I am distracted - the domestics of life. Commitments. Obligations. Time. £.
I have revisited some of the books I have read in the recent past - subjects that interest, inspire, reflect and engage me.
One afternoon I wrote nine pages of notes. Oh, the beauty of pen scrawling across paper.
I then matched up these words to art making, ideas that I COULD make, thinking about drawing, sculpture, paper, craft and paint.
Artist Liz West wrote a good blog 28th May 2014 called 'A word on creative blocks'. You can view it here: liz-west.blogspot.co.uk
Back in 2009 when I had another big creative block I was studying Richard Serra's Verb List (1967 - 68) at the time. It is a list of words to describe artistic actions and possible instructions for activities using different materials. It resulted in me piercing hundreds of holes into paper using a needle, which I have been doing ever since!
Perhaps I should draw some of the words and / or themes that keep popping out in the literature that I read? Perhaps these themes are already in my work. I think so.
In a website article January 2014 from the arts organisation Artquest, Performance Artist Paul Hurley recommends that you should cultivate a life practice, with one's art practice a part of it. These are wise words. Where does my art practice fit into my life? How and in what way can it fit into my life? Productively, successfully, proportionately, wholly. (http://www.artquest.org.uk/articles/view/how_to_be_a_performance_artist)
The thing to do is to start something. Not anything, but something. Take an A4 piece of paper. Take a pen. Open the wire threads and paper yarn that have arrived. Start stitching.
Be positive. Stay positive. Don't give up. Be patient.
Big sigh.
'Untitled', Plasticine Figure, Circa 2006.
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