Final thought as go into 2011

"Limits are a secret blessing..."

                                                          Twyla Tharp

HAPPY NEW YEAR x

Back to it - smile please :)

So having picked myself up from the gloom of yesterday (thanks for the words of wisdom from Leslie on previous post), called back into the studio for a few hours and took some more photos to document my work so far and make some notes.  There are some good ideas there, I just need to make a bit more sense of them to move it on.

Binding things shut - a memory contained, or lost, inaccessable. 

 Small scrolls, a collection of memories.

 Wrapped in gold thread, preserved, threads of conversation, connected, stored. 

  at the edge of memory, blurred details, vivid imagery.

Missing, extracted, empty, absent.



Grrrrrr

I feel like growling - as unbelievably I have another cold!  So despite making it to the studio, I found myself completely ineffective, so just wasted 3 hours stood staring at scraps of paper, bits of thread and generally being confused.   There are a few key themes that I am trying to illustrate through my work, and it is a much more conceptual way of working than I am used to.  I am trying to show time through the use of materials, depict memory found and memory lost, a way of containing or preserving time and memory.  I want to find a way to embed these ideas through the process of making.   The handmade quality of my work is important and I don't want the concept to overpower the making of it - I really dislike the sort of art that has some deep meaning, but looks badly made.  I worry that although I have narrowed my research down, there are so many avenues to explore that I am still confused about what I am doing.

Continuing with ideas around the breakdown printing method - this appeals to me as the words I have written slowly become less clear, mimicking the way our memory works - but a piece of cloth somehow doesn't seem enough - and now what to I do with it?

A disastrous attempt using chemicals to create photographic prints. The photo of the process looks more interesting than the prints, mainly because I missed the essential final part of the process which was to wash the papers, so they all slowly developed to leave me with a nice collection of blank brown pages?!   Perhaps if I filmed this accident, that could be a way of illustrating time (me? film something?  EEK)

Slowly burning pages to extract them from an old book, makes a good image.

Wrapping and binding as a way to preserve or contain.

There are ideas here, but the experimentation all seems a little haphazard, I feel I need a process or perhaps certain techniques to help pin my work down.  Questions, that's what I've got lots of!

Snowy Seaside Sneaky break ...

Last weekend we managed a few nights away to sunny and snowy Scarborough on the east coast, was lovely, very pretty, so just thought I would share a few of the photos with you...

 View from the flat we stayed in

 Wintery walk on the Cleveland Way

 Stormy seas

Lovely, but freezing cold.

and the winner is.....

Emma Thomsen is the lucky follower to get the prize!  Picture will be finding its way to you through the snow soon - hope you like it.  Sorry to my other followers who didn't win this time - but keep your eye out for future giveaways.  I will be blogging over Xmas, so please come back and visit me over the Xmas holidays.  Happy Christmas to everyone who follows and thank you for all your words of encouragement this year.

Become a Follower to win.....

Ok, so as promised, to celebrate now having over 50 followers on my blog I am having a bit of a give away.  If you want to be included you need to become a follower by Wednesday 15th December and you will automatically be entered.   One follower will be picked at random (put in a hat and picked out by my better half) and I will post it out to you. The prize is pictured below.  So get following and good luck.....

Little give away coming soon....

As I now have over 50 followers I am doing a little give away of a piece of my work.  Will post an image soon (forgotten to bring my camera to the studio)... so watch this space - image will go up tonight with details of how to take part.