I woke up worrying about frames this morning. I may have to show the large ones as they are but the smaller ones look so much better finished off with a frame. Also some of the works were done on canvas stapled to a drawing board so they need backing too. I feel a bit stuck at the moment and its stressing me out. I decided to stay at home today and ended up blitzing the kitchen-its wonderful how avoiding 1 problem can result in getting overdue housework done!!!
Tried to bite the bullet today and make a start on framing my canvases. Woodwork is not really my thing and never has been so I was a bit apprehensive to do the first saw cut. I have the wood I want-“No Naills” and panel pins-hammer and saw and tape measure. BUT I discovered today that my stupid body won’t cooperate. Reconstruction surgery following mastetomy for breast cancer has left me too weak to saw the wood-At this point I could say a number of things but not sure what is acceptable on this blog site-I’m sure you have some idea!!!
Not sure what I will do as I dont really want to present work unfinished but can’t afford to pay to have them framed.
Hoping for a miracle!!! Or a knight on a white horse-(the horse of course is optional!!!)
I must say life is getting more hectic by the day!!! I had a meeting today and have arranged an exhibition at Aspex Gallery Portsmouth from May 5th to mid June. This exhibition goes up the day after I have to move out of studio 22 at ASP!!! So I will be taking one show down and putting another up-Oh that sounds familiar-The year of my MA final show was the same-a big exhibition taken down the same weekend as our MA show went up!!! At the other end the exhibition at Aspex comes down at the same time as our Clay Station exhibition at Portsmouth Cathedral-so as you can see its all go.
Time is zipping past and my GASP exhibition is looming-there is also an opportunity to exhibit work as part of the Lost Hour event in Portsmouth -at GASP. I started a piece of work today and hope it will be ready in time!
My exhibition work from the residency is coming along-I have tried not to start any other pieces as they won’t have time to dry!!! I am now approaching another learning curve-how to finish and frame my work. I have spent quite a significant amount of money on materials so far and do not have the finances to pay for someone else to frame the pieces so I will attempt to do it myself-any help will be very much appreciated!!!
The selection of wood is just too much at the local B&Q. I took all the measurements with me but I was not in the mood to make decisions-I have an image of what I want and I’m sure I’ll get there!!!
I returned the following day with my husband and did manage to buy a few pieces to get me started-woodwork is not my thing so I will need to take a deep breath and just go for it!!! Wish me luck.
I am teaching ceramics at WEA for the next 2 days but will grab a few hours to make a start-and will photograph the process!!!
Bit of a delay in blogging as up to my eyes in stuff-husband away in Oman, son buying his first house, Clay Station business. But I have been working! Just no time to blog. So here’s a bit of a catch up.
My kind studio neighbour helped me stretch my big canvas-6foot by 6foot 3 inches-lovely. I put several layers of gesso on-2 white and 2 black. I have made a good start on the piece but still have work to do on it. I am a bit concerned that it will be dry by the exhibition-the paint is layered on and is quite thick-I guess I may have to make some “Wet paint” signs if the paintings are still wet!!!
As I arrived at the Omega Centre the other day for a Clay Station session there were scaffolders setting up scaffold around the chimney. I spoke to the man in charge and asked if they would sponsor me by providing scaffolding for my big big piece-and-result! they are happy to supply scaffold as long as I advertise their company-I just have to work out now exactly what I need
I have also done some striped canvases and am thinking of a striped piece for the lost hour exhibition (a Portsmouth wide event about the hour we lose when the clocks change)—this would consist of 60 stripes,each stripe representing each minute of the lost hour.I’m not sure if it would be possible but I am going to attempt to complete the work in 1 hour-a stripe a minute.
Tomorrow I have to teach my ceramics class at the WEA and Wednesday I will be on a First Aid course all day-I will try to get to the studio at some point tomorrow as I have to work on the large canvas before the paint dries.
All for now-more soon.
Another week has flown by and I feel I am hurtling towards the end of my residency-I have 2 months left and I know it will go quickly-There is so much I still want to do.
I have a number of smaller canvases which I keep layering paint on to-I guess I will know when they are finished-I will take note from Richter here, he states a work is finished when nothing disturbs him and he has no idea what more to do to the work. The problem I have is that there are now so many canvases and they are all wet-I am rapidly running out of room!!!
I have arranged to meet with my studio neighbour in the next couple of days who kindly said he would help me to stretch my big canvas. Knowing that that is my next work I have been a bit hesitant to start anything else -I am itching to start on the new canvas and I know I will feel a lot better when I get going. I have felt a bit stuck for a few days now so looking forward to the new work.
