Today I decided that at six days into my residency (how did that happen?!), it really was time to sit down and study the photos I’ve taken and the sketches I’ve made so far.
Art materials are dead cheap here. I got a whole rainbow of fine-liners in a shop on campus for about £2! I also have several big sheets of really good quality paper, as it was being offered free in one of the installations at the Rockbund Emerging Artists show yesterday. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth and all that.
I’ve had a glorious day of cutting and collaging and gathering my thoughts together for the Water Town project. It’s made me remember the luxury that a residency provides – time to just let things happen, time to play. With a constant slew of deadlines when I’m at home, that just doesn’t happen often enough.
I’ve made umpteen collages, many of them dealing with the abundance of lines, stripes, sticks, towers and heights in the landscape. Yesterday’s late afternoon visit to the top of the Oriental Pearl Tower (350 metres up) has clearly had an effect on me and perhaps that ride on the rollercoaster insider the tower (no, I’m not joking) scrambled my head a little bit… but where would an artist be without a little bit head scrambling?! Isn’t that why I’m here?
