The Merry Go Round

All packed up

2009-07-03T12:41:00.006+01:00

I'm not long back from handing in my work to the Jerwood Drawing Prize. It's been one of those days where I'm feeling very unmotivated, I think it's got something to do with the heat wave that's hit London. Thankfully I had the help of lovely Joanne to give me a lift with my works to the submissions office. Otherwise I was feeling like I could just sleep for the day. Although I know that wouldn't have happened, I had to take a day of annual leave to go today, so it was now or never. But it just would have taken me a lot of strength and power of wills to get there, not to mention about 6 pairs of hands!
I really don't enjoy handing work into such things. I guess who does? Everyone is checking each others work out and I tend to feel so vulnerable showing off work that I have made. It's just such a personal thing, it makes you feel exposed in some ways. It's like you can almost hear peoples opinion forming in their minds of what they think. Paranoia and self doubt sets in and the temptation to perceive what others think can be a little destructive to say the least!!! It's all totally irrational, but my brain often doesn't take this on board. But I'm happy with the work I submitted. As I often have to remind myself...if you don't believe in your own work who will!?! There was a lot of work submitted already today at around lunch time and they still have tomorrow, so I think competition will be very high. Or maybe it's a case of quantity over quality, but I'm hoping at least one of my pieces will be chosen as a quality piece!!! So it's just the waiting game for the next couple of weeks, I'm not sure when I find out if I'm in or not, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Latest from the studio

2009-06-25T13:57:00.008+01:00

The new studio space is paying off already, not financially (yet!!!) but from a creative point of view.....It feels good.
Here's the latest!

The Hair & Heart piece is a pen drawing using thread stitched into the paper. The Heart piece below is using pen and gouache whilst also using the pinhole technique that I have often used in the past.

I'm going to put both of them up in the shop over the next few days.

New Studio Space

2009-06-22T17:25:00.000+01:00

At the moment I have an amazing amount of energy. I can't remember the last time I felt so buzzed up with lots of get up and go. Long may it last, I don't want to peak too soon. So, I'm trying to make the most of it before the beached whale look arrives and my movements look like they are in slow motion!

R & I both had a day off so we decided to rearrange the furniture...oh fun times...what an exciting life we lead! Our living room is open plan & it's quite a big long space. The thing is we tend to use about two thirds of it and the end of the room kinda gets ignored. We had a large bookshelf against the wall and beside it a few boxes and bags of art materials that have remained there since I moved out of my last studio space. I was so sick of looking at them, I like order you see and it used to drive me crazy that they didn't have a proper home. Now the bookshelf has been moved about 4 foot forward which acts like a partial room divider, I have a sneaky little desk in behind it against the window and the boxes are out of sight. It still needs some major organisation, to make it a proper working space, but it's looking and feeling good so far. The great thing is that our living area, even though it's been cut short, now works better. It feels more communal, having friends over no longer means that we are shouting at each other across the room, but it is more intimate with a proper seating area. We still need to do a few other things around the apartment (the nesting has well and truly begun!) but for the moment I'm happy to have somewhere to work that doesn't need to be packed up each time and put back in boxes.

Jerwood

2009-06-19T19:15:00.002+01:00

I've just entered the Jerwood Drawing Prize. One of the aims of this prize is to create debate around the nature, value, status and representation of drawing as a contemporary practice. So whether you view this as more traditional drawing practice with a pen and piece of paper, or endeavour to cross the boundaries of traditional technique and challenge preconceived notions of what drawing is, it is generally up for discussion and open to enter.

I had great intentions of entering this last year also, but I missed the deadline as my work for the degree show was still up. So this is the year...If you're not in you can't win as they say! Who knows, it's a long shot, but if I got accepted it would be a great confidence boost and fantastic to have my work on show. But hey, I'm getting ahead of myself...I won't find out until July, so fingers crossed. But it's just good to get back into the mindset of creating and showing work. The works I have entered are works that I had on show for the 'Seamless' exhibition I was involved in a few months back. So, I haven't actually created any new works for it, but am giving 3 works an airing and a chance to be viewed by a new audience.

R&R

2009-06-12T19:52:00.002+01:00

I just got back from 10 blissful days in Portugal! There wasn't much on the agenda apart from some major R&R (rest & relaxation) I got through 3 books, sat by the pool, that is on the days that the clouds parted and ate delicious seafood. Oh, and I even treated myself to the odd glass of vino, a woman in my condition has to live a little once in a while. But don't worry there were no renditions of 'Down at the Red Rose Cafe' in the wee hours!!
I had planned on bringing my sketchbook and some pens, but alas that didn't materialise. I have been thinking about doing a jewellery making course or getting back into knitting. Not that my knitting skills are in abundance, plain and purl is about the extent of my knitting talents. But I'm thinking it would be good to do something creative and crafty just for the fun of it...for the shits and giggles as they say.
Hope all is well wherever you may be & the sunshine is in abundance!

