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It would be nice to think, wouldn’t it, that an art-life carries on regardless?

But it doesn’t. The art-brain continues , but very much on the back-burner, essentials only, when other things get in the way.

The building work started this morning, and in these early days, it is useful to be on hand to answer questions. So that means not being in the studio. I brought a few things home, and it was my intention to do more reading instead of making, but it is quite noisy for that!

I am still trying to think of titles and prices for the work that will be in the RBSA exhibition. I will be hanging that on 24th, so I need to be well sorted so that it goes easily on the day. I will have some help for that, which I am really grateful for, but I will need a clear head.

So there’s no room for new work. Not yet. I trust that there will be something blooming once the exhibition is sorted, and the building finished. They will probably both be done at the same time, and I can get back to it.

The sorting of the garage; the consequent sorting of the shed; taking stuff and dumping it in the studio or spare bedroom; putting in the skip; and out for the scrap man or neighbours has me inspired to do the same in my studio once the decks at home are clear. 

I’ve been watching my friend Kate Murdoch sort out her work, her stored objects, and her space(s), and that has inspired me! I don’t have to move out of the studio or anything like that, but the thought of being a leaner, cleaner, more mobile artist is attractive. Having cleared the house we lived in for forty years, and now four years later clearing out the garage that still contained the last of the “stuff” feels… healthy… yes that is the right word. With every bag or box of clutter and rubbish that goes to the tip, or just any of the “stuff” that leaves our house for someone else to use, I feel lighter! It is the sort of job that’s never really finished though is it? More of a rolling programme, but at least now, once this bit is done, we know that everything in the house is needed or wanted or loved.

That process, eventually, will have an effect on the work that I make, Kate and I have been talking about this. It might seem like we are not working, but we are. Our brains mull over these belongings, and we curate our spaces accordingly. When we are happy with the “hang” we will move on. The objects, materials we have retained are fresh in our uncluttered minds, and are seen with fresh eyes. From that clean ground, new work springs, I am certain.

Input/Output

The last few weeks it seems to me there’s been far too much input, and very little output.

I am one step closer to the knee replacement, but I am still waiting to hear a date, but it could be as long as 18 weeks away yet. So that is sat in the back of my brain affecting all my decisions, especially when it comes to my diary.

We also had in the back of our heads the prospect of a bit of building at home. Nothing hugely drastic or too much upheaval (hopefully) just a garage conversion, to give us a utility room and a study. This means we have had to sort out all the stuff that has been dumped in there, from the day we moved in four years ago, to all the stuff we have added since. This morning the builder came round again, just to check a few things, and due to planning permission hiccups on another job, he wants to start Monday. So I guess I won’t be in the studio for a while.

I feel my brain is overwhelmed with extra information. I started looking at Substack in a bid to wean myself off Meta platforms, and signed up to do a free course to help me navigate it. So far I’ve only managed one session, but it’s available online at my own speed so I’ll get there. I’m also three weeks into Towards an Experimental Ecology of Line, an online course run by Camilla Nelson based around Tim Ingold’s Taxonomy of Lines. All very interesting, and I do need to carve out time to do that one justice, as I can already feel it will have an effect on my work and how things connect.

I’m still organising my work for the solo RBSA exhibition that will be hung at the end of this month. I say solo, but I have been given a slot to do what I like, alongside two other artists who have been given other parts of the ground floor shop gallery. I have no idea how our work will feel in the same place as it is all very different. I think that is worrying me more than I thought.

The band had the first gig of the year on Saturday. I felt a little under-rehearsed, and under-prepared but it still seemed to go down well. I believe it is still available on the instagram account of HMV Merry Hill. Also, I have now uploaded all the new songs that we recorded in Top Church Dudley onto both Soundcloud and Bandcamp.

So if you do listen, please do send feedback, we love to hear what you think. If you think it’s crap, keep it to yourself! Haha!

Meanwhile… I’m off to do some clearing, and hopefully will get some studio time on Saturday…

Well… it has taken me a while but I think I’ve got a bit more of a grip on things!

I spent yesterday in the studio, heater on, lights on all day, scarf and studio cardi wrapped round me, clearing the decks and gathering together the work I am considering for the exhibition on the ground floor at RBSA that’s booked in from 25th February to April 5th. A good long run, where all visitors to the gallery will see it so it has to feel right. The problem in my head is that most of the work has to be for sale for this, as it is effectively in the shop. I have some large paper drawings, and some large drawings on fabric, that I’m not quite sure how I want to hang them at the moment. I also have some smaller, twiggy works, that will have more “sellable” price tickets on. But I have no illusions. My work doesn’t sell that well usually, and although selling is never my main motivator, it would be nice to come out of it with a few extra pounds in my pocket. However I don’t want to make work just to sell, because they probably won’t and then I’m stuck with stuff I don’t want and haven’t got room to store.

I know I have about a month before the hang for this exhibition, but I have other things I want to be concentrating on. I have signed up to do an online course with Camilla Nelson called Towards an Experimental Ecology of Line

https://www.singingapplepress.com/workshops

And I do want to concentrate on that as I am hoping it will prompt and enable me to untangle some of the complications in my practice, and shine a light on hitherto* unseen connections.

Every now and then I feel the need to sit on a metaphorical rock and view how far I’ve come, before deciding where to go next.

*I typed it and it made me laugh, so I left it in. I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “hitherto” before!

It’s been a while since my last post, primarily because of the Christmas holiday. This seems ridiculous but I think I lost a month or maybe a bit more due to that, and a variety of family events and circumstances. Which is fine, of course, but it does then take me another couple of weeks to get into the swing of things, and I don’t think I’m there yet.

