I’ve had a really good day at university today – it was an art exchange day when we got to work in the studios and get feedback from other students and all the fine art lecturers. It was initiated in an attempt to encourage students to fill in the National Student Survey but it has resulted in the lecturers taking on board our enthusiasm for it to happen more often. It was particularly important for us part timers as we don’t get a studio space and consequently it is rare to see anything other than a small work, images on laptops or a journal from other students. We were given a space for the day and I worked on my ‘painting in the attic’ – moving it on a step further – you can read more about this project on a previous post on 18 Dec last year.
I have made the decision to carry out a forensic investigation of the ‘man in a boat – painting in the attic’ by scraping away the oil paint to reveal……. well who knows!
What will remain is a trace I hope – just like the trace that’s left, of that 16 year old girl, me, who painted it fifty years ago! I am collecting the pigment that I take away in a matchbox.
It is a very meditative process and will take me a long time as the painting is 60 cms square. But the process feels right for the work – peeling back the years to see what fragments and traces of memory remain. A narrative is forming, part truth/part fiction and I can envisage a performance piece coming from this contemplative practice – maybe this will form part of my degree show? It feels an exciting place to be – a place of discovery and not really knowing what is going to happen next! I had very positive feedback from four lecturers and a number of students – it just makes all the difference when you get external verification of your work – I have been working away and rather doubting the process but now I know I am on the right track! It was suggested that I film myself working on the painting, so next weekend I will get hold of a camcorder and make a start.
Over the weekend you will find me scraping away in my studio for a few hours a day at least!
