Ham-cat – bexODESSA

Beep Beep!!

I am very happy to report that I am now a newly minted driver. My test was utterly terrifying, but all my lessons must have paid off, cause I passed! Since then, I have been tootling around the countryside singing to Elton John (the only cd I can find).

For my first solo outing, I went to Bride village, initially with the intention of visiting a spooky well. I’m not sure what happened there, but it always gives me the heebie-jeebies when I pass it, so I thought I’d go and have a good look. Unfortunately, it was pouring with rain, so, not wanting to get wet as well as hebbie-jebbied, I decided to go to Bride Tearooms instead.

As well as passing the time eating cake and reading about hares, I took the opportunity to write out the postcards for the members of the artist collective I belong too. The collective is made up of alumni from a residency we all did at the New York School of Visual Art. We decided to send each other artwork postcards that we will then exhibit in our respective locations. I thought I might exhibit the ones I receive at my Open Studio during the Isle of Man Art Festival in September.

Speaking of the Art Festival, the group that organises it recently had an exhibition at the Manx Museum, in which I showed a collage and a painting. As part of the promotion for the exhibition, Manx National Heritage commissioned a series of videos of some of the participating artists, of which I was one. Here is my video. You will note the camera (read: Lindt chocolate balls) adds 10lbs.

The exhibition has now finished, and as I sold neither of my pieces, we had to go and collect them. As the painting is rather a biggin, my fella tried to hire the huge van, but, unfortunately, there wasn’t any available. Never fear, my fella’s Pa (aka Special Projects Manager) fashioned a transporting frame which he tied to Dorris (his trusty Freelander) and hey presto, we got the painting home in one piece!

For the love of Ham-cat

CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Experiments, Painting, Week in Review

Ham-cat is still playing hard-to-get. I have tried enticing him with ham and cat-calls but he remains elusive (although my fella’s Pa did see him skulking along the driveway hedge the other day). I am not looking to domesticate him, but it would be nice to be friends. I decided if cold meats and “here kitty kitty” wasn’t going to work, I’d have to bring out the big guns…

It’s been a strange week in the studio. The relief of finishing my research paper and resuming painting, soon turned to frustration. I have a pretty clear of idea of the kind of paintings I want to do for my research project, and even what they will be about, but for some reason I am having trouble realising them. Below are a couple of paintings from this week; although I like them, they are still a long way from what I have in mind.

As well as painting birds (for some unknown reason) I have also been drawing them, along with hands. Hands are notoriously hard to draw, and while I don’t want the hands in my paintings to be perfect/realistic per se, I do want them to be expressive.

I have nearly finished the collage for the Manx Museum exhibition, there are just a couple of finishing touches to do. My fella and his Pa are making a frame for the painting I will also be showing, which is great, as they always make such beautiful frames.

Under pressure

Collage, CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Experiments, research paper, Week in Review

This past week has been the most stressful of my course so far. It started off ok, but then I had a one to one with my tutor about my research paper, to discuss the draft I had submitted a few weeks ago. In reality she probably gave me some helpful tips, as to how I might bring my offering up to scratch, but what I heard was that it is crap and I need to start again. Since then I have been paralyzed with stress (the paper is due in 3 weeks), which I have sought to remedy by eating my feelings, which is a shame because I had just joined WW again and had lost .4lb (which I initially thought was 4lbs and some paper-writing-stress weight loss miracle). Worse still, I have hit a dead-end with my paintings, and have only scratched out a few drawings.

When I reach a painting dead-end, there’s only one thing for it, I have to stop for a while, so I can then start anew with fresh eyes/ideas. Thankfully, this week proved to be the perfect time to stop, as I have to make a collage for an upcoming exhibition. Collaging is one of the most comforting things in the world, next to jigsawing with my Ma, so while I’ve been all stressed and scoffing, I have been cutting bits of paper and sticking them together, which in and of itself has been an absolute delight.

The collage “Ellan Vannin” (Manx for Isle of Man), is for the Home exhibition at the Manx Museum in November. I made the original collage a few years ago, but before putting it altogether I scanned the individual sections, so I can print and re-cut/construct it at will. This one will be larger than the original, and is printed on thick matte paper, which will hopefully allow me to suspend the finished collage from the ceiling.

I have a new friend, Ham-cat – a feral black cat who lives in the hedge. Only my fella has seen him, but I have been leaving him ham, so I’m sure we’ll be best-buds soon. I am thrilled little Ham-cat has come along, as I’ve always wanted a cat. I am also very grateful, as this summer we saw a few “long-tails” (it’s bad luck to say the R-word on the Isle of Man, and if you hear it said or accidently say it yourself, then you have to pat your head and whistle to avert the bad luck), so hopefully Ham-cat will keep them under control.