It is indeed half term and the welcome gap in my plans to get my new studio set up in my spare room. A whole uninterrupted week of drawing and image making, or so I thought. Instead I have house guests which initially made my nose twitch and my mouth to crinkle at the corners and head towards my toes. I am renound for not being abel to hide my emotions from my face which give live broadcasts when provoked.
"Fantastic!" I thought, "An art student, just the type of company I had been hoping to evade for just a few days." Full of passion, ambition, drive, aggression and unshakeable confidence which has seemingly seeped out of my veins and down the drain of late. I wasn't looking forward to being grilled and cross-examined, I'd just wanted to potter about and make some work without any excuse for distractions. I like to sit and think a lot, read, sketch and then allow ideas to manifest and evolve with the hope of something visually delicious being born. Visitors were not part of my grand plan.
I've instead spent the week being happily distracting and what has resulted has been a positive jump start to my brain and thought process. I think I've taken the time to check in with what exists and have to explain why I've made the work that I have created to date. Sharing my work, recalling my motives, intentions, concepts and inspiration does wonders for setting straight certain niggles in my artwork. I know the processes I've used for generating drawings and prints in the past have been deep and complex. No that time has elapsed and my focus has been altered due to other commitments I recall only the essential information. I can also identify the areas an ideas I want to purssue and those I can store away or discard.
Far from being a burden, the undergraduate has probably saved me time in the long run by helping me to bypass all the various routes of phaf filled procrastination I would have chosen to take. Conversing reminds me of the work I want to make and the issues which remain key to my practice. I've been reminded about all of the advice I've given and heard and all of the artists who's work I adore. The energy and inquisitiveness I've been exposed to reminds me to question and never simply accept.
A New Year's resolution is to write more on my CJA website blog spot, as well as on my own site. Not because I think it will be widely read, but because it is a good exercise in keeping my mind focussed and helping me to reflect. I moved house in the Autumn of 2009 and have had limited internet access since which explains the absence of my words.
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In the past I have avoided town, too many...
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