Friday, January 28, 2011

Merry go round - Compass words for 2011

As it's the last Friday of the month, it's time to jump on the Merry go round for the first time this year!  We have two new members, Laura and Monika so I hope you'll check all the links. Our merry go round is where a group of 10 artists/craftwomen link together around the world and tell you a little about their art and craft, through blogging on the same topic.


This month's topic was to come up with three "compass words" for 2011.  Tonya Davidson from Whole Lotta Whimsy came up with an exercise that helps you reflect on what you've done and then contemplate your future - but using the written word instead of just in your head. By writing the exercise down - and publishing it here in my blog - it shows a greater commitment to change, rather than just a casual exercise.  The "compass words" then become a focus for the year ahead -whether they apply to your business or home life or both or whatever.  I hope you'll take the time and find your own compass words by clicking on the above link.  If you do - please add them to the blog post in the comments section.

Photo by geebee2007
The three words that I came up with for my compass words this year are: Grow, Explore, and Confident.  They apply both to my art/craft work and also other aspects of my life.


Photo by Johan J.Ingles-Le Nobel
As I mentioned in an earlier post this year - I really feel a push, a need and the enthusiasm to try some new things. This is the "grow" and "explore" words.  I want to explore different techniques and media.  As I was a scientist before finding metal clay, I feel that "art" never played any significant part in school or work,  so I want to grow as an artist and feel like an artist. If you've been reading my blog recently, you'll see that my stay in San Miguel has really helped kick start my "grow" and "explore". I've been trying lots of new things and still have a week left....with some new things coming up.   I want to keep this up through the year to find new ways of doing things and grow from this exploration.

The "confident" compass word relates to several aspects of my life....I can feel quite confident in something one day and then have no confidence the next day.  So this is definitely a good thing for me to focus on.  My singing in the quintet particularly comes to mind with the "confidence" compass word when I frequently feel inadequate.

An idea that Tonya suggests you do when you identify your compass words is to write them down and put them somewhere where you will see them frequently, as a constant reminder.  I'll definitely be doing that when I get home.  Maybe we'll have to do a follow up blog post at the end of the year and see if change has happened in relation to our compass words.

I hope you have time to click on the links of the other merry go round team and see what compass words they all came up with for this year. We live in all different places around the world, so time differences may impact when we all get our blog post up.

Laura at Blue Terracotta -  http://blueterracotta.com/
Monika at Red2White - http://red2white.wordpress.com/
Ruth at Birdland Creations - http://insidetheartisan.blogspot.com
Kim at Vilt a la Kim - http://viltalakim.com/blog/
Sara at Crafts of Texture - http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com
Fabienne at Easterya Jewellery Creations - http://easterya.blogspot.com
Mariana at Florcita - http://florcita.eu/wordpress/
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent - http://lebarduvent.blogspot.com
Lily at Lily Pang Art and Design - http://lilypangart.blogspot.com
Mitsy at ArtMind - http://artmind-etcetera.blogspot.com

Or else you can follow the links to the actual blog post below:

12 comments:

vilterietje said...

whishing you luck with all your compass words.
this year i go with the flow, and try to do what i want to do, so no compass for me. love, riet

Laura said...

Exploring new techniques and media sounds like fun and a great way to grow this year! I look forward to reading about your discoveries.

meherio68 said...

Beautiful compass indeed. :)
Love your photos!

Lorena Angulo said...

Love to read your post.
I am very similar with you, I also need more confidence.
This is going to be a great year !!
Kisses !!

Ruth said...

THanks Riet. Maybe your compass word is "go with the flow"! Sounds a good one!

Ruth said...

Thanks Laura. Its been a fun ride so far and it's still on January! Who knows what will come up in the next 11 months!

Ruth said...

Thanks Agathe and Lorena.

We shall have to keep and eye out this year, Lorena, and remind each other of our "confidence" focus! You've just had a great boost with your CraftEdu! Hopefully that'll keep you going for a while :=D

Sara Millis said...

I'm always a firm beliver in growing and exploring... always learning is how I'd like to live. I can't belive I forgot to add that as one of my words!

I definately identify with your compass words and wish you lots of luck working on them throughout this year... it would be great to see where we all get too.

Sx

Florcita said...

I struggled trying to add my link to the linky thing there until I realized it was already there! oh dear...
I find it fantastic all the techniques you are learning and experimenting with. I always say that if there were a school for textile art or something like that in the area, I would the first signing up! Sometimes I crave that organized exploration a workshop or school can give.
Good luck to you!

Ruth said...

Thanks Sara. Yes, I think maybe we should post again at the end of the year on whether our compass words impacted at all on our year.

Ruth said...

Mariana - thanks for trying to add your link to the hop. That is the idea that everyone adds their own but I thought I'd do it this time!

You are write about schools too. I try to be experimental at home but when things don't go right after many attempts, it is disheartening and I know if only I'd taken a class, I would have found a way to solve it!

Have you heard about the Craftedu.com website that offers classes now? I think they do some textile and fiber classes but haven't looked at what sort of level. They are also looking for instructors so maybe you should take a look....

Mitsy / ArtMind said...

I love your compass words, Ruth.
I think they are a constant reminder of what keeps us busy. No matter what, we should always try to grow, explore and be confident about what we do. Not always easy but it looks like being stuck in routines is not something you'll be doing this year. Good luck in doing so - I look forward to see the progress!