I realized as I work on this project that there are two distinct moieties--the art and the story.
The art part is unfolding pretty much as I expected. I am doing the drawings and getting into it. I've been experimenting with different media--I picked up a water soluble graphite stick from the clearance table in the bookstore and found I really enjoy working with it. It becomes almost silky when you add water. I also tried working with water soluble colored pencils. Just the forced drawing practice has been a benefit.
The story part is a little surprising. I wander around the house to pick out things to draw and discard. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I did some major clean and toss of stuff last year before I thought of this project so a lot of the easy to get rid of stuff is already gone. This forces me to really look at items and think about how much stuff I have accumulated. I did not imagine that this would be the difficult part. Many items that I have around clearly have sentimental value--the photos and memorabilia--but every object has a history. It was purchased or obtained by someone at a particular place or received as a gift or commemorates an important event. So as I select things, I find myself remembering the history of the everyday objects that hold a tiny bit of my own history. It reminds me of all the changes I have made in my life and makes the process just a little bittersweet.
The art part is unfolding pretty much as I expected. I am doing the drawings and getting into it. I've been experimenting with different media--I picked up a water soluble graphite stick from the clearance table in the bookstore and found I really enjoy working with it. It becomes almost silky when you add water. I also tried working with water soluble colored pencils. Just the forced drawing practice has been a benefit.
The story part is a little surprising. I wander around the house to pick out things to draw and discard. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I did some major clean and toss of stuff last year before I thought of this project so a lot of the easy to get rid of stuff is already gone. This forces me to really look at items and think about how much stuff I have accumulated. I did not imagine that this would be the difficult part. Many items that I have around clearly have sentimental value--the photos and memorabilia--but every object has a history. It was purchased or obtained by someone at a particular place or received as a gift or commemorates an important event. So as I select things, I find myself remembering the history of the everyday objects that hold a tiny bit of my own history. It reminds me of all the changes I have made in my life and makes the process just a little bittersweet.