I’ve been back from Athens 6 days now but have only just got round to packing away work from exhibitions I had in February and March.
If it had been in my studio it would have been fine, but it wasn’t – it was spread throughout the house, making my life seem even more chaotic.
It does feel good to have that day of getting organised. One lesson I (should have) learnt this year – is to be prepared and ready. Have works , not currently being worked on, packaged up and stored. To have tools all in their correct place (not in the kitchen drawer or under the bed ) and to have paperwork up to date. Yes, that reminds me, I haven’t touched my own web site for months. Really wish someone would do it for me :-(
Athens though…. despite the chaos of getting ready for it … (being in work up to the last minute) … was well worth the effort. Its good to be out of your comfort zone – in a different environment. To be almost constantly with your work and answering questions about it. It really makes you think about why you’ve done something.
It was good to see so much other work too and talking to the artists about it.
I showed my ceramics , mixing them with discarded wood. I had a lot of positive feedback and it made me want to explore other avenues – mixing old and new materials.
Its a month till the next exhibition, which is meant to be in response to the Athens trip, but my head is still blank. Its taken me a while to get over the trip – not just me, but the others felt the same. I don’t know if it was the heat, or the fact that we were on the go daily from early morning to last thing at night… or maybe it was just the constant stimuli? But we’ve all been exhausted .
I should be buzzing with ideas and enthusiasm, but I’m not and that’s worrying. Getting organised has at least made me feel like I’ve achieved something this week. The next thing I really need to do, is fill in this request form to drop a day in work, so that I’m down to 4 days a week. I’ve had it for a month and although I desperately need more time to myself, its that fear of not having enough to live on.
Once that decision is made, I can’t go back.
Read more about the Athens trip on my other blog :
https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/connecting