::roll up, roll up::

2009-05-22T17:37:00.001+01:00

Some of my small canvas drawings are now up for sale on Dwanda for sale. I'm gong to try this out for a while and see if it's a grower and if so, who knows, I may even add to the collection or begin selling various other works.
Get em while you can!!

Excuses, Excuses....

2009-05-19T09:44:00.002+01:00

Here's my excuse and a very valid one at that I think!
After weeks of nausea and fatigue, I finally feel more like me again.

Yep, looks like things are about to change around here!

Humming Birds

2009-05-18T05:21:00.003+01:00

OK, so it's been a while, a long while, there's no excuse, well there is actually but I'll explain next time! I realised that I hadn't posted a photo of my Humming Bird piece from the exhibition, which feels like eons ago. I cut the birds out individually by hand and made a sculptural piece with the birds, I wanted them to be suspended so they looked like the were gathering to make their way back into the book. So here it is....

a few more pics....

2009-04-07T20:46:00.004+01:00

The first two are pieces I have been working on since my degree show which made it into the exhibition. The images below are some of Lora's lovely stitched pieces.

Private View

2009-04-01T07:24:00.004+01:00

Just a few images of the private view on Friday. I've got quite a few so I'll staggered them over the next few days. It's always a little nerve racking putting your work out there for all to see and comment on. Lora and I were both really happy with how the show looked and we got some great feedback, so all our hard work paid off in the end!

Seamless

2009-03-27T08:07:00.000Z

Seamless

An exhibition of works by Lora Haynes and Paula McGurdy

Private View: Friday 27^th of March 2009 - 6 pm to 11 pm

Exhibition runs from: Friday 27^thof March to 2^nd of April 2009

Gallery Opening Hours: Fri, Sat, Mon, Tues, Wed: 2.30 pm - 6.30 pm

Last day of Exhibition: Thurs 2^nd of April: 11.00am to 5.00pm

Paula McGurdy Lora Haynes

Each particular instant in time is tied down, strung together by registering and mark-making; attempting to evoke as well as echo connections between people, places and time with the artists’ intricately crafted pieces.

Recent graduates of Camberwell College of Art, Lora Haynes’ and Paula McGurdy’s work conveys a sense of revisiting personal narratives by capturing fleeting moments in life. Both artists endeavor to render these permanent through the use of stitching and drawing. Utilising materials with feminine connotations such as thread and wool, both employ these materials to generate labour intensive, almost painstaking creations. The new body of work in this show examines a wide range of themes from stringing together connections and memory to the bond people form between one another and their surroundings.

Aiming to reiterate the ephemeral essence of time, Paula McGurdy, within her pieces retraces concepts of presence and absence. The carefully chosen use of delicate materials such as thread, paper and hair attempts to mirror the above notion of all things transient and thus fragile. Repetitiveness and laborious work are a particular area of interest to Paula. By using stitch as a form of drawing she aims to trap the memories of the image before they fade, crumble and disappear; the act of making becoming a memory in itself. Employing recurring imagery, the artist seeks to alter the viewers impression by re-purposing and distilling the image and more recently has been examining childhood memories, confronting the viewer with their own 'lost' childhood, and therefore their own mortality.

Different themes are explored within Lora Haynes’ work, often uniting them with the use of a commonplace medium. She attempts to examine varying forms of bonds, from those of a very personal nature to those between objects and space.

Most recently she has begun to investigate the nature of small communities, and the multi-layered relationships which form to bind individuals to one another in addition to a place. To express the above, she utilises materials made from wool, as well as felt, blankets and thread to convey associations to femininity, softness and comfort, equally hinting at the potentially more sinister undertones connoted by the very same materials.

Nearest Buses from Brixton/Camberwell: 35 (From Clapham Junction), 45 (From Kings X), 345 (From Sth Ken to Peckham), P4 (Brixton to Lewisham) Nearest Train: LoughborougJunction (Thames Link, via King X to Sutton)

Introducing the Humming Bird

2009-03-08T18:03:00.000Z

I've been looking around for the right book to use for my latest project that I'm working on, and eventually came across this beauty....

It's not finished yet...it's a work in progress shall we say & as I'm cutting out by hand, I have to do it a page at a time. Birds have been on my mind for a long time now. Mostly I've been drawing various birds & deciding on which silhouette would suit the book best. The plan is to cut through each page and make a paper sculptural piece with the birds that have been cut out.

