Yesterday, I had to decide whether to go to the studio, or to do a pile of washing and cut the grass.
It was really hot, I had a stack of stuff to do and my next day off (apart from Friday, when I’ve taken a days leave to go to Yorkshire Sculpture park with colleagues from work) is Sunday. Rain forecast from tomorrow onwards.
Hmmm…
It makes me feel guilty when people ask if I’d been to the studio on my days off, but its not always that easy. Everyone who works full time knows what its like – you work with your commitments or even the weather, and do what you can.
I felt I had earned brownie points though by working through my last days off – completing work for the Arena and Berwick exhibitions, and sitting down to invigilate at Arena while everyone was out in the sun.
I’m pleased to say though that I’d completed the ‘Thread of Life’ cross stitch work (albeit at home) initiated by artist Sharon Mossbeck. I’d met Sharon when we were in Sheffield for our Flux exhibition in June. Although its a long time since I’d worked with any form of textiles, I loved her enthusiasm for her project and was pleased to be asked to contribute.
It has taken ages, but I haven’t been working on it continuously, I’d pick it up here and there and put it away for a few days. It pretty much stayed on the kitchen table, so sometimes I’d do a few stitches while waiting for the kettle to boil or something.
I don’t want that to sound like I didn’t find it interesting to do, its just that I was unsure how to proceed as it was a medium I wasn’t totally comfortable with. I needed to do it in small spurts so that I can think about how to approach the next stage.
But here it is…
