#42: Personal Word of the Year

Every year instead of a New Year’s Resolution, I choose a Personal Word of the Year. A word that is motivational to help set an intention for the coming year. I hadn’t thought to use it in a mark-making exercise before, so credit for this exercise goes to Crystal Marie at Canary Rising.

You can do this exercise anytime, it doesn’t have to be restricted to an exercise for the New Year. Some people choose a new one every quarter.

Gather Materials:

  • pieces of paper
  • something to draw with

Today’s Exercise

Personal Word of the Year

  1. Begin by choosing your word. I’m not going to make this post about how to choose your motivational word, you can Google “Word of the Year” and you’ll find any number of lists and formulas. Here’s a good one.
  2. Make marks that respond to these prompts
    • Thinking back to our expressive line exercises, what does this word look like?
    • What colour(s) is this word?
    • How does it feel in your body?
    • Say the word out loud as you write it out. I recommend doing asemic writing as you repeat it. If you don’t know asemic writing, just make marks on the page as you print each letter in the word over and over again.

My word for 2023 is Lasting. I want to use my time to do things that will stand the test of time and give me ongoing satisfaction.

lasting

Reflections on the Exercise

  • I turned the paper over and wrote some words about my marks. Make a start, long, continuous line, evergreen, infinity symbol.
  • The infinity symbol appeared in my marks as a result of the asemic writing. I can see using the infinity symbol as part of my visual language in my art this year.

Have you tried this exercise?

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

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