collaboration…

For the last few months I have been sharing a creative journey with the wonderful artist Sian Barlow. We have been drawing and painting together – inspired by our environment, nature and the reflection of SELF…

All this happening by Face-Time for the last four months… time flies when you are having fun! And producing inspiring work…

We also are collaborating on pieces of shared work… with some very interesting results…

Mindful breathing starts the session, followed by a series of warm up exercises… continuous line, other hand, blind, drawing from the centre, top to bottom, 10, 20, 30 second sketches… using all different kinds materials and tools from pencils, chalks, twigs and stones…

…grass project

For the last couple of years I have been drawing and photographing grasses; fields, sand dunes, gardens and single blades of grass.

It has made me think deeply about how we respond to grass; as a source of fuel, documenting our travels and journeys, defining status and power and challenging our perception of what we believe.

Out of this exploring of how I feel and think about grass, its energy, the power it delivers, political position and what it gives us when we see fields of grass for the first time, it is now time to develop various participation projects; looking at how others respond to grass, looking at a sense of place, mobility, energy and solitude.

 

 

…pain

I have been working on some pen sketches while I have been having a migraine, they have been quite a revelation to me, discovering my face and the sensations I feel while I have a migraine. Also how I react to the intense pain.

I am going to present these to my neurology consultant when I see him next, it’s better than keeping a written diary and explains what is happening where and when to my head.

It has also got me thinking about when you are in hospital and the doctors ask you “…on a scale to 1-10, and 10 being the most painful, how severe is the pain?”
I am always saying 11, on the measurement of pain homage to ‘This is Spinal Tap’.
Then they say “…describe the pain?” ‘…hot poker in the eye’ (how do I know what that feels like? – I can only imagine, so must they.
So I use colours, and the feel of objects; colours; like white being intense pain, red very painful, as too orange, then blue and green getting a solid pain. Re: objects for the type of pain; I like cold steel, water, white noise is random radio frequencies, and an untuned TV (old school!), sharp wire and glass to describe the levels and types of pain for my migraines. I hope then they (doctors) can get a sense of how I am feeling.

I have the ability to show how the pain is effecting me and the level of pain I am having through my art – it will be interesting to see the response I get from my doctors when I present my sketches to him when I see him in a couple of months.

There is some really inspiring work by the photographer Lorie Novak  a fellow migraine suffer, that you should definitely check out, which I just came across today, one of her projects is the Migraine Register.

…tynllwyn farm

a few days away in welshpool, powys, wales

…had a wonderful time away up in Welshpool, staying in a converted  barn at Tynllwyn Farm, the area is stunning, rolling hills, sweeping fields, historic building littered everywhere and endless inspiring scenery.

Ray my partner & I took all three dogs – the boys, Basil, Bryn and Qi – it was quite an adventure – puncture before we even got going! But it was lovely to see my lovely aunty Sonia and check on my mum & dad’s graves in the incredible location of Maesgwastad Cemetery in Welshpool.

I have been struggling with my art, for months but I ploughed  through my sketch book page after page doing pencil sketches of the landscape, some memory ones too – while we were still at the cottage…  I also got the Nikon out and took loads of photo’s – still struggling with light!!! Basil modelled for me as he bathed in the sunshine – he also did an incredible thing when I went over to my Nan’s grave to put a pot of daffs on it he laid right on top – I got rather choked – but raised a smile to my Nan – she absolutely loved dogs and had all waffs and strays in the house.

So now feeling inspired again – so now planning a larger piece of art work from the sketches I have done from the trip – so keep you posted…