The Postcode Diaries: My Lifelong Art Project
Where it all began
In 2015 I unexpectedly experienced a lot of intense difficulties in my life both physically and emotionally. Similar to when I was first diagnosed with depression in 2011, the grief and physical pain meant that I had to cut off most of my daily activities and put a halt to my final year of study in counselling. I had been in this state of nothingness before and so I was furious at God and I wanted to give up, but I was determined to heal. I changed my study direction and took the Creative Therapies elective so that I would be forced to make art.
I began my endless scrolling through Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube, and found myself quite attracted to the idea of art journalling. I came across two artists in particular - Liz Steel, a Sydney-based architect and founder of Urban Sketchers Australia who once spent a year sketching her cups of tea, and Cathy Johnson with her book "Artist's Journal Workshop" which is loaded with resources and tips for journal sketching. While their work is incredibly beautiful to look at, for them it is more about recording events and memories rather than creating museum-quality artworks. This way of approaching art felt less intimidating than what I was used to, so I when I booked my next trip to sunny Queensland at Christmas-time, I bought a new blank watercolour journal, a new set of paints and waterproof pen to have a go at holiday sketching.
My goal was to paint one scene every day, and I accomplished that goal for the next 6 trips I took in the following year.
An idea is born
Soon enough, I had filled a whole journal with small memories that were sketched and painted in watercolour, and captioned with my pen. On a much later trip in 2016 when I visited my family in the USA, I showed this journal to one of my cousins and it finally occurred to me - this was a whole sketchbook filled with locations just in Australia! I was immediately reminded that we have such a beautifully diverse country that I barely know. Suddenly I wanted to get back home to Australia so that I could explore it all! In fact, even my little home state of Victoria alone would provide me an amazingly vast array of visuals.
So, the idea for a lifelong art project was manifested: The Postcode Diaries.
My lifelong art project: The Postcode Diaries
The project involves visiting each postcode of Victoria in chronological order and then sketching a scene within the area. I love our country and our state and we are incredibly blessed to have such varied landscapes and architecture. Lots of people love to escape their home to "see the world", and yet I think we forget that we already have so much beauty and excitement right here in our backyard.
So, please enjoy the sights of our little towns as I journey my way through The Postcode Diaries and follow along with @thepostcodediaries on Instagram.