I do need to have a sort out in the studio before I start working in earnest though, as all I’ve done is pick up stuff and dump stuff. The floor and the table need clearing before I can start working on anything. My main focus has to be my exhibition at RBSA. I want this to be an exhibition of current work, but also of work that can be sold, that will hang together as a coherent body. If I concentrate on sticks and stones there’s plenty to choose from. I will probably end up taking everything and seeing what works in the space.

I’m currently hampered by suffering a stinking cold, and could quite frankly do without it. It has sapped all my energy. So much so I have had to cancel a band rehearsal today. I love rehearsal time. And we have an in-store gig at HMV coming up soon. This will be a set of about an hour, so I definitely need the practice!

Like many people, I don’t do well in the dark wintery months. I know of quite a few people struggling to drag themselves into the light. As I get older it seems like a tougher task every year. Especially as over the last year my mobility has got rapidly worse. A knee replacement is on the close horizon for spring, so I am hoping for a speedy recovery so I can cope with rest of the year. It’s all a bit unknown and a bit scary…

But anyway… today I just have to think about today… I need to keep warm, rest, and drink plenty of water…

This has become a useful habit I think, looking back over the year and thinking about what has worked and what hasn’t. Then making sure my plans follow that through.

Compared to other years, I think I have done “less” in that the itemised list of stuff is shorter. But I think it is better in that I seem to have been able to focus on the good things that are professionally and personally rewarding, and I have pulled back on the stuff that makes me swear in frustration. 

I’ve had a few chances to exhibit with RBSA – although that has had its frustrations, I am booked in to have a ground floor exhibition with them in March. I will curate this myself, and although it is in the shop gallery, and two other artists will also have allotted space, my section is all my own to deal with. I will have both 2D and 3D work installed. It will be interesting to see how the things I have been making relate to each other in that busy area. My work will be for sale, but I have no illusions, and I doubt that anything will sell to be honest. I don’t think I am that sort of artist… Time will tell…

I belong to a Crit Club with three other RBSA members and that is always fun, and insightful, and they have helped me in the choosing of work to show.

I also this year joined Eastside Projects’ EOP group and have exhibited with them, and had a one-to-one mentoring session with Ruth Claxton. The question she asked, that has stayed with me has been “Why are you using up energy on that when you could be doing this?”(mentioning no names) …And she was right. So there’s a thing I can pull back from. I already feel better about it, and I don’t know why I didn’t see it myself. I guess that’s what good mentoring does. There were also her thoughts about my work that consolidated things that were buzzing around that I hadn’t dealt with. Thanks Ruth!

I’ve done a few Sewing Circle sessions this year, that haven’t really come to much, and I am wondering if it is worth bothering, but as it just requires me to share my studio with a few people once a month with little planning, I will probably continue to put it in the calendar. If by the summer it hasn’t built up any more, I will stop.

I’ve had the usual cycle of band rehearsals, and some really lovely gigs, and the highlight of recording in the church in Dudley with Dave Shaw. Songwriting continues…

The things that I have thoroughly enjoyed and will definitely be doing more of are the Swedish adventure, The Fish Collective, and Ceramics sessions:

The trip to Sweden for the Correspondence Residency with Stuart Mayes was amazing. I have continued to learn Swedish, which has surprised me, but I am loving it. I am still looking for a local Swedish speaking Fika buddy, to practice on… but I am loving learning a new language. The work I have done since the trip has definitely been affected by the work we did together. Stuart, in his Glitterball Showroom role, is going to the Juxtapose art fair in Aarhus, Denmark this summer, and I am hoping to join him. The travel fund has taken a bit of a hammering, so I am hoping to build it up a bit before then!

The Fish Collective is work done in collaboration with Helen Garbett, Bill Laybourne and Rick Sanders. I’ve not previously found much happiness in working collaboratively with other artists, but have come to realise it’s because I’ve not been doing it with the right people. This lot are experienced collaborators, and they know how to do it properly! It has been very rewarding and an absolute hoot so far. It will continue into the new year and will hopefully gain funding. 

I’ve been doing ceramics at Mac Birmingham with a friend. We share the driving and parking costs, and we have company on the journey, which in the winter months can be arduous. We have not signed up from January to March, but have reserved places after easter. I have found it rather wonderful to be creative in a medium I know very little about, that is (relatively) unrelated to the rest of my practice. I am just playing. It is nourishing. I have been using that word a lot lately. I think it’s going to be my word of 2025.

I’ve been thinking about the direction of my practice a lot this year, in terms of what I’m making, my audience, my slightly shifting philosophies… and in an attempt to put myself in an environment and the right company (hopefully) to think about this in a more focussed way, I have signed up to do a course with Camilla Nelson titled Towards an Ecology of Line. It is based on Tim Ingold’s taxonomy of line, from his book Lines. I’ve read this a couple of times and refer to it frequently. Helen Garbett is signed up too, so I’m looking forward to a year of fruitful discussion.

This year has ended with Kate Murdoch delivering her 10 x 10 cabinet to me. It is now installed in my sitting room with a selection of my own items on it. I am fostering it, just in case she needs it again. It is an honour and privilege to be part of its story. It looks great in my house, and so I am torn between hoping she doesn’t ever want it back, and hoping that she does, because I think it is an important and interesting piece of art. Win/win I suppose, either way!

So goodbye 2024, and hello 2025, I have more concrete plans for the coming year than I usually have, so I am feeling very positive!

Happy new year, dear readers, thank you for your time, support, and comments.