I’ve been so busy preparing for and procrastinating about my show in Ramsgate today that I almost for got to post this blog entry – then I realised that I had forgotten to post the letter in the post box. I did it hours ago and just forgot to stop off on the way back from the studio. I did forget to date stamp the outside though.
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?
I have been working all day on preparations for Dorset Art Weeks but don’t seem to have moved as far as I wanted. I have got most of my work in position now having picked up the last dozen or so pieces from the framers. They are the biggest ones – mostly the minimalist abstract drawings.
Loads to do still but I am feeling reasonably confident that I am mounting a pretty good show – whether I get the sales depends on getting the right people through. Fingers crossed!
Chaos Rules OK again! I was so excited that I had remembered the issue of new commemorative stamps (British Films) that I forgot to date stamp the envelope and did not update the number – so it reads No67 when in fact it is No68! Bugger!
Peter at Bradpole PO franked #Letter365 No68 as First Day Cover with the Bradpole stamp – the first of those in #Letter365. He also put the stamp on for me and used his tongue – you can tell he’s not been a postmaster that long! I am not sure if the shape over Peter’s mouth is something that stuck to his tongue during the stamp-licking episode, a strange cartoon or cameo head stuck to the glass or just an odd reflection. Sorry that some woman behind you has got her hands in your ears. I had hoped that I would have got a better personal reflection but there is too much light in there Peter.
I chose the Lawrence of Arabia stamp as it is one of my favourite films – because “the guns face the sea”. Could it be the artwork inside is as bleak and dry as the desert?
The forecast is not great for the weekend so I got today’s #Letter365 completed early so I can go and inspect our bees. I hope I will enjoy that as much as I did creating today’s piece.
Those of you who know me well may not believe this, but I had a plan, I worked the plan and the plan worked! OK, the postie quite rightly gave me a little lecture on putting stamps on and postal security and stuff, but he did let me put a stamp on the postally-naked No38. I suspect that I came out of it OK. Polly Gifford at the Arts Centre would have mercilessly ribbed me about it at the very least and I saved us the £1 or so extra for unstamped mail and the walk to the sorting office. I even had a go at a flamingo shadow on the postie’s leg, but it didn’t come out that well as you can see. Nice shapes in the lower half of the photo though!
I cannot believe I have done it again! I was so pleased that I have managed to spend the day in the studio despite my lost voice turning into a really bad sore throat tuning into a rotten cold. With the help of tissues and Strepsils I have soldiered on and had a really productive day. I did my #Letter365 piece first and am very pleased with it. Around lunchtime I did the envelope and photographs and popped it in the box. It is only now that I notice the lack of a stamp! (I didn’t notice that I thought it was Sunday yesterday as far as the message on the envelope went!)
So here is the plan:
My name may be mud at the Arts Centre following yesterday’s forgotten-stamp debacle, but I am undaunted! I altered the writing on the envelope in the hope that its pale words would remind me to put on a stamp and as it was sunny the mad rabbit was about to threaten me with its credit card!
And the piece I created for #Letter365 today surprised me. I had started it this morning and left it in a volatile state as I had to be in the house to await delivery of a replacement credit card as I had cut up the other one by mistake and used it in a #Letter365 piece – no, not really, just joking! No, I had cut it up by mistake when my new debit card arrived! Anyway, when I returned to the studio it became immediately apparent what I needed to do and I really like the result.
Talking of things in a volatile state, the whole piece and its envelope nearly went up in smoke. A piece of burning wick from the sealing wax fell off and continued to burn on the back of the envelope. Initially I tried to pick it up with my steel rule or my scalpel, before being tempted to let it all burn a bit! In the end I just blew it out, but it has given me food for thought to digest at leisure.
The other volatile thing is me! Oh, you knew that. Well I’m a bit on the incandescent side because my special #Letter365 camera has managed to download device drivers which I never asked it to do and which make it harder for me to use the camera the way I want to use it. It’s odd how so many manufacturers decide for its customers that their way is the best or force you to use their crappy, buggy software. People accept these things from Sony, Apple, Samsung – thank god there is not much you can do to a pen or pencil or paintbrush!
I don’t mean the evidence that shadow rabbits can hold credit cards between their ear and nose (see picture) but the evidence that the post box day plate for Tuesday has been “mislaid”. It hasn’t been there the last few weeks and MON is displayed on Tuesday. That’s why all the people in Bradpole look confused! Well, one of the reasons.
I got very frustrated creating the envelope for this one. For some reason the printer would not recognise the settings set up for this particular document – the ones it has used for the previous 25 days – and chose to use the settings for the other documents that were open!
Having spent a busy day making the most of the sunshine, painting the new solar wax extractor and digging and raking one of the vegetable beds, then spending some useful time in the studio I am exhausted! Losing an hour last night probably didn’t help either. So no energy for deep thought.
I will just mention that I watched Powaqqatsi this evening. Interesting to see it again after 30 years I guess. Still stunning even though not as powerful as it was in my memory, but now we have such a deluge of visual images available to us that it is hard to remember how remarkable this was when it came out. The Philip Glass score is of course a masterpiece in its own right and certainly not just a film soundtrack. Two sections might get plundered by me for some ideas!