Art journaling again

I've played in art journals for a long while now, sometimes it's a daily thing for me, sometimes less frequent.  There was a time when I pretty much always had a journal (and portable art kit) with me wherever I went.  I don't remember when I stopped doing that but it's been floating in and out of my mind recently and I want to recapture the habit.  ;o) 

The only regular art journaling I have indulged in this year has been a 121 project with my lovely friend, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth was a member of my altered art Yahoo group, Alter-NativeUK, and was an active player in many of the group swaps we had on there, happy days!  ;o)  Since the demise of the group Elizabeth and I were in touch pretty infrequently sadly so we decided to embark on the 121 project as a way to keep in touch more regularly and in a way that we both love - art journaling!  It has been a lovely way to stay in contact and be a part of each other's lives and I highly recommend it! 

This week I have reacquainted myself with various art journals in my studio, happily playing about with half started spreads and looking back over previous work, some funny, some factual, some just because and some very emotive.  It has sparked my art journaling enthusiasm and I am planning to dive back in to some regular play in a variety of journals ~ you didn't think I could just have one on the go, did you?!  So, for your viewing pleasure here's a spread in a journal that I used for some trial art journaling workshops with NACRO last year, there are plenty of empty pages begging to be filled still and, like this one, plenty of half started pages.  I added more layers and used Sharpies and chinograph pencil.  The poem is Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou.

A Bible Story

Ok, it's 1.15am and I drank too much strong coffee at life class this evening so I'm going have a little ramble about one of my latest projects....

I have been asked to alter a family Bible!  It's one beast of a book, it weighs a ton!  Here it is in all it's glory...

It's a fair old age I would say, not sure quite how old, but it has certainly lost alot of it's gold tooling from the covers although the spine has retained rather more of it's golden loveliness...

Inside the Bible the pages are well preserved, good quality paper, nice text, very little age spotting....

...and there's illustrations and maps every so often throughout the text...

The spec for the work is very open, apart from the requirement of it being suitable for display both open and closed I pretty much have free rein to alter it as I see fit.  ;o)  What I want for the finished piece is for it to celebrate family roots, connections and beliefs, spiritually, emotionally and physically but not with any particular religious reference.  My current thinking is leaning towards a tunnel book of sorts, varying sizes of apertures viewable from both sides, individually, in groups and all together.

Earlier this week, whilst looking through the Bible, thinking about what I would do and where I would start I was delighted to discover a lock of hair...

No one knows who it belonged to but I have permission to use it in the work and I fully intend to.  ;o)

I'm very excited about the project and, to be honest, more than a little apprehensive!  I have never been commissioned to make a piece of work from such an item, such a personal item, and with such a wide open remit.  It will certainly be a challenge and there's no guarantee that the recipient won't hate it when I'm done but I don't plan on holding back, I'm hardly an artist in the "playing it safe" category now, am I, dear reader?  lol


  

Art journal snippets

This evening I was trolling through some images looking for something in particular and came across a collection of art journal snippets that I obviously photographed for some pertinent reason and then never used!   So, I thought I would share a few here.  ;o)  I haven't indulged in any altered text work for a while now but it pulls at me when I see old work.  Some of you die hard followers may recall I started altering a New Testament a few years ago, it's gathering dust in my studio but I think it may be time to drag it off the shelf!

One of the themes I'd like to (finally!) look at in more depth next year is self image.  It's an age old theme that has accompanied me through my life from my mid teens to the present day.  This year I contributed to Beauty in Every Form, forthcoming publication on the subject, by my friend, Richard Savage, and it is a deeply personal topic that I would very much like to explore more through my work.

I believe cross writing, whereby you write both horizontally and vertically on a page, was originally used years ago when writing letters to save paper but it is a technique I often employ when art journaling.  I favour Sharpie pens and a fast, frantic, stream of thought approach! 

I very often use my art journals for list making (there's a whole blog post or three in me on that topic me thinks!  lol), brainstorming and planning.  I always used to carry an art journal wherever I went but I realised the other day that I seem to have got out of that habit.  ;o(  That's something that needs rectifying!

