Thursday 25 February 2016

Therapy by nature

Honk

My regular winter house-sit tends to be a very fruitful time artistically: even in the years when I haven't spent much time in the studio creating, the solitude and quiet have always fostered much thought that I've tried to build upon in the rest of the year.

I've been building, sketching, and writing far more this stretch, however, which pleases me no end: I have projects in a number of different rooms, in various stages of the process, and it's enjoyable to be able to do work on more than one piece at a time, as there's always something to glue or colour, and then wait for them to dry and move on.

Liquid and frozen

And when I haven't been in the studio, I've been reading more than usual, being social, and pushing myself -- physically, intellectually, and emotionally -- in any number of directions.

All at the same time.

Plus planning adventures for the next while: places to go, people to see, things to do.

Chunk

But there's not much, other than the pictures from last Sunday's photoshoot adventure, to talk about here: my journal is bulging, however, and I ran out of ink in my disposable fountain pen, writing.

My plan to absent myself from social media didn't last a week, although I have cut back substantially.

Texture + bokeh = ?

Tuesday 2 February 2016

Regime change

Psychedelic!

I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions, because, and there is science to prove this, they mostly don't work: they get made in the heat of the moment and the glow fades quickly.

One wag on Facebook posted a status that read something to the effect that he was going to open a fitness centre on January 1 called "Resolutions" that would disappear on February 1 to become a bar instead, because that was the only way he'd make money.

Installation

My choice has always been to make them on my birthday, and, for the most part, that's been more successful: that being said, once 2016 appeared, I could feel myself sliding backwards.

Fast.

Snow shadows

There were a number of reasons -- there always is -- starting with the deaths of so many icons of my teens and twenties: like so many of us who discovered music in the twenty years starting in the mid/late-1960s, I began to dread waking up in the morning to hear an announcement that someone else who shaped my early listening was no longer with us.

Hard to charge

Then a friend who had suddenly taken ill while I was in The Bahamas went into hospice care, and died last week.

The Dancing Branch

It began to gnaw at my brain early in the month, and quickly, too many old bad habits take over my life, especially when I should have known better.

Four fine hours of work

So with the beginning of February, I'm back on track. Apologies to those who got caught in the downward spiral -- it's not a regular habit of mine to text late and under the influence, really -- and to those who couldn't understand why I wasn't building stuff or knitting, and keeping odd hours.

Apart from spending more time in the studio, taking pictures, and writing, I'll be spending less on Facebook: let's see how that works….

Books for Sale

The shop is currently empty.