Had an excellent idea in the shower today and then pondered on the fact that so many excellent ideas seem to come to me in the shower. Opened the shower door and facing me are the words 'Angels gather here'. Sppooky... it is a little wooden angel I bought years ago and she had the words written on her tummy. But hey! What if that actually is a little marker that guides the angels to their pow-wow points in the world? The narrative continues.
The excellent idea was to do with Stu's growing confidence with his framing ideas; he has been working with layering different paints and sanding/wire woolling down to create a lovely patina, finishing with Briwax. The end product is so, so much better than the finishes you get on commercially produced frame mouldings. I have suffered so much chipping and scuffing of bad paint finishes on frames I have paid an arm and a leg for... these are going to be so much better and have the added benefit of being able to colour to order. The idea was to use a pair of angel's wings as decoration on the fronts, or as a 'signature' on the back of the frame; been cutting potato this morning, but realise the need for a 'real', permanent print block for constant use.
He is looking at using the paint layering and reworking on furniture too; can't wait to see the first sample piece which is to be the wooden kitchen-block trolley thing that we have in the living room.
My day was a little quiet; I am really tired and needed a bit of a slow time of it. Knees and head particularly playing up, but I have been on non-stop work and think mode for a few months now, forever giving myself a hard time for slowing up or failing to meet personal deadlines. Now I have started to feel as if the end of this particular phase is in sight; nearly there with the 'main' paintings for the angel show - perhaps two or three to go and one of those is already in progress. After that I can play with a few smaller pieces and maybe even some handmade postcards; liked the way it felt to work faster and smaller on the cards for the 'Art off the Rock' show and so that is something to explore in October. Decided not to make the trip north to Gairloch which is gutting as I had totally set my heart on a couple of days away, talking art, waking up in a crazy hut by the sea... alas not to be on this occasion - funds tighter than we had anticipated and looking out for upcoming expenses on car and framing. Also couldn't get the time I wanted off my cashmoneyjob and can't really afford to piss them off just now.
Looking forward to taking a slightly more measured approach to things, but somehow I don't think this is going to happen; I have that feeling, rightly or wrongly, that if I take my foot off the gas it could all evaporate into thin air.
Three days on the Isle of Skye in October is still on as she has booked it all and I am actually so up for it as long as we don't end up fighting over stupid stuff; usually computers and photography which she seems to have wedged in her head as a permanent issue. Don't even ask. I just think maybe I should take my little wooden angel with me and hang it from the rear view mirror for the duration.
No comments:
Post a Comment