An Irregular Practice
My struggle with consistent art/life documentation
It’s a full moon week and that has motivated me to write about what I’ve been up to. I’ve always struggled with regularity - when I was a kid, I would start a journal, write a few entries, and then abandon it entirely. The number of notebooks I’ve saved with only the first third filled in is astounding - and it always feels like I need to start completely fresh when I decide to start up again (anyone else??).
Even in art school, the only times I’ve meaningfully had a regular sketchbook practice was when it was literally assigned to me (I was and will always remain a Type A student who loves school and homework). I have always felt a lot of shame and judgement about this lack of discipline when it comes to documentation, whether through writing or art. I envy folks who have this as a regular practice, but that envy doesn’t seem to be a good enough motivator to actually just do it consistently.
There have been a few times that I’ve been able to keep a sketchbook with some regularity, and those have often come with external accountability (an ‘assignment’, if you will). I have participated in the 100 Day Project several times (my 2017 project, #100daysofdrawingflora, is actually the practice that helped me to produce the Fleurot deck). And last spring, I participated in Februllage - creating a collage every day for the entire month of February, inspired by a prompt list posted by the Scandinavian Collage Museum.
I’ve been in a bit of a dry spell of art/life documentation since then. And then last week, Jessica Williams posted a lovely piece about sketchbook practicing, and how her own shifting of the need for a bound book has helped her to sketch with more regularity. I was very inspired reading about this non-traditional take on the sketchbook practice, and it’s motivating me to consider ways in which I could break out of the linearity and rigidity of my own thinking about life/art documentation.
Perhaps blogging could be part of a regular life and art documentation practice for me, perhaps not. There’s something about the analogue in these gestures that feels deliciously yummy to me, especially as the internet and social media continues to feel more and more isolating and overrun with slop. And I also have such a strong Leo placement in my astrological chart that I often have the experience of wanting to share something with people the moment it is made. So on the other hand, the internet can feel like the perfect tool to fulfill that need to be widely witnessed.
This is my long-winded way to say: hello, I don’t post on her regularly, though I always aspire to start. Thanks for sticking around anyways.
I do the same thing with journaling notebooks of filling out a few pages with cryptic poetry and then abandoning them. I’ve had more success with an oversized grid notebook that I write project ideas into ranging from Halloween costume designs to measurements for garden beds. It has helped me manifest what I want to make, or explore ideas even if I haven’t managed to get them off paper and into life. It’s not exactly journaling, it varies wildly how often I draw in it, but I leave it in a stack of books in my dining room so it’s within reach. And it often comes to the lumber yard or hardware store with me. I try not to feel precious about using up its paper.
I love the collages. There is an visual idea in all three that I cannot describe (it is foreign to me). So hope you do more and develop your ideas further.