I was feeling somewhat stressed today, but decided just to take some time out and go to West Bay to look at the sea and takes some photos and maybe some drawing. It was a peerless day: sunshine and a deep, deep sky almost cloudless. I was good to spend a couple of hours in a clear spot, focused on just being there.
When I finally got to the studio I found myself a little stressed again. My idea for the day’s piece involved drying time. I confess that I did a few pieces that I would choose the best or the driest from! That shows I was not that convinced I could produce what I wanted in the perceived time available! While waiting for them to dry i had a cup of hot chocolate and found myself in a clear spot, unhurried and relaxed. I started to clear up a few things around the studio and sort some paper into the plan chest. As I did so an idea began to emerge – not specifically for #Letter365 – and a handy few bits of materials happened to get placed together and in minutes I had decided to work it all out and bingo, it fell into place brilliantly. Super subtle and a visual coincidence, unplanned, indicated perfection (well almost!)
Smugness is not a pretty thing but it does have its pleasures. I have been toying with today’s idea for a while and never got round to working out how I might use it. Today it worked out better than I could have expected and a little serendipity helped it along.
Plus Captain Beefheart gets another mention/quote on the envelope!
Well Captain Beefheart gets a mention as I have been playing my Christmas present box set quite a bit. I have been struggling today and really found it difficult to do anything: energy levels at a low. Too much alcohol and a broken night don’t help me to deal with the black dog. So I am having a quiet night off now,
It took a long time, but the piece is great today. Don’t think for a moment that because I am suffering from depression at present that today’s piece is gloomy or dark. In fact it is full of slightly self-deprecating humour and is very nicely composed and has visual allusions to earlier developments in this project.
Yesterday’s hurried headline has me in a fix. I said it was a song lyric but I can’t think of anything with those words. I can only imagine that I subconsciously altered the words of Cat Stevens’s “How Can I Tell You?” to a negative. Who knows?
Well I can actually – lots of bad words – but I am in a hurry and didn’t know what to write and the quote from a song came into my head so that is what you have got.
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something new. First thing that came into my head and has to do with weddings not art, but hey this is conceptual art! Also it is a bit different from what I have been doing but references old stuff and may or may not be borrowed or blue!
A very rich result for today’s piece: one that has something for everyone perhaps. Technically interesting, visually rich with references to our art heritage. Took a bit of a while but worth it.
My first attempt at my #Letter365 piece today was, well, crap really. What seemed to be a good idea started well then quickly foundered. Despite many attempts to bring it back from the brink, sadly, it tipped off the edge! Part of the problem was my love of using mixtures of materials that are perhaps not designed to go together – sometimes it produces interesting results. There again another part of the problem was that it wasn’t a well thought through idea and I was experimenting as I went. As we all know not every experiment yields a useful result! If I am really honest, I would have to say that my discipline failed for a while too. It was cold at the studio and I had left it later than I intended and wanted to try out some other ideas not related to #Letter365. The lesson is, I suppose, you can’t win them all and get your ducks in a row first!
I don’t have a thermometer in the studio but it definitely wasn’t warm there today. This morning it was -6°C outside and when my son and I moved my printing press to the studio we didn’t stop. I just spent a few hours there in my merino wool thermals and hat, which I felt was enough time today!
