Getting clear on my focus

The beginning of a new project involves a process of whittling down all the ideas until I have a clear focus for my work. I get easily overwhelmed by all the possibilities on offer until I spend some time working out which ones excite me the most. There are a couple of methods that I have used to whittle down my ideas for the ‘Wanderings’ project;

Mind-mapping

I mentioned mind-mapping in my last blog post. It is a process built on word association, in which I have written the word ‘wanderings’ in the middle of my sheet of paper and then worked out from that with all the words that come to mind when I think about the wanderings project. These other words may then also lead to more associations and so the resulting mind-map becomes a deep dive into all the possible ideas I could choose to pursue.

The next step is to take a highlighter and pick out the words that most jump out at me from the page; the ones that really feel exciting to me. From these words I can build a much clearer idea of the focus for my work and the specific project that I want to undertake.

Digging deep

I have spent the last few days thinking further about the ideas that came out of my mind-map and jotting down anything that seems important. I have been getting even more specific about the kinds of materials I would like to use and the processes I would like to explore during this project. I have decided to dig deeper into some of the modules of the Visual Narratives course with Sally Tyrie that I started back in October, specifically the module about collage using my own digitally edited photographs and the one about collograph printing.

I have also decided not to do any painting for this project but to concentrate my initial efforts on exploring in-situ mixed media drawing and photography. This will then lead into experimenting with a combination of simple printmaking processes, collage and embroidery in the studio.