February
3rd I wrote about what I have been trying to do ‘Finding ways to respond and learning how to push what I am doing so hard that I fail, go past a critical point in the process and discover what was almost there’.
11th working towards w0budong exhibition. Pebbles research and thinking. Presence & then absence interests me.
23rd How can I find writing in the stones. Joining fragments of gestures found in the stones.
27th Because the marks have been found, does that necessarily mean that what I have formed with them has no meaning?
March
11-15th w0budong prep and exhibition
20th Thinking phase (long – due to many train rides to and from Manchester
Began reading ‘Lines; A Brief History’ by Tim Ingold (still reading early May)
21st Installed ‘my cup runneth over’ in Brick Lane for Coffee Art Project
Decided large ‘wood for trees’ was finished. Over simplified notion of grey = urban and green=countryside… Despite the fact that I am over simplifying things by relating the colours to places so basically, I like it. By simplifying something this extremely, I can then complicate it back again in my own way. Where would I be without basic (& the basics!) I do have a tendency to over-generalise things, make broad-sweeping statements, but they are useful in revealing my assumptions.
Refocussing my practice back on to writing>>> meaningful marks to random marks and back again.
The liminal place between the two.
In wood for trees 2 I put meaningful and random marks together.
26th eyes closed charcoal writing
Trying to be less neutral.
Spaces between and underneath writing, quite beautiful (e.g. in Wednesday painting with charcoal – overall pink look – 26th March)
April
(this last thinking phase nearly swallowed me whole, I wrote in blog)
Realising that Organising stuff then Painting doesn’t work – especially in holidays – decided I must Paint then Organise, otherwise I don’t get any painting done.
3rd Began breaking up writing. Started with printed text and moved on to my own painted writing.
6th burnt sienna acrylic writing of ‘we can do no great things…’ & subsequent layering on a postcard for postcard art project set up by Kim Bellamy.
What might the gap look like?
13th FAB fridge entry
thinking ‘small things’ in Sienna can be broken up further to make completely random
Trust my instincts more?
25th
After seeing Matisse’s cut-outs exhibition it has led me to question why I am not making more work (if he can be so prolific and creative with such limits on him physically)
Fear
what would I do if I wasn’t afraid?
Using family names to cut up isn’t de-neautralising my work. What I do with the fragments could be.
ACTION – next step!
More playful handling of fragments needed (less neautral). The neaturality is giving me nothing to question.
A BOOK of fragments (inspired by Matisse’s Jazz) playfully arranged.
Try again with coloured gouache – arrange intuitively this time – pin on 1st to arrange.
What do I notice from what I’ve been doing? (Considering…)
