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Sunday, 26 June 2011

Come On In...


We are here,
come on in,
it's early sunday morning,
up the stairs,
a big empty space (I love it)
it's like having an extension if you need it,
My (our) door
post open studios mess
the gallery space is messy right now too,

studio essentials,
the tidy corner

a little pig with binoculars!
The piggy? I don't know. My daughter bought him from a charity shop for me. She can't even explain why. He obviously has vision, perhaps his binoculars can see into the future, perhaps they see all those things that don't exist, perhaps they see the amazing in the mundane.... but most importantly he makes me smile simply because my daughter can't explain why she HAD to buy him for me. :) What better place to be than here where I do things I HAVE to do.

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Had Enough!

8am: the roofers have arrived. 12 weeks they said and only two have gone by. The constant banging and pounding that only has a half hour break for lunch. Can't hear myself think. The noise is truly exhausting.

Inspiration Avenue - Summer Sun

Ha, ha. I stopped by Inspiration Avenue since it's been ages. What is this weeks challenge - summer sun.
I don't know what amused me most, that or the little disclaimer that friends in the southern hemisphere were obviously experiencing a different season.
I'm well and truly in the northern hemisphere and it's the middle of 'summer'. I had to bring the 4x4 out yesterday morning because the weather was so bad (roads flooded and cars abandoned everywhere!) :)
I've heard talk of this summer sun. It comes out while I am asleep or at work in the back of a garage with no view of the outdoors. It's rained for days and days now though...

Wednesday, 22 June 2011

I love this!

Birds on the Wires

More from before.

We went on holiday at Easter and obviously the camera came along. Why I was so fascinated with the mud I couldn't really say, but I was. I wanted to get down from the harbour wall and touch it. Get up close and take pictures of all the patterns in it.
I couldn't though, apart from anything else I'd have got stuck in it.
I did take a couple of photos though, despite the strange looks.
I'm sharing now because in this new world where everything has started fitting together I was priveleged enough to get a peek inside someone else's studio and she has great big slices of mud on display and they look amazing.
So, just for a minute, enjoy the mud!


Gone, but not forgotten.

I don't know why I did it. It wasn't planned.
Because I had no finished work for the openstudios, I suddenly decided to put some toys out on display outside my studio door.
It's been a few months since I even made any, they were all languishing inside boxes and carrier bags, almost forgotten about. Poor wee things shoved away into the back of the studio simply so they weren't taking up space at home.

They've all gone! All sold. I almost feel like I've let them down cos it was a total after thought and they all sold while I was elsewhere so I didn't even get to say goodbye!


Hope they are happy in their new homes.
I didn't even have a photo of them. I took pictures of my studio, my artwork, the ATC's on the same table, but this picture of my toys I had to steal from the openstudios facebook page! That's bad.

I need to make more.

Starting Over, and opening the door.

Crickey, it's been four months!

So, back in February, we took the plunge and moved into our studio. Home from home. I have found somewhere I feel like I belong, somewhere where I am me.

With the door closed anyway.

Just the other day my boss said to me that I was a hard person to get to know, that he couldn't figure me out. What did he mean?
I've worked in the same place for almost two years now, it's a very small workplace, how after all this time could he be implying he didn't really know me? I guess I surprised him with snippets of information regarding life beyond work. Things I'd never even hinted at before, or more accurately, things I'd kept private.
My other half says similar things every now and again, that I don't talk.
So, it made me think about how much of ourselves we share with the people we spend our lives with, those we live with and those that are just passing through.

When I don't talk at home it's simply trying not to burden anyone with additional worries, nothing more. We all do that.
At work, I am generally in employee mode. I share very little about my home life and even less about me as an individual. Why? I've no idea, really.
Perhaps I was scared no-one would understand the artistic side of me, wouldn't get that burning need to create. Would berate me, write me off as weird.Dismiss my art.

My other half openly admits he doesn't get it, but that has been a surprising relief. He's been amazingly supportive, can see what it means to me, but can't get his head around the art I make. But for the first time ever it's allowed me to create what I want to create without wondering what anyone else thinks, without feeling stifled or needing approval. I've no creative counterpart to supress, stifle or influence me. I can breathe.
Four months and I've travelled further than I have ever dared before.

One life drawing class  to now being asked if I'd be interested in a joint exhibition with just a few others.

Artists across Forth Valley opened up their studios this past week. I took part although due to events at home I did not get round to producing any finished pieces for the exhibition.
It was hard to just open the door and let people in, but most definitely worth it. The feedback was invaluable.
I only had a handful of pictures that I'd thrown together on paper. Things I'd worked on just for myself.
Things that meant something though. Personal things and I suddenly realised that I was frightened to share.

I'm glad I did. I'm glad I can stand up and now say that one emerged from how I felt when we had sat an hour in a hospital waiting room terrified of what news was about to be broken, and that other one is simply how I reacted to the stunning view from the top of Ocean Terminal.

How much anyone else can see, I don't know. Maybe they see nothing. Maybe they see things that aren't even there. It still scares me but the door will be staying well and truly open.
An Hour Early

Out Over Leith