hares – 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!

Protected: Making progress

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Haring and thereing

CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Painting, Research Project, Week in Review

On Saturday evening, my fella and I went hare shooting, of the photographic variety. We knew exactly where to go, as we’d often spotted hares there as we were driving past. Sure enough, almost as soon as we got out of the car we started seeing hares, and to our great delight we also saw some boxing, as they are apt to do in March. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get very close before they sniffed us out and ran away. Luckily, my fella’s camera is a good’n, so he was able to get these lovely shots (as well as the money-shot above).

Speaking of lagomorphs, yesterday we found a distressed bunny on the side of the road who was ridden with myxomatosis. We moved him somewhere more comfortable and let nature take its course, which mercifully didn’t take long. We left him to have one last night under the stars and then gave him a good send off today.

Along with all my hare-fancying and rabbit-burying, I have been painting Manx cats. According to local folklore, Manx cats, which are unique to the Isle of Man, came about due to the mating of a hare and a cat, which is said to be evident in their no or stumpy tails and elongated legs, which gives them a hoppity gait. I think they’ll be a good addition to the paintings, as they, like hares, also suffer from bone/joint related aliments. Plus, who doesn’t like the odd cat in a painting.

You can never have too many books about hares!

CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Research Project, Week in Review

I am a fiend when it comes to buying books on subjects I love. Hares are no exception. I now have four and counting. As of this morning it would be five, as I came across a wonderful lecture about the Three Hares motif, and when I discovered that the lecturer had written a book on the subject, I thought it would be perfect for my collection. But alas, the book is now out of print and remaining copies are upwards of £140. 00. I like a hare book as much as the next lagamorphile, but that’s beyond extravagant. Thankfully there is a great website all about about the book, and even a form you can fill out if you’d like a copy of the book, so they can gage interest for a possible 2nd printing.

The Three Hares motif is very interesting and shows up in many places around the world, including a heap of churches in Devon, Synagogues in Europe, caves in China, and on various object in Iran. No one really knows what the motif means, but as with hares in general, is thought to be associated with magic, the moon, and femininity.

I am still painting hares, as well as bones and lace, and am still trying to figure out the confluence between the 3 motifs and the degree realism I want etc. Progress is slow, but I am enjoying the process.

I am also working on a painting made up of different sections, that when all put together will make one big painting. Its conception and composition is very similar to the big canvas painting I had to abandon. For some reason, painting separate sections makes it a lot easier to keep a handle on things. Also, this one is on paper, which is better than canvas for this kind of painting. Here is one of the sections I have been working on:

The life and times of Chicken-Geoff

CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Painting, Research Project, Week in Review

Chicken-Geoff, my fella’s name-sake, lives at my friend’s allotment. When he was born on my birthday last April, he was going to be called Rebecca, but the tell-tale yellow spot on his head indicated he was a male, so he was named Geoff.

Chicken-Geoff soon grew big and strong, due to his fondness for mealworms and treats. However, he was a gentle sort of fellow and would get pecked-on by the other cockerels, so it was thought best to put him in with the hens, where he soon made himself at home.

Chicken-Geoff adapted so well to life with the hens, that he recently took to the nesting box and laid an egg.

Along with Chicken-Geoff’s exciting news this week, I am pleased to say I have been running every day for Run 62 Miles in March for Cancer Research UK. So far, I have raised £450.00 which is well over my target. Of course, getting out of bed at 5.30 every morning hurts a little, but I wouldn’t feel too sorry for me, because this is where I am running:

Also, my lovely fella gave me some very fancy ear-pods, so I have been running along listening to Audible. I am currently listening to a series of lectures on The Pagan World, which I am thoroughly enjoying. The lecturer has a slow, methodical way of talking that makes him very easy to follow. I highly recommend the series for anyone interested in the subject.

Before the lecture series, I listened to a wonderful book about hares, and have bored my fella silly with what I’ve learned. I even had a dream last night that I was telling someone all about hares.

Yes, I am still nutty about hares, and can’t seem to get enough of them. To my utter delight, my fella and I saw a hare the other day. It was having a snack on the side of the road, and we managed to get a really good look at it. We then noticed a few more in a nearby field. They were too far away to get a really good photo, but if you zoom in, to the wee fella on the left, you’ll see his black-tipped ears, which means its a brown hare.

I have been busy in the studio painting untold hares. I am attempting to find the right balance between the different components of the paintings – i.e., hares, lace, water, bones.

I am also trying to figure out the level of detail I want in the hares themselves, so I am trying lots of different things. I really like having see-through passages of paint.

I am currently subscribing to the more is more philosophy of aesthetics. I am aware of the criticism that too much detail in a painting can be suffocating and that breathing space is important in a composition. However, I would counter that a sense of suffocation is precisely what I want in the paintings, to convey the sense of being underwater/drowning.

I’m desperate to see a hare!

CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Research Project

Spring has almost sprung, and top on my list of things to do this spring, is see a hare. My fella’s Pa saw one on the top field near our house, so I have a good chance of seeing one if I head out at dawn or dusk, keep down wind, hide behind a bush, be very quite, and don’t move. If I’m very lucky, I may even see them boxing, as it will be breeding season, and to fight off unwanted male attention, the females give the fellas a clip around the ears, quite right too!

Hares have become one of the central elements in my paintings, and the more I learn about them, the more they rightly deserve that place. There are currently 4 visual elements in the work that I am trying to weave together: Water, Bones, Lace and Hares. There are also two conceptual elements: Pain and Receptivity.

The Manx word for hare is cleaysh liauyr – which means good listener (also: slow to answer, forbearing person, long-eared). I love this meaning associated with the hare, and would like to incorporate it in my paintings somehow.

Hares are a very important animal in Manx folklore. They are associated with witches/wise women, or “they that have the charms” (as my Manx family do). Hares are also thought to be inhabited by the souls of old women. For this reason, as in other Celtic lands, hares are not to be eaten.

Here is a delightful recording of Johnny Crellin talking about Manx folklore regarding hares.

Protected: Finding my visual language

Experiments, Painting, Process Deep Dive

My bread and butter diet is a dud!

CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Research Project, Week in Review

Like most people riddled with Christmas-gorging remorse, my fella and I are on diets. We opted for different plans; my fella choosing Keto, and me, a bread and butter diet I designed myself. After sticking to our respective diets since New Year, my fella has lost 10lbs and I’ve put on 2.

I was back at school this week, and am quietly bricking it that there are only 19 weeks of term and a couple of weeks holiday left before it’s all over. I will be focused solely on my research project until the end, the main part of which is a large painting. I have been preparing for the painting the past few weeks, and am pleased to report that I finally started it this weekend.

It’s an ambitious painting, and there is no guarantee it will work. Currently, I am oscillating between hope that it will work, and freaking out that it won’t. The latter got the better of me this morning, and I bought a huge roll of paper so I can at least do some smaller paintings in case the big painting turns out to be a dud like my bread and butter diet.

To help improve my chances, my fella took me to a local river confluence so I could make an offering to the painting gods (assuming they hang out down there). It is the place that initially inspired my research project, and is one of my favourite places on the Island.