Week Twenty-Nine | Casting a Wide Net
“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea”
-Karen Blixen
Can I cast with paper… Is that papier mache or a whole other thing. My experiments with paper are interesting but it’s railroading me into all sorts of things I wasn’t quite expecting…. It’s hard work, so sweat in this case, which is better than tears but possibly not as good as the sea. I miss the sea. Anyway, it seems paper making requires enormous practice and I am devoting a lot of time to pretty awful, lumpy pulp.
To catch up with my week Twenty-eight self below are my focus points and next to them where I am up to:
Clear out the studio so I can breathe - better but still need to keep decluttering and getting rid of work that is distracting/unhelpful
I want to paint more freely - a new series of small works from scratch to help me work more freely with more colour, expressive marks - YES I am actually doing this, recent works feel amazing to me
Ease up on the melancholy and grief for my own wellbeing - YES I am doing this, a more academic perspective helps, somewhat neutral but about understanding rather than feeling. This feels GOOD to me right now
Bleach drawings and pyrography - these seem to be coming together into an artists book, which I am binding when the greyboard I have ordered arrives. I love the aesthetic but I don’t know yet how this all fits into the bigger picture, other than the general heading of ruination and beauty
Artist book from bleach drawings - as above. Artists Books are something I am generally interested in making more of
Compost drawings - continued. Super excited about using compost humus but realised there is little contrast or variety in the application so the expression needs to be clearer. What are these drawings about and of? I am making marks about all the busy little critters and networks within but the drawings are a little weak. TBC
Making paper and charcoal (feedback from U1A) - YES I am doing this and loving it. I am wanting to move into casting as this post discusses but the process of making paper is helpful, much less like the agonising head scratching of painting. I am experimenting lots and thinking about how to make more of my own materials
10m trace narrative - nothing happening on this front. I imagine taking it up to the forest when it’s dry but it’s never dry…
Paper installations (inspired by Val Britton’s work) - not yet, that will come from the explorations
Painting branches, hanging branches - 3D compost heap sculpture/installation with shadows - nothing yet. Discussions with the Dead Critics about this and I feel Roz and Catherine will have lots to say about this. I hadn’t realised Catherine is doing this too - I continue to be interested but like frottage and other experiments this feels more like a means to another end than work I am interested in general.