Time waits for no one…
So many people who write blogs start their posts with references to time – how much time has passed since last writing, how inconceivable it is that it’s been so long and so on. I remember someone once saying to me how irritating it was and I sort of understood what they mean – who cares how busy you’ve been – people log on to read your recent blog post, not to hear how desperately busy, busy, busy you’ve been …
That said, a major house move six months ago, means I have been – exceptionally so! – and it’s got in the way of me being able to manage everything in the way I’d like. I haven’t written here for a while and I’ve missed it, particularly my usual end/start of a new year post which I always enjoy writing. It’s a time of year when I like to touch base here – to reconnect with an artist/blogger community that I’ve now been communicating with for the best part of 10 years. Recent responses to an article written by Stuart Mayes, Elena Thomas and myself about our experiences of long-term blogging was a positive reminder that we’re still connected – artist bloggers from the past, as well as people who are new to it on the a-n blogging forum. If you’re interested, you can read the a-n Q&A article (published last summer) in the link below. Thanks to Stephen Palmer for making it possible.
I sometimes feel slightly evangelical when I start on the merits of blog writing but once again, I find myself so grateful to the artists who encouraged me to start on this journey. Yesterday, when I started the process of updating my website, it reminded me how thoroughly this blog captures what I do – the coincidental stuff like visiting galleries, other artists’ studios, outside art trails, for example. Maintaining a blog for me is a substitution for keeping a notebook. I use the space for recording new ideas, some of which only occur to me in the process of writing – ideas to be developed, talks I’ve attended, new artists I’ve come across, the research I need/want to do, the conversations I’ve had and so on – an endless list of information, hard to retain in my head.
It feels good to be back and I’m looking forward to a positive start to 2022 through being part of a group show ‘Still life with Flowers’ at Rye Art Gallery, which opens on January 29th. To accompany her solo show, (details below) Paula MacArthur has selected works by nine contemporary artists in response to flower paintings from the gallery’s permanent collection.
https://www.ryeartgallery.co.uk/exhibitions-events
