Category: Articles

Every autumn SEVEN gets back to (art) school with a fresh theme to take us through to our collective goal that is the Leigh Art Trail.  And, for 2023 the theme is — yes! — The Seasons. 

Beginning back in October with a small concertina sketchbook each and a jumble-sale meets-nature-table crammed with leaves, branches, and even an owl pellet, to get the juices flowing, we began our art journal adventures.

Wondering how we did that? Read on…

Make Your Mark

Making marks inspired by an object, feeling, or even music, can be a great way to overcome overthinking when it comes to beginning a project. Paint or ink are a good choice to get you going — no temptation to erase so-called mistakes, you see. Then, simply let your hand lead the way.

The next step is to play with those marks. Will they become a backdrop? Will the shapes or lines inspire a certain exploration? Will most of it be concealed with collage, drawing, more paint? Or revealed? Emphasised? And on…

Wordspiration

Another way to get your creative juices flowing is to play with words. We often look at poetry or fiction writing for inspiration because the metaphors are so meaty.  When Faith Baldwin writes this, for example, it evokes all sorts of images:

“Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.” 

But don’t just look to the words of others for our inspiration. We’ll also dabble in a bit of expressive poetry or wordplay crafted from a random selection of words snipped from magazines or old books.  That way you create unexpected connections which are yet another source of arty fuel.

The cut-up method has long-been used by creatives like David Bowie for its unexpected juxtapositions and memorable images — so you’re in good company if you choose to embrace it.

Transferring Images

As SEVEN always emphasise, playing in a creative sketchbook or art journal doesn’t require artistic prowess. 

Believe you can’t draw? Then how about playing with printing? That’s what we did in the initial weeks of this Leigh Art Trail project, and the results are usually pretty effective, providing plenty of collage fodder to play with.

No printing equipment? Hate the mess?  Then a box of crayons could be your best friend. Frottage, as it’s known, has been used by everyone from school kids to the Surrealist Max Ernst to create intriguing images.  No drawing required.  Unless you want to of course!

Springing into Action

So, those are some of the prompts and processes we’ve been playing with for our current Leigh Art Trail project.  What’s always so fascinating about working in a group like SEVEN is the multitude of ways a single theme, like The Seasons, can be interpreted on the page. 

Be sure to follow our creative concertina books as they unfold from autumn, through winter, spring and summer, over on Instagram.

One of the most frequent questions we get asked when exhibiting our creative sketchbooks is: Why are you called SEVEN? And, in recent years the answer’s gotten a bit convoluted. But, now that’s all about to change, as we become SEVEN, not just in name, once again…

Why SEVEN?

There are two reasons for the name:

The group was formed around table seven of the now closed Railway Hotel in Southend. And, there were seven of us around that table.  

Et voila! SEVEN seemed the obvious choice.

Five Get Familiar 

Thing is, in recent years there have been just five of us. So, that question — why are you called SEVEN? — hasn’t been so easy to answer.

At first, we were keen to make up our numbers. SEVEN was our magic number in a way. Thing is, we’re a closed group, and the dynamic works pretty well. Would a new face or two add to that? Shake things up in a good way? Or would it upset the apple cart?

Who knows!?

SEVEN Went to Leigh Art Trail

Anyway! We’ve bitten the bullet and for Leigh Art Trail 2023 there will be seven of us once more. 

Who are these curious new members, you ask? *Drumroll, opens envelope, clears throat. So, the SEVEN gals are glad to welcome:

Karen Christensen — A brand spanking new member, who is well known around town for her wonderful mixed media artwork, Karen came to try us out back in January and decided she quite enjoyed being gently nudged out of her comfort zones while chatting and eating biscuits.  You can find out more about Karen here.

Nicola Watts — A mixed media artist with a penchant for layering like no other — expect ultra thick,crusty, sparkly journals, people! — Nicola is a returning member.  She took a bit of a sabbatical from SEVEN when life had other plans, but was welcomed back with open arms and a concertina sketchbook when she felt ready to return. Discover more about Nicola here.

Never Wonder About SEVEN Again!

Lucky for you, you’ll never have to wonder why we’re called SEVEN. Nor wonder what we do when we get together in our cosy little collective.  Why? 

Because we’re on Instagram. Yay! Yep there, we share insights into our creative explorations, inspirations and other arty, creative sketchbook type things — come and chat with us.

A new year generally brings a new project and for 2021, still in Lockdown 3.0, something to share on-line is currently the only way to go.

The 52 Weeks Art Journal, hosted by Raspberry Blue Sky, is a weekly prompt, intended to be incorporated into an altered book.

First Hurdle – all the charity shops are shut, so casting around for a book you already have had to be the first option. Then Juliet had a great idea. She found an old desk diary that she had never used, perfect for a 52 week project, and ripe for altering!

Second Hurdle – now I know I too had one of these, where on earth had I put it? After an extensive search (including the loft), I realised that it had gone in the last clear out, so it was ebay to the rescue.

Third Hurdle – awaiting the post, and hoping I had bought a suitable desk diary. Already behind on week one “New Beginnings” I started on week two by making a ‘colour wheel’ using scraps of fabrics, mostly leftover from sewing face masks last year.

So now we are a few weeks into the project, how are we finding it, and what are we using?

Questions for the group

* What book are you using?

* If using a diary, are you enjoying the format?

