Chelsea Swan

I guess maybe to say I see you too.

What was the best thing I did? Why was this the best thing I did? How do I know that this was the best thing I did?

The best thing I did was switching from inked backgrounds as they were too distracting and you can actually see the spirographs now. I also love the addition of shapes and the way that the images grew organically which felt a lot more natural. In addition I am happy that I was able to let go of pieces that were not working at each stage so that I was not overwhelmed with terrible images as I usually end up.

What worked least well for me? Why did this not work well for me? What have I learned about the topic concerned from this not having worked well for me? What have I learned about myself from this not having worked well for me? What do I plan to do differently in future as a result of my answers to the above questions?

Spray painting in a living room was a poor choice and I had to switch to ink pretty quickly. The inks kept going under the stencils and had messy edges but I fixed it by using a lot less ink and layering it up. I still would have liked the edges crisper but I have learnt enough to manage it in future. The gems were also a first for me and took a few practices with the glue to stop it looking like a mess. I am still working on being more precise with it. I think I need to look more at glues as I don’t know what can be used with what materials and what glues are bad for the environment. I also want to use them on fabric and I don’t want them falling off. I will have to wait to see if they fall off the paper.

With hindsight, how would I go about this activity differently if doing it again from scratch? To what extent will this activity influence the way I tackle anything similar in future?

If I tried to repeat it I would plan and the plan would make it fail. I like it because it was cathartic and grew organically with my memories and thoughts. I like spontaneous things that create and build themselves and want to work more in this way. The lampshade was a similar process.

What did I find the greatest challenge in doing this work? Why was this a challenge to me? To what extent do I feel I have met this challenge? What can I do to improve my performance when next meeting this particular sort of challenge?

The thoughts behind it and the past memories were a bit harsh. I don’t really like to make things that are too honest or at least in that direction. I can be adult honest. I think I have still hidden almost anything that the images are about. I want people to see but also not really. I am not sure I want to get better at this.

What was the most boring or tedious part of doing this particular task for me? Can I see the point of doing these things? If not, how could the activity be changed to be more stimulating and interesting for me?

The spirographs were a bit repetitive. Trying to get variety in such a small set. I think the figures offset them for me and gave me chance to be a bit less restricted and methodical. I could have ruined the whole piece with the figure as I just added them at the end. The could have been aweful or not fit but I had to put myself dancing and jumping and working the bad feelings out of my body in there too.