Exercise 2.5: Drawing with Objects – A Journey Scrapbook

For this exercise, I was asked to shift my focus from drawing objects to incorporating them into my drawings. I had to take my sketchbook on a journey and collect objects as I went, filling my sketchbook with them. This could be a simple journey around the house or a more complex journey involving many different scenes and opportunities to find objects. My incorporation of these objects was to be intentional and thoughtful, using them to specifically reference the place they were found in some way.

I am in the process of moving house, and I have been thinking for some time about ways in which I could creatively document the place I have lived for the last five years. When considering the journey to go on with my sketchbook for this exercise, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to do this. I began by drawing a rough floorplan of my current house as a ‘title page’ to the exercise. Next, I decided to add a few pages about the packing process. I used bubble wrap to emulate the glass jars that my candles are all in, as I was busy wrapping them and overwhelmed by how many there were. I really liked this usage of the bubblewrap as it has a double meaning.

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I then used some packing tape to draw some cardboard boxes as they are currently littered around my house. I chose to use the packing tape for this as I use it to close the boxes once they’re full. Unfortunately, in the midst of all of this, a blue tit got into my house, and my cat killed it. It was a really surreal experience as there was no reasonable explanation for how it got into the house. I wanted to add this to my sketchbook in some way, so I used the feathers that were left behind for its body. The next day I received the forms I needed to fill in to end my current tenancy, and I felt I wanted to use the envelope to express how I was feeling about it. I cut bits out and used them to narrate how stressed I am regarding finding a new place to live.

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The last page I did was the first one I thought of for this exercise. A few years ago, an elderflower tree planted itself in the cracks between the pavement right outside my front door. Over the years, it has grown into this magnificent tree, somehow managing to do so still in the cracks between paving stones. It is my favourite thing about this house, and I’ll be very sad to leave it behind. I picked a cluster of leaves from the tree and used them in place of the actual tree in a drawing of my front door. I really like that I’ve been able to take a piece of the tree with me whilst immortalising the image of its growth.

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I wanted to do more on this exercise, but as is probably clear from the subject matter, I am super overwhelmed by everything else going on in my life right now. I feel consistently burned out and exhausted from managing the move as well as my regular day to day tasks. Looking at the work produced, I don’t feel as though I have actually managed to record the home I live in. I think that makes it clear how much the process of moving is occupying my mind! I love using found objects in my work, and I’ve done it before in my sketchbooks. It’s something I would like to do more of, and I hope I find opportunities to do so.