But where is the art?

It's been a funny old week around here - in the midst of socialising and partying, and then recovering from said socialising and partying, very little has been happening. I've spent most of my time on the couch doing this:



Although I have spent quite a bit of time tending to the garden:




And a little time has been spent preparing meals in here:



All in all it has been a rather quiet time, especially on the art-making front. Although I did find some time to start working on a silly little video piece for next semester at uni. I usually loathe digital work but I've started to approach it in a new way - allowing myself to experiment as freely as I do in the studio - and I'm finding that I'm enjoying the process a lot more. I think that I've been very results oriented with digital media instead of engaging in the process like I do with my other work. Anyway, this new approach is working for me, and the results - though not mind blowing - are kind of ok. And I'm entirely happy with that.

I also spent a whole day cleaning out the home studio this week. Everything is in its place again. I can now leave the door to the studio open and not freak out when I catch a glimpse of its interior. I can't believe the state it was in - utter chaos! Things are much better now and I'm actually able to sit at the desk and work - it's pretty cool!





I've made a pact with myself to get some art made next week, so I hope to have something to show and tell soon. Until that time, peace out hippies!

Lovely winter holidays...

Well, the first week of holidays has been absolutely superb! I can't say that I've achieved all that much, but I've had no problem relaxing. All is as it should be - stress free. After the semester I've had this time is much appreciated.

I've spent a lot of time playing with my new Wii - It was a birthday present from my family and although I've had it only a week now it has become an everyday part of my life. I'm loving the Wii Fit and I've been doing yoga every day. I feel balanced and tall which is a big call for a girl of only 155cm!

Apart from that I've been spending my time sorting through the clutter in my house. The garage is now chock-a-block with stuff to be turfed out. It's amazing how much crap one can accumulate in such a short space of time. Seriously, there is stuff there that I can't even remember purchasing or being given. The other good thing about cleaning out your clutter is that you find things you thought were once lost. I can't tell you how many cool things I've found - things I've only worn once or simply forgot that I had. Anyway, my house is breathing again and everything feels light. It's a cool feeling.



Once again I've turned to drawing as relaxation. Little birdies are once again popping out to chirp hello. As you can see from the images here I've gessoed up some old doilies and started drawing on them. They're terribly pretty and remind me of reading fairy tales at my grandmother's when I was a small child. Doilies and daydreams...these are the things that this little girl was made of.

Toodaloo...I'm off to paint!

Making Space...

Once again it has been a long while between posts. Far too long. Not to worry - it's uni holidays again, so I'll be back to my regular scheduled blogging for the next six weeks or so. Hopefully I'll get a lot of work done over these six weeks - I have so many plans and all the time in the world. I guess we'll see how I go.

The pictures in this post are of some of the work I completed over the last semester. Most of my work was experimental and I finished very little, but I learnt a lot about myself and what drives me to make. I'm looking forward to actually completing some projects over the next few months.




The above images are the results of my wrapped sticks experiments. I used one of the installation rooms to create an installation from them. I was focussed on spontaneous making and wanted to see what was possible from only two materials. There is a definite sense in which this installation is the result of a specific time and place - if I had made it a day before or a day after it would have turned out completely different. When I get back to uni I'll do further experiments with these objects.

Below are some random imageas of other projects in various stages of completion:







As you can see there was a tendency to combine natural and synthetic found objects this semester. I've enjoyed forming relationships between two very different materials. Sticks and branches have featured a lot - quite possibly simply because of the abundance of them to be found in my garden. I am beginning to become conscious of being a 'green' artist - of trying to reduce my carbon footprints when it comes to making, and I made a pact this year to use only things that I already own (the exception being new paint, black pens and paper). I am fairly environmentally conscious in the broader sense of my life and it's starting to permeate my art. Why just thismorning I pulled all of my old canvasses together for repainting over the next few weeks. I was about to throw them out (some of them are over ten years old!) but thought better of it. I do some of my best work over old pieces.

I've spent my first free day of my holidays cleaning up my home studio. It was a nightmare and I'm nearly done so I'm feeling a real sense of achievement. I have packed up three big boxes of stuff to take to charity and the tip. I'm trying desperately to declutter and though it is difficult I'm being quite ruthless. You see, I've always been a clutter bug, but lately the urge for space has been overwhelming. Tomorrow I'll be tackling the closet and the spare room. Wish me luck - I have a feeling that I'm going to need it - my cupboards are really quite terrifying!

Strange days...

Free as a bird. Yes I am. That is me. I've been thinking a lot about freedom lately - the freedom we have to make choices that will plunge us into unknown futures. Freedom is a funny concept. Sure, I'm free to choose, but I'm not really free to choose the choices am I? You see I've been in a funny state of mind lately - one that has me second guessing my choices and decisions I've made, and I'm thinking about what kind of future I really want. I sometimes think I'd be best focussing on the present, but the present is kind of nice you know - maybe I'm just anxious about the fact that life as it is will inevitably change. Perhaps I'm starting to worry about what it will change into. It's just that we seem to be so busy so often now that I need to take stock and breathe in order to let the dust settle and the mind be still.

Drawing birdies (an activity that provides refuge) has helped me slow down and take stock:





All will be in my store in the near future.

Anyway, in taking some time out from the current madness, I have ended up skipping uni for two weeks. What the?!?! I can't explain my absence except to say that I feel I have needed a respite from all things art related recently. Sometimes I find myself so caught up in it all - anxious, stressed and results oriented - it gets to the point where I forget what it is I loved about art in the first place. I have needed this break. I have, truly. Why do I feel so darn bad for not going to class then?

Truth be told I've achieved more in these two weeks away from uni than what I ever would have had I gone. I have started all of my final semester assignments and am feeling in good stead for the big assignment rush that will occur in a few weeks time. I can't believe that the end of semester is only a month away. That means that in four weeks I will be half way through my course - half way to having a piece of paper that says I am an artist! Woohoo! This is very exciting for me.

And here is some proof that the artist cap has definitely been on even while staying away from uni. After a trip to the beach I came home and made my shell collection into this mandala:





I've felt a real pull towards using natural objects in my art lately. I like collecting interesting things and arranging them in interesting ways. It fills some strange void. It gives order to chaos. It provides me with some sort of solace when my mind becomes muddled by philosophical life questions that ruin the preplanned trajectory I had envisioned for myself. Life is like that I suppose.

In the Studio

I've realised that blogging whilst the uni semester is underway is totally unrealistic. Time and time again it has been proven that uni and blogging do not merge well for me. No matter - there are enough random posts such as this one to tide me through until the next lot of holidays.

Today I thought I'd post a review of what I've been up to in the studio. I had a slow start this semester - I was creatively blocked and feeling totally uninspired. In order to kickstart the art engines I created a little project for myself in which I was to make 28 churches in 28 days. The below images are the results of that little project. The results aren't anything special, but that's ok as I was really concerned about the process and about kickstarting some kind of 'making' in the studio. I must say that it worked wonders and I've been unstoppable ever since. The 'making' bug has hit me in a big way and I'm alive with art-making activity.

I love it when I'm really in the zone. The 'zone' demands a constant state of anxiety and spontaneous making. It can be tiring, but mostly it's energising. There is nothing like being so involved in something that the rest of the world just falls away - especially when it's not chemically induced, ha!





My latest 'thing' involves wrapping sticks and branches in old fabric. There is something cathartic about the process of binding these broken limbs in strips of discarded fabric. It is as though two rejected, dying souls are being united to breath new life into each other. Ok, so that's a little dramatic, but the fact remains that something about it makes me feel all warm inside. I'm thinking of using them in some kind of installation.





My hands have been so active the past few weeks. I have been obsessed with making objects out of the everyday 'stuff' of life. The objects that surround me are imbued with limitless potential and I find that I'm open to experimenting in ways that I haven't done before. There are many examples of these experiments in my studio at uni, but here is one of the more recent pieces which I put in our second year exhibition:




So, that's a wrap on what is happening in the studio right now. Believe it or not, conceptually I'm concerned with the 'sacred space' - where it exists for me and how I reach it. My idea is that my sacred space exists within the act of making. I'm having as much fun trying to unravel this idea as I am making in the studio. I'm now realising that there is a push and pull between thinking and making in the studio which I find seductive. The challenge lies in trying to unite them.

Strange bedfellows...

Playing with stuff found in my garden and in my studio. Creating relationships between synthetic and natural materials. I'm enjoying the experiments and am pleased with the results. They are strange objects - a little wrong and a bit awkward - I'm learning to love wrong/awkward very much.









I have taken a vow not to buy any new art materials for the rest of the semester. I have to use what I find or already own. I find that restrictions like this lead to ingenuity and originality. I hope I'm helping the environment a little too!

Dubai

Oh, no! I can't believe that it has been over a month since I've posted in this poor neglected blog of mine! But that is a good thing really, as it means that I've been a busy bee. Uni is back in full swing - in fact we are already halfway through semester one! Arghhhh! It's unbelievable how quickly time has flown this year. Also, Ben and I took a trip to Dubai over easter, which means that we have been playing catch ups ever since our return. It was more than worth it. Ben was working, but I had a wonderful 8 days of exploring, shopping and relaxing in luxury. Truly, my life is pretty blessed. Here are some pics to prove it:









Dubai is a really interesting place. East meets west in a pretty extravagant way and it really is a place that you have to see to believe. The construction that is happening is out of this world. With over 17% of the world's cranes, the city is literally popping up out of the desert at a rate of knots. While I certainly had fun in the awesome shopping malls, I enjoyed seeing the parts of 'old Dubai' the best - the street markets, old buildings, shipyards and mosques really evoked the exoticism of the middle east. I think my favourite memory from the trip is walking along the banks of the Dubai River at sunset and hearing the chanting rising from mosques all over the city. It was stunning, and one of those moments that you wish you could capture and keep with you forever.







*sighs* Anyway, now I'm back home and reality has sunk back in. Life just keeps on keeping on it would seem. However, I am off to the coast for a weekend of R and R (I know, life's tough!), but I'll be back soon with some art - I promise.