Restarted

It’s been a rubbish week… well, it probably hasn’t, but just one thing overshadowed everything else and I felt like packing it all in.
I got the reject email from an open exhibition I’d entered.
It was particularly depressing because I wanted it to be the start of showing this new body of work I had.
I had worked so hard on this particular piece. I worked on it constantly and checked it in different lighting positions, adding , changing until I was completely happy with it.
I honestly felt confident about showing it.
Picking it up yesterday, with all of the other jaded entrants, I skulked home leaving it in a bag til much later when I had the guts to take a long hard look at it.
Should I have painted it differently? Added more colour? Less colour ? …  I went through all of the options but I couldn’t find what I could change.
They just didn’t like it . End of.

I seem to be just wading through things at the moment, unable to shift a cold which has left me with a fuzzy head and aching body. When is it going to go away ??

Its been quite a busy 10 days or so, since I last posted so I wanted to put it down on here so I can keep some sort of diary.

The postcard exhibition I’m in at Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield has been on since 10 January,  which is good that some of my work is out there.  They’re very good on social media too for people who can’t get to see the exhibition.

I have been painting quite a bit – every day in fact, which is a achievement for me! Though, I’ve also had a lot of Admin to do, which is a pain in the backside..

Liverpool National Museums (NML) sent me service agreements for the 3 workshops I’ll be running for them this year. Each agreement was 13 pages long – quite a task to read with a woolly head, but each basically saying not to set fire to the building or kill any of the participants. I’ve signed and sent off all 3.

As well as the signed agreements, they wanted an image for their website to promote the first workshop –upcycled jewellery 

This of course meant that I had to spend a day or so making samples of jewellery so that they could pick an image . They picked the simplest to make jewellery image after all that  (see link above)  but that’s fine. I’ll have to make a pile more samples nearer the date so that the participants can choose what they want to make rather than me doing a workshop teaching just one thing.

I haven’t sent off the application form for the open studio yet as I had to sort photos and build a website. That took ages and as I’m still waiting for the domain name to kick in, I can’t post a link yet. I’ve gone for the cheapest option for the website itself as no one really looks at them do they?

My poor aged laptop has been on fire the last week or so, so I hope there’s no more form filling or website building for a while.

Off to dose myself up again now and hopefully do some work…

Belated Happy New Year !

Mine has started off a bit stressful and panicky – but all self inflicted.  Mostly to do with studio space…or lack of in my case.

Being on a low income at the moment, I absolutely cannot justify paying out for a studio space – especially if I’m not using it 24/7.  I’ve  managed so far using the spare room in my house – which is also a dumping ground, a bedroom for the occasional guest and a place where things mysteriously end up.

Its not ideal I know, but up til now hasn’t been a major problem.

My aim this year ( I won’t call it a resolution) is to get my work out there and not to just plod along as I usually do.

So my interest was sparked when I received an email about the open studio tour happening in summer, asking if I would like to apply.

My own space is not an option. I don’t particularly want people traipsing though the house and also I don’t live within walking distance of the other studio venues.   People won’t travel , we know that.

A friend of mine, in the same position as me,  opened up her house / cum studio space a few years ago for the tour and apart from nosey neighbours wanting to snoop round, she got very few visitors.

So, I’ve spent an enormous amount of time sending emails and posting on social media asking for help in finding a venue.  Finally – just yesterday, I was offered a room .  Its actually in the community space of the church where I had my last installation.  There are at least 10 artists that I know of so far, who are in the immediate area, so that’s worked out really well.

Having got over that hurdle, I’ve now got to work on getting prints and cards made AND start a new website.  So much work…. I just hope its worth the time and expense.

In other news, a bit of a disaster with my last painting.  To save cash, I’ve heavily reworked old-ish  canvases rather than use new ones. One was already in a frame, so . not being able to find my roll of masking tape ( hidden under the junk in my ‘studio’ ) I used what I think was gaffer tape to cover the frame to save getting splashed on.

All seemed fine until I tried the take the tape off.  It was stuck fast. Although I managed to peel of sections of it, It left a nasty residue.  I just couldn’t believe what I’d done !

I spent ages doing internet searches on how to remove adhesive, then spent a whole day rubbing it down with white vinegar, using a hairdryer ( that’s a good tip by the way) and lots of sandpaper.  All this took of most of the original paintwork, so I could have left it unmasked after all.

My job today is to try to paint the frame without damaging my artwork.

Lessons learnt and all that….