It was 4c today up here; I didn’t get to the studio until about 11.30 by the time I had found my extra scarf, painty fleece, hat etc.
There was evidence of mice when I finally got inside having battled with the swollen wooden door; the damp is such a pain and I fret constantly about having paper out there in my plans chest. I have kept the best stuff in the plastic bags it comes in, which is just as well because the drawers are all so swollen I can’t shut them properly and dust and dirt creates a film over everything. As for mice, we have them as home at well, and it is very difficult to get rid of them, I hate the damage they do. Talk about the artist in her frozen garret!
3 tasks today: postcards for Surface Gallery, getting to grips with the ballot box, working on a piece on paper that I left pinned to the wall before Christmas.
I tend to have several things on the go at once when I am working; everything relates to everything else and I like the way one set of work can inform another. Plus, it stops me wasting time, waiting for something to dry; I just move across to another piece.
It was just as well I had three things to work on today as it was so damp my thickly applied acrylic on the postcards simply refused to dry for the entire session! I sloshed some white emulsion mixed with acrylic matt medium and water over the paper piece on the wall and then applied some white acrylic drippily on top a bit later; I’ll continue to draw and slosh paint onto this until I achieve the kind of surface/meaning I look for. I have no idea what this will look like at the end and I am lately toying with using oil bars to draw into the works with. In fact, I have been toying with the idea of switching to using oils for a bit, so that I can incorporate drawing with oil bars and applying more washy paint on top, building layers, but not sure I can afford to buy oil paints as well as the acrylics I am running out of. . .
Whilst sloshing the thin paint onto paper the ballot box was in my peripheral vision. I tried not to panic.
A quick lunch of reheated soup from last night using my bargain microwave. I am so glad to be able to heat food up out there! After a warm by my calor heater, I approached the ballot box with my camera. . . . .
I took lots of photos. The posting slot is much narrower than I had envisaged, even though I have always voted, I couldn’t remember how big the opening is. In fact, a roll of toilet tissue fits perfectly, bringing to mind an interesting metaphor of shit. We are rooted in the mud/shit, yet aspire to the stars. The old dualism that I have been fascinated with since uni is always there, T J Clark’s essay The Mud and the Sheen brought sharply back into focus.
The box is black and apparently they were always given a new coat of paint before each election. My painter brain instinctively loving this association of layers.
- Black Box
- White Paper
- Black words
- Black Marks
- Don’t keep us locked down
- Don’t keep us silent
- Don’t stop us contributing
- Don’t ignore our wishes
- Don’t ignore us
- Don’t ignore the facts
- Don’t deny the joy
I quite like the way the narrow strip of loo paper I used to try out the idea catches the light. I intend to use Chinese paper because of its translucent quality and strength. Using narrower paper will mean a smaller area to cover and therefor less work in that sense. How long to make the roll? How to loop/suspend the work?
Shall I produce an accompanying artists’ book with notes about my thought processes if I have time? I like this idea. I need to decide which format book to make. More research. Shall I produce it in a very limited edition for sale? Again, I like this.
- Stream of consciousness
- Words, thoughts
- Counting – tally marks
- Repetition
- Quotes; Suffrage, George Orwell, others
How to cut my roll of Chinese paper to size accurately? Would it be possible to cut the roll through without tearing the edges? If so, how? Would a print company’s guillotine be able to do this?
More research required.
