R - to create is to destroy

Our R collective gathered today at Jo's. Well actually one R was missing from action since Meg is in Japan. The rest of us got together and each of us brought along generous helpings of irritation and frazzled nerves. We reckoned this was a combined result of two weeks of annoying windy weather and Saturday's election result... However, a couple of hours later we finished our meeting buzzing with excitement! Let me explain.

First a personal update. After our last meeting I got to work on my part of the exhibition project. I decided to dedicate at least 15 minutes of quality time per day towards this. I started researching archetypes and have a handwritten post somewhere on my desk waiting to be typed... When Term 4 started 6 weeks ago, my time just got sucked up by all the extra employment I had committed to. And I'm still on that track, slowly losing my mind with not enough time for myself and my very important projects... Not even 15 minutes a day?? Ouch.

During my busyness I have been delighted by two dear little books on creativity that I spotted through Brain Pickings. One of them is WRECK THIS JOURNAL by Keri Smith. 

I got this book with the intention to apply the same principle on cloth. I have relaxed my approach since I started making art and not just clothes, but still bump into the feeling of needing to be in control, being way too precious, planned and careful with how I use my materials and tools. India Flint has been a brilliant teacher of seeing bold opportunities everywhere, but I still resist putting it into action.

I have a huge respect for books and keep them well, so I love the opposite approach this workbook has: 

We thought Ronnie had lost her mind when she was doing weird moves with the book...

"Tie a string to the journal, go for a walk, drag it." must have been our favourite recipe, as we could see ourselves applying it to our projects...

After a good giggle we decided to set a challenge for the next month and a bit. Each person would start with a piece of white or cream material, 30x30 cm square, and manipulate it with wild abandon. We agreed to exclude deliberate cutting and stitching as we would nornally do these with a piece of cloth. And we agreed to keep a journal on the progress...

So here goes! My perfectly white piece of cloth on a white wall.

Let the fun begin.