How I work through an idea- Part 1

When I am developing my ideas for a piece of work I am quite methodical and can sometimes fill almost a whole sketchbook. My sketchbooks often become a work of art in themselves. I do my work in a plain A4 sketchbook and then often cover it with fabric or paper to match the theme of the work.

The photos below are some of the first steps in the sequence I follow to create a final piece of work. I will post more or the steps I follow in future posts.

*Please note- I haven't shown all the steps and pages here, as some of them still contain ideas I want to work on in the future.

     

I start with brainstorming

 then more in depth brainstorming

 

                                                                                   I then start collecting images, drawing         

                                                                               ideas and writing related comments

 

                                                                        more images, drawings, comments, etc.                               

Making necklaces

I spent most of yesterday muddling around in my studio as well as making some necklaces. Below are photos of some of the necklaces I made. I like very simple and plain beaded necklaces, I wear them to work a lot of the time.

After making all the necklaces below I don't think I need to make any more in the near future.

Storage of ideas

I constantly have a collection of random items that give me ideas for artworks. A lot of them are 2-dimensional objects and so they can be stored together. Initially I would keep magazine clippings, newspaper articles, photocopies from books, free postcards, etc. in little piles all over my studio.  I then found these fantastic zip lock pockets that are really strong and great for storage. I now store all my little bits of paper in one of these pockets along with a sketchbook to put them into when I get a chance.

I have an obsession with drawing borders around everything in my sketchbooks. Below is what the inside of one of my idea sketchbooks looks like. Sometimes I will write comments or ideas next to the pictures. At other times it is purely just images.

My favorite picture on these pages is the one of the beer 

bottles wearing the jumpers.

The images above are of my zip up bag I use. It is made of plastic but is 

reinforced with an internal mesh so it is very strong.

Where does time go?

I cannot believe how fast time passes lately, it is actually quite scary. I just looked when I last posted on here and it cannot possibly have been that long ago.

I've been so busy with my new job that everything else has come to a bit of a standstill. I've just started school holidays so I now have a chance to catch up on a few things. I'm mainly trying to catch up on my sewing for the textiles group I'm in called SAlt. I'm about 4 months behind schedule with my work but I think I will be able to catch up fairly fast. I generally do a lot of planning for my works and so it is purely a matter of then making the final product. I work out the fabrics, do samples, drawings, etc. so that then I can simply construct the final piece.

I will post more in the very near future but for now I must get back to sewing.