Sitting under my desk in the studio on top of a little chest of drawers there are two books: The Roadmender by Michael Fairless (a pseudonymn for the author, Margaret Barber, who wrote it in 1902) and The Works of Longfellow.  They are both depleted, have pages hanging out and many a gap in them where I have used text from them in my artwork.  Another art journal technique I employ is, if I have the urge to add text to a page but not sure what, I will get one of the books out, randomly flick to a page and find what I'm looking for, even if I don't know what it is I'm looking for until I find it!  ;o)

Yes, I do believe a return to some regular art journaling is required right now!  ;o)

FenVAC Art Day

On Wednesday I hopped over to the Nene Valley Railway at Wansford, north of Peterborough, for the latest Fenland Visual Arts Collective art day. We often arrange these events for members to come along and get together to draw, paint, photograph etc. We have a forthcoming railway/train travel exhibition at March Railway Station as part of the celebrations for the 125th anniversary of the opening of the platforms there, hence the visit to NVR.

The good thing about these events is that they usually take me out of my artistic comfort zone. Usually I'm found in my studio tinkering about with bits of rusty metal and I can hardly take a bootful of that about with me! ;oD So, I use these occasions as an opportunity for me to draw.

There was certainly plenty to choose from in the drawing stakes! There were, of course, plenty of engines and carriages in various states of repair and the trains were in steam too. There's all manner of interesting paraphernalia on the platforms and round about as well.

The station buildings themselves are of the beautiful honey coloured stone so common in the area and there are some gorgeous doors with fabulous peeling paint if that floats your boat ~ it works for me!! ;o)

There are some lovely quirky objects to draw but I chose to have a stab at the section between two old Royal Mail carriages. The line from Peterborough to Rugby used to be a very important mail route in days gone by.

There was a little artistic licence involved with my drawing but I have to say I really enjoyed zoning out as I drew this, being in that head space where time and everything around you passes without notice. ;o) The last few weeks have been a little stressful (albeit very enjoyable too) as I raced towards the opening of the production I've been directing (Pack Up Your Troubles, a compilation of war times songs, dances and monologues) and this time spent focused on drawing was blissful for me. ;o)

We all need time out and I heartily agree with author of The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron, when she recommends "artist dates" and daily walks to fill the creative well. It most certainly hit the spot!

The folk at NVR were very welcoming to us and my friend, and chair of FenVAC, Rob, even got to visit some of the sheds that the public don't have access to and got some great shots of a chappie welding, sparks flying everywhere.  ;o)  Although this art day was poorly attended by FenVAC members it was a personally fulfilling and successful outing for me. Roll on next time! ;o)

Out Yer Tree Walk and Talk

Yesterday saw me at the Walk and Talk event for the Out Yer Tree contemporary art exhibition at Coombe Abbey Country Park near Coventry where I have three pieces of work installed.  Come with me as I drag you round my work....

Following on from my original Suspended re:Purpose work at the Out Yer Tree art exhibition at Lickey Hills earlier this year I started working on similar pieces using cassette tape.  The same friend who gave me the massive stash of video tapes gave me a goodly amount of cassettes too so I set to dismantling them and claiming the tape.  One of the good things about cassette tape is that it comes in both black and brown, the brown yields a good variety of shades too.  The cassette pieces are constructed in the same way as the video but I used a variety of found objects to attach the tape to.  I had two old style metal doodads that cover the top of stench pipes which are a great shape, a plastic drip tray from a bar, part of a decorative copper dish, a metal bangle and two random metal rings unearthed from the debris on my studio workspace!

On installation day I wanted a smaller more intimate place for Suspended re:Purpose 2 (yep, I named that uniquely didn't I?  lol) and I chose a lovely cedar tree facing a large open grassed area containing three other artworks. The cedar had a ready made aperture with beautiful criss crossing branches and I hung some of the smaller pieces outside of that area, hopefully leading the eye into the pieces hung in the interior. 

                                             

 
On reflection I wish I had created more than the seven pieces I used but I was happy with the placement and the way the work looked.  When we checked the work before the Walk and Talk yesterday I was disappointed to find one of the pieces had disappeared.  One of the others had been tied in a not too.  In the 40 minutes between checking the work and getting back there to talk about it another of the pieces had been tied in a knot too!

