I have really run out of energy and although I really enjoyed making this piece and there is mileage in the technique, I cannot lift myself enough to even think about trying to write something witty or erudite or intellectual. Early night for me!
I nearly didn’t make it tonight! I posted No152 with just 12 minutes to spare and only posted a holding page here at 23:58! To be frank I have struggled all day, mostly because I was struggling with designs and words for invites for the Ramsgate show – mostly still trying to get some quality reproductions of my work! I think I can be better placed to get what I need when I next have a photographic session.
So in my usual slightly-overconfident fashion I was leaving #Letter365 until this evening. I had not taken into account that working from home today I had only a minimal range of materials and decided that I really needed to go to the studio. I also did not take into account that my printer might malfunction in a much more complete way than a visit from Violet Lines. When there is a problem my printer communicates the issue by specific numbers of flashing lights. In this case it was twelve. I looked up what 12 flashes meant in the manual but the list had a reason for 11 flashes and an explanation for 13 but 12 was omitted from the list! Fortunately my partner, Sally, was able to print it for me. This little scenario made me even tighter on time and I was a bit “flustered” by now. By the time i got to the studio I was back to a composed state and set to work. Even after a false start – well two false starts – I remained confident and relaxed. I even took a little time out to make some notes of ideas for something else and to try out a little technique to see if it would produce th eresults i was looking for. I only started getting stressed again when I was photographing the elements when I heard a drip that was clearly inside the studio. It was lucky that I was there to put a bucket under the drip or else a sketchbook and some drawings would have been ruined. I moved everything else that might suffer to what i hoped was a place of safety!
The height of excitement yet another different post box.; a George V one at that! We know how to live in Bridport!
The musical allusion isn’t summery, but then the day didn’t really turn out that way. Added to which I cannot find a clip to embed so if you want to hear and see Talking Heads Live in Rome version of Electricity (Drugs) check out this YouTube video. It only got into my head because I have been dealing with electricity companies today.
And we thought yesterday’s visit by Violet Lines was a one-off but she has knicked some of the pigment at the trailing edge of today’s print.
I had hoped that we had seen the last of Violet Lines, but she is back to celebrate getting to 150!
One of the problems of having a split working facility is the logistics of the envelope. Until I move my computer to the studio I’ll have to do the envelopes at home. This morning it seemed it was going to be a nice but not too hot summer day so I hinted there could be a mention of some summertime music, but long before I started on the piece the sun had gone and it became a mostly overcast afternoon. So I didn’t get into a summery mood and I’m too tired now to manufacture such a state so sorry but no music today!
I chose to detour via a different post box today just to add a little zip and pizzazz to the proceedings!
Today’s piece was very interesting for me and apart from being hugely enjoyable for me it gave me a huge sense of confidence; a sense that I could work in a whole range of untapped and untried ways. I still feel quite excited about it. I had prepared and taken some materials with me with a specific idea in mind following on from the work I did in Bath the other day. The idea was very different from Bath in some fundamental ways but shared some features. Specifically, I had chosen different materials. As it turned out I was inspired by some aspects of Birmingham as a cultural centre and the whole thing took shape in my mind very quickly and very differently to the plan. Fortunately it worked really well, though it took rather longer than usual to create. I did have back up materials, but wouldn’t have been able to create the original idea without buying some more stuff and putting more money in the parking machine or abandoning the idea of creating it till I got back home or the studio!
It’s all Bs! Bradpole, Bridport, Birmingham, Bath! Have I created a #Letter365 anywhere else yet? Maybe I should just do work in places starting with B?
We are travelling up to the Midlands today in our new car so I will stop and post it somewhere on the way. If I can I will post a photo of its posting later on. If not, tomorrow.
I am still not organised properly at my new studio. I have only part moved in so that I can do some much-needed work and photography that needed a bit more space, but my computer and printer are still at home. Earlier I had created the envelope but forgot to stick a stamp on while at home. Fortunately I noticed this fact and didn’t pop it in the box sans stamp, thus avoiding the embarrassment of a postage due. I worked hard on this piece to ensure that it was less than 5mm thick and as it turned out I didn’t need to worry as I walked past Bridport Arts Centre on my way home and popped it straight through their letter box. Must take some stamps to the studio.
I forgot to mention that yesterday we passed another milestone, I have completed 40% of the project – well that is to say that I have got through two fifths of the days, I suspect there will be more work involved in the second half what with marketing, selling and arranging the installation.
I’m in two minds about posting #Letter365 now that I am based at my new studio which is pretty much equidistant from the Arts Centre and the Post Office where this box is based. Time for me to start getting inventive methinks!
I see now that I forgot to put a date stamp on the front of the envelope. I don’t usually take my stamp with me if I am creating away from home, but I did today. I stamped the back of the artwork but not this. Chaos rules.
Because we were out most of the day and then when I got home I had to remove yesterday’s image and explain that, it is now late. So I may not get the chance to write all my thoughts about Bath. I wanted to check out the art galleries in Bath (and also use up some petrol in the car as we are selling it on Friday!) but sadly got to thinking about how Bath was built for the obscenely rich to play. It was a place of inequality, a place of smelly people who bathed in other people’s bathwater; people who ran after the latest craze and allowed themselves to be led by the nose by celebrity party organisers. So nothing has changed in the higher echelons of society then!
But I created my piece there in Bath. I had planned what I wanted to do and prepared the envelope in the morning before we left. It was nice to do and I may do more things in this vein. I’m bit frustrated that I hadn’t the time to do more then and there or, indeed, any other art today. I really want to get stuck into some visual creative work, having lost quite a lot of time deciding on a new car!
Note there are no annotations on the back of the envelope and i used a tape and pen seal:
I have removed the photograph I had posted yesterday at the request of the Postmaster. Apparently he was upset that I had taken pictures of his staff at work. I am told it is “a data protection issue for them as an organisation”. I did ask permission of the person concerned, but of course I do not wish to needlessly upset people, especially local people who are doing their best to provide services to the community, so I have complied with the request.
However it does open up questions about the whole nature of our society and how our attitudes have changed over the years towards the people who work within our communities. My guess is that this request has come from the “arse-covering” rules and regulations that have almost become a necessity because we are, as a society, becoming increasingly litigious. I don’t really have any issue with the local manager but this is a great shame as it stops us all celebrating the people we share our communities with in a free and honest way. If we can only take pictures of people at work in our community under conditions controlled by a marketing department or a legal department then sincerity soon flies out the window. When I say how attitudes have changed, I used to work in a local newspaper advertising and managed the account of The Post Office at a regional level. This was a very long time ago when BT was still a division of the Post Office! In those days the marketing and advertising people were begging us to photograph their happy and industrious employees at work. Plus ça change!
Well here is the envelope that I had hand stamped yesterday:
