10/12/2018

Find the Magic of the Everyday - Art Daily Cafe


We live in a time that we have a possibility to document the everyday like never before. We carry mobile phones with cameras, we have scanners to scan packaging or receipts, computers to edit and write diary and almost endless supply of papers, receipts and product packaging to write notes to or to spare as they are. Still I’m afraid that a lot of this everyday life will get lost. 

Before, when film was expensive and cameras rare, people really thought what to take photos of and every photo was then developed and cherished. Now most of the photos, I claim, are stored in our phones or on computers and then just vanish. They are never printed out and cherished. The same applies to diaries, notes and packaging. We recycle, which is a good thing, but will there be anything to show to the generations coming after us?


These thoughts in my head I created a page in my journal. It was born out of the urge to use the everyday things and also not to use many bought mediums. I was kind of thinking of adding little to the repertoire of my first project, which was done only using a pencil and paper glue. This time I used watercolors, heavier glue, a gel pen, some stamps and stamp ink as well. Not a huge arsenal of mediums yet but something you might have at home, especially if you have kids. 

One of the main inspirations, besides the ones I’ve already told, was a dried leaf I found on the floor of my work place. The leaf was beautiful! It was delicate and like lace. Its color palette was a beautiful mixture of different browns and greys, a truly vintage palette. Unfortunately, the leaf was so delicate that I couldn’t get it home safely, but I found a couple others to replace it. Together with some other everyday items I kind of documented a day. There’s a receipt, a tea bag and some product packaging in the layers behind the photo. Just something that would otherwise been thrown away, put to the recycle or just left on the sidewalk. 


As the items behind the photo already were telling a story of a day, I added a short diary like journaling to the page. It’s about the things I did during that day I collected all of the items and made the page. I changed my handwriting a bit rounder and let the lines overlap so that the journaling isn’t easy to read anymore but acts more as a design element. Partly I did this also because this style of journaling is more private and not for everyone to read.


The photo on top of the layers is taken from the “Vintage Photobooth” set. I chose this one as it felt most like an everyday snapshot to me. Just a photo of two friends – not an official portrait, not an engagement photo or a family piece. I could have used a photo of my family or me as well, but to have a truly picture of the day, I would have needed to use my Instax camera and that was against my wish or goal to use only relative common things. 


If you need convincing about the magic of the everyday photos and photos in general, I can highly recommend watching “Shooting the Past”, a television drama by Stephen Poliakoff (link). I adore black and white photos and this mini series really spoke to me when I saw it the first time from the telly. My daring husband later tracked down a DVD of it for me and I still get goosebumps when I see the photos in the series. They are a thing of beauty! The drama itself is captivating, too, it’s like a detective story in a way. The plot line also reflects the ever changing nature of things.

Another source for looking at the everyday photos and the beauty of them is Vivian Maier (link). If you are not familiar of her story, please also look that up as it’s truly a remarkable one. 

Oh, one more thing. That pattern or texture behind the photo, done using golden and brown watercolor – you know what I used to make it? It’s not a stencil or a stamp as such. I actually painted some watercolor to the sole of my rubber boot and then pressed it to the page! Another everyday item documented, in a bit different way. 

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a creative December!


Materials: Prima Marketing




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