I have to admit I really don't mind the knotting (although we did later unknot them before we left), the pieces are there to be interacted with so I have no complaints but it's disappointing when the work is just ripped down.  One of the exhibition organisers, Taz Lovejoy, had one of her pieces pulled down and thrown in the lake within three hours of it being installed and it was hung 5m up in a tree, they're very determined artwork wreckers apparently!  It's the risk you take hanging work in a public space though and it won't deter me from exhibiting again although I'm considering creating a piece using barbed wire!  lol 

                                                    

Suspended re:Purpose 2 was the first of my pieces that I had to speak about at the Walk and Talk.  It would be fair to say I was so nervous at the prospect of talking to the crowd of 40+ people that I wanted to turn tail and run away!  I have no idea what I said and I think I probably gabbled my way through it somewhat but I did it!  ;o)

 

                                    

Next up was my original Suspended re:Purpose piece which I rehung for his exhibition.  I chose a lovely plane tree to hang the piece in this time, it has nicely overhanging branches and the pieces are hung relatively low so they can be got amongst and interacted with.  Taz told me a lovely story yesterday and I'm sure she won't mind me sharing it with you... on Friday when Taz was at the park a lady with a new born baby was in amongst my work and was moving her baby in and out of the video tape.  ;o)  If  all the pieces get yanked down and wrecked it will all have been worth it just for that moment.

                                      

Two of the pieces had to be rehung since installation day and on our pre check run yesterday we discovered one had been pulled so hard it was hanging on by a thread so that was rehung too but none have yet disappeared as they did at Lickey Hills.  There's evidence that several have been seriously hung on ~ stretched video tape rolls itself into a fine tube, I was quite pleased to discover this and am planning some pieces with purely stretched tape so I can at least thank the wee vandals for that if nothing else!  ;o)

I took a video of Suspended re:Purpose on installation day and, ably assisted by my lovely daughter, have edited it and added some music.  The work doesn't look like this now because of the rehung pieces but this is what it originally looked like.

                                

I think it's a great idea to video work in situ like this especially if it transpires to be the only record of how the work looked when first installed!  I will definitely try to remember to capture any future work hung in public spaces.

                                       

My third piece in the exhibition is Pods re:Versed.  I got quite caught up in the idea of constructing natural forms from unnatural materials recently and decided to create some cocoon/pod like structures to hang at Coombe Abbey.  These babies are a little more unfriendly than the other pieces in that they have some pretty sharp edges so I wanted to choose a location where they wouldn't be too accessible as I didn't really relish the prospect of anyone lacerating their hands on them!  I eventually settled on hanging them in a beech tree overhanging the edge of a lake which is behind a sturdy fence.  On installation day I had my poor husband with one side of the ladder in the water reaching as high as he could whilst wobbling about looking in danger of plunging in at any second!  Meanwhile I stood behind the fence giving him "Left a bit, right a bit" style instructions!  ;oD 

                                              

This location is quite gloomy which to my mind suited the whole concept of the piece.  I will definitely continue to explore this theme, I'd like to experiment with more open pods.  Nests also appeal to me, I can just picture a massive video tape nest structure high up in the trees.  ;o)

At the end of the afternoon, as we trolled back to the visitor centre, the heavens opened and we got absolutely soaked!

  

                                                

                                                

Even the downpour didn't dampen our spirits though!  ;o)  Despite my nerves I really enjoyed the Walk and Talk.  It was great to hear some of the other artists talk about their work and I think it was a very successful event.  There's a great variety of excellent work in the exhibition and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.  The exhibition runs until 17th September, please do visit if you can! 

Out Yer Tree Installation Day

Saturday saw me and my long suffering husband installing my video tape extravaganza at Lickey Hills Country Park near Birmingham for the Out Yer Tree outdoor contemporary art exhibition which starts this weekend.  It was a glorious day and the park is a lovely place with fabulous views over the surrounding countryside.  We met at the visitor centre and then set off to walk the route of planned exhibition area to choose where we would all like to exhibit our work.  The park is mixed woodland but has alot of pines with tall straight trunks and I was looking for a tree with more horizontal branches for my work. Quite early on I spotted an oak tree that I thought would be ideal. 

