Studio Update – April
Time for the monthly update of what’s what, highlights and goings on. Per my last monthly update that you can read HERE there’s been so much going on it’s been hard to keep up but we’ve finally arrived at a bit of quiet time.
Aside from my crochet piece which is a pre-curser to a full conceptual piece that you can read about HERE there’s been a few good ideas being put in my black sketch book. The main issue I have had this month is getting anything that takes some real thought started. Although I think I have captured all the decent (and not so decent) ideas that have come to mind in the past six weeks.
Stasis and Rhythm
The upcycling has properly stalled due to the part time role I acquired since it seems my rhythm for making things like that was in the morning with the more conceptual and arty pieces feeling more right to work on in the afternoon. When I think about it it makes sense since the upcycling is more of a practical ‘work’ thing and so my brain is better suited in the morning for work like that. So, I need to work out where to work that in…
In addition I’m finding at least one afternoon a week has to be given over to sleep due to my pesky condition. However as the month has gone on I am getting faster at all the admin bits and promotion that I am trying in a vain attempt to grow my audience, so I suspect that the time for creating will grow as those bits become easier. So all in all, a month of learning my rhythm, what’s practical and possible and learning the best times to focus on what. A work in progress but it all feels further along than it did when I got started with all this in January. Which is not so long ago at all. I must keep reminding myself of that when I feel like I’m not getting where I want to quick enough. I always was very impatient!
Ad Hoc Creations
I managed to quickly make both of these cheeky little things on the night before my husbands birthday. On the left is curry frog, in a tribute to both Greb comic’s soup frog and curry. On the right is a representation of the present I had bought that was arriving by special post the next day. Some sort of bass compressor pedal. He was really pleased with both, especially the curry frog, who is super cute if I do say so myself, with his little naan bread, ready to tuck in.
I also acquired a request for a birthday commission for a friend’s birthday, so I must follow that up and get started but it’s little boosts like that which help the creative flow.
Folklore and Feeling
I’ve also started to develop the folklore collection in an interesting way. I have been experimenting with clay and I’m finding that rather than aiming for perfection, perfect smoothness and a shop like look, it is entirely more satisfying to follow the feeling when hand shaping the clay and when adding the decoration. It felt really good to be sat, prog music in my ears and letting the contours of the clay tell me where I should be adding the embellishment and decoration. I started off by being inspired by ancient Jomon Pottery which is where the swirls come from but the deeper divots felt like they needed some further addition of silver foil to really make those shapes stand out.
I’ve completed one so far but I think I’ll be making these quite often, for no reason at all other than they feel good to make. Hopefully they’ll evolve in interesting ways and increase in intricacy as I become more practiced.
Another series developing is pedals, since my husband has asked for a series, a set of fuzzy pedals to go with the actual table of pedals that he has. That will be a fun and good felt detail practice, always useful.
Incremental Gains
I almost forget another element to the folklore collection. I am intending to explore the folklore of the UK within my art and the first little felt that’s been created in this vein is a victoriana mythical legend of the Tizzy Whizzie – basically a Lake District tourist trapper before the Lakes became known as a tourist trap. There is a ‘picture’ of this little beastie which invokes the fairy photographs that one sees from Wales or the South, but somehow a hedgehog with satin like wings feels more Northern all over to me.
So, despite feeling like I haven’t achieved much this month because I haven’t got any pieces that I consider big and serious progressed, there has been quite a bit going on. Along with the sale of a few bits of jewellery which took me by surprise but again, give me a tiny bit of confidence that I should make more of those, especially since they’re fun to make.
Each week I get closer to completing the weekly to do list I have for my creative business too, so getting ever more consistent and confident is the story of the month. Roll on May, where I am going to enter a few of my pieces into an open call. You have to pay but I think it’s time to try!
To see the rest of my random collections click HERE
To see the rest of the Folklore collection so far, click HERE
To read the rest of my ramblings click HERE