Fun A Day Dundee 2019 is well underway, and we have seen a fantastic variety of work from many individuals in, around and outside of Dundee. Many people have been sharing their work online, and we’ve seen a real community flourish through Instagram stories, supportive comments and tweets/shares online. Every year, we see new projects which are fun, exciting, beautiful, and humorous. Because it’s an open, and personal project to the participants, work is produced in all forms, which often change and grow in ways even participants may not anticipate, because each day brings a new feeling/ time constraint/challenge. Fun A Day encourages participants to aim to have fun, and take each day as it comes. Rather than pressuring yourself to make more, listing difficult targets, and making unrealistic expectations, we believe aiming to go with the flow, doing what you feel like, and what makes you happy is the best approach.
To mark our half way point in the month, we have a selection of projects on the go to share!
- Eilidh Morris
“Peep Show – a portrait per day of one or more characters from the comedy series, Peep Show, with accompanying text from the scene pictured. Peep Show has always made me laugh and resonated with me in it’s depiction of anxious insecurity and eternal self-sabotage. Focussing on a source image for an hour or two per day and drawing free-hand is useful for sharpening up technical skills, but I’m additionally enjoying remembering hilarious moments as I draw. Personally, this project is also great for helping to build daily habits outwith art-making, like daily writing and learning Spanish.”
Eilidh’s Intagram
- Jenna Martin Leitch
““MAKE LIKE A SUNFLOWER” stems from a want to create a project about growth & strength, and sunshine, whilst experimenting with lots of different media and mixed media combinations.I blinkin’ LOVE sunflowers (the joybringers that they are!), and having spent most of last year watching ours grow in our garden, I just found them so inspiring, with their sunshininess and tallness!I’m a mixed media artist & illustrator, working across lots of disciplines. I like to think I’m a positive voice…my aim being, to bring sunshine into others lives. “Helping you find your happy, as I go about my life finding mine” is my tag line that I like to work from…I paint, print, write, draw, take photos, sew, embroider and tell stories. All of this *mostly* in the colour yellow! My fave subject matter being sunshine, flowers, birds, memories and nature!”
Jenna’s Instagram
3. Elizabeth Taylor
“Daily view just before dawn – watercolours A4 landscape size.”We love these expressive snap shots into days passed in January. Seeing the final collection will be something special!
Elizabeth’s Twitter
4. Jayde Magenta Terri
“I have signed up to take part in Fun a Day Dundee 2019 because I am doing something new and focussing on being more creative daily.
I have created grounding methods for myself in abstract distractions in order to cope with my mental health.
My focus over the course of this month will be Circus Skills, specifically Contact Ball. I have never previously played with a contact ball, so all tricks learned will be completely new to me. My aim is to create a short contact ball performance at the end of the month.
I have an overactive wandering brain, so I’ve mixed it up with general development of various other circus skills as well as random do something new each day thing; such as cooking, learning a new song or a dance thing. I like options, and it’s good to change things up now and then by presenting myself different challenges.”A brilliant concept and use for making the most out of Fun A Day!
Jayde’s Instagram
5. Carolyn
“My project is to sew every day. Decorative stitching rather than running things up on my sewing machine. The idea is just to get back into stitching, make it a habit, try out different stitches and see what happens.”
6. Shona Mason
“I was inspired by FADD at the exhibition last year. I decided I would make a jumper, knitting a stripe or section a day in a different wool/colour/pattern. I deliberately didn’t plan ahead so that it would just evolve and am not allowing myself to over plan as I make it – the fun a day limit is actually quite useful. Very quickly however my main objective modified! I love to use wool. Wool, I mean real wool, from a sheep, is good. The sheep produce it for free, sheep are essential for the land, they need shorn for their health, it is biodegradable, and especially here in the UK, we have a huge choice of breeds of sheep and wool available to buy which has never left the UK in its production chain. Oh, and it’s breathable, warm, water repellent, odour resistant and completely natural.So the jumper (which will actually now be a cardigan) has also become an ode to wool. Each band/stripe will be of a different wool or wool blend (ie from a different sheep breed or blend of breeds). I aim to include 30 sheep breeds (we have over 60 in Britain) and I aim to demonstrate the provenance of each. For some, I can even name the sheep who provided the wool (thank you Harriet, Martha, Violet, Frida, Freya and Emma). Some days I can allow myself hours to work on this, some days I will only manage 1 row, but it will all be fun. And then I shall have the fun of wearing my cardigan for many years to come.”
You can find more work and detailed information about the wool Shona uses on her Instagram.
7. Brenda
“Having visited the Fun a day exhibition the past two years I decided to take part this year – but what would I do? My inspiration came from a Christmas gift from a good friend – a Marbling Kit and book.”
8. Hannah Wingfield
“For my Fun A Day project I am crocheting as many mandalas as possible. Each one is a different pattern and colour scheme.”
You can see more of this amazing and bright crochet work on Hannah’s Instagram.
9. James Forbes
“Painting of my dog, Bear.”
Surprisingly this is a first for FADD, to see one painting evolve over the month. We look forward to seeing more!
10. Maureen King
“The project I am working on is a chess set made from left over corks .. just to be clear .. I didn’t drink all the bottles they came from .. I’m more of a red wine kind of gal.
I decided on the chess set as my Dad was a HUGE fan of the game.. and he’s always in my thoughts this time of year.”
We love Maureen’s description and warm thoughts for making this project. Brilliant results so far as well! More on her Instagram.
11. Yvonne Stewart/Coramantic
“My Fun A Day project involves creating a collection of colourful and intuitive canvases which include abstract mark making and an eclectic mix of characters. Each painting measures 5 x 5 inches in size and is painted with acrylic paints onto a box canvas.”
More beautiful and colourful work can be found on Yvonne’s Instagram.