On the way round the park I spotted several other possible trees but they were in the more open areas of the park and I wanted a location which was more enclosed and my first tree remained the front runner!  None of the other artists favoured "my" tree so no fisty cuffs was required to secure it!  lol  So, we set to and started to install.  There was a smaller oak next to my tree and I initially thought I would hang in both of them so we started by hanging a few in the smaller tree but ultimately I decided I wanted them all in the one tree.

The hanging itself was pretty straightforward, not knowing in advance what size branches we would be hanging the work from we had taken two methods of suspension, bike spokes and chain!  The majority of the pieces were hung using the bike spokes.  This heavy metal could be successfully bent around the branches and through the swivel hooks of the baskets.  The chain was only needed for the branches which were too thicker to use the spoke method on.  Each of the baskets hangs from their original chains attached to a swivel hook which I added so they turn freely and without tangling the chains up.  The position of the branches meant a few of them needed some minor adjustments to the chain length.

It really was a two man job as most of the branches were higher than could be comfortably reached and required a ladder and a nimble husband to hop about the tree!  I think my husband heard "Can you reach a bit further?  Just a bit more...?"  a few more times than he wanted to!  lol  After lots of adjustment and readjustment all of the pieces were in place securely and my husband was still in one piece too!

During the time I've been making these I've only had one or two hanging in the garden and seeing all 10 hung in the tree exceeded my expectations, the light playing on them through the trees and the sound of all of them rustling in the breeze was fantastic.  It's really difficult to capture moving video tape in a photo though!   

I hope these images give you an impression of the piece but, of course, the best way to experience the work is to go and enjoy it in the flesh as it were!  ;o)  Most of the pieces hang low enough to be interacted with by visitors and I hope they will get amongst them and really enjoy them. 

The exhibition runs for three weeks and I'm looking forward to seeing how much the pieces evolve over that time.  The process will be dictated by nature and I have no real idea of what will happen which is a very exciting part of the work. 

 

The exhibition opens this Saturday (29th May) with a Walk and Talk event at 2pm where all the artists will walk the route and each talk about their work.  Alot of the artists were still installing when we left on Saturday so I'm really looking forward to seeing and hearing about all the other artwork, it should be another exciting day.

Now you see me, now you don't

Having completed the last of my hanging pieces for Suspended re:Purpose this afternoon I set about tidying the studio, and yes, I can actually see the floor again now!  ;o)  I'm selling at Mildenhall air base tomorrow, Thursday and Friday so I spent the afternoon organising jewellery and display stands and rounding up all the assorted paraphenalia I need to take.  I have some pendants to finish this evening to add to my display tomorrow.  As I was finishing my last basket my eyes lighted on a half completed assemblage piece on my desk and inspiration on completing struck me.  ;o)  All the time I was on Warfarin last year after my PE I diligently collected the blister packs from my tablets and by the time I got the all clear to stop taking them I had a carrier bag full and an urge to make some art with them.  ;o)  This is the resulting piece:

"Now you see me, now you don't"

The blister packs are attached to board from a fabric sample book cover with brass drawing pins and acrylic paint applied over the top.  The video tape is my trial run of the text for my RA Summer Exhibition submission, Her Honesty and Her Pain.  I was playing with my heat gun to see how the tape reacted.  ;o) 

Caught on Tape

Heading into a busy week and thought I'd share some images of my progress on my assemblage pieces for the Out Yer Tree outdoor art exhibition at Lickey Hills Country Park.  My studio is slowly disappearing under video tape, tape reels and empty cassettes as I edge towards completion of the dozen hanging pieces!

I'm really enjoying working with the video tape although it can become a bit hard on your hands after a while and a video tape cut is akin to a paper cut, ooooooooouch!  I'm progressing well with the dozen pieces though and only have two to complete in readiness for installation day next weekend. 

