Lino Cutting & Time Management

Linocuts 

CREATIVE STRUGGLES

Admittedly over the Christmas break I took some time off to get away from this project. Though I feel like I've been producing work throughout this module, I felt like I'd maybe lost a little bit of the fire within myself to really keep going. Time management is something I've really struggled with the past couple of months, and while I've made lists and planned my time meticulously, I feel this weakness is due largely to my own pressures and self doubt.

During the break I did start my first lino cutting, however found myself very quickly becoming drained and lacking in motivation to finish it. This project has been one of the longest I've undertaken in a while, and though I feel I've grown enormously because of it, it has pushed me further than I perhaps would have thought mentally and emotionally. 

In order to reset this, I took the Christmas break off to wipe the slate clean and reinvigorate myself ready to truly tackle the project when I came back in the New Year. 

And tackle the project I did!

NEW YEAR // 2016

The past week back at uni I've felt extremely productive, organised and proactive! Returning with a refreshed vigor I feel like I'm finally starting to ENJOY my illustrations again! These past couple of weeks have taught me the importance of balancing time! It's important to recognise when you need to step away from things just as much as it's important to recognise when to step up on things. I was so crippled with self doubt and worry that I wasn't doing enough I found myself not doing anything, I had to take time off to reassess this and find my illustration confidence again! 

However this time taken off did mean I had to really get on it in terms of tackling this workload head on since my return. I spent 13 hours one day JUST cutting lino to ensure I would get them all cut and printed on time. I also realised I'd missed out a section of text to be printed (ARGH) so had  to buy more lino to heat press it on and cut that out too!

After a very labour intensive week, I have finally cut out all of m lino! My arm may be some what crippled but I'm extremely proud of what I've accomplished! Caring about my work makes a huge difference I feel in terms of craft, and I feel because I have truly immersed myself in this lino cutting the end lino blocks have become something I'm proud of! Whoopie!!