The heat is really on now – all those days of thinking about what to do have gone – now it’s action time!
Construction of my exhibition space has gone to plan (Many thanks Phil, Barry and Phil – I owe you.) Some of the panels are still missing from the complete layout but it should be possible to fit them in later on. Luckily there has been little prep work to be done on the panels (some small holes to be filled, and only a few of those dreaded sticky pads to be scraped off), so, it’s paintbrush, roller and black paint time! Over the next three days the lovely white and shining lighting studio has to be transformed into a dark, mysterious space that poses more questions that it provides answers.
Can it be done? I think so, but cannot be absolutely sure. (What? Where’s your confidence gone? Get on with it, you wimp!). Mental anguish is a strange thing – you think that you’ve got it all buttoned up then, bingo, it creeps up on you and twists your guts again. What’s the problem anyway? The worst that can happen is that it won’t appear quite as you thought it might – but that’s no sweat because unless you’ve had a lobotomy no one else can see inside your head, so they will take it as they see it. There you are – problem solved!
Well here we are. The month of May has arrived and with it the awful realisation that there are now less than three weeks to go to our Opening Night. A tremendous amount of planning has taken place, and now it’s time to put it into practice. The studio spaces will soon come down and be morphed into exhibition areas, then it’s all hands to the pump to try and clean up the boards and re-emulsion them to a fine white. (Those calculations, comments, shopping lists et al. casually written up in pencil and crayon over the year will now have an annoying habit of coming back to haunt.) The problem in this instance will not be one for me to contend with (Smart Ass!) as my boards will be black, but there is probably some equally loathsome glitch about to strike. That warm glow of anticipation, for so long a comfort over those cold winter nights, is now rapidly changing into a cold sweat of dread – what if it all goes horribly wrong? Too late for all that now, teeth and buttocks clenched, and it’s over the top…. What’s that funny smell?
We’re back at college now but not that you’d notice. The third year studio is as quiet as the grave – although there was a flurry of activity yesterday (deadline for having work photographed for inclusion in the catalogue). I suspect that most people have got their heads down at home – no, I don’t mean in the pit still, I mean concentrating their efforts on their final written work, and getting themselves ready for 8th May when we all have to start preparing the studios for the exhibition itself.
The series of four are now complete, and in time honoured fashion they’ve undergone name surgery (sorry a-n editor, I know I supplied the first image as Fragment:P1 but in the overall scheme of things I think this title means more in the context of my exhibition).
The installation itself remains unchristened as yet, but no doubt some witty and pithy (no spelling mistakes here!) title will eventually detach itself from the ether and fall to earth. I just hope that it happens soon! The enigmatic titling of the modified objects will, however, not be subject to change! (Well, that’s the plan so far, although I do have two more tutorials lined up, so expect the unexpected).
Whoopee! The hard work of a couple of weeks ago seems to have paid off. Both paintings entered into the Mid Wales Open have sold; one on the opening night, the other on the first official day of the show. (Big question mark – am I charging enough?)
Work on my series of four paintings is almost complete and my final piece of written work is now well under way. However, attempting an objective analysis of my own work is proving a daunting task – just how hard can I be on myself?
I’ve marked out an area of floorspace at home for the trial construction of my installation piece. It’s strange how every time you think that you’ve got it cracked further problems rear their ugly heads. With only a month to go to the opening it really is time to get focussed (and I mean focussed!). Next week everybody else comes back again so things are bound to start buzzing again. (Manic panic all round, no doubt.) Deep breaths; stay calm; rise above it. Who are you kidding? There’s something about animal fear that’s contagious.
The weekend has been spent doing final prepwork for submission to Mid-Wales Open (check out their website www.cambriaarts.org.uk ) which kicks off on Saturday – all work safely delivered to venue yesterday pm. I also needed to get some decent images of work for the Oriel Davies Open, and complete the paperwork for that submission – in the post yesterday – and some people think that all I do all day is sit and paint!
Now back to the job in hand – my own final show.
Canvases have been stretched and gessoed ready for me to complete the series of four that I have to produce as part of my final assessment. The installation is, however, a different matter altogether. So far I seem to have amassed lights, timers, quantities of wood, a display case, oh – and plenty of good intentions. My sketch books are full of drawings, scale plans and thoughts and I’ve even built a quarter-scale maquette to try and identify possible problem areas, however there’s nothing like building full-size to bring out the gremlins.
Time to get down to it I guess. (Well at least for the time being, although those Cambrian hills certainly do look inviting!)