12. Marc McKay
“After a long period of inactivity, I’m working on a series of ink portraits to get back into, and enjoy, drawing again.”
You can find more of Marc’s amazing work on Instagram.
13. WhimSicAL LusH
““When You Make Time For Nonsense It Will Bring Lots Of Smiles”
This year I’ve decided to focus on fun, nonsense and exploring colour. I plan to create a colourful world over the month full of quirky scenes that will make you look closely, and possibly ask… why?”
You can find all sorts of beautiful art by WhimSicAL LusH on Instagram.
14. Davy Mitchell
“I am knitting baby hats and exploring some fun wool, colours and knit it public where possible. All of this while still having fun.”
David’s quick work of these cheery, hand crafted hats can be discovered on his Instagram.
15. Jilly Noble
“In January I love to focus on planning for my creative business, so for Fun A Day I’ve decided to have fun making these plans more visual through Bullet Journalling. I find the process really relaxing, in a similar way to colouring books that promote mindfulness. I’m hoping to create different pages every day to share how I use it, get organised for the year and find new ways to document my life and goals.”
Check out more of Jilly’s beautiful journals as well as her own projects on her Instagram here!
16. David P Scott
“Primary: Images made using only the primary colours, white and black.”
Check out more of David’s eye catching work here!
17. Katie Gammie/ katiebirdie
“A wee beastie every day. My plan is to draw a wee beastie everyday – no pressure to finish them just to see what I do in the time I have.”
We love these beautifully, delicate drawings by Katie. You can see her full collection to date on her Instagram.
18. David D Scott
“I have written a daily blog since October 2012. In January, I have decided to write it in a different way. Every day, I am adding another word. On 1 January, I had one word in my blog. On 31 January, I will have 31 words.”
What a brilliant idea, and fantastic execution, with the creative approach to match the volume of words with the current date. You can read David’s blog here.
19. Mark Urban
Mark is writing and recording a song every day for Fun A Day Dundee! More on his Facebook here. Give day 2 a listen below. 🙂
20. Lucy Dewar
“I think this project is a great opportunity to get back into the habit of drawing. I’m working on lots of little sketchy works that will hopefully ignite a spark for some bigger ideas that I can also get stuck into during the month (and beyond!)”
Follow Lucy’s beautiful illustrative work here.
21. Marta Mitchell
“A flower drawing every day.”
We love all the creative ways Marta is making her daily flowers. Check out the current collection here!
22. Marilyn Rattray
“VISIBLE MENDING SAMPLER
My 2019 fadd project focuses on visible mending. A woolen jumper will become a sampler of mending techniques. Hopefully this will inspire others to embrace the ethos of make do and mend.”
Marilyn’s work is incredibly inventive and creative, especially with recycled materials and techniques. Discover more work on Marilyn’s Instagram.
23. Sam McPherson
“Daily illustrations of women that inspire me. From artists to athletes, directors to singers, I will create a collection of inspirational women to be celebrated throughout January.”
A brilliant concept to fuel and motivate you at the beginning of the year. Check out more of Sam’s work on Instagram.
24. Lauren Lewis
“I draw for relaxation after spending a long day looking after my children and teaching dance and I am also passionate about the environment and on a mission to slowly change my life to be more sustainable
The world is beautiful and wonderful so I have decided to draw a tree a day (when possible) to celebrate the diversity even of one species and highlight the value of it. They also make me relaxed when walking through the woods and seeing the wind blowing them.”
Lauren’s beautiful drawings can be found on her Instagram.
25. Cornelia Weinmann
“I’m a printmaker and painter and I upcycle furniture. Fabric art has long been a ‘spare time’ interest of mine and I decided to use the FADD project to experiment with mixed media on fabric. Appliqué, freemotion embroidery, collage, monoprinting, photo transfer – the options are so inspiring.
I’m posting my fabric work on Instagram, my other artwork can be seen on corneliaweinmanndesign.com.”
26. Audrey Field
Audrey is taking January as it comes, and doing whatever she feels like. So far we’ve seen some relaxed colouring and some real crafty experiments on the go, including her handmade socks which is the first pair she has completed! Well done 🙂
Audrey’s Instagram.
27. Ed Muirhead
“Fun with musical instruments each day – a sketch and a short video of a range of instruments.”
Ed has taken part in Fun A Day Dundee since 2014, combining music, songwriting, and art each year. Ed is a music therapist as well as a songwriter and musician, and receiving daily videos of instruments every day is a fun addition to his sketches. Check out all of Ed’s FADD projects here, as well as his current project on Instagram. Also a good blog post of Ed’s first 9 instruments can be read here.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsc67WzH2Lp/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again
28. Lauren Howat
“Let’s step back in time, get all nostalgic and remember our favourite sweeties.”
We love sweets, especially all these nostalgic ones! If anyone has been to a Fun A Day Dundee Exhibition, they may remember our table filled with sweet shop sweeties in jars – a tradition at our exhibitions. This project is inspiring our selection this year… 🙂 Check out all of Lauren’s sweet shop designs on Instagram.
29. Caroline Cassidy
“‘Doodling with thread’. I’m using Fun A Day this year to practice my hand embroidery and also my free hand sewing machine skills.”
See more of Caroline’s amazing work on her Instagram!
30. Kelly Reilly
“Colour explosion. A vision of Fireworks through different mediums.”
This is such a fun idea, and leaves you open to lots of experimentation! Such amazing, creative results so far. Check out Kelly’s updates on Instagram.
Thanks for checking out just 30 of MANY FADD projects which are on the go in and around Dundee this year. Following the end of January, we will have a blog post showcasing ALL of the projects! 🙂 For now, stay updated searching #funadaydundee2019 on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Fun A Day Dundee 