Lesley Anderson

I’m an early riser, so when my journal prompt came through each morning, I’d get up and take the dogs for a walk to contemplate my response. I had a mental list of loose criteria I wanted to achieve. The first was to think outside the box and come up with solutions that were completely original. Some solutions came automatically. Others took a little longer.
It was important on weekdays for responses to be completed quickly. On weekends, when I had more time, I could immerse myself in the process.
I also wanted to use as many different mediums as I could while creating entries that were appealing and meaningful to the prompt. Over the month I used stitching, printing, watercolour, acrylics, gouache, pastels, ink, graphite pencils, charcoal, coloured pencils, marbling, rubbings, digital, collage, raffia, textiles, monotype and a broad range of tools and applications. Occasionally I would dig out old artworks and rework them or I’d take the opportunity to experiment.
However, it was final day's prompt 'Transformation' that bought it all together for me personally. It occurred to me that transformation was taking place around us every day and it comes in all guises - seasonal, cyclical, global and personal (to name a few). Change doesn’t need to be newspaper-headline or drum-roll-worthy to be considered transformation.
Inspiration came from certain species of Eucalyptus trees that shed their bark each year to reveal a fresh new layer underneath. It's thought they do this to allow for growth but also to cleanse their trunks of microbes and critters that live in the crevices of their outer layers. It's the Eucalypts act of regeneration, renewal, and survival.
In some respects, global events have forced me to do my own 'shedding'. To adapt to shifting circumstances and shake out my own critters. Peel back the layers to reassess what’s important and make changes. Best of all, it's taught me to stop second-guessing myself and to trust myself creatively.