For the last two years, I have taken part in The January Challenge, a creative challenge created by @64millionartists on Instagram. You can sign up for it by email and you get a prompt (or 3 this year), each day for something to do. Alas, I got a bit bogged down and have only taken part on a few days this year but I have had such fun with the ones I did take part in so I thought I'd still share them and perhaps I will catch up with the others. And if you like the idea of a quick creative challenge, they are doing a 'Weekly Challenge for February onwards so sign up via email.
Days 1-5You can to click the little side arrow on the picture to see the other pictures.
Day 1: I REMEMBER
Write down the words ‘I remember.’ Now, write down whatever memory comes to mind - it might be something small, it might be something big - it doesn’t matter, anything goes! Every time you run out of ideas, go back and start each new line with the same words ‘I remember.’
Where will Day 1 take you?
What will you remember about the year 2020? What memories do you want to make in 2021?
I enjoyed writing this poem and thinking what memories jumped into my brain. In cse you can't read the memory in yellow, it says, "I remember being told I was eccentric by my teacher and knowing it was meant as a compliment." mostly positive memories entered my brain except for my dread of metallic food-colouring.
Day 2: Write the word LOVE in any material or materials you want! Write in calligraphy, create a collage, find objects that look like letters - or find letters hidden in objects. How will you hold on to ‘love’ today?
.(click the little arrow on the wright of the images to see ) As I wrote this, I was thinking of the wonderful Corinthians passage in the Bible, "Love is..." and wrote lots of fruits of hte Spirit but I also tried to think of practical examples of where I have shown love, such as staying up all night to help with completing a Master's dissertation, taking the time to call people, making them a treasure hunt, doing jobs you loathe, and one particular one, listening to a story that someone has told you time and time again without commenting, cutting them off and telling them you have heard it before. I also thought of ones I wish someone would do for me like massaging my feet- which I have done for my mum- but wish CBC would do for me.
Day 2: Challenge 2: Set a timer for 10 minutes. Think back to the moment you woke up today. 🌅
What is the first thing you remember? Is it something you saw? Something you smelt, tasted, heard, or remember feeling? Write a poem that captures that moment. Don’t spend any longer than 10 minutes!I actually wrote this on day 5 as I went into school on the train. It was disgustingly early (7.20am) and I was on my way in. I wrote about my recollections of getting up that morning. I'd had some weird vivid dreams the night before.
“Our Network members share opportunities, contacts and advice so that young people can flourish in higher education and the cultural industries. This challenge is inspired by our manifesto!”
I wrote about an idea future where people were united, humble, kind, conscious of God in their lives generous and honest.
"I am inspired by every aspect of birds. During lockdown my daughter and I became avid bird watchers, charting the progress of a family of blue tits and starlings. A joy to our hearts!”
Day 6:
“Rainbows have been seen as symbols of hope and pride, we could use some of that at the start of this new year...
I love that every time you look at the sky, it's brand new. You're looking at a sky that's never existed before in the history of the world! Make a rainbow just as unique.”
Day 9: WHERE'S WALLY? 🔍
Hide or move something in a photograph, piece of art or creation. Challenge somebody else to find it!
You could take two photographs, and change 3 things in the picture. You could take a photograph and camouflage yourself in it! You could doodle a scene and hide a tiny character, detail or word for others to guess what you have moved or changed...it’s up to you!
Day 11:STACKS OF SOCKS 🧦🧦🧦
Day 4 was a great challenge: WEAR YOUR HAPPY! When we dress we often do so to match the way we feel at the time. Karen’s challenge is to choose to wear clothing that you LOVE. Perhaps it has a soft Texture, reminds you of a happy memory from when you wore it last, or the person who may have gifted it to you. Perhaps it's a colour that you love, a vintage item that takes you closer to history, fun shoes that make you smile because of the noise or way they look, a gorgeous hat or headwrap, funky accessories...or perhaps it’s all of the above.
I wore my Christmas jumper with a big red sequin bow on it plus rainbow earrings, rainbow necklace, rainbow skirt and rainbow slippers! Rainbows always make me haappy!
Day 7: Create a bird - it might be a drawing, a mini sculpture, a collage, a piece of writing - anything goes. What are the colours, textures, and shapes of your feathered friend?
