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My friend and fellow artist has been following our blog. I sat down for a coffee with her the other day and she said she is finding the blog very hard to follow.

I’ve been trying to figure out why because it makes sense to me. But I think it may be because we flit between the present and the past and of course I’ve been there throughout so it has significance to me. But I’m not sure.

I don’t know if there is anything we can do about it this early on though as we couldn’t just start a blog from now, we have to give some background information. I also think as we are all very busy at the moment and can’t dedicate a lot of time to this blog right now it isn’t moving on and developing as we would have liked.

I feel that I haven’t got enough hours in the day and this ‘maybe’ project gets shoved to the bottom of the list when I’m busy. It doesn’t stop me thinking about it and although I probably sound disheartened I’m not, I’m still as enthusiastic and excited as before. It’s just the one thing I really hate about my work, how unpredictable the job is and how it can go from one extreme to the other in a matter of weeks. I know it’s better to be at this end of the spectrum but right now I have to much to do and to little time to do it in and so once again something has to be put on hold.

I’ve been thinking about how I write this blog and how it differs from my own. I think the main way it really differs from mine is that I try to consider what Elena and Franny would think about what I’m writing. We had agreed to write whatever we wanted but I can’t help it, it’s just different when it’s a joint blog. I think I’ve come up with a way I can overcome this though. I write much more freely in my emails to Elena and Franny so I think I’m going to try talking directly to them in the blog and see if this helps.

Also I want to share more about what I want to do but have been worried about writing anything in case this isn’t theway I go. Well I’m just going to say whats happening when it happens like I do in my own blogs.

That’s it for now, Franny and Elena, I’ve been missing our email chats but I just haven’t had time to catch up. It makes me want to give up the ‘only internet’ communication but I think we could really do something with it. When this month is over I should have time to breathe and catch up. I’ve been thinking about different ways of communication again and maybe I want to explore different ways of documenting our conversations. Dvd? Voice recording? Or still the written word but maybe in different forms…

I want to make lists.

I think I’ve been inspired by the last artist in residence at the Comma shop where I am now because I want to mix things up and put them back together but not necessarily just words!!

If only I had the time.

Julie


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A bit of harking back….

Franny’s words that make me go aha! Include:

Mantra

Security blanket

Mirror the past

Found and made

Memories

Repetitiveness

Authenticity

Struggle between control and letting go….

Julie’s words that make me go hmmmm! Include:

Landscape with words

Recycle

Delicate and intricate

No use pretending I’m something that I’m not.

Engulfed and overwhelmed

Knuckle down, get cracking…

Breathing

Joy

These were from ages ago, and I jotted them down in my Franny-and-Julie sketchbook.

I seem to have been struck by combinations of words about their work, and words about how they work, and words about how they think.

I feel some sort of Franny/Julie/Elena Venn diagram coming on…. We might have to do that when we’re together?

Geography then…

Julie > Franny = 241.1 miles (4hr 4m)

Julie > Franny Via Elena = 263.2 miles (4hr 43m)

Julie > Elena = 101.5 miles (1hr 53m)

Franny > Elena = 162.2 miles (including a chunk of the M25)

(numbers courtesy of AA website)

Avoiding motorways takes longer, but distance is shorter.

I feel the need to document all sorts of bizarre facts such as :

How many Tesco express stores between Julie and Franny?

How many times do we cross bridges?

Which is the best tea shop along the route?

Which is the best pub along the route?

How many times do we turn right/left?

Worrying huh?


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‘I’m in for a penny in for a pound!

I don’t have anything to add really, I agree with everything you say’.

Julie


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I wrote this in response to Julie’s post, in an email. We obviously all have our worries…

Ok…
> When I started working with ******, we said right from the start we would always tell each other what we were thinking and feeling, and if things weren’t going how we wanted, we would say so. Open and honest. This has worked. There’s been the occasional moment when we might have felt awkward saying so, but if it said kindly and politely, and received in the same way, with a sense of respect and good will and humour, that’s fine. I think when you meet someone new, and start working with them, you don’t have a history to base any guesses on, so you need to be told.
> So how about we do the same? This might work really well, it might not, but the finding out is fun. If we know that the other two people will not harbour a grudge, we’ll do ok. We might have to explain why we think things, or why we don’t like things, or why we DO like things. Don’t make presumptions, don’t assume the other people can tell what you’re thinking. We can agree that right now, we are a democratic organisation! Unless all 3 of us agree, we don’t do it.
> I promise you will know what I’m thinking, and I promise to be kind, and respectful.
>
> I chickened out… I was thinking I’d post this on the blog, but I didn’t. If one of you would like to do it instead, that’s ok!
> e

After a bit of discussion, and removing names to protect the innocent, I’ve posted it after all.

I like emails. I’m a bit thick sometimes when it comes to picking up signals from body language, so I like the fact you have to be straight and explicit and clear about your message.

So…are we writing some sort of constitution/manifesto here? haha!


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I have been considering the road trip idea. These where the first thoughts on the idea of meeting up:

I’d love a road trip adventure with you both…

I’d love to show you around Liverpool…

I’d love to visit art galleries with you…

I’d love to show you my work and see some of yours…

I’d love to chat for hours over coffee…

Seconds later…

It suddenly feels very real…

This on-line version of me is much more outgoing than the real me…

Oh no what am I doing?

What if I can’t think of anything to say…

What if everything changes…

What if this isn’t the beginning but instead is the end…

Then in a mad panic I emailed Elena and Franny convincing myself that meeting up too soon would change the dynamics of our friendship and our communication. That it may completely ruin what we’ve got

A couple of hours and a few emails later I was back to loving the idea of meeting up.

Oh what to do?…

Elena wrote:

you know what?

we can do what we like!

change our minds as often as possible I say!

As for the project, ideas are swirling in my head still. I’m just stuck on how to develop them further than that. I always feel like this and usually find that swimming or a really good spring clean clears my head and then I can get stuck into something new. I’d rather swim but the house could do with a really good tidy so maybe that’s what I should do this weekend.

Or maybe I should just pretend I’ve tidied up and put everything in another room to make way for a messy art weekend instead!

Julie


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