The past few weeks have been rather manic, to say the least. I have completed the summer intensive part of the Artist Teacher Scheme, an experience I found intensely liberating and also intensely emotional; I wanted to cry for several days on returning to work and had an in-depth discussion with my manager. Having coffee with my friend, soul sister and partner in crime Claire this morning, she pointed out that there is no going back – I can’t un-know this amazing experience. It is now settling and I have begun to process it, and I now need to find the way forward.
So Claire and I have been planning; just some small community events to start with, which will hopefully lead into some longer-running projects which will begin to build my profile as an artist, and Claire’s community play initiative, Your Turn.
As well as my plans for community art initiatives, I also have to produce 100 pieces of work by Saturday 3rd September, when we return to uni to start the second phase of the ATS, continue working on my TEA Sketchbook Circle books, go to work, and be a single mum.
I have cleared my dining table so I can work on the large gestural drawings which are my current interest, and which I started exploring in Sarah Goudie’s Drawing in Space workshops on the ATS. I am also exploring ideas about adding and taking away, asserting and obliterating, ebb and flow, a reflection of life on a piece of paper. I have been using pastels, charcoal and graphite, enjoying the physical involvement in the drawing process, the gestures and the tactile drawing materials, the sound of the drawing. I am fascinated by the rhythmic, hypnotic sounds of the materials on the paper, and have made a recording.
I’m not sure where I’m heading with this yet, so I am having to trust in the process and not worry about what the outcome will be.