Let your imagination fly...🦅🦉🕊️"I am inspired by every aspect of birds. During lockdown my daughter and I became avid bird watchers, charting the progress of a family of blue tits and starlings. A joy to our hearts!”
This was my favourite challenge. I created my bird and then composed him a melody. He was called the Aquilla bird after my favourite Biblical name. I intended to record it but ran out of time!
Day 6: Find a rainbow: Create a rainbow using the items you have around you. Your rainbow might be big, might be small, it might be made of socks, food, books, pencils - anything goes. Find the colour!
“Rainbows have been seen as symbols of hope and pride, we could use some of that at the start of this new year...
I love that every time you look at the sky, it's brand new. You're looking at a sky that's never existed before in the history of the world! Make a rainbow just as unique.”
I gathered some of my favourite books and displayed them on my new raimbow crocheted blanket that my mum made me for Chrsitmas.
Hide or move something in a photograph, piece of art or creation. Challenge somebody else to find it!
You could take two photographs, and change 3 things in the picture. You could take a photograph and camouflage yourself in it! You could doodle a scene and hide a tiny character, detail or word for others to guess what you have moved or changed...it’s up to you!
I saw an opportunity to use my bird song from Day 7 for this challenge. I realised that I had made some accidental changes from my 1st draft of my bird song to the final copy (if yu clik on the arrows on the photo, you can see the two versions) so I challenged people to spot the differences in either the flute performances (I recorded both version) or the visual version. If you can't hear, click the little sound icon on the bottom right of the picture/ Answers are down the bottom.*
Day 10: Get painting - without paint! Find something with a natural colour to use - it might be food, tea, coffee or something from the outside, like leaves or mud. You could even paint your face...or you could even use make-up to paint with.
I had the most gargantuan red cabbage and had boiled some for dinner. The water left behind was the most wonderful purple so I decided to see if it would paint well onto paper. I bottled the leftovers and had an experiment with it. Click on the arrows to see the experiments. It was like a rather pale ink which was quite watery and difficult to paint with but satisfying.
Make a picture or sculpture out of...socks! Stripey socks, holey socks, odd socks - anything goes. What will your sculpture depict? It might be a face, it might be a giant sock - it might even depict your views on where spare socks actually disappear to...
This did not work out well but I tried to depict a bird out of all the odd socks that were writing in my Lonely Sock bag to be paired up. There were lots of black ones so they featured the most/
Day 12: Find a pen and a page from a magazine or newspaper, or even something you've written. Blackout all but a few select words so that you are left with a 'poem.' You can think carefully about which words you want to keep or you can be totally random about it. It's up to you.
“Maybe the 'poem' you create will inspire you in other ways - perhaps to draw a picture or to turn it into a story, a longer poem or even a song. Just have fun playing with words and creating something new out of something old."
I found this hard to do as I had no newspapers and I didn't want to mark my gardening magazines so I found the NASUWT teaching mag and creating a rather random poem.
Day 14:Sarah loves blowing bubbles! Today, your challenge is to blow bubbles in different mixtures - you will sound like Elephants stampeding in a puddle! 🐘
Blow your bubbles with a straw, or simply by blowing into your glass or cup.Like Sarah, you could blow bubbles in apple juice, in water, or even in soapy water (but be careful not to drink the soapy water...) - what do the different mixtures sound like?
You could also make your own bubble blower by dipping things like paper clips, cookie cutters or pipe cleaners into soapy water and blowing through it. What do you have near you that you could use?
I decided to use this as an opportunity to practice my circular breathing. I've never been patient enough to learn to do this properly.
Day 17:SHIFT YOUR PERSPECTIVE, and create a different view.
Take something you know well or often see - it might be a view, an object in front of you, a familiar hobby or something you can imagine in your mind. Capture that thing in drawing, writing, or collage - but try to change the view. Turn it upside down or inside out, change the colour, change what it is usually used for, close your eyes or draw with your ‘other hand’ or your feet!
I took a slightly different spin on this and took the chance to look closely at a red cabbage cross-section. What aa beautiful thing it is! I've never really examined one so closely before!
I wish I had been better at keeping up with this. The challenges don't take forever but I just seemed to have spent too much time doing school work so I didn't complete it. But the ones I did were fun!
*Different slur groupings, there's a dotted semiquaver rest missing at the end of bar 2, the trill note near the end is a different length, there are 2 stes of flutter tongued F's at the end.