Morning after
March 8, 2008Well that worked then. Thank you all for coming. It was great to meet new people and wonderful that so many friends did manage to make it. It looks like the workshops and tutorials should be lively too, judging from the comments from those who will be coming back for them. Now I have to head off and open up for the day time visitors.
Some tips for finding the gallery,
- It is attached to the Dissenters Chapel.
- It is in the Cemetery not the Crematorium.
- It is very close to the Sainsbury’s on the canal.
- It is surrounded by a huge brick wall.
I think that covers the main points that people mentioned last night. If you think there is something else I need to add drop me a note and I will.
An odd thought
March 5, 2008I’ve been running about like a loon to get everything ready for the show, and I wondered if I should have decided to make less new work. It would have meant less to do, and that has to be a good thing. Well maybe not. Just the thought of sitting around without a ton of work to do just before a big event was truly terrifying. Strangely I think I am happier and calmer because I am so busy. Sometimes I puzzle myself.
Argh!
March 4, 2008Apparently my iron has been dying for a while. It’s had water coming out from the bottom of it for at least a few days. Of course I only noticed it today. I’ve been able to save most of the things that were around it, and if I use it as a dry iron it will see me through the next few days. Still I don’t remember saying what I need now is a dead iron and a soggy studio.
‘Real’ Art
I pick my moments. I would say the way I normally work isn’t ‘real’ art. I work from photographs and just present the data that is there. Generally that works well. However, this time it failed me, I found one area that really needed more information to make sense. The data isn’t there on the processed pictures I have been working from so I’ve had to go back to the original and draw. Oh my, I don’t do that, well I suppose I do now. And I would have to say I am pretty pleased with what I have achieved. I have vastly improved the piece, but given the choice I think I would have rather tried this experiment at a less stressful time. Of course there is an argument that says I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been pushed, and that’s probably the truth of it. I suspect if this had been going straight to a quilt show I would have left it. As a piece of art I felt it needed more work.
Maybe in future I need to be thinking more about how my work will look in a gallery, even if it is going to a quilt show. I certainly seems to be pushing me to do more and work better? I know that isn’t quite the right word but I hope you get the idea, I am not working harder, just seeing I might be able to do better. Does this mean I might have to learn when to stop next? I’ve always had a clear end point but now it is a bit more fluid.
Seemed like a good idea at the time
March 3, 2008I guess this is a symptom of crunch time. I am sure having an exhibition seemed like a good idea at some point, but right now it seems very dim. There is so much to do and so little time. The cows are almost done. I am working on them steadily, I don’t want to rush or get annoyed with them and I know I do have the time for them. However the shopping and preparing all looks very scary. Fortunately I do have people who can and will help on the day. I hate to think what state I would be in now without that. Why is it all the little things seem to take so much time and effort. Now where will I get very large sheets of clear cellophane to wrap my prints…
Weather
March 2, 2008I love snow, yes really. I’ve been really hoping it would snow and I could get pictures of the Henry Moore sculptures in the snow, they would look amazing. However, the one thing I didn’t want for my opening was… snow! So today the weather forecast is suggesting we will get lots of snow over the next week. Not fair. The worst part is I won’t even have time to go and take the photographs.
I want to move on
February 29, 2008I am getting really keen now to finish the work for my show so I can move on and try new things. Is that a bad thing? I feel I aught to be more caught up in what I am doing but I’ve got two ideas I really want to work on and right now that feels the most important thing creatively. Fortunately my head does have control and I will finish my cows.
I wish I could remember who’s blog started off this need to do something different. I read something somewhere about Chuck Close. I hadn’t heard the name but I recognised the work when I checked the site. It’s interesting, but not quite to my tastes. However I can see ways the ideas nearly meet what I do, and I want to explore that area. I think it could be fun even if it isn’t successful.
I’ve also, probably are a result of this and some lamp posts, had ideas for the Sandown theme for this year. Going Around in Circles. I don’t know if that idea will work either, and it will involve some very interesting maths or good construction drawing. Once I start on it I am quite certain it will absorb me fro a while. So it’s got to wait, and I don’t like waiting…
One less thing to worry about
February 28, 2008Well I will be able to hang my work. The extra stands I need have just arrived. It may not sound like a big deal, but it was worrying me. In fact I was sitting here cutting pieces of cow trying to work out a plan to hang quilts if the stands didn’t appear. Now I can concentrate much better on my work. It’s odd but these small things are taking quite an amazing amount of my time and energy. Still next time I will have all these things so it should be easier right?
I just had to share.
February 26, 2008
I have been trying to keep quiet about what I am working on to make to show as fresh as I can, but it makes blogging very hard. Today I can’t resist, and this is a very small part of the whole quilt. I have spent about five hours working on this. For a lot of the time it really didn’t look like much. Suddenly it came together and I have a cow.
Yay sky.
February 24, 2008Well my metre long ‘manageable’ pieces have finally come together and made a sky. I know that doesn’t sound terribly impressive, but I am pleased with it. I think it is about a third of the quilt finished. It’s quilted and everything. So tomorrow I can get on with what I think is the interesting bit. Of course being rather large this is another piece I won’t get to see until it is pretty much finished. Really the first good look I will get will be when I hang the show. I hope the picture in my head is right. Yes it is a bit nerve wracking, but I just don’t have anywhere I can hang it to check while I work. I just have to go with blind faith right now. I wonder if having a large design wall would change how I work, and if it did would it change my work?