onion skins and pink spray paint...

I've been going back through one of my 2014 notebooks and writing things up properly. Here is one wee bit:

In response to artist Sarah West’s piece (in the Pump House Gallery’s open call show ‘Thetrouble with painting today’) called Remnantsof Them, I decided to consider exactly why and how I’ve made some of my artworks. I will look back on my work and consider:

-       choice of imagery

-       medium

-       process / medium application

-       layers

-       contrast in mediums

-       time lapse / temporally based

The first piece I examined was one I call by a few different names, which include ‘Souvenirs of Them’, ‘Hot town, summer in the city”, and ‘Hair wash’.

I made this in three main stages across the summer. I supposed it’s a true story the show a bit of a struggle I had with art itself as a stand-alone concept. Here are the three stages:

1.     Onion skin dyed fabric

A delightful excitement and adventure with a physical and organic process. Playing with colour manipulation and using my personal philosophies of resourcefulness and eco-conscious creation.

2.     White mono-printed lines

I made these when I felt barred me in. I was desperate to get away from the assault of the city in summer time; the fumes and anxiety. These lines look weak, but they an attempt at freshness with their whiteness. Didn’t have energy for much else. I kept pairing this square of fabric with other colours that made me feel good. I didn’t have so much faith in the ambiguity of communication I kept seeing in the form and matter of art in contemporary exhibitions.

3.     Pink spray paint border

I added this part when I had been back at home in the country for a month or so. This was giving into intuition entirely; letting loose and learning to adventure.

I set myself a singular framework: to be bold and to focus and to trust my visual instinct. This pink frame symbolizes that, but with its soft edge it cushions any blows. It even felt like a summery city kind of colour; a bit sickly and a bit cool: it was a kind of appreciation and admiration of London from afar.

I sometimes called it Hair wash, because I became obsessed with washing my hair (and the idea of washing hair) in order to feel fresher in London. It reminded me of being in Bosnia and Croatia the summer before, and dipping my head in the river to keep cool. 
So when I got hot and stressed by the claustrophobia and pollution in summertime London, the idea of washing my hair kept my brain cool and my eyes fresh, and my skin didn't felt pressured.
I felt like I could rinse bad toxins out of myself through my hair, and twist and squeeze them away.

(also - it's a rectangle, just smaller than A3 sort of size. this is mainly cos i was being resourceful with my dye samples and tests - i love all the scraps of colours i have and this was a nice size - sort of works as a little flag to wave, or placemat size: like it's something to show your mood and emotion with but also a practical surface)

In making this and reflecting on it I suppose I learned not to give into rushing: any kind of rushing! In the city and in my head! It’s bad for your soul.

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Also - a photo of me in the studio by my pal and studio buddy Hermione