Dear Blog,
Since my last post, I have been working on a collaborative project for the design of some graphics to be applied to the windows of a new Visitor Centre. As is inevitably the case, the clients had an extremely tight deadline for the work but, after completing everything on time, I am now still waiting for their feedback and approval for the designs.
It always seems the way with these kind of commissions that you start with lots of energy and enthusiasm which dissipates and evaporates by the time you get to the end of the process. Usually, this is because of the frustrations involved in trying to get all the relevant parties to actually make a decision!
Each time I ask myself: “what have I learnt from this experience?” and what can I do differently next time? Never mind, the next one will be different again, with different problems …
Anyway, I have now switched the computer off and returned to me workbench where the other half-finished projects are in need of attention.
I am currently working on something that I am calling “The other face of the moon”. It consists of a number of glass pyramids with mirrors and old glass photographic negatives bonded inside. I had originally intended to submit this for the Summer Exhibition at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen but, I was unable to finish it in time due to the additional work I created for myself when I changed my mind along the way.
It is now almost finished – the mirrors have been stripped and etched, the glass negatives bonded and I’ve fitted some adjustable rod stoppers to the base in order to have a cable passing through to hang them all together.
I have also turned my attention to a final work that will incorporate TLCs. I find weather maps showing the passage of winds and storms intriguing with the way that they constantly change in real time and it is these that have inspired the design for this work.
I have taken a 1 second snapshot of one of these and traced the image that will be used as a stencil for etching the glass. In the lamination, I will add lines painted with TLCs that will react to different temperature ranges to create a certain kind of dynamic in the composition.
It is strange how these images now seem all so familiar with the latest news of hurricanes and storms across the Caribbean and the UK.
