I started another big painting in the last few days. Back to canvas again after playing with voile for a while. Trying to get it nice and layered and raw. I like the coldness of the blanked out sections that I’ve been usingand I’ll continue on the route for a while longer and see where it takes me. I got some of the school kids to be my assistants last week. I got them priming a canvas and tearing paper and then blocking in sections. It was an interesting little experiement. They kept asking me what I would do next, my reply being something along the lines of “when I’ve done that, I generally, sit down, drink coffee and think about what I’ve just done and what I’ll do next”. I’ve sinced worked on that piece a fair bit, and they came to see the progress yesterday.
I’ve been playing around with colour too, just adding bits here and there, almost as a distraction, I’m still not sure how I feel about it having worked in black and white for so long. I think it’s more successful when I add just one small bit of colour rather than going overboard.
I’ve got a big 1 day project planned for next weeks with a big group which should be interesting and hopefully good fun. We’re gonna work from mechanical stuff and do some big drawings. There is also a trip into London planned for next week with the department so lots to do.
It’s been a busy week, but quite productive. I seem to have done lots, but at the same time, nothing seems to have got done.
I took some small pieces into London on Saturday for the artswork open, they were both selected which was nice. I think that is the first open that I’ve ever been selected for, after entering loads over the last 4 years. I also went to the Saatchi to see Abstract A merica. First time I’d been to the new space and I was impressed. The floors were really nice, but in all fairness, so was the show. It was good to see a variety of paintings. It was a bit of a flying visit, so I’ll go again soon. I recommend it if you like painting though.
I had a meeting with a teacher from another school on Monday, gonna be doing a project with some of their year 10’s and staff. Should be fun, but I’m not sure what to expect from their kids. Tuesday’s Tate trip was fun, it was interesting just talking to the pupils around the gallery and trying to get their responses to the work. i think it was the first time that most of them had been to a gallery. I found myself saying “why don’t you get closer to the work so you can see it better” a lot. All in all it was a good day. Quite tiring though!
I’m off to Pitt Rivers in Oxford in a bit with the art department to plan our ideas for the summer school. Should be a good afternoon.
I think I was trying too hard with my work, and overcomplicating things, but that was probably an important phase to go through. I kept adding things to the canvases, extra frames, bits of hardboard etc. Since my last post, I've been pretty productive making what are essentially 'just' paintings. Instead of using other objects to make layers and boundaries, I've used paint. Fancy that!
I'm still obsessed with the use of translucent fabric, I don't think transparent materials would have the same effect, or work as well due to the fact that the semi-see-throughness is a bit of a tease as to what is obscured, with the occasional hole cut away for a bit of clarity. Saying that, I'll be working with perspex next week. I've done some really small versions too (30cm x 30cm) which are nice little objects. These pieces of work do have a tendancy to look a little bleak and maybe clinical, and there is a wanting for me to put some of that energetic mark-making back into the surface somewhere. They do look like they've moved on somewhat over the last few months though, always a good thing.
