Blog 56

Shawn my partner and I have been living in our motorhome 'on the road' for eight weeks now. It is wonderful to be doing this again. Having lived in fair isolation for the past three years coming back onto the mainland of Britain has been a sensory explosion for me. This is both a serious affliction and also a comedy.

The first city we spent time at felt it had every type of product and service a human could wish for, good for employment, but sad, and dare I say it, obscene in my eyes in choice and consumerism. Whether through deliberation or sub consciousness I found myself focussing on the minutiae of life, for example, the signage (we kept saying the names out loud as we went past, ha ha!), the electronic water and soap dispensers in the public toilets that a number of us users didn't know how to work (are they necessary?), the multi-coloured painted toenails of the lady's feet in her sandals... I struggle with the multitude of noises and being in a crowded situation for too long. I'm getting more accustomed as time goes by and we'll see how I get on... It's funny, Shawn was always the 'country lad' and myself the 'townie'.

Resuming van life is both familiar and unfamiliar having done something similar back in 2009 - 11. One of our biggest challenges is internet connection, or lack of it. With four different options for connection in place now, as we move between different locations hopefully this should improve. I know I have got to work differently and have a more flexible approach to getting connected up to the world wide web. 

Having seriously thrown out or sold much of our 'stuff' when we moved from house into our motorhome, I have spent many days since 'de cluttering' our computer and electronic devices, tidying them up and getting rid of historical documents, excess apps, unsubscribing to numerous emailing lists, now with the intention to follow these people via Twitter and other social media platforms instead. I might even talk to these people instead of just staring at a screen and filing their information!

In terms of my art practice it has been a lean year, but I have been making, albeit for our 'new' home or myself. I read a lovely statement recently about making or doing other things you don't normally do. It described these activities as "... a natural extension of your artistic ability... to make things that are useful and beautiful." Yes, I'd go with that.

After many months I have completed our patchwork quilt or 'snuggle' for the settee. Yes, the colours are bright and completely different to what you see within the remit of my artwork. Within an art context I particularly like the back side of the quilt.

Front Side

Back Side

Now the photos above have been taken in my working studio, 'the van'. Please use your imagination to visualise the work hung up on a gallery wall, a different colour, scale, fabric, or material, draping onto floor.
From the back side of the quilt I like the malleable, droopy, soft edged frame, the empty space within this rectangle, and the human hand-made stitching of the grid. It appears that not much is going on until you get up close and realise a lot has or could be going on. What has been left out, and what could be put in? 

Back Side Corner Detail and Stitching

Back Side Stitching Detail - I like the wonky stitches, slightly out of line...

The quilt reminds me of when I made my 10 metre scroll of blackened pierced paper that I presented at An Tobar gallery on the Isle of Mull in 2012, hanging from the ceiling and draping across the floor. This took a year to make, and likewise the patchwork quilt has taken approximately seven months to make. Slow work. It was quite emotional when I finished both things, but for different reasons.

I'm becoming more and more interested in fabric as a material for me to use, and the process of sewing and knitting. I have been much more taking into consideration the source of my materials, perhaps this is something I should think about more so with my artworks? 

It is important for me to find a way to make artwork that fits into my life style, our travelling, 'the blurring of my art and our life' so to speak. I would like to make works that I can 'pick up and put down' as I make them, depending on what we are doing and where we are. Physical space and scale is at a premium and this could be enhanced via artist residency (yes please!), or studio rental.

I found some wool in a shop which reminded me of my watercolour paper that I have used since 2009 to make my pierced paper pieces. In my ever quest to move on from blackened pierced paper, I've knitted a small sample with this wool, blocked, or wetted it, to try and meld the fibres together. I don't actually want to make felt per sae, but like the idea and notion of combining the knitting and felting processes together to create a paper sheet like object. I don't think it's worked quite yet, but we'll see... and again, I think scale is something I should consider too.

Knitted Wool Detail

My blackened pierced paper consists of swathes of thick and thin patches of powdery pigment, highlighting the irregular brushing on and brushing off process of the pigment when I made it. Some of the pierced holes remain visible and some don't. I'm trying to find these qualities through the process of knitting with the uneven thickness wool.

When making things for us and our home there has been a lot more planning, costing and designing, albeit in a very rudimentary manner, before the actual items have been made.

The Patchwork Quilt Plan...

A Woollen Scarf Plan...

An Embroidered Mat Plan...

Having worked in new product development for fifteen years with all it's systems and procedures, when I went to college I was strongly encouraged to let go, just make and see what happens, no planning. Should I re introduce aspects of these planning and design skills at the beginning of making an artwork? Yes or no? Some and some? When piercing paper, I have no idea how it will turn out, I just pierce. Sometimes it seems not enough....

Before I pressed the patchwork quilt with the iron, Shawn 'de fluffed' it for me and we were amazed at all the colours collected on the sticky paper, the residue of a process of making, the passage of time, our environment.

'Fluff' Collected on Sticky Paper

The 'Fluff' in Detail

Likewise, what should I do with the leftover threads that I am collecting each time after I have made something? I think they could be developed further?

Leftover Residue Threads

Very shortly we will be leaving Scotland and I am very sad about this. I know I will have and am very much looking forward to lots of new adventures, but I like it here, a lot, and I hope I will have the opportunity to come back.

We are in the throws of packing up and getting ready to leave this wonderful country. By chance I returned to those public toilets and discovered that the ladies cubicles even have electronic rubbish bins to dispose your used toiletries in. Yes, you hover your hand over the top of the lid and it rises up like a tardis machine for you to dispose of your goods. Then in slow motion the bin closes down again. Incredible. Come on world, there's people out there destitute, what's happened to the good old peddle bin????