This is the last blog post until the regularly scheduled one on 1st November (time is flying past).

Currently reading
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Story Of The Eye - Georgres Bataille
Great Loves- Complete set (£20 from Amazon)

It was my birthday this month and I treated myself to many, many books. Among them is the Great Loves set, from penguin. I was so happy to have it I performed star jumps.

Sluice art fair was brilliant and has sparked interesting debates regarding art fairs. Pictures from the fair are here and
there are two interesting blog posts about sluice and the world of the art fair: Art fairs Vs Artist led & Artists are a moaning bunch of bastards

Roll on Sluice 2012.

Re appropriating images is a touchy subject for me but one that feels necessary right now. I have stumbled across these images, which in itself can be frustraiting as (for this area of work) I shy away from actively searching down images and instead allow them to come to me on my Tumblr dash. 

Anyway these collages (though I tend to call them cut outs) are about escape and retreat,  what from and why are stories told through the photographs and although some have a melancholy edge in the main there is a romantic notion within.

I am still making drawings of tiny Islands, lots of them, so I am going to go and make some of those now. (oh, real time blogging, I dont often do that)

In other news:
I will be taking part in Transition Galleries Strip at Sluice art fair this weekend with paintings from The Collector series. I'm really  looking forward to seeing the show and the exhibits from all of the other galleries and artists taking part as well as catching up with people I havnt seen for a while and meeting some twitter friends for the first time. One of my Favourite things to do.

Currently Reading

...and talking of books I am on Goodreads here which I am finding really handy for sharing and finding new books/authors to read. Plus I get to indulge in my love of lists. Making lists: Its the teenage obsession that I never grew out of, well, there are others too but.....

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Georges Bataille, essential writings- Michael Richardson
Story Of The Eye - Georgres Bataille
(and I said I wasnt going to start something new but I started and finished a whole other novel between posting here. Naughty.)
Gabriel's Inferno - Sylvian Reynard

“Letters are just pieces of paper," I said. "Burn them, and what stays in your heart will stay; keep them, and what vanishes will vanish.” Haruki Murakami - Norwegian Wood

Blimey, I started making small drawings on large pieces of paper and then realised that I had no where to store them, scrap that idea. So I started recycling some old post cards, partly because recycling 'is good' and also because I want to use a uniform size and  cant cut paper to save my life, well not so that they are all the same shape anyway.

I have been thinking about the 'home studio' situation. Its harder to deal with on less motivated days, for sure. The bed is very close to my work place...look, just a hop skip and a jump away from a nap (though I rarely hop).  Having said all of that I'm  still not sure that I would swap it,  its only the space that I miss. Oh and ventilation. I need air.

Two months into the residency and it seems to be jogging along rather comfortably beside my main work, its crossing over from time to time and throwing up surprises at others. When I am on my image searching expeditions (with sandwiches and a flask) I am finding that several will fit into both areas, this is handy.

I think that the work I have been posting on here is far more related to text and my imagination than in other areas of my work. This feels good. I am starting to cultivate a solid idea, theme, title or something for what has starting on this residency. I thought that I may limit the work to drawing (actual & manipulated) but It turns out that I'm not all that keen on limits, so there will be painting too.

Everything has got so small and delicate, tidy and piled up. Much of this is to do with working at home, I know, but I am really noticing it at the moment as I paint on postcard sized paper and cut out tiny images for collage..... new spectacles imminent.

The Collector Zine: Issue II Love Letters

After asking the kind people of twitter and FB to send me snippets of love letters (a request that could be interpreted however they saw fit) I compiled them into a small zine. I contributed some words and images. I thought I would be making drawings and collages but actually it was the photographs that I had recently taken that felt right. Bellow is an example of text and image from the zine. If you are likely to see me and would like one then please let me know.

A huge thank you to the contributors. This was a fun challenge.

Love Letters will be a limited edition of 20 and given away without charge.

Currently Reading

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Georges Bataille, essential writings- Michael Richardson
Fanny Hill - John Cleland
Circus and Victorian Society - Brenda Asseal

I almost started Jane Eyre (an I should of read but havnt yet) but instead grabbed for The Fountainhead. I'm glad I did.

I am going to try and finish off all of these books before I start anything new. I have been dipping in and out of a couple of these for the best part of this year. I recommend them all.