Nobody needs to see another ‘woodcarving in progress’ or ‘mould being cast’ shot, so I’ll spare you the pain this week.
Strangely, there’s more to see on that front now than before, as the carving is suddenly starting to take shape and the first plaster cast is curing upside down over a bin in the sculpture room. One tutor was excited by the prospect of casting Phil in some frilly, floral, fragrant material, as a counterpoint to his masculinity, which immediately brought back memories of standing behind a table at some farmer’s/craft market or other, surrounded by ladies peddling their chi-chi handmade soaps. Hence why I then said I didn’t know how I felt about rubbing a soap Phil into my armpits. For this very reason, it must now happen.
I do like the idea of setting up a stall at the local farmer’s market with extravagantly expensive, extraordinarily creepy life-sized soap busts complete with a bit of raffia around their necks for that ‘country’ touch.
What I’ll actually do isn’t yet set in soap (had to do it!) but I’ll see how the first plaster casts go and fiddle around with their placement. I’m so glad to have started carving again though, I didn’t realise how much I’d missed it! I’m still slacking with my painting, but half term’s approach means the chance to hole up in the house and actually paint myself into a corner. Kid-free time means time to concentrate, and I only get a significant chunk of it during these half-term breaks. I’ve got plenty lined up to fill the time, and here’s a bit of it –
Assembling a document for the Professional Practice module containing 3 CVs, 2 artist case studies and a summary of my own activity;
Creating a slide presentation about my practice as well as a portfolio for the aforementioned module;
Writing an essay on curation to accompany the heavily weighted Identity, Synthesis and Exhibition module;
Writing a proposal for the same module outlining work to be made for the exhibition;
Completing a tight second draft of the dissertation;
Finishing the statement for my MA applications.
Apart from doing the actual paintings, of course. And some other domestic stuff I can think of now but I know won’t get done.
It’s also occurred to me that after getting frustrated and backing away from the fundraising aspect of the degree show preparation, there’s been next to nothing done by anyone else, apart from saying they’ll get everyone showing on site to cough up £20. On top of that, getting the funding together for the show is a part of the unit brief. It’s making me itch a bit… I want to set up a site for the show and ask the others to contribute their content to that, and at least that should give us a bit more momentum. I’ve had to admit that this wasn’t what I had in mind for our show, but I’ll make the best of it. We do have our catalogue to be getting on with at least. My job in that sphere is as editor (best possible job for an apostrophe pedant) and I’m supposed to be liaising with our ‘graphics girl’ to set up a template to make it as easy as possible for everyone to pitch in. The problem is, I don’t want to end up with too much more to do, but if I don’t do it, I’m not sure who will.
