Sun Today

Frances Lewis in Adelaide, South Australia is spending a year making Sun Today...     




Why did you decide to do this project? I picked up Noah’s 365: A Daily Creativity Journal while passing through a bookshop on a hot sunny summer’s day at the end of 2011. So I chose sun-inspired projects because Adelaide was having a minor heat-wave at the time, the sun was very much in everyone's thoughts, the bookshop was a cool place to escape from the heat. Also the sun would be an easy way to go – basically a circle therefore easily represented, dressed-up or kept simple depending on how I feel on the day or the time available I liked that Noah and others in his book recommended keeping the initial idea simple because I’m doing this project for fun and to try different ways of working around a basic idea. As a bonus it’s been a really great introduction to other people’s work through their 365 projects, getting inspired, having moments of empathy and having a laugh. In particular I’ve been enjoying Graeme McNee’s Minimal Comics, Anja Brunt’s 365 Faces, Gertie Jaquet’s A Stamp a Day and of course Tara Raymo’s 2011 Sun a Day.



How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? This project’s giving me an opportunity to explore digital graphic media which is like making new friends – so far Illustrator and ArtRage, they’ve been very interesting and entertaining but sometimes not going how I’d expect. Illustrator seems to want to quantify everything whereas ArtRage seems to be more for merrily splashing colours about. I’ve dug out some old techniques and materials which is like visiting old friends – origami, hand-cut rubber stamps, i-cord knits. I’m enjoying that a simple design can be conceived as an idea, the materials being something already around the house or office, chopped up and/or assembled, photographed, dismantled and/or eaten and the design posted on the blog, sometimes all in under half an hour with no clutter remaining. Other projects have taken a week or two to complete and being part of the sun-inspired 365 project has helped them to get finished instead of being set aside while I cast-on something fabulously new. My friends have liked the sun-inspired items they've received. As someone who usually prefers reds and blues the sun-inspired project has brought more yellow and orange into my projects, though some of the suns are red, blue and/or green. I felt a bit shy about blogging which I’ve not done before - but hopefully some of my creations will entertain or inspire someone else along the way.


See all of Frances's suns HERE.

2 comments:

Tara Raymo said...

I love following this project. I like seeing how somebody else is interpreting Suns! Great Work Frances!

GiftsofGab said...

Frances has so many great ideas! :D