Thursday 22 April 2010

Talking to myself.


I've never been very good at keeping a diary. My childhood attempts would begin with great enthusiasm in January and tended to peter out  about March leaving only a few entries for posterity. Poor old Posterity faced  with my listings of what I ate for lunch or my fondness for Starsky and Hutch, written on pages decorated with red felt pen hearts.

These days I'm determined to keep a notebook of ideas and inspirations but the old reticence is still there. I don't like the blank pages and the expectation of what should be put on them.  I talked to Miss Frugality, who knows about this sort of thing and she gave me some sage advice which I can paraphrase as - just get on with it and don't worry too much about a page being rubbish as you can always cover up that bit.

I have been filling the empty spaces with daftness and thought and along with the slowly ( very slowly ) improving drawings, conversations are springing up. Little chats between me and what is happening on the page.  Limbs? I ask myself when drawing a prototype felt cat. Make it less like Hitler is the comment next to a pig who doesn't look like a pig. A page with the design for my headscarf has the note, tadpoles are too weird.

I like talking to myself.

7 comments:

mary jane said...

I'm like you, start out strong and then the entries dwindle. But when I look back on old journals, I always like drawings I thought were feeble when I first drew them...its funny that way.
You've given me the ambition to grab my book and draw.

Denise said...

Oh my I do exactly the same thing heheh write little notes to myself on my sketches.. it helps! Especially when I am homeschooling 4 kids and need to keep track of my thoughts!

Karin said...

Oh I remember the same "issues" with my keeping diaries.
Hope you will keep it up! Sounds wonderful, more like a Practice.

Cindy G said...

I love seeing working sketches with notes. It's like being able to share a little bit in someone else's creative process.

Julia said...

I like this VERY much!

woolydaisy said...

wonderful post! i'm trying get back into journaling as well. i think it's great therapy and a place where creative ideas can grow and evolve. making time for it is the hard part. have fun with it!!!

Jane said...

I've never been able to keep one. I think I'm too hard on myself and usually don't think my thoughts are anything special or witty. Maybe I should try again