I’m starting this post loosely drawing together my beginning and end points of my activity for today’s Writing101 assignment and indulging in time travel along the way. From a choice of six single word prompts I rejected Love, Home, Secret, Treasure,( another one that’s lost from my memory right now in a hurry to post and can’t afford distraction).
I made a snap decision choosing to use the prompt ‘Uncertainty’, in part because it sums up my situation in so many ways. I don’t actually want to use that prompt in that way of writing about how uncertainty affects me. Enough already is all over my blogs about such issues and more will likely appear anytime it springs out or seems relevant.
My pocket notebook is a special gift from my mother from last Christmas, unused until April’s ‘How Writers Write Poetry’ mooc when it was used for poetry sketching excercises – that is sketching with words in note form of observations to gather potential material to use for poetry writing. I only managed to get out for observations once, along the way of an essential bus journey. I didn’t manage any more notebooking as per the course suggestion once I’d worked through that particular writing task and was more than a bit disappointed to have not made better use. I’m much happier now it’s become a mini sketchbook and doodle pad…Below is my final sketch in my pocket notebook for #DrawingAugust.
Uncertainty
Whenever I see or hear the word ‘Uncertainty’ a particular contemporary artist springs to mind. John Newling is a locally acclaimed and much respected artist of international renown. I was fortunate enough that whilst at uni I was referred for a tutorial with him and advised to go seek him out to make an appointment. On finding him at a workbench in the art workshops I had a there and then unexpected tutorial, even though I’d interrupted his work to ask for an appointment .I remember that day very well, twenty-one years ago (in another month or two – maybe noted in my files if I ever get round to looking). The conversation we had that day was probably fairly brief but enjoyable, encouraging and an absolute privelege. It had a profound effect on the way I interacted with art from then on, whether my own art or the work of others, based on the simple advice to “document everything”.
That word, uncertainty, now always makes me thing of ‘Singing Uncertainty’, a project by John Newling in circa 2011. A resulting video was shown in the main entrance of Nottingham Contemporary during his exhibition there. I’ll have to add links later, but you can google or whatever if you wish 😉
Singing Uncertainty
I love working with colour, even in the simplest ways, as if a child with a box of crayons and a piece of paper – or any other way I find or fancy. Yesterday, on my blog ‘the Wishing Well’, I made a colourful visual list of music I’d like to listen to ‘when I feel well enough’. I forgot some, as we do with long lists. (Indexed in page at top of blog if interested to view that list.)
I was really pleased with having used colour and the simplicity of that music play-wish-list. Somehow it made me feel a bit better to have made it. Late last night having decided on ‘uncertainty’ for my prompt for today’s task, I sat up in bed, grabbed a handy piece of paper and my cheap kiddy style jumbo pens. I didn’t want to write another poem for this and typing to work my idea through would have turned into a poem,
I counted the letters in ‘uncertainty’, selected my colours and decided to make another list type response for an acrostic type piece of automatic writing, not shaped this time as it was inappropriate for the task in mind. So I wrote very quickly the first sentence that came to mind for each letter. (Pic of that piece of automatic writing at Fishing4Soup)
I didn’t post it straight away but once made and I felt satisfied I was able to sleep at still a reasonable time to be going to sleep rather than by first light(!) I’ve had a fun day today deciding how to further this task. I really needed the time away from the computer and not straining my brain any further than I have these first two days of writing101 or I’ll be more ill for days. So, I posted my pic of my writing first, able to relax feeling ‘mission accomplished’ with at least one post that easily meets the brief.
Next, something I’ve been meaning to do for ages (since HWWP2015 back in April) – source some ready prompt-box-potential vessels. Luckily I keep all sorts of likely to come in handy resources such as jars, tubs and boxes, even though I recycle plenty. Quick assemble of stuff and another photo snap that speaks for itself in how I would be proceeding, for my next step at least, for a photo post on my blog ‘One 4 Fun’.
I left it there at that point because I do have priorities like looking after myself, my dog, my home. Myself and domestic duties are quite neglected most days. Along the way of my mostly non-blogging domesticated day I had, in a round about way, three wishes come true – I’m saving that for another post to link up later. But I certainly found myself with singing uncertainty.
Later in the afternoon I decided ‘how long will it take to just…’ and grabbed my stuff and made play. Documenting each step along the way with quick photo snaps perhaps reads like expect a Blue Peter style tutorial on making a prompt box. You’ll be sorely disappointed if you’d like that post to be the result of my next post(s) – as you will if you expect anything like pieces of writing 😀 It’s probably fair to say… expected any kind of rubbish…
By the end of my play I found one stray word on a tiny slip of paper that had been knocked to the floor and missed during my main play. This is the word that dictated my title for this post and I reveal it to you here, below.
A snap of the penultimate step of today’s project
Finally, with my project done for now, one last snap at the packed away project, awaiting re-birth in some new way another time, maybe:
The words revealing themselves in this picture are those that settled to the surface after a good shake having finished my play with this prompt task.
(further images and links for above text to perhaps be added at later date – in case you’re interested but don’t have or can’t use a search engine)
ColetteB.... 