Empty Spaces.

Something we noticed during our walk around Letchworth was the number of empty spaces. It gave an eerie feel about the place, especially in the tucked away areas…

Although, it was good to see that, with collaboration from Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation and Digswell Art Trust, a space called Vision of Utopia was used as a pop up gallery with events and workshops combining local artists and the public. There were also spaces in The Arcade with tables that you can book for the collectors market on a Saturday, so if you have collectables you can try to sell them.

Clearly vacant stores reflect badly on any town, but these are both great ways to get people in to the town, and maybe they will visit the other shops nearby. I may have to look into how much it would cost to use a space and have a pop up exhibition or something, with a few friends, either while I am here or back in Suffolk. It would be good experience, however, we shall see.

Not Sure What Happened Here.

Acrylic paint on acrylic paper, A3.

I’m not sure what happened here, but it did and I apologise. After a tutorial with Alison, everything literally came to a stop and creative block hit me. I had no ideas what so ever, not a single one and I hated feeling like that. I got told my work was not contemporary enough and I had to decide if I wanted to work with a personal icon or a public one. Being told this did not help me at all. So then this painting came about.

I did not want to ditch everything I had previously created. I did not care what the tutor said anymore, I was going to do what I wanted and hope for the best. The whole point of my work had be been, well I thought, about the viewer making their own meaning from it. Although I understand it would be hard to show that unless I was being extremely obvious, which I then planned to do. I had decided to create a triptych and have written on it something along the lines of ‘make your own meaning’. I was all set to go, but had second thoughts and chose to do a practise version because I was unsure about the look I wanted to go for. This in turn became the final piece and the 3 part work was never made. I wasn't sure what to fill in the background with and used inspiration from Van Gogh and his work ‘Starry Night’ as you can probably tell. It has to be one of my favourite paintings and one day I will see it in the flesh. However, I think I may have offended anyone who likes his painting. If so, I meant no harm and am truely sorry. I know my version isn't the greatest, but I am still learning.

Below are photos of stages to get to the final piece: