Limbering up, loosening up much as a dancer or a singer does before a performance, with nothing in mind but a single word. For me this was EXPLORATION. I explored acrylic inks, watercolour inks, graphite pencil, felt tip pens, a couple of the brushes I made last week, kitchen roll.

I was interested in some of the forms that turned up and will be exploring those further. As well as the word exploration and finding sub-words to explore, for after all, you can’t explore without equipment: compass, map (or in the case of terra ingnita, means of making a map), markers, flags, … And their metaphysical equivalents. So, it wasn’t just limbering up; it turned out also to be a mining expedition.

I like it where one colour over another has created a third. Some of the forms are revealing themselves to me as seed pods, seedheads and there are some three-pronged forks. I do do a lot of gardening! One of the forks is clearly a trident, I see. I shall need to dive into some research on all those marine divinities (pardon the pun). And I read that the Hindu God Shiva carries as a weapon a trishula (three-pronged spear); I’ll need to know what that’s all about.

This was only about an hour and a half’s work, while at the same time watching and listening to the accompanying video. I’m going to do this every day I get to do some art from now on, before I do anything else. Fill the well on a daily basis.

Curious. This is a seven-day challenge, with different breadcrumbs in the form of questions to answer, emailed out every day; it’s like a treasure hunt. There’s also a daily video to watch while working. And you write answers to questions around a sketch of a compass. I’m being given my compass. It’s been a long time coming. But at least I’ve some hope now of getting out of the woods, which I haven’t been able to see for the trees.

Do you limber up every day? What’s your practice?