Shiny Happy Haul

Christmas decorations and brooches fresh out of the kiln!

Thank you so much for all the support and suggestions for photographing my glass... it's really lifted me and I've spent some time today experimenting (not there yet, but so much more confident that it's now achievable)

Especially thank you to the lovely Fee from Chipper Nelly for the very practical suggestions (please enter her giveaway)... which I'm currently trying out... Will keep you all posted...

Utter Nightmare

I keep slipping into panic. I have just got to get myself sorted with regards to my artwork. Things have changed so much for me this past year and I really don't know which direction to go from here. I've developed my framed, layered glasswork, and give or take, I'm fairly pleased with some pieces. But there is so much more to what I make, wall hangings and jewellery... until April I used to sell all of this work through a beautiful shop called 'Pollyanna', but it closed and I was devastated. I also used to sell a lot at Craft shows, but I just don't have the time anymore. It means that I have never had to rely on marketing myself, taking decent photos etc. But now I need to learn how to do it.

I have spent a frustrating afternoon trying to take images of glass. It's impossible, the light is amazing in reality, but I cannot capture it. The light is the main reason I work with glass, but it just won't photograph. I also don't have a decent enough macro for my camera. (I only managed to get this close in by digging out an ancient lens from the loft after a bout of tears). But it's not good enough. Not smart enough. I need better backgrounds (this was from a Victorian jewellery box I was given for my 30th). I don't know if it distracts too much from the glass, or if the distortions caused by the glass help to show the effect?

I need to find somewhere to sell. This is terribly, terribly hard for me. The thought of walking into a shop and asking if they would consider selling my work, for me is the sheer stuff of nightmares. (The only reason I had work in Pollyanna was because one of my long-suffering friends took it in for me)

But I need decent pictures before I can consider selling anywhere.... oh god this is such a HUUUGE nightmare...

What about online shops? Is it a way forward?

Anywhere but...

(Anywhere but where you are meant to be looking)

 I spend a lot of time and energy trying to enthuse my students. And I love every single minute of it. One of my mantras is that artists are the type of folk who notice details, see beauty or interest in the little things that others would pass right on by. This week I set a photographic task for the AS levellers... they had to find 30 interesting textures or surfaces to photograph around the school site... and they did not let me down... I was so proud each time one of them spotted a beautifully delapidated part of the building and pointed it out with glee! These are some of the shots I took on the school farm...

 

Oh I would really, really love it if the fairies could magic  me a better lens for my camera for Christmas... (pretty please, I really have been so VERY good this year)

A little bit 'Miss Havisham'

I know it's not very glam... maybe a little odd... but there is something very beautiful and poignant about fading flowers

Stalking David Hockney( I know it's not cool!)

Ok let's get this clear from the start... I love him. Obviously not in the same way that I love say... Tim Minchin... (if you get my drift?). But David Hockney and I go waaaay back (not that he has any idea about this of course!). A long, long time ago, when I was in the second year at school (see how long ago that was... these days it is known as year 8!) we went on a school trip to Saltaire, Bradford, where I first saw his work. From that point I was smitten. At that point he was living in LA. A few years ago Hockney returned to Yorkshire, East Yorkshire to be precise (MY HOME TURF!), to Bridlington... my third home! He lives down the road from friends of ours... I know his house, the warehouse studio he rents... the exact locations of his East Yorkshire paintings (although this part is purely from growing up there). I've even been advised that if I really want to meet him that I should take up smoking (I really have never even tried it, not even one teenage puff!), as he regularly eats at the local Chinese restaurant and is usually seen having a crafty fag round the back. A couple of years ago on boxing day, my whole world had fallen apart and I found myself sitting alone listening to the sea on Bridlington's south beach, behind me was Hockney's house... it gave me a little comfort to know that although my heart was literally broken, that life, and art go on. Hockney has always been such a strong influence in my life, that on that awful day, he gave me hope, or maybe my mental image of his paintings gave me hope. But  I got through it, and my heart is all better now, battle scarred, but healed. For me the paintings are utterly calm, they almost seem to slow my heart-rate down, help me to put my enormous moments of utter uselessness back into perspective again.

I've just finished reading his book 'Secret Knowledge' which is about how artists throughout history have used optics to aid their drawing, rendering and painting. It was fascinating, I cannot recommend it enough, it has totally changed my attitude to.. well... practically everything painting related (I have a long, turbulent relationship with painting... but more about that another time)....



Image attributed to: royalacademy.org.uk



Image attributed to: news.bbc.co.uk

I've also recently been to see the massive 'Bigger Trees near Water' (94.5x12.2 metres, over 50 canvases) as it toured Yorkshire's municipal galleries. Having read the book really helped me to understand his need to undertake such a technical project as this (there is also an awesome documentary as he creates the work for it's original home ' The Royal Academy'). I utterly loved the work, how imperfect the paint strokes intentionally were. I saw it with the most perfect companion (my beloved dad), I was a little awestruck and would love to see it again... to make a little more sense of my thoughts... but I have no idea where it has been taken to now?



Image from: thisislondon.co.uk

Maybe, maybe one day I will get to meet him...

An Entire Box of Maltesers

'Holderness' Looks so much better in real life... am having a terrible editing day... rahhhhh

 Sometimes when it all gets a bit too much... and my head feels like it cannot possibly deal with any more demands... consuming an entire box of Maltesers in one sitting really does make everything seem a little better!

'Green Strata' Again... picture badness is taking over my life!

That was last night... tonight I'm going to run....and run until everything fits back into perspective

Never Ever

Never ever wear wellies with bare feet in 27 degrees of heat. Not even if they are extremely beautiful wellies, of the variety that you have always wanted and you want to wear on every possible occasion (yes even to school during the last week of term... got away with it too!), not even if it is raining torrentially and you are on your way out to a very hot yoga session and don't want to be faffing with socks. YOU WILL GET STUCK INSIDE SAID WELLIES. INDEFINITELY







There is a Fine Line Between Geek and Cool

And I think I might have irreversibly crossed it this time...I have shocked myself (but apparently it happens all the time!) I think I might like trains... a bit!

I've been to York on the train today to the 'National Railway Museum' and have totally been blown away by the beauty and presence of these engines. The stillness and sense of greatness. I felt totally and utterly content here...

 And when I really force myself to think about it, it's not really that much of a shocker... I live next to the East Coast Mainline and love the long, long black trains making their way from either London or Edinburgh... it gives me an odd sense of comfort...

 Another mounting piece of evidence is that I really (and I mean really) love to travel on steam trains... something about them takes me back to times that I didn't actually experience and memories that probably didn't actually happen... but feel utterly right...

Oh goodness... does this mean I'm a... er... train enthusiast?? (*Runs around flapping arms) Nooooooooo!