Quick studies ready for posting

I can't for the life of me remember what I entitled these; I forgot to photocopy the application form for my records but it was something to do with ideas about stitching the fabric of life together.  

I made it to the studio on Monday.  It was not too cold although the doors were very difficult to lock at the end of the session because they had swollen up so much with all the rain we have had.  The trusty Calor kept me from freezing and I managed to complete the 3 postcards for the Surface Gallery's International Postcard Show and made a good start on the book for The Sketchbook Project, which I have since finished at home due to yet more workmen being on site.  All in all a pretty good week so far.

http://www.surfacegallery.org/index.php

http://www.sketchbookproject.com/

The reason I have frantically finished the book is that I knew I would not have much time after today because I have decided to drive down South to go to the PV for the Frome leg of the tour for SKETCH, in which I have a book.  I am interested to see how the works are displayed in a different venue and to meet some new people.

http://www.rableydrawingcentre.com/sketch-2013.html

Below are some pages from the book, I am interested in how working quickly has thrown images and ideas together again and I will pursue some of these further during the year.  It will be absorbing to work with the symbols and marks, to find out if they can all be incorporated into single pieces of new work, or whether they will in fact work better kept apart but presented together as a body of work.  Hmmmmm.

Apologies for the variety of tinged backgrounds to these photos; I took them at different times of the day, some with natural light, some with daylight bulb lighting.  I have not yet learned how to adjust my photos on photoshop using the CMY balance.  It is something I intend to rectify this year!

Lists for sanity

Happy new year!

Phew!  The last of our beloved family have departed after a wonderful gathering; there were nine of us by new year's eve.






Now it really is time to settle down to work.  To stem the rising panic that always threatens to engulf me when I know there are various deadlines looming that I do not want to miss I make lists.  I call them my "Lists for sanity", because they really do help me to stay calm and keep everything in perspective.

With everything so chaotic just before Christmas due to builders still being on site, I did not have time to do any work and as a consequence, I now have some work to make quite quickly for exhibitions.  So this month's list looks like this:

• PV for first leg of tour, Sketch 13 is this coming Friday in Frome, Somerset.  I have already contacted my sister who lives nearby to arrange a visit.
• International Postcard Show, Surface Gallery, Nottingham.  Deadline for arrival of submissions: 6pm, Friday 10th January 2014.  I have at least started these but there's not much time to finish them!
• Sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project must be in the post by 15th January at the latest to qualify for the tour.  www.sketchbookproject.com   I have not even started this yet, so it's going to be a bit of a challenge to complete in time although I do have ideas that have been swimming around in my head for months.
• Submission to Ferens Open takes place between 13 and 28 January.  I am still considering this, trying to decide what to submit if I decide to enter again this year.
• w0budong: 10th – 16th March 2014 Three Piccadilly Place, Manchester M1.  I need to plan the delivery of my large painting for this exhibition.  http://w0budong.wordpress.com/

All this, in between a visit to Frome on Friday and to London to see the Klee exhibition among others at the end of the month, will keep me pretty well occupied.  I think that making some work quite quickly might be a good experience though; I can tend to take too long on pieces some times and it will be interesting to see how the postcards and the sketchbook work out.  I will post some photos as soon as I have something to show.

You may be interested to know that the w0budung web site (link above), has a discussion page, which I have not contributed to yet but I plan to.  There is also a Pinterest page with relating imagery that we have begun to compile:
http://www.pinterest.com/bodpod43/w0budong-texts-without-meaning/

There is also work to do for Ryedale ArtWorks. . . . .

Happy January, at least we are not snowed in like last year!

Getting my brain back in gear

Groan!  I have a surfeit of food in the house and am planning the new year's eve family gathering.  I am going to have to vastly increase my exercise in the new year to work the over consumption off!  We are all having a very nice family Christmas up here in North Yorkshire; we managed to clean all the builders dust away just in time.  It has been a relaxing gathering, with more family arriving tomorrow and on New Year's eve itself.

I hope that everyone reading this blog of mine is having a very happy Christmas and I wish you all a successful and fulfilling 2014.

I am now beginning to think about  my work again; I already have two deadlines looming for mid January.  One for the Sketchbook Project, www.thesketchbookproject.com , which I have not even begun and needs to be registered and posted by 14th January, and another for the International Postcard show at the Surface Gallery in Nottingham; again, not started yet.  For both though, I have some ideas, so I am looking forward to doing the work.
http://www.surfacegallery.org/

The cheque to North Yorkshire Open Studios must be posted in January, so I must not forget. NYOS also want some photos of me working in my studio; I hate having photos taken of me, I am much better if they are taken with me unaware as I get very self concious.  On January 16th we have our trip to MIMA with Ryedale ArtWorks, where William Tillyer is going to show us round his retrospective exhibition.  http://www.nyos.org.uk/

I need to decide if I will submit to the Ferens Open in Hull as well.

Meanwhile I have to plan how I am going to get my large painting across to Manchester for the W0budong exhbition. http://w0budong.wordpress.com/

I see asemic text everywhere:

The bright white light reflections in this textured glass really look like magical text that somehow expresses something that is intangible.

I am determined to be in the studio as much as possible next year in order to make lots of new works, both large and small as well as some research into suitable galleries for my work.  There is a huge amount of work to be done alongside my responsibilities as Chair of Ryedale ArtWorks.  

Oh, and I don't think I have mentioned this before because my daughter-in-law has been understandably cautious:  I am going to be a grandmother in the summer!  (Fortunately due after the NYOS in June!)