The hearts are still mounting, but I've been having problems trying to get the same coloured pen that I had used to do the drawing with. Apparently, they don't make them in that colour anymore, which is a bit of a pain as I wanted them to be uniform and wanted to continue to do as many as possible. Looks like that's no longer possible...hey. Oh well, I've got plenty more ideas to keep me going over the next few weeks in preparation for the exhibition.

::Inspired & Tired::

2009-02-25T10:52:00.001Z

I'm still here...just keeping my head down. It's been a funny couple of months, but life is good!

Lately I've been feeling... Inspired & Tired How does that one work? Mostly the two don't go together, but it strangely seems to be working just fine for me. Well, that is up to the point when sudden sleepiness over comes me & I find my head struggling to keep away from getting nearer to the desk! Oh these dark days, bring on Spring time, I say. Over the next few days I'll post a few photos of what my inspiration has been fueling.

Rise & Shine

2009-01-22T10:41:00.001Z

Being January & all that it is almost obligatory to go on some sort of detox. I've now been detoxing for 3 weeks & yes I'm still on it. Most importantly I'm surviving...actually I'm more than surviving...I'm feeling fantastic! I have so much energy, sleeping much better and am generally feeling radiant with health. Mornings around here can often be a little slow to get started, but I've even had the odd morning of bounding out of bed, raring to go & get stuck into what the day has to offer. I've been off...alcohol, caffeine, wheat, sugar, dairy, meat & fish...I know, I know, it does sound a bit drastic, but it seems to be working a treat. Most people seem to think I'm living off lettuce leaves, but it's amazing what you can do with a tin of chickpeas! The only thing I'm really missing is my freshly brewed cup of coffee in the morning....Oh, OK then if I'm really honest... the odd glass of wine too! For the moment, my cup 'o Rise & Shine is getting me through the morning haze.

Sissors...Paper...Thread

2009-01-14T11:43:00.001Z

Still making
Still enjoying

Matters of the Heart - Part II

2009-01-09T20:24:00.001Z

I had a spurt of creativity over the Christmas holidays, it finally all started to make sense...thank the Lord!!! I've been doing the whole processing thing for so long now. Most days I had it in the back of my mind, every night going to bed thinking about my looming exhibition in March. I've been feeling so pressurized about making something, my poor worn down finger nails have hardly had a moments peace! The thing is often a lot of my back up work is done in my head, somewhere milling about, I haven't been so good at keeping sketchbooks for the last couple of years.
So hearts are back on the agenda, which I'm actually really enjoying making. I've got a little production line going on, which I do whilst watching TV in the evening all wrapped up and snug. I'm enjoying it so much that I can't seem to stop and the pile of hearts is growing by the day!

::2009::

2008-12-31T10:20:00.003Z

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas! I thoroughly enjoyed myself, eating, drinking & generally being merry.
I'll keep this short and wish you all a very Happy New Year & hope that 2009 is filled with many blessings! Thanks for visiting & see you in the new year for more blogging, rants and raves about life, the universe & of course art.

::just around the corner::

2008-12-20T12:01:00.001Z

I'm beginning to feel quite excited about Christmas, bizarre as it may sound to some, I had not realised how fast it was approaching. It wasn't until Wednesday night at my work Christmas party when everyone was wishing each other a Happy Christmas that it clicked. The next day I sat down and looked at the calender, lo and behold there it was, Christmas day inching ever closer! I'm not very good at dates & times, I wish I was, numbers in any form are not my thing! Some people are like walking calenders & I am so envious of them, bit it's just not part of my make up. I believe this has something to do with those who are creative, I base my research solely on my Mum and myself who both possess the a fore mentioned traits. There's probably some research out there, gathering dust in a library, that proves my theory...or not as the case maybe!!

So back to the point....Christmas is just around the corner, 5 days to be exact (now I'm second guessing myself) My sister & nephew are arriving on Christmas Eve and staying with R & I for a few days, which is very exciting. Not only that but we are going over to our lovely friends Foy & Joanne for Christmas day, which is almost equally as exciting! There's going to be a big crowd, plenty of good food, wine & perhaps even a song or two! But before all that happens I need to get a bit of shopping done, mostly grocery but also clean up the house for 'The Visitors', but it will have to wait until Monday as I'm working all weekend. Then it's time to embrase the festivities with as much gusto as possible!

