I feel like I’ve been dabbling around with making things. One christmas, everyone gets red crocheted lace bags, another, it’s paper cards. I make stuffed animals, sometimes they have plastic eyes, sometimes they are embroidered, sometimes they are faceless. I doodle and draw- but wonder if it all looks like it was done by the same hand. I want to discover what is ‘inside my circle’ and what is outside. I want to develop my aesthetic.
I love artists whose work is so distinct, you can see it in everything they do. My friend Orla Kenny is like that. She paints, she does video, she takes photos… and everything she does looks like her work. You just look at it and you know. (She also crochets, and is one of my star protegées. 
)
So, oooo goody, I was so pleased to find this great post linked from crafty mcgee’s blog from May 2004: 10 ways to infuse your work with your personality at Wishjar journal. This is probably something alot of people have seen, but it’s such great advice. And something I’m planning on doing with my blog/journal here…. Here is the abridged version for my reference:
1. Document what you are responding to regularly.
2. Start to challenge yourself on a regular basis to try new things
3. Go back to your childhood, (the formative years). What were your favourite things to do?
4. Do something that is not for money.
5. Use sources that are based on your daily life.
6. Become a collector.
7. Ignore what other people are doing.
8. Don’t promote to target your audience.
9. Take a lighthearted approach… If you feel stuck, you can always reinvent yourself,
10. Study other artists or creators who followed their own vision. Research.
This is excellent advice, and I try to follow it (mostly). I still don’t think I have a recognizable style.
oh wow. it was your blog i saw the link to her site from. i should mention that in the post! (fixed!) great site.
i like the idea that everyone has a style, one just needs to focus and find it.