A whole month has flown past without thinking to reflect on what has been going on. It is all too easy to let other things and other LIFE STUFF take over from your practice. Worrying about money and jobs and opportunities and submissions and so on can detract from the making – guilty of this lack of balance, I need to regain some control.
I find being part of a collective is helping keep in touch with others in a way that I can really contribute – it is keeping me with a focus, although it may not be making actual work, I feel I am making something. We have meetings about once a month – we are quite business like in some ways but fluid and responsive to each other. I like it a lot and have a shared feeling of responsibility for making things happen and creating a successful enterprise.
I debated entering the RSA open this year – usually I don’t make work which tends to get accepted. So, I reasoned that I shouldn’t enter for its own sake. However, I decided to use one piece I created in Iceland, that at the time felt it had potential for an exhibition such as this. And it did – so it is on show now. I suppose the potential this opportunity has could be really worthwhile not just in the short-term but further down the line.
However, the best development (and what has been keeping me busy) is the preparation of a number of pieces of work for a buyer I met last year. I’m lucky to have someone so interested in my work that has committed to these works. It has been a learning curve working on something a bit different which has taken more time than originally anticipated – which in itself is something to bear in mind for the future. I could have ended up spending a lot more time and resource than I wanted to – I reckon having the knowledge and experience to make a correct proposal is key to avoid selling yourself short. But this comes with practice and on the whole it’s been worthwhile. Installation date for the majority of works is this week, which is a fine ending to the year.
