Weeks 45-48 of the 52 Collage Journal

Only one more set of 4 to go before I hit my goal! I can't believe the year has gone by so quickly.  When I started I was afraid I would not be able to complete it.  Almost every week I have that same fear creep up.  But one thing about me is that I am a woman of my word.  I try to be truthful and authentic in everything I do. I think things over before I make a commitment because if I say I am going to do it, I do. This is why, I have thought long and hard about 2018. Even though I will have reached my goal, I feel somewhat like I am giving up by not continuing with a new 52.  However, I also know that I learned so much from doing this weekly practice and it is time to move on. It is time to take the skills I have learned and apply them. I will be sad to post the final #52 but I am also feeling the excitement of new adventures!

45/52 "Connections" 

...full heart...enriched...grateful...connections...friends...women artists...respect...

46/52 "fragile"

47/52 "Quiet"

...organized chaos...back to nature...the search...

48/52  "Mend"

Weeks 41-44 of the 52 Collage Journal

This week I ran a little late on my collage.  It is getting harder to get done on time.  I am not sure if it's the fact that I am in my busy work season or if it is because I am feeling more confident in my ability to create my collage more quickly due to more decisiveness. Another factor that has been affecting my collage productivity is my new found love of knitting. My friend Laura taught me how to knit this year and it has been sometimes pulling me away from my stitched collage work. In the end, I believe all creative endeavors benefit one another.  It all works together and each new skill opens up ideas that can cross over various art mediums.

 41/52 "Autumn"

...leave behind...natural...beauty...

42/52 "Expectations"

...horizon...reproduction...daily responsibility...feminism...choice...

43/52 "Unfolding"

...decomposing...beauty in the contrast...

44/52 "Unwritten"

...the stories we tell...the ones we don't...choice...

Weeks 37-40 of the 52 Collage Journal

As I get closer to the finish line and into my busy season as well, I am finding my life filled with obligations, distractions and time crunches.  It is getting harder and harder to find the time to do the collages.  Interestingly, I believe that some of my most effective pieces have not been the ones that have taken the most time.  It has me thinking about something Elizabeth Gilbert discussed in her Ted Talk, "Your Elusive Creative Genius". According to ancient Greek beliefs, genius is something you have rather than something you are.  It is described as something like a spirit who comes out to visit and it is up to the individual to grab onto it and run with it. I can only imagine the Greek were describing 'flow'. It is in those instances where a collage comes about so easily and all time stands still. In this set of 4 pieces, 3 out of the 4 came about easily. The one consisted of struggle.  In the past, a struggle would happen more often than not. This is another positive result of a weekly or daily art practice; just being there to receive the gift from the spirit.

37/52 "Highway" ...speedy...exits...route...travel...

38/32  "How I Go To The Woods"  ...mary oliver...asheville...road trip...magical mountains...

39/52 ...worn...ecodye...changing seasons...

40/52 "never mind."  ...fade...

Weeks 33-36 of the 52 Collage Journal

One thing that you learn by giving yourself a regular art practice is more confidence.  I have learned that with each week comes an idea, the start of the projectand then the fear of the piece not working out.  In the past, I let that fear sit with me.  Sometimes it sat with me a week, more often it sat with me a month or longer before I was able to jump back in and begin.  With a weekly challenge, I do not have that luxury. I have to push through and make decisions. I have to try something and make it work.  It has led me to feel a sense of comfort that I can make it work. Sometimes the result is more successful than others but in the end, the challenge was met and usually I am happy with the end piece. Below are the results from weeks 33-36.

33/52 "Inside Out"...the world is...

34/52 "Messenger" 

35/52...changing directions...retreat vs nest...

36/52 "Saudade" ...lovely bones...beautiful melancholy

Weeks 29-32 of the 52 Collage Journal

The design wall where I hang my finished pieces is full with 32 of the 52 pieces complete. It is interesting to see the variety.  I'm looking forward to seeing them mounted individually and hung together in 2018. In the meantime, here are weeks 29-32. These past four weeks have spanned a lot of feelings and emotions; from a family vacation to the beach to the lows of current news events surrounding hate and racism.  I am thankful for my art as a way of expressing these feelings in a productive way.

29/52 "Witness" ...grateful...journal entry...observe...

 

 

30/52 ...screen...transparent...cover...bury...

 

 

31/52 "Fragments" ...blue skies...memories...creating & reminiscing...

 

 

32/52 "Heavy" ...sick & tired...heavy hearted...spinning...

 

 

 

Weeks 24-28 of the 52 Collage Journal

We have hit and surpassed the halfway point in the year and in this project!  It's funny because there are moments I fear that I will run out of ideas before I get to #52.  There are also times when I have to grab a pen to jot down all of the ideas that flood me for future techniques and subjects that I want to explore with this project. I think the biggest thing that I have learned while doing this challenge is that the more you keep yourself busy doing the work, the more ideas that will come to you. Before I started this project there were times when a week would go by where I would be too busy with life to create art.  Those were the times that getting back into it was harder.  I have been surprised at how much more confident I have become in making creative decisions. The following are weeks 24-28...

25/52 "Bardo" ...transitional...unravel...after death...before birth...

 

 

26/52 "The Middle" ...quite literally the middle...time...countdown...blossom...

