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May 10, 2019
This blog site is a space for me to document my creative processes for my capstone research project. The focus of this research will be how I can develop a more artful lifestyle through visual journaling and blogging using arts-based methods to investigate my involvement with details in my life on a daily basis. I will be posting every week to share my reflections and art during my research. I hope you can follow along and share your thoughts!
May 17, 2019
This past week I have been sketching action spaces. These spaces are where I am doing things. Focusing on the small details allows me time to think about my involvement with my roles in these spaces. It has also helped me form symbols that represent them. Most of the sketches are from home and one of the studio where I work. Currently, I am designing a chart in my journal so that I can start counting and measuring the details in my life for this upcoming week. Each week I will post here with my data measurements and findings as well as artwork I create from my data.
May 25, 2019
I originally wanted to create this section as "Ponderings" to share my thoughts on the creative process and literature review authors. As I thought more I actually laughed because the word sounds too pleasant. My thoughts were super thick this week with so much information swirling around and overflowing that trying to verbally make sense of it was a bit messy. So, this section is called Spillings.
This week I was counting data of my actions every day for five days. I kept wanting to think forward into the next week and imagine the possible outcomes. I had to consciously stop and remind myself to focus on what I was doing. My readings from Gude (2010) kept rushing to the forefront reminding me that in order to engage in what I was doing, I needed to surrender to the process of making. Her suggestions of focusing on my commitment to seriously engage while lightening up helped keep my thinking balanced. Learning to use artist/researcher/teacher skills this week was new and somewhat challenging for me. But challenge is growth.
Part of my research methods are using suggestions from Lupi & Posavec in Dear Data. This image below is from another book of theirs called Observed, Collect, Draw! With the week I had I needed to loosen up my thoughts, so I used one of their exercises and found the longer I drew my inhales & exhales that my breathing became more relaxed.
Afterwards I kept visualizing this really thick line in my mind so for an output exercise I began drawing it while sitting on my back porch. My posture and grip were very tight in the beginning and then I could hear the birds chirping outside and noticed my lines were further apart from one another. I found that I started to analyze what I was doing and the lines got closer together again. Finally, I allowed myself to zone out with my focus becoming blurry. The lines, posture and grip relaxed incredibly. Even the angle changed as my hand relaxed. I no longer heard the noise in my mind but just the birds and ceiling fan. This practice along with the breathing exercise felt exactly like a visual meditation and cleared my head space. Now I can go make some more art ;)
