So here are two initial extracts from the Butter Mouse’s book, exploring what to do with your pack of cards, and this month’s challenge. I hope they give you a flavour of his writing, and explains why there is a card alongside every post.
‘Welcome everyone! Creoso! And I mean everyone. No matter when you read these words, even if it is a thousand years after my inky key hit the page, we are joined together. How gwych is that?
If you going to undertake this year long exercise (and I hope upon hope that you are), this book provides full support on what to do. And I assure you, if you can complete the full twelve months, an amazing reward will follow.
But first you need to get your cards in order! This is crucial. Hanfodol! You must fix their order before beginning. And you can only achieve order through randomization.
So get a pack of cards. A normal pack, sans jokers. Your art will cause enough chaos without getting them involved! Then shuffle your cards for a full fifty-two minutes. Set an egg timer or an alarm clock to avoid confusion.
I know this is a big ask. No one said a marathon was a walk in the park. Your hands will ache by the end. But when you are finished, you have your pack, your own personal selection, ready for the year to begin. Hwyl exciting is that?
Keep your cards safe. It is crucial that the order of your pack remains secret, and does not change. There will be twelve writing exercises throughout the year, and you will turn over four cards a month.
Alongside these exercises, every week I want you to sketch on your cards with a pen. The designs are up to you, but think about the shapes the numbers and suits form, and how you can turn them into something personal. What memories arise when you look at those hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds?
You will create art. You will have a glorious year! And upon completion, something more will be revealed.
Pob lwc!’
So that was the cards. Here is the first exercise.
‘Welcome to creative exercise number one. You should feel very proud of yourself. Our mission this year is to unblock and unlock something inside you, and maybe even something outside too.
I hope you have your pack of cards. Don’t start without them! If you haven’t got them, why not pop out and get them now? Go on! Before the shops shut!
Now we have shuffled our cards, it is time to put them to good use. Draw your top four cards. This should give you four numbers between one and fourteen. Aces are low!
Pick a postcode near your house, and find a map. You may need to pop to the library, or run to the shops again to buy one. From there find the nearby streets that correlate with your cards. For example, if the first half of your postcode is AA1, and you drew a four of clubs, one of the streets could be AA1 AA4.
Plan a route around four suitable streets, and take a walk involving all of them. Do not go peeping into people’s house, and watch out for that traffic! Your quest is not about the actual journey, but to spot and remember little things that you see on your way. These will be the inspiration for your new world.
Upon your return home, think about what you saw, and create your art based around these thoughts. There is no right or wrong interpretation, no slavery to realism or the bizarre. Interpret, and create.
Stay safe everyone! Pob lwc!
Get used to thst writing style. He only gets weirder.
I have shuffled my cards. I have completed my walk. Next week I will let you know how it went.
