It being Monday, I found myself with no reason, or motivation, to leave the house - and a backache brought on, surely, by walking in the mud yesterday. The temptation was to spend the entire day on the sofa with a diverting book, but certain things do need doing. That studio sort-out is top of the list...
So the plan was: set the timer for 15 minutes and plunge into one or other of the bags in the studio, racing the clock to get it sorted before the timer's PING sounds the blessed release from the task. It starts when the Fitbit's reminder-buzz at 10 minutes to the hour (reminder to take 250 steps and "be active") is the signal to get up from the sofa, jog on the Invisible Treadmill till the Fitbit sends its "good stuff, you've done it" buzz. Then, set the timer and Just Do It. PING - and the rest of the hour can be spent on the sofa with the book.
The plan has been working well, given a head start with the departure of some old French paperbacks -
and also paper and pens gathered and posted on Freecycle, to be collected in the evening -
as did lots of "old work" - from the Art Foundation and then the MA course -
and abandoned works like this double-sided excursion into drawing+stitching -
Sonnets, stitched in syllables, then turned into rubbings - then abandoned -
Experiments from the National Gallery's Friday lunchtime "talk and draw" sessions -
Leftover painted papers that could so quickly be folded into concertina or "secret" books (large marks usually look good on small pages) -
Work from a short, intense course about stitching and monoprinting - I made various little books based on maps of Islington -
Leftover fabrics from the course -
,,, they went into the big drawer of my own printed fabrics (ah the travel lines - screen printed at Camberwell!), can't get rid of those -
"What was I thinking" dept - concert and theatre tickets from 1989/90 glued onto thin japanese paper ....
The most important is the pink one, a community play in which my son, aged 10, had a part - "Full House" at The Old Bingo Hall, now Rowans bowling alley -
From 1994 or so, some marbling with inks, cut into the shape of an envelope (I'll use it soon) -
"Projects for 2006" is the title of this little "secret" book -
They included: learn how to use my serger; sew a shirt for Thomas; make "japanese" quilt for Thomas (done!!) and Fissures for CQ (done!); regular computer backups; organise photos. In the middle, more - decide whether to continue learning Chinese; fix up flat (bathroom); "leave fulltime work?" and "keep up & not be boring" - hah, aren't we all constantly working on that one!
Yet again this little booklet shows the magical powers of writing things down. Sometimes, writing down an anxiety helps to get it out of your mind; often, writing down a wish (however impossible it seems) makes it more real, or possible, as you start to consider how it might be achieved - and quite often, it is.
The next thing I found in that folder was a big, empty envelope with faint writing -
Serendipitous melted plastic found in a stack of papers -
Yet again this little booklet shows the magical powers of writing things down. Sometimes, writing down an anxiety helps to get it out of your mind; often, writing down a wish (however impossible it seems) makes it more real, or possible, as you start to consider how it might be achieved - and quite often, it is.
The next thing I found in that folder was a big, empty envelope with faint writing -
A message from Tony that I'm very grateful for, did he but know.
It's a big help with the "redistributing my creative resources" project.
Another help would be to take a few moments to write down what might be looked for, when looking forward.
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