 

The piece is entitled Suspended re:Purpose and comprises the 12 pieces all constructed from used and, in some cases VERY well used, hanging baskets and copious amounts of video tape.  I wanted to explore the idea of intentionally placing a man made material in the natural environment in a constructed form.  The video tape will inevitably deteriorate and "evolve" over time with nature dictating the process.  Once hung the tape creates ever changing fluid forms which reflect the light beautifully.  I have had one hanging in my garden all week and it is a constant source of interest, watching the movement, changing colours and patterns in the light of different times of day is very absorbing.  I love the contrast of seeing what I consider a beautiful object in a lovely setting but it's made from a material that will challenge alot of people's acceptance of artwork made with, to say the least, non traditional art materials!  Like them or loathe them, I hope viewers of this work will find it thought provoking and worthy of discussion.   

I want to continue to explore and experiment with video tape and, excitingly, I have been offered a solo exhibition in a local venue and my thoughts are all leading toward a body of work to exhibit using video tape.  Watch this space!   

Catching Up

I've been a busy bee the last few weeks so lots to catch up on! 

At the end of April I took part in the Scrap Heap Art Challenge as part of the North Norfolk Earth Day celebrations at Deepdale Farm, Burnham Deepdale on the Norfolk coast.  The basic idea of the gig was to go along and spend the day creating art from scrap materials.  My friend, Kath, and I arrived on the day in glorious sunshine (it stayed that way all day!) and met up with the event organiser, Andrea Bramhall, and the other artists, John Colahan, Sarah Caputo, Karen Harvey & Karen Fevyer from Atelier East and Karen Steadman, in the courtyard where we were to work. We drew lots out of the hat to decide who would work with which pile of materials and this was ours:

We weren't given any information in advance about the nature of the scrap materials we'd be working with and I have to confess that I was expecting smaller, more "domestic" items such as CDs, paper goods, packaging, textiles etc so wasn't quite prepared for barbecues and bike wheels!  Tool wise, I'd gone prepared for smaller stuff but fortunately our nearest neighbours, John and Karen S, had a wide range of tools and were very generous with them.  ;o)  After period of perusal, deconstruction began....

Kath and I spent the morning working through our many and varied ideas, using the groovy old record player as the base for our piece.  Sometime around lunchtime I had brain freeze and Kath had to removeme from the scene of the crime for some light relief in the form of a veggie sausage roll, salad and a hot chocolate!  ;o)  After this respite, with an accompanying discussion of what we wanted to convey with our artwork, we set to and romped through the afternoon constructing our piece, Portals to Future Past...

In brief, we wanted to create a piece that addressed the vital importance of recycling in today's world but also a piece that connected the past and future, showing that we can learn from the thrifty and resourceful ways of our forebears and apply them to our present to create a sustainable future.  Portals to Future Past.

The day was a great success, all the artists created fantastic and very different pieces from their scrap.  I found it challenging but fun to work with a restricted range of materials in a set timeframe and would certainly do it again. ;o)  This is the winning piece, the fabulous Contemplating Colin, with his creator, Karen Steadman...

The work is on display at Deepdale Farm over the summer so if you're in the area do go along and take a look.  Big thanks to Kath for sharing the day with me, it was a great experience and we had such a fun time creating together!  ;o)  Also, many thanks to Andrea and her helpers for a lovely day and here's to next year's Scrap Heap Challenge!

My next piece of news is that my proposal for an exhibit at the Out Yer Tree outdoor art exhibition at Lickey Hills Country Park at the end of May has been accepted!  ;o)  This is the first proposal I have made in my art career and I'm very excited to have been selected.  I shall be creating a dozen large hanging assemblage "tassel" pieces constructed from used hanging baskets and video tape...

Other news....I am currently waiting to hear from the Royal Academy of Arts as to whether my artist book piece, Her Honesty and Her Pain, has been selected for this year's Summer Exhibition.  This piece also involves video tape, can you see a theme developing?  ;o)  I am currently creating new jewellery pieces for another jaunt to Mildenhall air base in a couple of week's time and I am also working on a community project in conjunction with Chatteris In Bloom.  We are painting a 40ft long hoarding with a market scene populated by legendary screen stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Laurel & Hardy and Carmen Miranda (on the fruit and veg stall, of course!).