It seems a long time since I created today’s piece. It was hours ago and I’ve driven 160 miles and as I write this I have remembered what I made. I wish I could say it was inspired by Richard Long, but it’s only now that I have thought of him because of a very, very tenuous link in my mind.
I have just spent the last hour or two trying to track down the sudden slow running of my PC. It’s a pretty powerful machine and it is not often that I have cause to complain at its speed and capability even when editing multiple large images. I quickly found that none of the processes were using much CPU power so I looked at the services and found something using 25%! It turned out to be the monitoring system for my UPS. I updated the software and immediately the problem went away. But of course while looking under the hood I happened to notice a couple of other things using more than they should. Of course I have no clue what most of these things are and what they do so I end up reading forum posts and trying to track down why these things are misbehaving. They are not affecting the system enough to slow it up or cause me any problem at all and yet I am spending an hour or two trying to get a solution when I should be writing this and a hundred other things. But of course it is because I have a brain that does that kind of obsessive hunting that I have taken on #Letter365 and am carrying it out in this way!
Which brings me to the fact that I have not had a day off for almost 2 years! I think it is now 672 consecutive days that I have created a piece for either #Collage365 or #Letter365 and for a few weeks both. Most of the time it’s fine, usually more than fine, but occasionally I wish I could cheat. Like tomorrow we are going to be away and I don’t want to do my #Letter365 there so I will have to do it in the morning and I may end up restricted by time and may not have the full range of materials open to me because of drying time, say, or getting-it-wrong-a-few-times time, or run-out-of-ideas time. How great would it be if I had already created tomorrow’s artwork? But of course that goes against the whole idea of the project. However, that reminds me, there is nothing to stop me at least doing my envelope in advance.
I am talking about the sun and mist not the Hokey Cokey. I don’t know what to say really. All a bit of a struggle really today. A small interest was raised by playing with an automatic pen but I couldn’t do more that just trying it out. I haven’t the energy or concentration to attempt the ideas I have in mind. I did another piece I may send off for the collaborative “Drop me a line” show at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery. That’s about it really.
Oh, and did I mention I have lost the will to live?
After I had signed today’s piece and went to photograph it I started to wonder if I had got it the right way round – OK you guessed, it is an abstract work (of a naked person lying on their side or possibly standing on their head). I decided to leave it but now I have looked at the images again I think I like it best rotated 90° anticlockwise! Bugger, I can’t really cheat now! I wonder how I will feel if and when it is opened?
Anyone who knows me would know that I would never put a work by Sandro Botticelli in one of my envelopes. There are many reasons for this:
So now you know, there is no Botticelli in today’s envelope and the odds on it being a Velazquez are not much better!
We have had quite a bit of rain this afternoon and evening and what is engendered in me is a worry about the possibility of leaks at the studio. All was fine when I left but the wind has got up a bit.
As to what art might be engendered by a fair splashing of precipitation the obvious might be a watercolour of umbrellas. If you know anything about me you would have to say the subject is an unlikely one but then this is a funny old project and anything can happen. I can tell you for certain that there is not a genuine Botticelli painting inside. I might make a collage from images of old masters and pop it in an envelope with a message like today’s.
It was bearable in the studio with my thermals and hat so I worked on my large black square watercolour and on the multiple black squares I started last week. Whether or not I did a black square for my #Letter365 piece is of course open to conjecture: I am saying nothing.
I had a doubt if I would be able to stick it out at the studio for long enough to do today’s piece and, as I noted on the envelope, I was prepared to bring my materials home and do it here. As it turned out I was inspired to create a piece to send to an artist creating a collaborative installation at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery which I was alerted to today by Paula Youens. The deadline is Tuesday so I needed to get it in the post. So I donned my thermal merino wool base layer and thermal sweater and went to the studio where I drew the infrared heater closer and kept on my coat and merino wool hat and was delighted that I didn’t need my fingerless gloves on! i was also delighted with the two pieces I created, especially the one for #Letter365. It went exactly to plan and worked out exceedingly well though it bears no resemblance to Mr Kipling cakes.
In a conversation I had last Friday with two artists it was suggested that having a studio that is not too warm and comfortable can help to keep you from getting to comfortable about your work. It was suggested that it can be a spur to creativity and keeping the flow of new ideas. I’m not dismissing the notion but as I am never short of ideas I’ll happily sacrifice some for an equable ambient temperature in the studio!
A report has come in that a giant banded snail mail snail, Helix preposterous, was seen yesterday on the cycleway near the Coop heading towards Bridport. Just such a snail was last seen on the 12th October 2014 collecting #Letter365 No220 for delivery. Has the snail still got the piece? Has it eaten it? Will it get to Bridport Arts Centre in time? Is it indeed the same creature? Only time will tell!
I don’t know what I can say. I did my work. I put it in an envelope with a stamp. I posted it. Then went to a contemporary music concert. The artwork is something I have been wanting to do more of.