Over at a letter a week 2013, one of the alphabets for the year has to be about peace. Despite the beauty of the theme, I have been fiddling around trying to work out how to create an alphabet that supports or reflects peace. Dots and colours are so much easier to incorporate!
I have been down, and am still going down, many paths it seems. My first foray led me to an alphabet that might look like it came out of Woodstock and the time of peace, love and happy herbs. I liked its brightness and bought some rainbow coloured cardboard and planned to stitch it together so it swung in the breeze like peace flags, but then...
I got some words stuck in my head "Peace is flowing like a river..." which is the beginning of a song. I kept repeating and repeating these words and thought maybe I was supposed to do something with them. So I started thinking watery thoughts and saw fabric and hand stitched letters in my head. I found some remnants of silk organza and set about changing the colour - using a Payne's Gray acrylic ink I had. They dried very quickly in our heat! I liked the look of them, but then...
I got distracted further. One of those really hot nights, sleeping intermittently and lightly my mind started wandering around how to make it a weekly activity for me (clearly I am already three weeks behind by this point) and I thought about finding a peace quote each week, printing it onto paper and then writing my letter over the top of it.
I have no examples of this, just the notes to self I quickly wrote down after waking.
I think, just think, I might have fixed on what I need to do. It will make it a weekly challenge for me as well as link to peace and the struggle for it. I'm just beginning and am hopeful. I'll let you know if it works out or not.
Sometimes it takes several steps this way, then that way and then in a completely different direction to find the right path. I hope I'm on it this time, altho I still quite like the early wanderings as well. Perhaps they will find their way into another piece another time...
I have been down, and am still going down, many paths it seems. My first foray led me to an alphabet that might look like it came out of Woodstock and the time of peace, love and happy herbs. I liked its brightness and bought some rainbow coloured cardboard and planned to stitch it together so it swung in the breeze like peace flags, but then...
I got some words stuck in my head "Peace is flowing like a river..." which is the beginning of a song. I kept repeating and repeating these words and thought maybe I was supposed to do something with them. So I started thinking watery thoughts and saw fabric and hand stitched letters in my head. I found some remnants of silk organza and set about changing the colour - using a Payne's Gray acrylic ink I had. They dried very quickly in our heat! I liked the look of them, but then...
I got distracted further. One of those really hot nights, sleeping intermittently and lightly my mind started wandering around how to make it a weekly activity for me (clearly I am already three weeks behind by this point) and I thought about finding a peace quote each week, printing it onto paper and then writing my letter over the top of it.
I have no examples of this, just the notes to self I quickly wrote down after waking.
I think, just think, I might have fixed on what I need to do. It will make it a weekly challenge for me as well as link to peace and the struggle for it. I'm just beginning and am hopeful. I'll let you know if it works out or not.
Sometimes it takes several steps this way, then that way and then in a completely different direction to find the right path. I hope I'm on it this time, altho I still quite like the early wanderings as well. Perhaps they will find their way into another piece another time...
~good morning fiona...the idea of collecting quotes with your letters will be an art adventure that deepens your journey for peace...to be able to see your art along with quotes will be ever so beautiful indeed...love the process you shared...and happy you were able to wander patiently with your mind!!! warm wishes and bright blessings~
ReplyDeleteThanks Brandi - it's nice when the mind can wander patiently, rather than be forced and rushed and huffed and puffed. Go well.
DeleteOh yes... finding the right path... all we can do is work and it will show us the way!
ReplyDeleteDoing the work is often the way isn't it? I am about to put pen to paper so we'll see if I've chosen the right path...
DeleteI like your this-way-and-that process. It seems to be taking you on a very interesting direction. The hand-written notes are very inspiring visually.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ersi - it's always fun to see other people's notes and journals and thought processes I think. I surprised myself by wanting to make the process harder than it already was, which is a bit weird really!
DeleteWhat fun to follow your thought process...this is definitely a favorite phase of the whole creative process for me, and I love to see how others work through it as well.
ReplyDeleteHaving just been over to the ALaW2013 blog, and seeing the first alphabets beginning to emerge, I can't help but think how perfect this 'abstract' theme is...just think how many of us are devoting time to pondering the theme of peace...
Oh Lisa what a great discovery! I hadn't thought of it, but yes, lots of folk are pondering peace, investigating things about it, discovering how to represent it. Thank you for shining that little light on it for me!
DeleteF- what a lovely title for your post - exploring peace - great aim the the year and the ALAW 2013 - not always easy to discover peace but we have a better chance at least if we are actively exploring it. Peace. B
ReplyDeleteThanks B - its sort of a quest in a way isn't it, a personal search and exploration. If we are searching and looking, we might just find it!
ReplyDelete