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Helen Terry

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Mark making conte 03.jpg
Mark making ink 01.jpg

A daily practice

February 7, 2015

Often when I spend time on something that doesn't directly contribute to making work - reading, drawing, mark-making - my mind starts running on all the things I think I should be doing instead.  Which pulls my attention away from what I'm doing and creates a conflict between what the experience could be and what it actually is.  I think part of the value of a regular practice lies in assigning time for something and giving it your full attention.  Giving yourself a chance to notice something you didn't already know.  I'm not always particularly good at doing this.  

So, at New Year I started a daily mark-making practice.  The aim being just to explore my own marks and give myself a chance to experiment.  To avoid the New Year Resolution thing, I started the day I went back to work instead.  And I committed to 40 days - long enough to see the impact yet short enough to feel achievable.  I knew that to be sustainable it also had to be easy - so that on the worst day there would be no excuse for not maintaining it.  So there was only one rule - one page a day, any mark, any medium.  A single line would count.  

Mark making ink 02.jpg
Mark making ink 03.jpg

I'm using a homemade sketchbook, about 5" (13cm) square, which is filled with different types of paper (a good way to use up offcuts).  I've been using whatever tools and media are on my drawing table, which at the moment is conté crayon, fountain pen ink, sumi ink, some white paint.  Most days I manage more than one page - the record is twelve.  On some days, I have rapidly made some marks five minutes before bedtime.   It's amazing how often those aren't the least interesting pages.  

A happy side-effect has been handling my drawing materials every single day, which helps to get past any mental block about drawing.  Indeed sometimes the mark-making has transitioned seamlessly into drawing - I've tried something out and then pushed my mark-making book to one side and used the same ideas in a more considered drawing.  

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Mark making ink 05.jpg

Somewhere around the 25 day mark I looked back through what I had done.  I noticed how often I had defaulted to two or three "formulae" -  the habitual marks I make when I am not working from a source.  My natural handwriting in a sense.  This was interesting in itself but I started to look for ways I could disrupt these patterns.  Not change the marks themselves necessarily but force myself to use them differently.  In my case this was partly about my use of space and varying the line quality.  I'm experimenting with masking parts of the page, erasing, rubbing or scratching back, drawing over wet paint - looking at what effects this has on the marks and how it changes what I do.  

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I have seven days to go.  I think I will start another forty days after that - same rules, same principles, perhaps with a different technique or medium - but I think the main thing is just to keep going.  

 

Some others who have experimented with a daily practice: 

Fiona Wilson  - 365 days - a print a day

Leslie Morgan  - a collage a day

Karen Thiessen  Lent - 15 minutes mark-making a day for 40 days

In Drawing, Mark making, Creativity, Process Tags daily practice, lines
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Helen Terry

fabric, colour, texture, art, craft, creativity.

 

This is a place to keep track of what's inspiring or interesting me,  and how this shapes the thinking that goes into my work.  


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#Repost @sally.tyrie
・・・
Ely show is over, but you can still see the installations at Wicken Fen Nature Reserve- maps in the visitor centre, tea shop on site, and plentiful supply of fresh air . We take it all down this Thursday 26th. @wickenfennt @eastofenglandnt @nationaltrust @visitely #babylongalleryely #visitely #visitnature @digswellarts #fenland #fens
Last chance to see “Reflections & Revelations” tomorrow! @sally.tyrie And I will be at Babylon Gallery in Ely from 2pm before taking it all down at 4. “Hidden” continues at @wickenfennt until 25th April.  And yes, we still have catalogues- DM or email (via web site) me or Sally if you want one.  New blogpost via link in profile is an overview of my work in the gallery.
Sold!  Delighted that this one has found a good home. “Perception 2”  inspired by layers of reeds and reflections at Wicken Fen.  Sally and I will be back at Babylon Gallery this Sunday 22nd from 2-4.  It was a pleasure to meet people yesterday, including one who had travelled all the way from South Wales.  @wickenfennt @babylonarts
Exhibition is open! ... and the first red dot goes to @sally.tyrie !
And we have catalogues! 
Available from Babylon Gallery from Wednesday 11th and we will have some with us at @wickenfennt On Saturday 14th.  Or message me or @sally.tyrie if you want one. £12 + postage.
More great images from Sally of our installation at Wicken Fen yesterday. “Hidden” is now open until 24 April.  See my latest blogpost for more - link in profile. 
#Repost @sally.tyrie ・・・
My Back is killing me today but it was worth it @wickenfennt #artinstallation @eastofenglandnt #arttrail #hiddenart #whatdoartistsdoallday @digswellarts #wickenfen #elycambridgeshire
Great images from Sally of our installation at Wicken Fen. “Hidden” is now open - new blogpost via link in profile. 
#Repost @sally.tyrie
・・・
Hidden: Artwork installation all ready for Wicken Fen Nature Reserve visitors to find. Key Hides are Charlies Hide, Eastmere Hide & Boardwalk Hide @wickenfennt @eastofenglandnt #wickenfen #visitcambridgeshire #naturereserves #nationaltrust #visitely #elycambridgeshire
Today I’m making work for “Hidden” - a series of mixed media, small installations in selected hides at @wickenfennt with @sally.tyrie.  This will accompany our exhibition in Ely at @babylonarts “Reflections & Revelations”.

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