Maths by mother
‘If you pick up 10 things a day, that’s 70 you’ll have done by the end of the week’. This be mother logic.
What doesn’t get considered by mother logic is whether I put down, bring in, or have cats move more than 10 things per day.
Actually, it’s not such a silly idea. I have been at least more aware of where I put things. I notice when it comes to tidying I feel probably 2% less overwhelmed as more things have ‘homes’ within my home. This weekend the keys got given a home. A significant thing for they are one thing I cannot leave the house without and of course, I always seem to lose them when running late.
Speaking of losing things, I couldn’t find saffron today. Licorice was in the washing basket (the one they have been sitting in together) but saffron was nowhere in sight. It’s a one bedroom unit - how can I lose a cat in here? Anyway, after a few minutes of searching, I finally discovered her behind a canvas. When I tilted the canvas back and finally found her, all she had to say was ‘mau’ and give me a look of… well, ‘how dare you, I was asleep!’
Darren asked me the story behind the painting of the man in blue with the nickel azo gold background. He’s on unstretched canvas - around A3 size. I have not used unstretched canvas before. I have a friend who lives in Florida / New York (yes I know my geography, but he seems to hop between the two)… and he wants a piece of my art. I was wondering how unstretched canvas would be to work on as it would be easier to ship. Anyway, so I was fooling around with it. My usual - a background of collage, acrylic, crayon, and in this case clear tar gel. I went searching for a photograph which would inspire a face. I located one that seemed to hit the emotion of the moment and off I went. This is one of my quick painting sketches. They are generally small, rough and unrefined. They capture the mood of a night and to go back to them and edit significantly later seems like I would be changing the piece. Often because I’m sketching quickly they are down using only one or two colours - here it’s mainly phthalo blue and burnt sienna.
I did come back the next night or so and make some modifications, however these were really just to tone down some of the background. I didn’t touch the face.
I’m sorry Daz that it’s not a more exciting story… I suppose when a painting happens that fast it often has no story. It is but a moment.
The piece to the right on the other hand has been several months in development. I am thinking I am going to call her Agnes. At one stage I had only given her one eye… very normal for me. At the urging of my parents, she acquired a second eye. I liked each eye yet not together. I decided one needed to go! Before I got rid of it completely I wondered what it would look like if I made one eye look on a separate plane to the other. The was the start of the cracks and the shapes. I had no intention of making so many shapes in this piece. It was guided by trying to save one eye and influenced by a DVD I very much enjoyed from creative catalyst with Carla O’Connor. She talked a lot about closing off shapes… outlining shapes that bother you and see where that leads. Well, there are still some shapes - outlined and unoutlined! - which bother me in the piece… hey… I could outline saffron? Not sure she would appreciate that. Actually she’s conveniently masking an area that is still bothering me…
