How do artists expand their horizons?
“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the change it’s gone through to achieve that beauty ”
It’s over eighteen months since the Creative Journal Course began and our “visual conversations” have continued - with varied results.
I mean that both in the sense that producing and sharing work in a group exposes you to the ways other people interpret a direction; as well as the ups and downs of personal exploration.
In Class
Facilitator and artist, Heidi Wigmore, may “suggest” we:
“[Create] a collage of mixed elements from travel brochures to make a ‘dreamscape’ - a non-place. [M]ix up scale / places / cultures to make ‘a landscape of the imagination’ that expresses more how you’re feeling than a ‘real place’– an Escape...”
And the results will be so multifarious that you’re encouraged to question and test your own creative boundaries - the road less travelled and all that.
Then, when we go away and work in our sketchbooks or altered books - see Creative Journal Course 2015 - alone the ideas sown in class grow into individual journeys which inspire all over again.
Alone
The other way our creative explorations have varied, results-wise, is through quality and success.
While, there is always the nagging inner critic - I call mine Nosferatu, always lurking in the shadows - waiting to inform you of your rubbishness; there are also, simply, ideas that work for you and ones that don’t.
Lessons:
Finding the right altered book
It took me a while to find the right book to work in.
The first - essentially an encyclopaedia - was too big, the second, a book on dreams with some funky graphics, seemed simply too wacky to expand on.
Then came the annual-style book. From vintage editions of Film Review to retro Japanese flower arranging guides the combination of photos, illustrations, text, page count and size is the Goldilocks effect of altered books - to me, at least.
Ideas need to percolate
When I first began the Creative Journal Course, although I was open-minded some of the ideas kind of skimmed over me - some positively ricocheted!
This was often evident in my sketchbooks - which range from bare to over analytical. But over the months I began to feel that ideas and suggestions were percolating more deeply.
I felt more able to flex my creative muscles and more confidence in broadening my artistic horizons.
- There doesn’t have to be a ‘why’
Previously not having enough ‘why’ meant I came to the conclusion my creative pursuits were pointless.
But having come to realise that those creative pursuits are my chicken soup for the soul - meditative, soothing, uplifting - I understand that is reason enough.
- Relinquish control
Where are these ‘visual conversations’ are taking me? I am in a hurry to know, but I am also endeavouring to relinquish analytical control.
Too self aware and things become forced. As ever creative gems are most often discovered via the unintended: the random ink blot, the reverse side, the one minute sketch…
Remember:
- It may take time to find the altered book that works for you
- Sharing your work can inspire both you and others - don't be shy
- Mistakes can be creative magic
Find: Heidi Wigmore
Locate: your nearest Metal team in Liverpool, Peterborough or Southend-on-Sea
Discover: more on the power of keeping journals to inspire creativity with Julia Cameron
Get inspired: on Pinterest