Studio practice

 Leaf people 

I had decided that my project was going to based around the idea of Journeys and walking but I was still struggling to just get started in making or doing something. I find that I often struggle for a little a while at the beginning of a project to actually get started in making but once I do I'm all good, to begin with I'm unsure of all the different ideas and which would be the best but once I just do something I get confidence in my choices. When speaking with my tutor about this its because I think to much about the finished result and topping my last piece, once I get going I forget about my perceived ideas of what the end piece should look like and let the work and materials lead me but its that initial step I need to combat and just do something instead of worrying about the end result. Trying to always top a last piece is just unnecessary pressure from myself  and wont always be possible, something I'm working on. 

So after this chat I made the first step and decided the project would be centred around leaf people, leaf people are something I've made for years, basically just picking a leaf as your walking and tearing a little face into it, in the past I've often just placed them wherever I'm walking past or if I'm with someone just giving it to them, now there the inspiration of this project. The leaf people to me felt like an automatic response to walking past a tree, something I always did without actively thinking about it. This idea really interest me, I know that this also often happens in other situations, the compulsion to pluck and pick at grass when sat by it, this is something that I notice in my self and have noticed in others. When talking with the ceramic technician about this he said he experiences the same thing but instead of leaf people his is making grass whistles. I don't know if this is something that resides in every person, is something within certain personality types or something else completely. To me I feel like its a need for tactibility, a need to feel and be present, and this is our bodies fulfilling this need without us consciously realising it. This is just what I believe after taking a look at myself and own actions when making leaf people, I haven't yet researched further into this idea but will be as I'm interested to know if there's actually a reason or any other research into this . 

I'm not sure yet where the leaf people will lead me but they have given me many ideas on different little tests so I can get going with actually doing something.