January 2007

January 1st - 4th

English tradition dictates that every so often, and especially on New Year's Day, its citizens dress up as Robin Hood, nuns or cavorting Bavarians and leap into the water in the middle of winter. There is normally a high proportion of men in false eyelashes, bikinis and ladies' tights; often all at once. This year was no exception. The citizens did not include me, for tradition specifically exempts artists whose delicate hands are deemed too valuable to be exposed to such risk. They are there simply to record the experience and comment on the scene - a duty which I hereby fulfil. For more and better pictures of the Walruses taken by other exemptees, go here.

It continues to be a difficult time for my own work as we still have problems with elderly members of our family ill. I can make the observation that when general stress and anxiety reach a certain point it is physically draining and I don't have much energy. Mentally, it is hard-to-impossible to concentrate on anything to do with my studio work. I have used spare moments to write up applications and paperwork, and haven't stopped thinking about what next. It's just that I'm nowhere near being able to do anything about it.

I took this photo ages ago. It is nothing to do with today's entry. I've just had it sitting on my desktop until sometime. I like the runic quality of the tyre impressions, made when the white-line paint was still wet

January 4th - 19th

It has never been my intention that the content of this blog should stray too far out of the studio. But I do have a family lurking beyond the studio door. No-one makes work in an emotional vacuum: all events in one's life contribute in one way or another and as a human being, let alone an artist, one cannot fail to be affected when serious issues in the family or elsewhere require time and emotional input. I am of an age where there are parents, parents-in-law and children still requiring help and attention.

In the same two months we have had two very elderly relatives in hospital subsequently needing long-term residential care, with yet a third requiring specialist residential care. It has been a deeply stressful period for all concerned and has left us with great admiration for those that care for and nurse the elderly with patience and understanding, and treat them with dignity and respect.

My absence from the studio has been partly physical as I have had to be elsewhere for several weeks. But in any case, I have felt unable to concentrate for long periods. So I have made a small start on new ideas in a sketch book and will put images here soon.

I seem to have sold well over Christmas and have had requests for new work from three galleries. This would be wonderful news if I had any to send them. Production at the Scarf Factory closed down some time in late November and I am now way behind. Today I washed and folded several scarves to do a run of clamp-dyed work as this is the quickest to do and means I can send some new work out reasonably fast.

January 20th

I didn't spend the whole day dyeing but I have made a start. I was using a concertina + triangular fold and either triangular or oblong pairs of clamps. The sheer scarves are hard to photograph as the camera gets confused about focus but here's a glimpse of 5 of the first in my new batch.

A while back I suggested to a photographer friend that it would be interesting to make a book about artists' pinboards and the stories behind what's on them. Here's mine:

No point in explaining everything but on there you can find:

postcard images from Santiago de Compostela; images of my once-home by a loch on Skye; postcard of Pasteur, a French crabber off Scilly 1938; postcard of Eyes of Horus on Maltese fishing boats; several pictures of my children; postcard Ophelia by John Everett Millais; postcard of White Horse at Uffington; skeleton printout details from internet for anatomical reference; children's drawing; postcard of Irish gold in National Museum of Dublin; postcard of mosaic in Corinium Museum; postcards of work by Francisco de Zurburan, Stanley Spencer and Samuel Palmer; image of Baris dancers, Bali; watercolours made in Bali; image of Kathakali dancer, Kerala, India; postcard reproduction of painting Kangaroo by Lisa O'Mara of the Worimi community, Great Lakes, Australia; cutting from Calcutta newspaper, December 1994; fragment of genoa from Berrimilla, my brother's boat; bone and hair necklace from Ottawa, Canada; printouts of images of Hampshire grass, source of inspiration for much recent work; printout of Berrimilla log, February 18th 2005; postcard of Robin Paris' batik Croc - Bird - Leech; reproduction of Marion Tuu'lug textile Sun Woman, Baker Lake, Canada; Clive, Kathy L and Caro's Christmas cards from last year; Oxford Basketry map.

January 21st - 29th

15 or 16 scarves dyed, but only half are steamed as the steamer fused the house electrics on the second batch. So it's off to steamer hospital for vital organ replacement.

This week I started two new projects. I am collaborating with a bookbinder to make a wedding present for some friends. She suggested that I send her some fabric swatches to see if she can work with the weights I use. Her preferred weights would be the heavy samples I sent, which I have only used with indigo to make jackets: silk noil and bobbly silk bourette. I am now experimenting on scraps to see what sort of design I can make on them using acid dyes. Concertina folds dipped in wax are promising (see below); wax applied slowly with a loaded rofude brush are also creating a barrier for dye, but tjanting work is unreliable and only penetrates half way through.

Above: bobbly silk bourette fabric. Concertina folded and dipped in wax, then painted. I am going to steam and clean out the wax, then repeat the process with new positioning of the folds and a new set of dyeing

The second project is rather wider and more long term.

For some time now I have been aware that I should look at what I do, what I use and how I use it to see whether there are some changes I should / could undertake to making my working practise more sustainable. It was Robin Paris who started me off on this train of enquiry as it is very much a concern of hers. Through her contacts with other artists using wax we are involved in a series of experiments trying to improve wax removal and, in my own case, remove the dry-clean from the whole process.

Information on products such as silks and dyes is very confusing. Chemistry and associated data sheets often mean nothing to me. I hope to learn a bit more about them. A consideration of what sustainability actually means leads in some unexpected, uncomfortable and personal directions. It amplifies that grey Gollummy voice from the ego corner whining: "Is anything you make worth the use / waste of anything at all, ss-sunshine...?"

But I have squashed Gollum back towards Pandora's receptacle because that's another sort of argument. I do realise I can't change lots of things at once or I would have no materials to work on at all, so large are all the questions.

So the first thing I shall do is look at cutting down waste while I try to find out more about the other stuff. I am listing materials, equipment, resources used in the studio (such as water, electricity etc) and how I come by them. Then I will do some further analysis. I will add to the information, so it will be more useful kept in one place. It will be in a separate file on the website. Click for Sustainability. to see how far I have gone.

One lead I have followed up is Ahimsa Peace Silks. Today I received a set of samples from them, sent from Pune in India. They are producers of non-violent and eco-friendly silks. What wonderful fabrics they make.

I would like to work with these fabrics to see if I can use or adapt, any of my current processes.

January 30th - 31st

I have been continuing with experiments on the bourette silk, using concertina-folded fabric sometimes dyed, sometimes waxed. I have a theory that Dyer's Rule Number 1 is that work that looks really beautiful halfway through is going to look like **** when it's done. Of shibori this is especially true, as the pleating and folding are lovely to look at. But the plot can be easily lost. Below is the proof.

The resulting fabric, after several further stages, has lost its sparse, cool minimalism (so very me, that) and is now booking a seat to Blackpool Beach and a career in deckchair fabric. If I feel brave enough I may post a pic at some further stage.

Would it were that Dyer's Rule Number 2 rule legislated that work looking like **** halfway through turns, inevitably, into a glorious fabric length.

In addition this week, from out of the blue, two scarves have emerged worked in gutta. I haven't used gutta since last year when all three scarves came to grief for some reason when I steamed them. I am reminding myself that then I wondered if the gutta was at fault. So although I want to work more on the design, I think I'd rather steam them first and check before investing more time. And the steamer is still in intensive care awaiting a donor organ so that's it for now.