This tag is all over the city at the moment, and it really, really resonates with me.
I think the image and text itself is powerful, but it's the innocuous settings of there graffitis that are really interesting. 'Talk more' is a very direct, but for (i imagine) a lot of people, an almost painfully relevant instruction. We should all talk more, we should all talk to each other more. We're all muddling through this together and one day we're all going to die.

Talk More has made me start thinking about how the setting and placement of work can be just as important AS the work, especially if it's work with a emotional resonance. Seeing something when you don't expect to, or when your guard is down, or perhaps when you actually really, really need to is a powerful thing. It helps us feel less alone.  

scrap the sketchbook

I have decided that using sketchbooks doesn't work for me and this year I have found other ways of working that are better suited to me.
If I want to paint, I just start my painting and if I'm not happy with it I do it again. If I start a weaving and I want to change something, I just unpick it all and do it again.

This might seem unnecessarily labour-intensive, but it is really working for me. It is meaning that I am making work that feels organic and intuitive, rather that work that feels pre-conceived and confined.

Textile inspirations

I saw a lot of woven African textiles on a recent visit to an exhibition at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool. They were so beautiful! I have since been looking at lots more African textiles.

- I love colours, and the balance of colours between bright and poppy, and darker or more muted/sensitive

- The patterns are actually remarkably simple - it seems to me they all exist on a grid-system. Simplicity/shape based work is effective.
- The shape based pattern makes replication simple and achievable.

I think I can learn a lot from this type of textile, both things that I can incorporate into my weavings (pattern structure etc) end, and things about colour and how to create colour palettes that I can use in my paintings. 

Gunta Stolzl

Stolzl's weavings from the Bauhaus archives are so playful and courageous, to me they really speak of a joyousness taken in humanity. This work uses colour and shape and pattern very boldly.

What I can learn:

- Be braver with colour and shape. 

- Don't always worry about being uniform in my use of pattern. Embrace the slope.

- Consider scale.