Monday, March 09, 2009

Visual to Do list (AKA wasting time)

One of my aims this year was to learn a little more about art products and to try a bit more visual journaling. I know people use terms like that to mean different things but what I am talking about is a kind of illustrated journal. Not necessary an artists sketchbook which is full of pristine watercolours ( because I am not that good an artist) and not a studio journal or design sketchbook which is full of design ideas, records and samples ( I already do that). {I know this photo - and some that follow- are on their sides. They are not in my album and frankly, having tried 4 times to post them rotated I give up. Its somthing to do with having newly downloaded Picassa. Turn your heads. You need the exercise anyway.}

What I am thinking is that when we travel later this year it would be nice to have a book which records not only design ideas I will come across ( nay,go searching for) but also little drawn recordings of, say, the cafe I had lunch, or the colours in the sea and some collage maybe of tickets and brochure pictures, combined with the writing I like to do. I will not be able to carry too many art products and, whilst I may improve with work this year, I anticipate that I shall still be at the standard of simplistic representation rather than Art, ( Unless you interpret that word in the kindergarten sense).

So, I was going to practice. Only there were so many other things I needed to do and finish it seemed a bad idea to start yet another project right now. Except I wanted to. Even though I really had to organise the tasks already at hand And so, knowing I had time yesterday hanging around airports ( where they have, thank God, not yet developed a theory that I could kill someone with a Caran D'Ache wax pastel and a watercolour brush, although I did have to smuggle the water in a very small container in with my makeup) I decided to start a visual To Do list.

It is simplistic. It was fun. It started me off. Now I have to go and do some of the things on the list, all of which look much more inviting to do simply because they are so colourful! But why is it that once posted the work looks soooo much more childish than in real life?!!




2 comments:

Donna said...

looks like you had fun making your lists -- and a wonderful way to integrate art into daily life.

Diana said...

Helen, you amaze me. You get more done in a day than I do in a month or more. I'm willing to bet if you keep on with journaling in this way, your work will gain sophistication over time (although it looks pretty expert to me right now). I'm just picturing you in the airport with notebook and art supplies, amongst the business travelers and vacationers, working away at your journal.