music, dancing, and fresh food from SFA Street Food Australia.  The exhibition gives a unique insight into Brisbane’s diversity and spirit in what we believe to be a first as it shows the city through the eyes of 45 budding Brisbane artists. Images will range from the Port of Brisbane’s cranes through to the pirouettes of a Saturday morning ballet class in Bardon.

  Opening night: 6:00pm - 9:00pm    

Friday 7 December 2012  

Jugglers Art Space 130 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Qld

Exhibition runs 10:00am - 4:00pm Saturday 8 to Wednesday 12 December 

(excluding Sun 9 December)

 

from the sketchbook

Last weekend was awash with rain. I'd signed up for a drop in sketch day with Urban Art Binge initially the plan for the day was to meet at the City Botanic Gardens and sketch our way round to the Kangaroo Point Cliffs. With all the rain a more indoor venue was sort and we met at the State Library and enjoyed some sketching from the reading areas with the fabulous river and city views, 

lunched in the cafe and then across to the QLD Art Gallery to sketch statues and artifacts

another wonderful day sketching