36 textures

Candace challenged me to incorporate texture into my journal. Since my journal is a blog (so, digital but with handmade elements), I created a digital entry by documenting 36 things I associate with my pregnancy so far. The array of textures is kind of interesting. It's not exactly in the "pat the bunny" vein that I think Candace had in mind, but it's me!

Some of the textures are secret and mysterious, but some I am happy to share! For example, some are foods that I've been eating a lot of (fig bars, edamame, tortillas), some are things to which I've had aversions or am not allowed to use during pregnancy (coffee, Listerine), and many are items made of cloth (favorite maternity clothes, a belly band, a shirt of my husband's that I've hijacked, two pillows given to me by my grandmother before she died and which I use to achieve a tolerably comfortable sleeping position at night). Other textures I documented include the basil plants I planted when I found out I was pregnant -- a sun hat I need to wear outside -- the bike helmet I won't be putting on again until next summer -- a lawn chair I've been chillaxin' in on the deck -- a shoulder bag that looks really cute over a pregnant belly -- a flowering plant Ben gave me for our wedding anniversary -- and a certain record I listen to almost every day).

Title page, map, and gathering

Welcome to my visual journal for the Space of Possibility class! This journal will document the second trimester of my pregnancy, a time when I am feeling very reflective and inspired -- the perfect time to make a visual journal. Above is my "title page," an illustration I made this week using acrylic, cut paper, and digital media. I often work with this combination of media in my illustration work (more here!), so I chose to publish my journal online to accommodate the digital element of my work. You can click each image to see a bit larger.

Below is documentation of the "mind mapping" activity we've been asked to try out. It does sort of get the ideas flowing, and mine is suggestive of a tool that I use practically every day as an illustrator: word lists. A word-based approach to brainstorming really works for me, I've found. This mind map actually begins on the right-hand side of the page, ending on the left page with a list of miscellaneous ideas that didn't happen to fit into the other parts of my word web.













The "gathering" feature of this assignment is the one that I struggled with the most. I knew I didn't have many tangible things that represent my pregnancy, so I simply started with what I do have -- ultrasound photos:














And then I decided to create a visual list of the variety of objects that have played a special role in my life over the last four and a half months. I decided to do this as a way of "gathering" these elements into one space. They include many things that don't lend themselves to being pasted onto illustration board, like chocolate soy milk and my mother-in-law's rocking chair. This visual list was done with ink and Photoshop.














Until next time!