17 March 2016

Daily measures II

 
And the "Daily measures" practice continues... Above are January's (left-hand pages) & February's (center section) completed, with the first half of March's lines weaving their little stories through the third accordion booklet on the right.

The February "chapter" is entitled Settling——not in the negative sense of having to settle for less than one deserves, but rather in the way that all of January's "possibility" finally began to settle...to find some kind of shape & rhythm. Or at least as much rhythm as one experiences in the constantly evolving creative space that a studio typically is...

As were January's, the strips of paper for February came from a variety of sources: trimmings from projects, packaging, mail, extra prints, bits & pieces that turn up around the studio, etc. The choice of orange for the title & footers was inspired by its presence in all shapes & forms... I had never realized how apt it is as a color for February, but with the kilos of oranges that were welcomed into our kitchen & my February tradition of orange freesias brightening up the studio (not to mention daily tea in an orange pot & mug!), I enjoyed an extra dose of my favorite color. And I found that it's an ideal choice for keeping spirits lifted through February's gray days...

I mentioned last month that I would try indenting the "Mondays," in order to help distinguish the weeks from one another, but I forgot as I was cutting the slits. March's Mondays, however, are indented (as you will see when I post them once the month is over).

A couple of things have surprised me about this daily practice so far. One is how much time, between the preparation & conclusion phases, the whole process actually takes; and it's easy to get distracted by all the papers each day! While some of the strips are quickly chosen & trimmed to size, sometimes I use multiple layers of paper or otherwise "customize" them. It has also highlighted for me how easily my mind skips ahead with new ideas; already I am plotting ways to adapt & build upon the daily strip/line concept. But it feels more important to stay with my original plan, and fortunately I am finding great satisfaction in what is beginning to seem like a fairly substantial accumulation of "story lines."

 



 

I hope that life is good in everyone's studios, kitchens, gardens, reading chairs, & other favorite places...

6 comments:

  1. I am so pleased to read you have kept this project going - it is such personal visual diary; I can only imagine how potent the paper is at evoking memories when you go back over it. Daily practices can be surprisingly time consuming when you add in all the other details and activities - but they are great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by for a look, Fiona! It is good to watch such a project growing slowly over time...seems to underline the power of incremental effort/time, and how "easy" it can be to end up with something substantial through a (fairly) minimal effort! And, just as your ALaW projects did, any new practice can open up so many new possibilities. What we really need is the time to explore them all!
      - Lisa

      Delete
  2. Hi Lisa- Finally had a moment to catch up on some of your posts! Really love this concept and I agree with Fiona about these little scraps will remind you of a place and time. Bopping around some of my favorite blogs this yr and I'm noticing a lot of folks are doing some form of creative journaling this year. I've been trying to stitch whenever I can and hope to have several books put together by the end of the year. In any case...happy to see you blogging and posting your visually rich photos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for visiting, Julie! And how wonderful to hear that you are also working on some "incremental" projects...I am popping over to have a look in a moment. Whenever I come to "Blogland" there is so much to catch up on!
      - Lisa

      Delete
  3. This is such a lovely idea. At the end of the year, a daily record in paper of what you've done. It's good to watch it unfold month by month.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for following my progress, Margaret - I can't believe how quickly the days are flying past! It's certainly been an interesting way to record them...
      - Lisa

      Delete

Thank you for joining in on the dialogue; I appreciate your comments!
{Sorry about enabling word recognition, but I'm hoping it will alleviate the spam.}

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...