Friday 15 February 2019

30 Day Sketchbook 19 Completed

Well I drew every day as part of the #30daysketchbookchallenge19 , looking forward to receiving the prompt, thinking imaginatively when it really wasn't my thing ( but that's the point of a 'challenge').  Seeing what everybody else  was doing on the Facebook page ( nearly 3K participants!)  and on Instagram  was inspiring  and it was great to get feedback. Most of all , I welcomed   having something to focus on for 20 to 30 minutes  in a challenging few weeks  of dealing with  aftermath  of flooding from the shower (  the workmen were working on all 3 floors , the only place to escape to was the kitchen). With my studio  out of use and  limited access to computer, I've mainly been using my phone  to record my sketches and post on social media.  
I've got out of the habit of  using  my blog as ' reflective journal'  but I have returned in effect to the analogue version,  eg for EDAM class I've actually been  writing in my sketchbook. 
There's no way I can  catch up with all the blogposts I've been meaning to write, it's more important to concentrate on the here and now, something that drawing everyday has taught me.  


Day 19 " Heads, shoulders, (Knees and Toes)" 

Day 20 "The Farm"
( Hop poles) 

Day 21 "EARTH, fire, air, WATER"
( water stains on the bathroom ceiling captured in earth pigments) 

Day 22 " Machinery"

Day 23 "Work"
It's 4 years  since I left Kew  after 25 years working there and I'm still coming to terms with  loss of identity despite the new opportunities I  have . Writing all those thoughts and feelings down and covering  them  with tracing a photograph of me in my lab environment was really therapeutic. It also seemed to touch a nerve with many people, there were  around 30  comments   sharing their  experiences after redundancy/ retirement.   I also found a still active  film clip of me in the lab from 2012( starting at 3.10 mins)  - I've changed a lot since then , not least losing 4 stone in weight.

Day 24 "Star Signs"
( collage from pages of News of the World Almanac from 1953)

Day 25 "Home"

Day 26 "Circus"
( copy of print in Room 90 British Museum) 

Day 27 "Music"
( sunrise over Gythion harbour) 

Day 28 "Heroes"
( Marine diatoms  absorbing Carbon Dioxide)


Day 29 " Desert Island Doodles" 
(my  trainstitching travel sewing kit) 

Day 30 " The End(s) 
( thread ends from stitching through previous days drawing) 


Day 31: Summary of challenge 

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