“I am going to think now about how my writing is or isn’t like my making. For a little while. Until I am distracted by something shiny.”
I did. It isn’t. I don’t think.
Ooh look! Red silk!
I’m starting to wonder if someone up there has something against me being an artist. Having had a month without being able to use my right hand properly, I’ve now woken up with a severe eye infection which has rendered my right eye pretty much useless. This has had a profound effect on my vocabulary too, so apologies if anything untoward should make it as far as the page.
Bugger it.
Sewing then… oh what a joy it is to be able to pick up a needle and just go for it!
I am reminded, and am thankful for the joy I get from the feel of it. I find myself really closely thinking about it. I select a length of scarlet silk thread, and the right needle for it. I have a roughly woven piece of unbleached linen, and a smooth piece of red silk sari scrap. They make different noises in my hands as they pass between my fingers. The needle makes a popping sound as it pushes through the silk, but passes through the linen unnoticed. As the two are pulled together, you can see and feel the texture of the linen through the silk. You can see the colour of the silk through the warp and weft of the linen.
As I go about my touchy-feely business, I feel the need to read more about this sense. In my other current bit of bloggery (pix, joint blog with Bo Jones) I am discussing not-touch, and I’m working with the “unreal” digital images. However much I like them, I find them too transient, they don’t leave much memory behind. When it comes to showing them, I don’t know what to do with them at the moment. I am leaning towards some sort of projection, to keep them untouchable, but want to make something to project onto, perhaps that the viewer is able to touch, in order to manipulate the image further.
I quite like the fact that these bits of work take different forms. I start with a physical piece of fabric, and manipulate it in a physical way, by folding, cutting, pressing, stitching. Then I photograph it from every angle, so I have a variety of images and focuses. Then I manipulate the digital images, make another collage from them. Then projection – something I’ve not done in my work before. It is exciting to combine these methods.
But the thoughts behind the making seem to be heading towards the untouchable… but still sense-able… the movement of air around me, temperature, smell, sound….
