Playing Around

It's been a more productive week and I have lots of bits drying tonight. Just been playing around and getting back into work mode and thinking my way through a few ideas. Finished this pot made from garden magazine pages. Kind of daft but seemed a shame to throw these high definition pages into the recycling bin.

Think I will play with the image digitally and see if I can have some more fun with it.

Regional Print Centre - Print Out

Private View last night for the Print Out Exhibition at The Regional Print Centre, Wrexham. It was great to see the work of all the artists showing. Although I have to declare an interest - I began the Professional Printmakers' programme last year but had to put it on hold due to 'stuff' beyond my control.

The six artists had produced mature and innovative work - each piece held its own place individually with no weak links and some nice sculptural work from Frances Carlile. It is well worth a visit if you are in the area. Ends 14th July.

It was also good to catch up with the artists and chat a bit about how the year had gone. I am hovering over what to do about continuing with the programme. The standard of the show and the relaxed pleasure of the artists was evidence enough that this would be time well spent and an opportunity not to be missed.

Kinetic Sculpture

Came across this amazing kinetic sculpture through a Twitter contact. It's magical.

I will try and find out who the artist is.

Work in Progress

Eventually got into the studio late today. I have some building work about to start on the house and that needed some preparation but the fog began to clear this evening and I've been working on some ideas for prints (one shown here).

I was interested to see an item in the newspaper today about David Hockney using digital imagery for his new work and particularly his iPhone to 'paint' images. It is something I have become increasingly fascinated with, in preparing images for the website or blog. "The Computer is a terrific medium..." said Hockney and I have to agree. It is becoming an increasingly important tool for my work. The ability to keep pushing the boundaries of an image and also to retrieve the original when it goes horribly wrong is brilliant and it often gives me the courage to try something new and different.

Hockney says he messages his iPhone paintings of flowers to friends.

Talk to the Hand

Still thinking about hands and gathering images and information for a possible project. This pic of a falling cup nearly hit the bin - after lots of shots failed to produce a useable photograph. I eventually managed to get something to work on in The Gimp. I still haven't figured how to save images for the web using this software, so apologies if its a bit blurred.

I think it is quite dramatic now and sufficiently interesting to store in the project folder.

I am going to be travelling for a couple of weeks after Easter, so posts will be thin on the ground for a while. I hope I can use any free time to research. That's the plan anyway.

By the way - No cups were injured in the making of this work.

Trapped?

A sketch, two pebbles, one hand, a photo, Adobe Photoshop, a print, scan, and Gimp -there that tells you everything you need to know.

The pansy image I have been working on in recent months began life with the text 'trapped' - I took it out for the finished piece but decided to resurrect it on the pebble trapped in my hand and with the rising image of the pansy between my fingers. The scanned hand is a bit blurred and there is some kind of halo effect going on, so that needs some work.

The pebbles were collected from the Suffolk beach where I spent all my childhood summers with my aunt and are imbued with memory and emotions. They are so very tactile and beautifully coloured. The original image derived from a difficult personal situation and continues as a self-portrait.

I think I might carry on with this theme and see where it takes me - I am very keen on mixing media and re-using images, so this will tick all my boxes .

Voyage Round My Camera

I cast a wry eye on this family of signs - they looked like father and son defending what looked like a mound of sand. Why two signs? What does the new sign say? If you've taken the trouble to buy a new sign and peg it to wood, why didn't you take the old one away?

New Horizon?

I am at the tail end of one project and have been scanning the horizon for inspiration. This has been going on for a while now, too many ideas tumbling in and not really settling on one thing or the other. I still feel a bit split, with interests in, painting, printmaking, mixed media and anything else that passes under my nose in a creative kind of way. I don't think I have yet been able to tie the different disciplines into one coherent working practice.

After a severe self-bashing, I took the camera for a walk yesterday and spent the evening working on some photographs and then cropped and manipulated the image I use as a Twitter profile picture. I like the way the reflections in the sunglasses have made interesting abstract shapes.

It may be that a few more voyages with my camera might unblock the brain and jog it into some useful action.