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WHAT A CHALLENGE!

© June Brown

Ozquilt Network Newsletter #51, March 2004

I read about a challenge to do a drawing every day for a year in Textile Fibre Forum magazine. Not all participants were able to complete the challenge, however I was most interested in the report and it really seemed like a good idea.

As a member of the 'ZigZag' Textile Art Group along with Yvonne Voss and Susan Mathews the idea of setting ourselves a challenge for 2003 was discussed, and yes, the decision was made very enthusiastically to challenge ourselves to do a 'Drawing for every day of the year 2003'.

365 drawings amount to a lot of time, a lot of paper and a lot of dedication. Each drawing was to be about A5 in size and we all planned to put each month of drawings into a book. We all made the books ourselves. Paper was found, purchased or shared. Some paper was hand made, some was painted, some rusted and some pieces were off cuts from other works. We could use any medium and draw any topic, a detailed drawing or a very simple sketch. The discipline at times was hard to keep with holidays, grandchildren, stitching and teaching to fit into our already hectic lives. If time allowed we would do extra drawings and keep them 'in the bank' for an emergency. From time to time each of us fell behind with our commitment and had to allow some dedicated space in our lives for catching up.

Each time we met as a group there was much enthusiasm shown over each others drawing efforts. The topics were certainly varied, ranging from birds, seascapes, flowers, buildings, patterns, doodling and stillĀ  life. The drawings improved as the months went by, however by the time December came around it was obvious that we had become rather lazy with our newly acquired drawing skills and we were definitely lacking ideas for new topics. We all tried some different mediums and enjoyed trying some new topics. Yvonne's drawings were wonderfully free in formation; mine had comparatively more detail whereas Susan's drawings were colourful and dominant on each page.

Our drawing activities affected other people in our lives. Yvonne's brother started drawing again after many years and so did a recently retired friend, in fact she began to attend a drawing class. My family members were all surprised that I could draw at all and checked my books when they visited.

As a reader I am sure you are wondering whether we completed the commitment to ourselves and to each other. Yes, by the time 2004 came around there were 1095 drawings to see in 36 books!! Yvonne very succinctly said that she had never enjoyed the coming of the New Year so much!!

We learnt a lot about paper, pencils and paint and I am sure the experience will give us more confidence when we need to draw in preparation for making a piece of textile art. I recommend the challenge to you as a person and also to you as a member of a group whether you belong to a quilting group or just enjoy drawing.

'ZigZag' has set up another challenge for this year. It is already well under way. It is exciting and is certainly testing our creativity. Some examples from this challenge are to be hung as an exhibition during the Wangaratta Textile Festival 2004. We hope you will enjoy our A3 size quilts!

June Brown © 2004
 

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