 

 

27/52 "Iktomi" ...spider...trickster...dreamweaver...spirit animal...

 

 

28/52 ...nuclear...stretch...abomb...

Weeks 21-24 of the 52 Collage Journal

It's interesting how sometimes I start with a feeling or message to portray in a piece and it ends up meaning so much more.  Other times, I start by just playing with colors and combinations but the end product somehow magically tells the story of the week. The latter was certainly the case with 22/52. Life imitates art? Or the other way around?

 

21/52 "Circles" ...beauty in the breakdown...repetition good or bad...

 

22/52 "Emerge" ...transition...metamorphosis...rebirth...

23/52 "Perfect" ...there is nothing more perfect than this very moment...charlotte jane...

 

24/52 "Blend" ...whole...accept...multidimensional...

Weeks 17-20 of the 52 Collage Journal

It is hard to believe that we are nearing the midway point in the 52 Collage Journal Project.  When I began, one of my fears was that I would run out of ideas.  In fact, I have found that the more I create, the more ideas I have. Here are the pieces from the last four weeks.

17/52 "Cocoon" ...Mary Oliver...How I Go Into the Woods poem...safety...security...

18/52 "Layered" ...peel it back...

 

19/52 "Oracle" ...visualization...steps...if you dream it...

 

20/21 "Incubator" ...one day the black will swallow the red...

Weeks 13-16 of the 52 Collage Journal

Another four weeks down and I will admit, there was a week that I really was pushing to make the deadline. It was a late night but I did it. Having a self imposed deadline and a community to hold me accountable is what kept me going. It is so easy to put everything else before creative time.  That is the very reason that I began this challenge. There are times when I am tired or feel like being lazy but having this challenge  makes me go into my studio and just get down to do it.  What I have found is that once I am there, it starts to come.  It comes and then the tired or lazy feeling goes away and I am in my flow. He is what came out of that for weeks 13-16.

 

13/52 "New Moon" ...reflections...glimmer...translucent...

14/52 "Internal" ...inspection...analysis...search...

15/52 "Tidal" ...tides...waves...movement...

 

16/52 "Pause" ...slow down...meditate...mending...

Weeks 9-12 of the 52 Collage Journal

4 more weeks closer to reaching my goal of 52 weeks! I have found it really interesting to see how much the moments of the week have found themselves coming through in the pieces I create. Some inspiration is subtle while others are more literal. When I look at each one, I have a memory of the story behind it.

9/52 "Keep Walking" ...dreamweaver...path...spiders & snakes...visitors...

 

10/52 "Connected" 

 

11/52 "Anticipation" ...family...magic...vacation...love...

12/52 "Bridges" ...unity...cultures...acceptance...it's a small world...patience...

Weeks 5-8 of The 52 Collage Journal

Another four weeks and another four pieces!  I am enjoying this challenge although some weeks I enjoy it more than others.  I had a tight week for collage #8 so this is where there is a  true test....to squeeze in time for art when it is seemingly impossible. I have my favorites and some that I see as just "okay."  But I feel that with each one, I am learning.

5/52 "Boundaries" ...setting them...keeping in...keeping out...

6/52 "Pull" ...interests...directions...pulling...

 

7/52 "Bloom" ...darkness vs light...growth...beauty...

8/52 "The Clock" ...time...countdown...spin the dial...

Weeks 1-4 The 52 Collage Journal

I have completed the first month in my goal to create a collage each week  for my 52 Collage Journal Challenge. So far the experience has been really fun and enjoyable.  By having a deadline, I have been forced to push through self doubt and decision making.  Here are the pieces with a few words of backstory to them. 

 

1/52 "Renewal" ...fresh start...dark to light...rebirth...light & airy...

 

2/52 "Tying Up Loose Ends" ...to-do lists...organizing the unorganized...new year...end of year...

 

3/52 "News/Noise/News" ...news...politics...noise...

 

4/52 "No Mud No Lotus" ...unity...love...women...announcement of my niece-to-be

 

If you are interested, you can follow along with me each week as I post my progress on Instagram @the_meditative_stitcher. 

52 Challenge

I have given a lot of thought about my life, and what makes me the happiest. Ranked up at the top of my list with my family and friends is Art. If Art is in the top three, why am I not treating it in that way? If this little thing called Art can make me so happy then why am I not doing more of it?

Art is like dessert. Saving the best for last.

I go about my day with work and chores, trying to get those things out of the way so that I can spend my time guilt-free creating Art. That  thing called Art is hanging above me from a stick, waiting to be pulled down but always a little out of reach. The work and chores take longer than expected. The drain from the day has depleted my energy. The list of to-dos grow while Art waits in the corner.

But what if I made Art come first? If I put it on the top of my list of things to do?  I think that somehow the necessary chores of daily life will still get done; the bills will get paid, the dishes will get washed and laundry will somehow still get folded. And my soul will be fed.

So this year, instead of a resolution, I have given myself a challenge...The 52 Collage Journal. I am committing to creating a mini fiber collage every week of 2017 to document my life. I created this challenge with the goal of doing more of what I love and becoming more confident in my creative decision making. 

So in 2017 I am eating my dessert first. Follow along on Instagram @the_meditative_stitcher  to see the year unfold!