It’s been a pretty good week. I have been selected for the open show at the Surface Gallery in Nottingham which was a nice suprise, I only found out on Tuesday so it was a bit of a rush to get my 2 pieces up there. The private view is this Thursday, so I’ll get to sample a bit Nottingham for the first time in my life which is nice. The show runs until the 7th of August. I’m interested to see the other work that was also selected, I’m not really sure what to expect. I’m happy that I got into the show though, and there may have been some dancing in the studio when I found out.
Other than that, I’ve just been trying to get my work done. I’ve continued to work on cellophane and now also polyethene sheets too. They are just big floating sheets at the moment on my wall, but it’s a nice surface to work on and I feel that I’m getting a lot out of working in this way. I seem to have somehow began working with acrylics rather than oils recently, and I’ve been using cracking medium, which is a cracking thing to play with (sorry :)) It really works well, but I’ll probably discover soon that it is just an effect and that I’m using it for the novelty value. I’ve also been experimenting with egg tempera, and that cracks too, it’s nice and easy to make.
I’m doing the summer school at school this week, which will involve me running workshops, and one of them is based around using and making egg tempera, so that will be a fun/interesting experience.
I’ve been feeling very tired over the last week or so, I guess I’ve been pretty busy though. Last week was the project with the Noble school kids in Stevenage, I did a one day drawing/painting workshop for the 20 kids and staff. It was good fun, but I tend to pack a lot in and move very quickly through these things to keep everyone interested and on their toes. It was also very hot and I didn’t get much time for coffee. It was a great day though, and the work produced by the kids was pretty outstanding for year 10 kids. My housemates had the bbq going when I got home which was nice.
I joined the rest of the art department in London on Thursday to plan projects/get ideas for next year. We looked at some buildings, galleries and the Design Museum. The Raven Row gallery was my highlight, some really good stuff in there.
I then ventured back to Bath/Bristol on the weekend as it was my birthday, I intended to see the Banksy show, but the cider proved too much of a distraction. I was also pretty preoccupied by my project/assignment thing I’d been working on since November. This was due in on Tuesday. It is part of the HertsCam Teacher – Led Development Work Programme, my was called ‘Exploring the two way process of inspiration for an Artist in Residence’. Several other members of staff from the school also did projects and we had to present them on Tuesday night. There was a buffet too and i ate far too much. It was an interesting thing to do, and not too time consuming (unless you leave it to the last minute). It was a pretty hefty spiral bound thing in the end with lots of photos. I had some interesting conversations with people about artists in schools at the network event on Tuesday.
Back to my own artwork, I’d visited Kettles Yard last week, and saw some work on cellophane by Karla Black, this got me thinking about my own work, so I bought a roll of cellophane-like stuff and have it suspended in the middle of my studio. I’ve been working on it for a day or so, alongside a painting on canvas. I like the potential that this stuff could offer me, especially after working on translucent material. The paint and scribbles are floating in the studio. Unfortunately, I can’t get a good photo of it due to the transparent nature and the lighting, but I’ll keep trying.
