A Little Bit of Bread and No Cheese Drawing – ink on paper 152mm x 220mm
Today’s #arteachday post this morning was a little drawing in ink on paper collaged on to Khadi paper. Apart from my #Letter365 piece I havenot been able to work much today. I’m concentrating on preparations for Dorset Art weeks which is only 17 days away now. There’s lots to do and i will have to settle to the fact that a lot won’t get done. C’est la vie! I’m off up the studio now for a little bit of planning and prep work.
My #Letter365 piece turned out really well and I was happy that it has elements I want to explore more in other pieces, but then I had a really flat period when nothing seemed to work at all. I decided to attempt a large mixed media piece on paper which is going OK, but the light has been so poor today that I am unable to get any decent images that do it justice. All this in turn, coupled with the weather has made me most disconsolate. It can be pretty tough to see any good things when my black dog visits. So I have put up an image from yesterday at the Library of Birmingham as my #arteachday piece as it pretty much describes how i am today – blurred, indistinct, distorted and part hidden.
I’ve been out and about in Birmingham today and not had time for any art apart from my #Letter365 piece, but I went to the new Library and took some more “Personal Reflections” photos featuring the dots on the windows and this one of the shadows of the dots.
Apart from the visually arresting architecture, interesting spaces and good design the new Library was packed with people enjoying using the facilities in a respectful and cooperative way – and I stress the word “enjoying”! Mostly the people were young students working together in groups or couples as well as private study, probably more than 70% non-white ethnicity, and there were lots of smiles and as sense of comradeship and shared endeavour. It felt like a library should feel – alive. So while there may be other local issues about the way the library budget has been spent in Birmingham, the building itself seems to me to be a huge success.
I also managed to catch a nice exhibition on the work of Stefan and Franciszka Themerson, avant-guard filmakers in pre-war Poland, and another quick look round the Library of Cultures exhibition (I think it was called) which has some fantastic images and artifacts, printed materials and photographic archives. Both shows were at the Library.
A Personal Reflection on the Themerson exhibition
At the Museum and Art Gallery I poped in to see the Grayson Perry tapestries. Which were entertaining and in part visually rich and interesting. I’m unsure how much the good feeling and story in the TV programmes coloured my judgement about them. Would I have liked them less or more had I come to them fresh? I was a bit rushed too so probably took them a bit for granted which I may not have done had I not seen the programmes.
A busy day today where it was clear form the start that I wouldn’t get much time in the studio to actuall create anything, but I did some important work selecting pieces and delivering them to the framers in preparation for Dorset Art Weeks. I also spent a long time at the opticians where I had an eye test (all healthy and only the tiniest of changes in one eye) and got my favorite specs fixed (I sat on them!). They also adjusted my other specs that I got elsewhere and advised me on lenses for some studio specs. Absolutely excellent service from the team at Robert Frith in Yeovil helping to keep a visual artists equipment in top condition!
The piece illustrated is my #arteachday piece, a detail of some drawing experiments on watercolour and printmaking paper that i was fiddling about with this evening.
The View From Bridport published this piece I wrote about our Open Studios exhibition:
Cutting from the View From Bridport 21 August 2013
Been busy today picking up my pieces from the framers – they look pretty stunning even if I say so myself! – and arranging printing and things for the show. Quite a bit won’t get done I expect but it will still be a pretty good show.
This evening was the launch party. It was good to meet up with some of the other artists and give each other a little encouragement.
I have been busy organising the exhibition and have not left enough time to set up my new website. I had hoped to log all the preparations and events leading up to the launch but we do what we can do. I will be exhibiting with my son, Tom, and daughter, Hannah, at the Chapel in the Garden in Bridport as part of Bridport Open Studios. My neighbour Marian Young and Beaminster artist Hazel Grimsey will be joining us.
Tomorrow I will be picking up the rest of my work from the framers, so at least I will have something to put on the walls, but I don’t know if I will be able to mount and wrap any other stuff. Hopefully I will be able to get it all up on Thursday leaving Friday free to do the signage at the Chapel.
