Good Day

Fields out near the stables

Today has been a good one!

Not only has the sun been shining bright and making me happy, but I achieved things!

• I went to work like normal
• Then went poo picking and mucked out the horse because my mum is ill
• Noted down a few ideas to change my website slightly
• Replied to an interesting email
• My Cass Art order arrived
• Started a drawing which will hopefully be finished tomorrow
• Went to work again
• Added some more to the drawing
• And wrote this blog post

Of course in between most of these accomplishments is eating and you'll be amazed to know I haven't even had a nap this afternoon!

I'm trying to be more positive and I am looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll finish a drawing (keep an eye out for that) and maybe I'll read some more of that book I'm currently on.

I have been really struggling with wanting a new job and just not getting anywhere - I might explain more in another post, let's not ruin the goodness! Someone pointed out to me though that I don't have and haven't had it as hard as some people looking for a job they enjoy, even a job in general, which is very true. I should be grateful for where I'm at right now and I am.

Happy thoughts for everyone out there reading this!

Painting Sand.

Painting the sand valleys. Sounds interesting yes, but probably not as interesting as you may think, I hope I didn’t get your hopes up. Today I finally got round to painting the lines I carved out in my sculptures, these ones names are ‘Red Sand’, ‘Orange Sand’ and ‘Purple Sand’. Original, hey? You will have noticed I am not the best one for naming my art work. These names may not stick, but they’ll do for now. I had a really good, I don’t want it to all end next week. There’s still so much I want to do, but I know it won’t happen. I’m trying not to panic.

I started off the day by acquiring pva, a brush to put it on with and a brush now named ‘Sand Brush’ (it’s for brushing off sand - sculptors need these things haha). It felt good to buy something and not have to worry about if I can afford it or not for once. I mixed up a water/pva solution and gave my sculptures a couple of coatings of it, in the hope that it will stop the sand from crumbling much more (I found at the end that this did not help as much as I wanted it to). Then taking a colour at a time and adding a little pva to it, I painted in the carved lines. I took photos of the stages for each sculpture, you can see these on my Facebook page. It was very enjoyable to do and Clive helped with more options for my work set up to hand in.

I have discovered how nice it is to work without my shoes on in the studio (and no, my feet did not stink). I had to do this because I have blisters on my feet from walking loads in London yesterday. I shall hopefully explain more about that at the weekend. Tomorrow I plan to buy some gold paint. I am so excited about it! As well as that, I shall be working on my plaster sculpture I made on Tuesday, maybe it will be another good day.

All By Myself.

I had a good day yesterday, I went up to the studios to collect materials I would need for the day and had a lovely surprise from my fellow artist, Clive. He had bought me a portfolio to put my work in, to protect it, as well as a large piece of paper that I could do a drawing on, to say sorry. The day before he had accidently got paint on one of my paintings so I had to cut a part off of it. It was cute moment, I offered but he didn’t want any money for it. He didn’t have to get me it, bless him, it still makes me smile when I think about it.

After this, still enthusiastic about the sculpture workshop, I went downstairs to the area we worked in on Tuesday and began. I dug my holes, mixed together the sand, plaster and water (which turned out to be messy work on my own) and poured it into my sand moulds. Then the waiting began again. It was actually quite lonely and I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I paced around, cleared things away, swept up, and ate food. I also noticed a vast number of zimmer frames, which was a bit creepy, what happened to the old people?!… I think I had added too much water, which I had to wait even longer than I probably should, but I got to the point where I could bear it no longer.

I had to dig my sculptures out with my hands, because I couldn’t lift up the boxes to release them on my own.It was all going well until I had nearly finished and a massive spider appeared from the sand. It scared me greatly! You may think I’m exaggerating and that it was probably ownly a diddy one, but I am not! Small ones don’t bother me. Anyway, with my fragile sculptures set free and trying me best not to break them (possibly from not having enough plaster in them, or too much water, or a combination of the two) I went to wash them down and get rid of the excess sand. This was my favourite part, I enjoyed seeing the water reveal what was underneath. You can see the results below. I have decided to leave them to dry slightly over the weekend before attempting to do anything to them. Hopefully I’ll be able to work on them the beginning of next week, we’ll see (like always).

Camden Arts Centre And Calvert 22 Gallery.

We had a trip to the Camden Arts Centre and the Calvert 22 gallery in London the week before last (15/02/13). As much I enjoyed visiting these, I must admit I rather preferred looking at the art on the street. Especially the giant possum on the side of a building. Possibly the best piece of art I saw that day hehe! I'm not sure the teacher would appreciate me saying that, but oh well. It was also the first time travelling by the overground! It’s like the underground, but over-ground, who'd have thought it?! I didn’t know it existed until planning the journey. Silly me. And there were dogs! So many cute dogs. I wanted to stroke them all. Then to end an already good day, the parents came over to visit and feed me haha! And they brought with them yummy cheesy bread and a cool Pot Noddle mug.

This is a pretty window projection from the Camden Arts Centre. Each section flashed different colours. Definitely my favourite work from there; it was mesmerising. It reminded me slightly of Elmer the Elephant from childhood, because of the similar colours and shapes that were used in the piece.

The mahussive possum I mentioned before! En route to Calvert 22 gallery. Street art by a previously unknown artist to me, until I was informed it is some one called ROA. Thankfully I got told who it was by, otherwise it would have bugged the hell out of me. He has also done a stalk in Brick Lane. The sheer scale and detail was amazing to see. I loved it!

I would have shown you something from the second gallery, however we were not allowed to take photos, which we only found out after my friend tried to take one.