A challenge for you.

 

"Oh, you drew a poem!" 

That was what a friend of mine commented as he flicked through the pages of the sketchbook I recently completed for the Arthouse Co-op's 2012 Sketchbook Project.

 I had started the project as a kind of enforced brainstorming endeavour.  I planned to fill the crisp white pages of my new sketchbook with as many scrawled and messy ideas as I could think of, but then a red ribbon emerged and it coiled and writhed in my head.  I had to follow it.

So, I drew a poem...Apparently.

I like it.  I like its wordlessness, but I have found myself wondering what it would sound like if it could speak.  I imagine it with not one, but a hum of many distant voices, intertwined, all whispering different stories.  Which is where you come in.

Your challenge is to be one of those voices.  It's not a competition, there's no definitively correct interpretation, no particular plans for commercial publication and, although I may post my favourites here, or on my website, your words will remain just that.  It is simply an interesting thing to do and purely just for fun.


So, take a look at the slide show below or follow this link where you will find all my illustrations:  Write your poem (nothing too explicit please) and leave it at the bottom of this post.  Feel free to leave your name and details or post anonymously, It's completely up to you. 

My brother says there's a reason why people don't illustrate poems until after they are written and that my challenge is impossible...I reckon he's nearly right...but not quite.

Link:

"A PATH THROUGH THE TREES"

#drewapoem challenge

My Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project 2012 Sketchbook

Well...here it is:  My Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project Sketchbook so far.  It's called "A Path Through the Trees".  Those of you who follow me on facebook or have strayed onto my Flickr account will have already seen most of these but here they are again for the rest of you..."A Path Through the Trees".


I had no intention of it being a series of pen and ink sketches.  It was supposed to be a collection of multicoloured textural studies but, as always, things didn't turn out as I expected...I'm rather pleased.

For those of you who have asked, I'm not sure what the red path represents...other than a journey.  It's one of those symbols which appears in various forms in the art of so many cultures, meaning different but often very similar things...perhaps I'm referring to one of them, or perhaps all of them and maybe some others I've not pinned down yet too.  As for where it is going and where it will end up...I've about five double pages before the journey is complete and I'm afraid that at the moment I've no idea.  It does have a narrative of sorts but I'm not sure there's a punch line.

So, take what meaning you want from my sketches and may your own path through the trees of 2012 lead you somewhere beautiful and interesting.
 

Happy New Year!

To view my images in greater detail, and to be the first to see the final few pages as I finish them go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/naomiadams/sets/72157628211091783/

or like my facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/www.naomiadams.co.uk

A path through the trees

I thought it was about time I started on my Sketchbook Project sketchbook (rather than thinking about it, talking about it or blogging about it.)

So, these are my trees...I dream about them...or at least an increasing number of my dreams are set amongst them.  They are sometimes peacefully bathed in afternoon sun, sometimes moon-drenched and menacing.  Sometimes I know my way between the trees instictively and sometimes I am utterly lost or trapped.  They can protect and obscure me from the monsters at my heels or they can trip me and get in my way depending on the mood of the dream...and they sneak out into my art from time to time, especially when I'm given a blank sketchbook entitled "A path through the trees".

What do you think?

I don't dream of the red path...perhaps it's there so I can find my way back.

Sketchbook inspiration

Following my last blog entry all about my love of notebooks, I decided to take part in the 2012 Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project.  (For those of you who haven't heard of it, you'll find a link to it at the bottom of the page.)  Oh, I'm under no illusion that my sketchbook will be seen by thousands of people, I just like the project's inclusivity, I love the notion of all those thousands of pages, lovingly made, unique and tactile,  lining the shelves of one exhibition and I adore the idea of hundreds of people clutching library cards and actively engaging with the surprises each sketchbook might contain.   Being a part of it will bring me joy even in the anonymity of joining the thousands of other creative souls submitting their offerings alongside my own.  But I'm still a bit stuck on exactly what to do with mine so I've been looking for inspiration.

I love books: I love finding them, giving them, having them, keeping them, reading them, but my husband has recently bought himself an e-reader and I have to say that it is hard to see why you would choose to read a conventional novel any other way these days.  There'll always be the traditionalists who insist that there is nothing quite like the feel of the pages between your fingers and the smell of the print but, if I'm honest, I can't think of a more convenient and efficient way of owning and reading a vast library than to store them and read them electronically...which makes me wonder about the future of the book...and get really excited.

Now that the e-readers are arguably beginning to take the place of the traditional book perhaps  it will free the medium to explore what it has to offer that modern technology has not.  Oh I love a fabulously woven tale full of mystery and adventure but I am in no way attached to paper on which it is written.  The books I covet and treasure are far more than a place for the printed word; they are the beautiful ones,  illustrated objects of beauty and imagination and there are artists out there doing wonderfully imaginative things between the pages of some beautifully crafted books.  

   

 So, with this in mind and inspired by the books I've been looking at recently, I'm going to try to do something tactile & textural.  Something which is not confined solely to a flat sheet of paper.  Something which is only possible in a sketchbook of this nature and which celebrates what makes a book a truly unique medium.  I'm not sure how it will turn out but here I go.  I'll post images of the finished sketchbook on here but with a bit of luck, you won't get the whole picture unless you see it with your own eyes and feel it with your own hands when the exhibition arrives in Britain later next year.

If you would like more information about the Sketchbook Project 2012 or you would like to take part, please follow this link: Sketchbook Project 2012