Painting.

For anyone who has read this blog it would be evident I'm not, nor have I ever been a painter but lately I cant stop thinking about giving it a go. It was always too direct for me...I love process. I love putting an image through a variety of processes until its almost unrecognisable. Whereas painting is the most raw form of mark making...every stroke is there, you build it up. It's out of my comfort zone, but I am definitely going to find some time and throw myself into it. Maybe do a Tracey Emin and lock myself in a room and force myself.

I like the though of that.

...and 6 months later...

So I haven't been an artist for a whole year now. I've basically had a year off. 

I miss it, It sounds cheesy but I do. I've just been totally bereft of inspiration/energy this past year.

I'm moving to London in just over a months time. This is a big move for me personally, I'm hoping the change of surroundings will spark some feelings in me to start work again. Part of the reason for the move is to try get involved in some exhibitions/volunteer at some galleries or maybe community work etc.


To get the ball rolling I'm going to start carrying my sketchbook with me everywhere. I may not doing anything right away but if its there it will always be in the back of my mind.


Thinking about my work I did over a year ago I'm wondering what my next project will be. I don't know what I really want to say now. I still have a fascination with the human body but I'm wondering where I can take this next.

...Don't hold your breath...

Lost in employment.

As predicted I haven't worked on anything since I got a job. Its hard to work when I get home as I am so tired and the weekend is over so quickly that its Monday morning by the time you've enjoyed seeing friends and family.

However I'm missing my work a lot. It was my escape my way of putting things straight in my head. Just like dreams I suppose. It was my sorting process.

Since I;m not actively working, I'm feeling constantly confused, anxious...like I'm waiting for something to happen. Constantly unsure about what I want form all aspects of life. etc.

Its also difficult to decide where to begin getting back into my work. Do I just start making for no reason? I've always found that quite hard without some sort of goal in mind. I've always envied abstract painters. They can just paint anything when they have 10 minutes spare. There's no real planning or though process needed...its complete natural expression. My works always been made with some exhibition or brief in mind and I've moulded my own themes and ideas into that format.

maybe I should take up painting...I've never been a good painter at all. In fact I was pretty awful. I could just do it to let off steam. I have an old shed/garage where I could just go mad. Its a thought.

There is my option to carry on with the family history/military project I had begun, It would be nice to tie that off. Being such a personal piece of work It would be a shame to be one of those things I never finish.


This week will be my mission to do just one thing, a sketch, a plan, anything. I have to start somewhere.

So I got a job...

and this means my art work, and therefore my blog, has been put on the back burner. However it isnt burning at all right now...its well and truely been put out...fire hose style.

My jobs full time... I'm talking total dolly parton 9-5, mon-fri stuff. Being a grown up is hard...

So whatever work I do now will be minimal and only when I have the energy at weekends but I suppose I have to earn a living and its an arts related job so who knows what it may lead to...

The business I work for is an Arts Consultancy business who source & supply art for commercial use in Hotels, Restaurants, Care Homes..basically any manner of business. 

If anyone reads this and is interested in their work being used commercially on a commission basis and is happy to allow their work to be colour altered & reproduced digitally then you can submit work to the company for review and if you're accepted I'll try to get your work used as much as I can :)

visit http://www.indigoart.co.uk/ or submit via facebook Indigo Art

Work on display at Mello Mello...

I set up some of my pyramids for an exhibition at a local bar called Mello Mello today.

I originally intended the pyramids to fill a room, but as this was a bar/cafe I went looking round for a place were the work could fit in yet be safe and out of the reach of getting damaged. This place happened to be an iron girder through the center of the room. The pyramids were spookily a perfect fit.

I do like work that responds to the space its in, Its something I really like to do, looking round a space and coming up with an idea for a piece of work that is going to live in the space and react with it. Hopefully the work will be received well by the public in the bar an I like to think it will strike up conversation. There's nothing I enjoy more than anonymously hanging round my own work and hearing people discuss it. Negative or positive, Its a great way to hear how your work is read by others.

The private view is supposed to be this Friday, Details are still to be confirmed to me. I'll let my friends know as soon as every things in place.

Here's some photos of the work on display.

New book

I don't know if I've mentioned I'm signed up to take part in a project called 'Jazzcakes100:Postcards'

The basic idea is 100 artists, each assigned a number 1- 100 each has to design a piece of work within the confines of a postcard (6x4 inch) and base the work around the assigned number.

I was given number 4.

I was thinking about the fact the work is relating to postcards,travel,etc and decided to look at my own photos of my past trips around the world. I visited Utah about 2 years ago and took some great photos of the landscape there and had always intended to us them within my print work. I finally found an opportunity.

The book I designed consists of 4 photos, taken over 4 days during my time in Utah. 

I decided an  artist book would be the perfect way to tackle this project due to the size limits and it's also good way to add a narrative to the work. The book is about travel and taking a journey while immersing ones self within an alien environment while trying to learn and live within a foreign community which is not always easy to understand. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Etching Plates

Fianlly got round to exposing one of my etching plates today. I have four different poses to print, however I only exposed one today just to see if I had the exposure time correct. 

Now that I'm happy with the exposure I want to print the plate onto my own handmade paper. Which I've tried to scan but it hasn't turned out too well to show the nice texture of the paper.

I think I'm now on pyramid number 96. I'm aiming for 200 which is easily achievable if I already have nearly 100. So I may aim for 300...but Im not sure how much space that would fill up...

In my mind the installation would fill the space and feel quite invasive. My work has always dealt with emotions attached to insecurities and anaylising ones own body, so to feel like your personal space is being invaded by these pyramids relates to how much these feelings invade your mind. Sometimes it can become overwhelming, and its a growning problem in society for young people. I chose the shape because its a prism,a shape which cuts light into the spectral colours. This splitting of light reminded me of how we mentally cut ourselves up by scrutinising different areas of our body, with each colour representing a different area. To contrast this I kept the work black and white,and used no colour at all, as a point that these feelings often take away any joy or "colour" we once had.

These are some photos I took in the print studio with a better camera.

Helen Chadwick

Helen Chadwick Ego Geometria Sum - 1986

One of,  if not my favourite body of work ever. The  influence on my own work is clear. I only hope one day I can achieve anything half as good.

more new work...

Still working on the pyramids...Haven't made many recently been kind of busy with other things in my life and the christmas period. Trying to get back into working this week.

More new work.

I've been working on a print for the Global Echo exhibition, which calls for a series of 10 of the same print to be sent to different schools/colleges around the world to be exhibitited. The print is a flat net shape of a pyramid containg a screen print of myself. 

The prints have to be flat, So its almost like a proposal for a paper sculpture. However I decided to screen print a load of spare prints to actually cut out and form the pyramids. 

I'm thinking hundreds and hundreds of them to create an installation? imagine it!

New work

 This is the large blanket/tapestry/wall hanging thing I've been working on. I don't know what it's going to be really but thats how I work. I started off in a similar way when I first started creating my degree suit. So I'm trying to just let the ideas flow at the moment.