Tag Archives: conceptual art

#Letter365, Bridport Arts centre

Gross but not gross

#Letter365 No144 gets posted at the Post Office in Bridport
Abby takes charge of my first day cover

It’s all a bit exciting today. This was not only the first #Letter365 that I created at my new studio, but also the first artwork of any kind created there by me.

It was also the first day of issue of the new WW1 commemorative stamps so I wanted to get it hand-stamped if I was in time, which I was: not at my usual Post Office 3 doors away from home in Bradpole, but at the main Post Office in Bridport. So while local postmaster Peter is good in front of the camera I think you will agree that Abby here does a great job! It’s just a pity that her nail varnish clashes so much with the green on the envelope! Unlike Ann who used to work in the Bradpole Post Office shop who (as you may remember from an earlier post) had a flair for clothing that matched the shelving, Abby has not chosen to blend in with her environment. I think she is a bit of a rebel who thinks it would not be cool to have nail varnish that matched, say, her name badge or the posters. Quite right too Abby! Abby clearly thought I was raving mad but said she couldn’t wait for the next time. Clearly Abby is a master of ironic wit too. Thanks for playing, Abby.

Now of course Abby is right to question my sanity. Had she looked at the address she would have advised me, I am sure, that it would be more economical and better for my health to just walk round the corner to Bridport Arts Centre and pop the letter straight in their letterbox. I will have to think how I will manage the delivery of #Letter365 now that the Arts Centre is actually nearer to my studio than the Post Office and its post box.

Another exciting thing is that I seem to have captured, accidentally, a personal reflection in the photograph. Anyone who knows me or follows me will be aware of my Personal Reflections series of self portraits.

David Smith's reflection in the Post Office poster
Personal reflection in the Post Office poster

I was quite anxious about making this first piece in the new studio but it worked out just fine even though I had to improvise a bit as not all my stuff has made it to the new venue yet. Of course reaching No144 is only gross in number: there is no unpleasantness involved at all.

No music today but you of course want to see the back of the envelope:

Back of #Letter365 No144
Back of No144
#Letter365, Art

Still summer but the sun didn’t shine much

#Letter365 No143 goes in the box
No143 goes in the box

The reference to Seamus Heaney is because I am reading Beowulf and you can hear him and his cadence in the text. I think I would know what he sounds like even if I hadn’t heard him.

The summer music thing has just got to have its way and my brain will spew out ideas and I will run with the first that makes a bit of sense (?)

I really like their backdrop and may make a piece based on it!

Back of #Letter365 No143
Back of No143
#Letter365, Art

Strimming in the apiary in 25°C with confused bees is no fun

#Letter365 No139 goes in the box
A sunny posting for No139

It never really cooled down enough to make a visit to one of our apiaries bearable – especially since the strimmer needs some spares on the head and you have to wedge a piece of wood behind the accelerator cable to get it to rev high enough. It was hot and sweaty work and the bees don’t like the vibration and were disoriented by the change in aspect. So I got stung by bees and nettles.

Of course all this has nothing to do with today’s #Letter365 artwork. In fact it is pretty much the antithesis in action and object. This piece is clean, cool and was no sweat. It was principally cerebral in the making with a small amount of skilled physical work, whereas the strimming required little brainpower and more physical effort (the sort of effort my chiropractor warns me to only do small amounts of at any one time). The art is quiet and contemplative in comparison to strimming. The artwork has a lower environmental impact than the strimming only because of its size: if scaled up I think the chemicals and materials of the artwork and it’s production and delivery, might outweigh the damage caused by the small amount of fuel used, especially since I use Aspen environmentally-friendly fuel made from trees that doesn’t smoke and is free of many of the chemicals in petroleum-based fuels.

Back of #Letter365 No139
Back of No139

Oh and the summertime heatwave music is slipping on to the envelope. Here’s one that is mentioned

#Letter365, Art, Process

The value of sketchbooks in an emergency

#Letter365 No137 goes in the box
No137 gets posted without spontaneously combusting

I have not been involved with art at all today, we have been out looking for a new car and by the time we got back and had some food and a discussion and fed our neighbours’ cats it was late. Being totally devoid of any idea what I might do for today’s piece and refusing to panic with ony a few hours to sort it all out I cheated. Well nobody said i couldn’t cheat! It wasn’t really cheating. It’s not as if I did a Blue Peter and whipped out one I did earlier, but I did raid my sketchbooks and notebooks. O the sanity of jotting down ideas! Day saved without worry and stress and I didn’t spontaneously combust!  And still time left to stress about the other things I haven’t done today!

Back of #Letter365 No137
Back of No137
#Letter365, Art

A pretty good day in the studio and the threat of musical themes

#Letter365 No136 gets posted
No136 goes in the box

Because I tend to write a bit about the weather on the envelope I wrote the word “heatwave” and immediately my brain offered up “Whenever I’m with him…” which was Martha and the Vandellas “burning” up with passion. They really had something special, though as a lad I guess I liked the Who’s cover more (now it seems tame in comparison)

That spread to Marilyn Monroe “We’re having a heatwave, a tropical heatwave” and from there to all sorts of summertime songs. So beware!

Back of #Letter365 No136
Back of No136
#Letter365, Art, Process

Struggle has a simple message

#Letter365 No135 gets posted
No135 goes in the box

I have been struggling with this post as I did with today’s piece. It’s a muggy old day and there is still that unsettling electricity in the air that last night’s thunderstorms didn’t clear. It makes the bees irritable and over-defensive and me too really. I thought it would be a good idea to force some kind of resolution on some elements that I have been playing with for a few days or more. I thought I could use that idea up and get it out of the way, but of course things have their time and today wasn’t it! After a few other false starts it was time to take a step back and stop struggling. Now I don’t mean that in the way of giving up or giving in, rather I mean that sometimes battling with something head on does not bring results and oblique strategies and sideways thinking may prove more effective. As soon as I started to work on some other things not related to #Letter365 an elegant solution started to form and opposition crumbled away. Struggle was only interested when it thought I was  up for a fight

That strategy didn’t work so well for the envelope or this writing or indeed the other work I was doing but, hey, you can’t win ’em all!

Back of #Latter365 No135
Back of No135
#Letter365, Art, Bridport Arts centre

Storyteller Martin Maudsley takes a break after being a skeleton

Storyteller Martin Maudsley posts #Letter365 No134
Celebrity posting for No134 as storyteller Martin Maudsley pops it in the box

Would you believe this man is just about to demonstrate Troll dancing having only minutes before this picture been demonstrating the effect of fiddle music on a grumpy man’s skeleton. Accomplished storyteller Martin Maudsley takes a break in his barnstorming performance tonight at Bridport Arts Centre. Accompanied and illustrated by ace fiddle player Fiona Barrow, Martin told tales of fiddles, fiddlers and fiddling (I mean fiddle music!) from around the globe giving a modern edge to traditional themes. Anyway, he kindly took a moment out to post today’s piece into the special box at the Arts Centre