I have been really enjoying my last few pieces and I thought I would continue in a similar vein. Towards the end of the process I had a dip in confidence and felt it was ok but not special. That changed when I stuck it on the wall to have a fresh look, then my response was, “ooh, I should do this for a living!”
I can’t say any more – and anyway it’s late having been out to see Mark Steel at Bridport Arts Centre – but in this case I think it is an idea that works in many sizes. Sometimes I wonder if I have the skill to make bigger – I mean much, much bigger – versions of ideas I make in small mostly I think it’s a little bit of fear and lack of confidence. What I have wondered is why I stuck as stamp on and posted this to a place I visited an hour or two later!
It’s probably just that I am tired and bored with having to spend time in front of the computer. I have been working on some of the things I need to do in preparation for my exhibitions but what I really wanted to be doing is some art! In fact, when I did get to the studio, everything went so smoothly! I didn’t allow myself to say no when I had the urge to work on a larger piece. I am at that point where I need to just concentrate on my art or I’ll have a meltdown – but I have other stuff I need to do.
Don’t ask about the stuff on the envelope. I was so desperate to get away from the computer I forgot to do the envelope and found myself at the studio naked in the envelope department! So it got done this evening when my interest in computers and keyboards has waned even further.
I sort of had a half idea, a sort of just-about-do idea, for today’s #Letter365 piece when I got to the studio. It wouldn’t take me long to do – ah not long if I cut corners – probably no one will ever see it – but that’s not the point – oh that might take a while and may not work – and actually it’s not that interesting unless I do it in a way that probably needs a different scale and different materials – and that won’t fit in the envelope! So I started again and took it and myself seriously. A little trickier than I intended but it didn’t take much extra effort and I have ended up with a piece to be proud of. Along the way I had some thoughts about the original idea and now have some ideas how I could make it work – it will take quite a bit of trial-and-error experimentation but it may resurface later in the project!
It’s a shame I cannot talk about the process of making today’s artwork and why it was like a visit to the opticians in some respects, but I cannot give the game away. Mind you there are so few people actally looking at this blog – let alone reading it – that it really wouldn’t matter much anyway! What I will say is that I really enjoyed the way today’s piece came together. I will say it is a return to more familiar ground and it me in top form! Ha!
I would talk about the printer but frankly I’m bored with it all and have other things I would rather do. I was going to say I have other fish to fry but you may have thought I was having problems printing because I was using a fish.
It’s been a busy day today. I sorted out the final pieces for my forthcoming #Collage365 show at Bridport Arts Centre and took them off to the framers. Then went and bought our second car, mainly for Sally’s commute and round town. And that took up so much of the day that by the time I had done #Letter365 we had ran out of time to get to Paul Newman’s preview evening in Gillingham, about which I am really gutted. And now we are off to meet some friends and say farewell before they move and another friend is coming to stay over. The reason I mention all this is that, when under pressure, all sorts of things pop into my head. I get scared to do the things I think are needed in case I bugger it up and have to start again. When will I learn to just do what my heart tells me?
I thought I would save the price of a stamp and deliver today’s piece by hand. I could have just wandered round to Bridport Arts Centre from the studio but since I was going to The Gravity Drive gig there this evening I thought I would deliver it then – except I left it at home and so had to go back at the end. Jonty was there but refused to pose because he was all sweaty from …from who knows what, so he suggested Ziggy take it, but since she didn’t have the key to the office had to deliver it to Jonty anyway!
The piece itself is quite an unusual one. I had a mind to play around with some particular materials – not specifically for #Letter365 – and remembered how I had used something previously and thought it would work just fine for today’s artwork.
I left for the studio saying I had no clue what I would do for today’s piece, but knowing that something would turn up. I am still feeling run down so didn’t intend to stay long. I had not been able to concentrate much at home this morning and had little hope that things would shift this afternoon. I lost myself in preparing some substrates (more gesso on Whitechapel Gallery leaflets) and trying to mix a particular colour red that would granulate when allowed to run wet-in-wet into a mix of deep blue. I got the colours right but when they mixed the separation was vulgar! Back to the drawing board on that one. All that allowed me to forget #Letter365, so when I turned to do it I was primed and open. A nice piece with legs soon emerged. I don’t mean that I drew something with legs (though I might have!!) but it was something which I might continue to experiment with.
That’s an odd thing isn’t it? I get suspicious when things go well and effortlessly. I had half a lame idea and was looking around for some materials in the studio and because I have a cold and feel a bit rough I was finding excuses for not getting the paper I wanted. Was there a scrap around? No, but I found something else which sparked an idea which continues an investigation and the colour is just right and a bit of fiddling here and some jiggling there and soon I was underway with a piece I really like …and then I start questioning it because it came so easily. Don’t you have to struggle to make art? Technique, look, composition, relevance – all a piece of cake. Does that mean it’s not very good? Well I would be pleased to have it on my wall and maybe I should start painting large canvasses
I want to talk about the interplay between contrivance and serendipity, but I can’t without telling too much about today’s piece, but it is interesting how I had an idea of what I wanted to do and how it would look (though as it turned out I changed its orientation in the making) but the moment I started to play with the materials I noticed something else, something very subtle, which really enhanced the idea and the piece.