Working from home?: I kinda’ like it. It took me ages to get used to it and the down side is the space. There is none. But then the upside is making small work. I used to work on a huge scale, it was all a bit of a nightmare, now I work small and I am much happier. Upside-downside. It can be a bit lonely.
I am into novels, film and music. They are readily available around me, I have lots of them and over the last two years they have seeped into my work, after I gave in and allowed them to. I also collect Old photographs of an erotic and stage/performance nature, some obscure, some not so much. I collect them on my Tumblr. It's a digital collection replacing a studio wall, It works for me so far. Until, that is, I remember a picture that I want to find somewhere in the middle of the 4000 posted. Its a challenge.
I have a routine, of sorts, for most days: I spend half an hour or so in the morning being primary care giver to my diabetic cat. Blood gets taken and measured for sugar content, insulin amount is calculated and administered, food is given and finally water intake measured. I love her dearly but who would inject a beloved cat when the wrong amount of insulin could kill her? Not me!.....oh.
I am into novels, film and music. They are readily available around me, I have lots of them and over the last two years they have seeped into my work, after I gave in and allowed them to. I also collect Old photographs of an erotic and stage/performance nature, some obscure, some not so much. I collect them on my Tumblr. It's a digital collection replacing a studio wall, It works for me so far. Until, that is, I remember a picture that I want to find somewhere in the middle of the 4000 posted. Its a challenge.
I have a routine, of sorts, for most days: I spend half an hour or so in the morning being primary care giver to my diabetic cat. Blood gets taken and measured for sugar content, insulin amount is calculated and administered, food is given and finally water intake measured. I love her dearly but who would inject a beloved cat when the wrong amount of insulin could kill her? Not me!.....oh.
rise & shine kitty
After that its social networking time: Facebook and Twitter, but my heart belongs to Twitter. I could go on and on about the fabulous people I have met, some even in real life. Laughs, support, interesting
conversation, shows to see, shows not to see and opportunities. I try to limit my time to an hour or so before I start making art or researching but actually I tweet throughout the day. (some days this routine - much like today as I write this- goes to hell in a hand basket, an upside downside of working from home)
I have a website and a blog . A blog that is very different to this one, or that's the plan. The blog over there is a bit more formal, documenting shows I see and why I liked them, I like writing about things I am excited about. When I post my work it tends to be finished pieces along with references. There is never any real analysis of the work or my thoughts as I make it, I often wonder why that is. I think, possibly, I don’t want to clutter the website. Regardless, I love writing that blog and I find it useful on several levels.
So that’s why I am here, on this blog, to explore and play rather than produce and present. There is a huge unrecognised influence looming when I am working from home, I would like to look into that too. This residency gives me a focus and outlet that I perhaps would not of had otherwise.
During August I plan to make a research trip down (from the Midlands) to The British Library, who have been very helpful with my enquiries so far, despite emailing them, what I thought was a ridiculously vague question. I will be having a look at works of very early British erotic fiction. An interest that has some of its roots in Fingersmith by Sarah Waters which lead to paintings and a zine about collecting erotic objects, text and images. I am a bit anxious about my trip to the Library, I want to put my time to its best use with a minimum of fannying about.
Bats 2011 - inkjet, permanent market and gold ink on paper (collected photographs) A4
Also during August, I will be playing with collage and drawing. I have included three examples of those drawings here. When I was making the Collector Zine I got a kick out of using ink jet printed drawings as a base for further drawing. I like the idea of over working and layering them then reprinting them for a further layer of drawing. The found/collected images are fun to play around with. They have limitations in some respects and then in others lead to more drawings.
There might be some work in relation to on going projects, depending on how I feel about the images I have been collecting for them so far. But my focus for the month will be on drawing and research.
This is a 6 month project and it would be glorious to develop a body of work from my time here and then exhibit it, but It might be best not to strangle myself and the work with thoughts of that. I am aiming for useful.
If we know each other on social networking then much of this post is old news to you and thank you for reading. If not, then thank you for reading this introduction. Posts shouldn’t be any longer than this, in fact I would say that this is rather a lot of writing for me. Possibly once in every post I will write something a bit daft, pictures should be a-plenty and comments on this blog are, of course, welcome.
There might be some work in relation to on going projects, depending on how I feel about the images I have been collecting for them so far. But my focus for the month will be on drawing and research.
This is a 6 month project and it would be glorious to develop a body of work from my time here and then exhibit it, but It might be best not to strangle myself and the work with thoughts of that. I am aiming for useful.
If we know each other on social networking then much of this post is old news to you and thank you for reading. If not, then thank you for reading this introduction. Posts shouldn’t be any longer than this, in fact I would say that this is rather a lot of writing for me. Possibly once in every post I will write something a bit daft, pictures should be a-plenty and comments on this blog are, of course, welcome.
Candela 2011 - inkjet print and pencil on paper, A4
Charmed - inkjet print, pencil and gold ink on paper, re printed (collected photographs) A5
Currently reading:
Fanny Hill – John Cleland
The queen of camp, Mea West and popular culture – Marybeth Hamilton
The hare with the amber eyes – Edmond De Waal
An Artist retracing the journey of a collection of Japanese carvings through his family.
Georges Bataille, essential writings- Michael Richardson
A nudge from a face book friend encouraged a re read
Fanny Hill – John Cleland
The queen of camp, Mea West and popular culture – Marybeth Hamilton
The hare with the amber eyes – Edmond De Waal
An Artist retracing the journey of a collection of Japanese carvings through his family.
Georges Bataille, essential writings- Michael Richardson
A nudge from a face book friend encouraged a re read
A member of the 'close out crew'
In Other news: Space Shuttle Atlantis Launched for the very last time on 8.7.11. I was glued to the computer screen and NASA TV. I always get pretty emotional when space things are happening. It also happens to be the day that I made a real start on this post. Not that this will be posted until 1st August but I'm pretty excited about Reside and wanted to get on with making plans and writing.
Atlantis on the Launch pad
'Lets light this fire one more time' - Space shuttle Atlantis
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