I'd forgotten all about this old blog I set up back in 2016 to inspire me to make art every day.
It must have been somewhere in my mind ever since though, because come the big lockdown of 2020 due to the Covid 19 virus, I've been curating an online art group which provides a daily challenge and a space for people to share their work, with some surprising results
Aims
Initially it was a random late night thought which turned into a post on Facebook, with the idea that if anyone else fancied joining me, perhaps we could inspire each other to make time in the day to do some art.
Implementation
The next day there was so much interest, I started a group. That was on the 11th May, and I invited the people who had liked or commented on my original post, less than 20 people. Gradually others joined, inspired by friends or the daily collages I share, and there are currently 72 members, many of whom like viewing the art, some who post occasionally and some who love the challenge of the daily theme and regularly create and share their work.
There are 15 - 20 images posted a day and I create Insta-collages of the work to share on social media each night. I also prepare the next morning's challenge from lists of ideas people have suggested, scheduling the post for 7.30 the next morning.
The benefits of this group for me personally are multiple.
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Day 1: Tree. This was great. It got me out there taking a long hard look at a tree rather than the instant appreciation and fast capture with a camera.
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Benefits
The initial aim - to get me inspired to create some art every day - has worked brilliantly. I'm getting braver with my medium - today used actual paint for the first time in 1000 years, but I feel no pressure to move or improve faster than I want. Each day is a new challenge - a quick sketch is as valuable as many hours studying a scene. The images I am creating are a personal record of the world around me. They feature my life, my caravan, garden, allotment, things that matter to me, right now, in May 2020. I could not have hoped for more.
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| May 18th - "holes" mainly coloured pencils with a little bit of paint for shadow on floor and rose. Pen for the holes. |
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| My favourite time spent was this 4 hour drawing from 17th May, theme - "Pathway". It's the view from the caravan, the space I've been thinking of as home since Easter, looking up towards the house, with Jake's tent (he's been sleeping there for a fortnight), the chimnea, the laundry basket, the wheelbarrow, the gorgeous new shed, the sunflower seedlings... it represents my whole life practically at the moment, distilled into a little drawing. |
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May 19th - music - using paints to create an image for the first time. It also inspired me to plant Jake's old guitar with nasturtium, sweet pea and geranium too, so double creative whammy!
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Sharing the challenge with others has been simply wonderful. Watching the development of people who have not found time in their lives for creating art, now doing it every day is absolutely amazing, and the atmosphere within the group is so layed-back that folk who have never tried making art are now joining in and loving the experience. The focus is so much in the creation rather then the result, and every one is incredibly encouraging, it is a joy.
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| "Wheel" May 14th. I really struggled with this one. My technical drawing and perspective skills are pretty poor. It was up at the train station in the woods and really uncomfortable semi-laying on the hard ground to try and sketch this old railway truck wheel. Seemed like a good idea at the time. |
Witnessing people interact over their art is a beautiful and unexpected bonus. Connecting people has always been one of my favourite things, and watching the natural progression of relationships within the group is another incredibly rewarding aspect.
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| May 20th "Shoes" |
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| 12th May "Laundry" |
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13th May "Precious" sitting on the caravan step hoping for inspiration, when the bees reminded me they were precious buzzing in and out of the flowers.
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