* How have the prompts been for you? Are you able to interpret them in your own way?

Kim

I am using The British Library Desk Diary for 2019, which has a double page spread for each week. 

The diary is a perfect book for this project, it even has the week number conveniently printed at the top of each page, which I am going to try and leave in. It has a lot of maps, which I have previously used in my collage practice, and some of those will be incorporated too.

The prompts have been OK – I just take them as a starting point and see what comes. One or two have already had unexpected outcomes, that have led me to further work that I would probably not have explored.

Amanda

I have so many sketch books (can’t resist buying them) that I am using an A5 Daler Rowney which has quite thick paper and will take a lot of punishment.  Each week I am using. Double page spread.

The prompts have been good because they challenge me, even if I am not always keen on one or another.  I was able to work intuitively and the result of the New Beginnings prompt seemed to be saying Connectedness, how we are all connected to this planet and its rhythms and to each other, even when we cannot be together and so I am now trying to think about this theme every week, whilst still trying to work freely and instinctively.

Helen
I made myself an A5 coptic stitched journal made from found papers, including: magazine and vintage book pages; and tracing paper.

Some of the prompts have inspired me more than others. I quite liked the Create Your Own Colour Wheel and the New Beginnings prompts, for example. While, the Be My Valentine prompt seemed a little cheesy, on first sight, and I had no idea what to do for some time.

Then I thought to look into heart symbolism and discovered the history of the sacred heart, which was actually really fascinating, and I eventually created something kind of interesting. I guess the lesson is, just because you don’t like a prompt, doesn’t mean you can’t work with it!

Jo

I am also using the British Library Desk Diary from 2019. 

The format is perfect as there is a double page spread for each week, with the number of the week at the top. The theme of the diary is maps. I decided to use the purpose of maps (i.e. to plan routes and stay on course) as a way of giving myself creative direction, guided by the weekly prompts. The paper is also a good weight and is really suitable for collaging onto.

I was initially unsure that word prompts would inspire me. However, I have been pleasantly surprised. The prompt comes out on Monday, I usually take a few days to mull it over, then spend a couple of days playing with ideas before there is a ta dah! moment at the end of the week.

Juliet

When the idea of taking part in the #52weeksartjournal was decided by Seven, I had the thought that using an old weekly diary could potentially be a good fit.  Often when you go to museums in the first couple of months of a year, it is possible to pick up a reduced diary, with fabulous images (remember those days when you could just walk into a museum) so I had a hunt around my spare / creative room.  I found one V&A diary, but that had already been part cannibalised, but then I came across a 2001 version that concentrates on the V&A’s unrivalled collection of works by contemporary Victorian artists and designers.  

The two page spread for each week are a good way of keeping on track with the weekly prompts.  It is also a good size to work into – the size is between A5 and A4 which is manageable.  The paper is a bit shiny and absorbent, so I have tended to work on separate paper before sticking them in.  

Its been an interesting challenge to marry up the prompts against the diary images – some I have completely obscured, some I have left and done the artwork on the opposite page, but where possible I am trying to incorporate them within the artwork.  Usually a few days contemplation of the prompt is needed before starting each piece.  They are not what I would normally be inspired by,  so it has been really good to ‘stretch’ my art practice.  

The Brooklyn sketchbook library began in 2006 and is a not-for-profit organisation, based in the US. Their aim is to ‘encourage creative storytelling within a global community’ and currently has over 50,000 sketchbooks from artists from around the globe.

We’ve pondered over the idea of submitting a sketchbook to the Brooklyn Sketchbook library for a while and this year we did it!

In September 2020 SEVEN agreed that the Brooklyn Sketchbook project would be our next challenge. We duly sent off our payment and received our blank 5″x7″ sketchbooks a few weeks later.

We participated in Vol. 17, which meant our deadline was 15 February 2021. Each submission comes with a new list of suggested themes, that you can use as a starting point, and I was inspired by ‘marks and markers’, which I developed using mark-making techniques.

I chose to combine my theme with reference to Warley Place in Essex, a former Edwardian garden owned by horticulturalist Miss Willmott until 1934. After her death, the house was demolished and the gardens left unattended for several decades. It has been maintained as a nature reserve, by the Essex Wildlife Trust, since the 1970s where it still provides glimpses of its former charm.

When I received my blank sketchbook, I was disappointed in the quality of the paper, which I thought was too thin and wouldn’t stand up well to being painted and collaged onto. So from the start I decided that I would rebind my book using thicker paper.

The first session SEVEN did involved mark-making with inks, which gave me a good foundation to work on. Once I had a selection of inky papers I chose a few and cut them up into long strips. I then glued these strips together to form one long piece and folded it into 18 concertina pages.

NB: If you rebind your sketchbook, the only limitations to consider are that the pages must be the same size, the overall thickness of the sketchbook must be no more than 1″, and the barcode on the backcover must remain visible.

I collaged cyanotype prints, old artwork and scraps of ephemera onto the pages, which I worked into using intuitive mark-making, drawing and painting.

These are some of the finished pages I created:

I thought it would be difficult to send off my sketchbook once I had finished it (you do get very attached to your work!), but I think as I knew this was the outcome all along, I was happy to let it go. Before posting it to Brooklyn I did scan all my pages, so that I have a record. I have also opted for the library to digitize the pages, so they will be available to view on their website anytime.

If you fancy a challenge, I would highly recommend taking part.