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2008-12-18T12:16:00.000Z

From Erin

& Charlie

::a christmas moose::

2008-12-17T11:05:00.002Z

The postman is working overtime at the moment running up & down to my post box, leaving little packages of goodness. This Moose arrived from Barcelona from Silvia who has her own blog here It has to be one of my favourites so far, but each of the ornaments I received so far are so unique that it's difficult to really say, my opinion seems to change everyday. I'll post more pictures over the next few days.
One of the reasons I like this swap so much is that it makes me feel all Christmasy & brings back the magic of Christmas that I used to have as a kid. There are times I wished I was at the age when I still believed in Santa. A time where the excitement was almost too much to bear come Christmas eve. I was enthralled by the whole thing. Doing the swap both this year and last has made me realise how much I love the build up to Christmas. The fact that there are people around the globe making little ornaments & sending them out to others they don't know warms the cockles of my heart!

::Dear Santa::

2008-12-15T10:22:00.004Z

The time in my studio has come to an end all too soon. Myself & a friend of mine from college were subletting the studio for a short term let, until November. I have so many boxes of stuff that I cannot bear to throw out & we haven't as yet found a new studio, so our apartment is looking a little more crowded than normal! Although, I enjoyed having the studio, it used to take me about 40 mins to get to the there & often by the time I did I would feel slightly deflated after the London traffic. It can wear you down in an instant, particularly on crowded London buses!! So this time I'm hoping to find somewhere closer by, anything to ease the pace of life in London & of course as good value for money if not better...well I can hope!
My nephew asked me the other day what I was getting from Santa & had I sent my letter to him yet. He assured me that I could post it in any green postbox (at home they're green) it didn't have to be a special Santa postbox, but I better do it soon! I told him I was going to ask for a surprise, maybe I'll ask him for a new studio space instead. Although that could work out a little tricky sitting under the Christmas tree come Christmas morning!

::& here's one I made earlier::

2008-12-13T20:56:00.006Z

Envelopes & Ornaments

This year I sent out world peace!

::the 1st to arrive::

2008-12-11T19:43:00.009Z

So this is it...the first ornament to arrive from Karen who is from the UK....it has been hung proudly on the tree awaiting the others to join in & keep him company!
This year the swap worked slightly different than last, in that the people I sent ornaments to are not necessarily the same folk that will send them to me. It's a bit more like taking names out of a hat this time around. So I don't know who got my name...it's all one big surprise!

Hibernation

2008-12-05T12:13:00.004Z

As I type I'm snuggled under the duvet, surrounded by snotty tissues, a hot drink by my side & a hot water bottle in the bed with me. I'm feeling very sorry for myself & the only thing on my mind is the idea of curling up into a little ball and hibernating.....get the picture!?

I'll be back next week, with the latest installment of what the postman has delivered & hopefully feeling a lot better.

Matters of the heart

2008-11-26T17:23:00.002Z

I'm sitting down with a nice cup of Barrys, sometimes there's nothing like it & listening to the soft, tranquil sounds of The Cinematic Orchestra as recommended here. I'm just going over a few things, recollecting, re-evaluating.

A few years a go I did a painting of a large heart, not a nice fluffy, fuzzy pink heart, but a large bloody heart (of the organ variety that is) Anyway, why are you sharing this information you may be questioning? The thing is since doing that painting in Swansea a few years ago, the desire has never left me to do more heart paintings, and to expand on that, to develop it. I was wondering why have I not returned to doing more paintings of the heart if there was such a desire in me to continue. At the time of me doing that painting it was a very raw time, and I put a lot of myself into it. I kept it hidden for a long time not letting anyone see it, but this last year it has been hanging on our bedroom wall. There was a slight shift and I thought it would be good to put it up, reflect on it, perhaps use it to process how it may evolve as a body of work.

Although, in saying that a couple of months ago I had a minor change of heart (no pun intended) with the heart picture. Oh this sounds all so complicated! I was feeling tired and emotional and it was the last thing I wanted to look at, I just wanted it down and to put something non offensive up in its place. R convinced me to let it sit with me a while, on the wall that is. (He has a lot less rash & impulsive moments than I, of which I have many, may I add!!) I took his advice.

It's funny as prior to studying art, I was also painting hearts of the above mentioned, red, warm and fuzzy kind. They looked good, I liked them, people liked them, I even sold some! That was before...before when I thought aesthetics was the be all and end all of a piece of work.

Now I'm left with a desire to continue to explore this organ & its meaning, be it symbolic or real, but I'm unsure where to go next with it. The painting is still on the wall & it's nudging me to do something, perhaps even goading me. I can almost hear it talking to me, directing me, it won't go away, even if I take it down...hide it...give it away. Something has to be done, I'm just not exactly sure yet. I suppose, in the meantime Barrys and The Cinematic Orchestra will have to sooth my jangled nerves!