new year, new course - developing sketchbooks
time for another online class to refresh my working process - i'v often felt I should be using sketchbooks more for recording and developing ideas so i signed up for a class with Dionne Swift
reading the the first session brief, I found that we were expected to remove some pages - my early thoughts had been to leave the pages loose so I started to wish I had!
it also became clear that we would be getting all the "instruction" in the first week, with the second week clear for us to develop and review the work - not my preferred format as I like a few days at least for working through the material and sharing with the online group - the group interaction is important for me as it takes the place of the physical interaction which happens in a live class - so from the start I felt that this is going to be challenging in a way I had not anticipated
the online support group is on facebook, again not my preferred option - I find it does not foster discussion between students - it tends to lead to individuals posting images of their progress with little interact between student..... but we shall see
notes from my class diary:
day 1 - today’s exercise is around preparing different surfaces on sketchbook pages, for future use - i haven’t started it yet for 2 reasons
started off by making my own sketchbook - a spiral/ring bound book with perforations was suggested, so I made one but bound it with thread loops, allowing plenty of room for additions & inclusions
reading the the first session brief, I found that we were expected to remove some pages - my early thoughts had been to leave the pages loose so I started to wish I had!
it also became clear that we would be getting all the "instruction" in the first week, with the second week clear for us to develop and review the work - not my preferred format as I like a few days at least for working through the material and sharing with the online group - the group interaction is important for me as it takes the place of the physical interaction which happens in a live class - so from the start I felt that this is going to be challenging in a way I had not anticipated
the online support group is on facebook, again not my preferred option - I find it does not foster discussion between students - it tends to lead to individuals posting images of their progress with little interact between student..... but we shall see
notes from my class diary:
day 1 - today’s exercise is around preparing different surfaces on sketchbook pages, for future use - i haven’t started it yet for 2 reasons
- i left it rather late to look at the brief
- i don’t feel that my problem is with the blank page or even a new sketch book - i am well past the worry of spoiling or wasting a page
i feel quite happy to stick stuff into the empty book and replace pages as i go along so i will slightly bend the brief and prepare some surfaces to add, but not quite in the way suggested
i feel that as long as i know why i understand why i am not quite following the brief it’s ok - the process is more important than the end result and the point here is to develop my use of sketch books for recording and exploring ideas
day 2 - assembled some plain papers and surfaces, cut to size for pages and concertina inserts
also cut some strips which i coloured - to be used as concertinas or cut to page size
i would happily have coloured more pages but i was getting more detailed and fiddly which i later find i am reluctant to add to, so i stopped but will make more when i need to
i surprised myself by doing more than simple colour washes - could really see some of them as textiles or worked in stitch, but that’s for later
day 2, later - moving on to session 2 and the theme: Circles, first a brainstorm of words and concepts connected with circles, amazing how fast i ran out of stem on this - images of circles on the papers and blank books, but ran out of time here so i’ll pick that up tomorrow
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