It just happens to be the way that things have fallen this week, the week that would have been half term week. I don’t live by that calendar any more. I’ve got something planned every day, work (paid… woohoo!), training (paid for… woohoo again!), a trip to Liverpool, to see my youngest son (hurrah!), and calling in at the Tate to see Wendy Williams for the first time since COLONIZE in Jamestown (yippee!). Good job I’ve got my voice back, because I have lots to talk about on all these occasions.
Never happy though are we? I am positively ITCHING to get into the studio for some serious making time. I have work to finish, and work to start, and some experimenting to do with some baby clothes and wire. A friend (the aforementioned “H”) peered over my shoulder in the charity shop (she can do this easily, I am short, she is tall) and muttered “Is there something you have to tell me?” as I bought baby clothes. “No,” said I “I’m just one of those mad old bats that buys baby clothes”. I was given a strange look and served quickly.
Certain types of baby clothes must be bought when they are seen, because they are rare… I call them blanks. A while back I bought a plain white cotton shirt for a 9 month old… no adornment whatsoever. This is the one I have used for heart protecting purposes. The event above made me extremely excited… a plain white knitted jumper, two buttons across one shoulder. No adornment of any sort, for a six-month old baby, 70p! bargain! I am unsure what I will do with it… I have a couple of ideas, but it will sit folded neatly on my studio table, next to the neatly folded bras, until I find the right thing. I am experimenting with all sorts of wire framing to make these garments stand up on their own. Three dimensional, but uninhabited.
I don’t know why uninhabited has become important. I have in the past made headless stuffed bodies to insert in the suspended garments. Now, being able to see inside seems relevant, but I know not why… I expect that will turn up later. These things usually do. And I don’t want these garments suspended either… no movement, still, standing independently.
Half-formed ideas float around my head, trying themselves on with other ideas… eventually finding a fit…
