So much to write about, and where to start?
The opening weekend of Drawing Songs went well. I had some lovely conversations on the opening evening, some very positive feedback about the drawings and the songs, and much discussion about that combination, the blurring of edges and so on. Good stuff. On Sunday afternoon I performed some of the songs with Michael Clarke (writer, producer, musician, friend) and it was really lovely to sing to the drawings – who knew that was a thing? It really felt like I was saying thank you to them. We had a small but beautifully formed audience, restricted of course by space and covid, but actually it made the whole experience very intimate, casual, friendly and caring. I must confess to having a little emotional moment. I had been nursing a cold and sore throat for about a week, but it all came well in the end. No high notes were missed, although some of the lower ones could be described as sexily croaky (my own description, ha!)
I have sold quite a few of the limited edition CD/lyric book packages already – feedback is good too – very gratifying!
Much interest in the drawings… but no sales yet. However I do understand that buying art is a very special, specific thing… I may sell none of them. It would be nice, but I am a realist.
The big thing for me is seeing the project come to this point, to see this body of work and hear it, all together in one place, to assess it and move forward from here.
I have one eye on the fact I have to evaluate this for the Arts Council. So I have been looking at my original proposal. Have I done what I said I would do? Yes. Most definitely. But what is terrific is the big chunk of MORE that I have achieved. It has exceeded all my expectations by miles. I have a pile of things to look at, more songs to write, a couple of drawing adventures to continue, contacts to follow up, conversations to continue.
I have an artist talk online if you would like to listen to that, a conversation with Bill Laybourne in my studio, a few weeks ago, as I was pulling it all together.
https://soundcloud.com/elena-thomas/field-works-extract-intro
Bill will be working with me next Saturday afternoon on a live drawing session with sounds from Bill, based on the songs – collaborative, improvised – a bit daunting to do this with an audience, but I am looking forward to it. If you’d like to join us in Stourbridge for that please book through Eventbrite
I’m also doing a workshop for people to join in with the fun, on 4th November in the afternoon. You can book here
The gallery is open 11-4, Wednesdays to Sundays, until November 7th. If you would like to come and these times don’t work, please get in touch and we can maybe make an appointment out-of-hours.
