After a solid week of setting up, I was ready (with assistance!) just as our opening evening party got started last night!
The space I had – the marquee – although I’d known the measurements was much larger than I’d anticipated. Good job I have a lot of work to fill it! I have work filling the marquee and spilling out into the large garden – writing in the grass, on the flowers, stones, hedges and trees. I’d even left my watercolours and brushes out from Monday’s busy intervention in the garden. The gardener will be coming across writing in the leaves all autumn!
Because I’d got hung up on the idea of a Bathe in Ignorance installation in the form of a dome and the reality being I couldn’t get it to look sleek from the outside on my limited budget. This is one for funding, except I need to develop the work on and it stalled at the initial idea stage and hit a wall when I discovered my tipi worked, yet no finance to fund its development (was working on a funding application before the summer holidays.
I am also swearing to myself never to open a show in September, until my son is older, the run up to a show over the 6 week school holidays just doesn’t work and I want to be focussed on family and friends (plus any spare time I want to be painting and drawing, not stressing over organising).
I am very glad of the practical help I have had from family, from Jill Barneby at The Print Shed, from my tutor Allison Neal for a good talk through when I really needed it, Kate Morgan-Clare for her ear and advice, Viv and Ant Barraclough for loan of equipment and an Andy and Trevor for loan and help erecting scout tent that is more like a marquee and display boards.
This just goes to show, you can’t easily show without the support people around and I now owe many a favour to replenish my favour bank!
