Chantry School Mailart exhibition at Tesco Copdock, Ipswich

Mailart #23 - a warm hat

The weather is set to plummet but I have a new hat that i bought at the Cranberry Island non-fair sale. I have sent the mail art as a bit of island PR too.

It's the Big Draw at Bosmere School next Tuesday and I am going in to draw with young people in the school. Rod is a fantastic KS2 teacher who has an Art background and who infuses his approach to teaching with art. The day is his invention. Children will be off timetable and visit drawing stations. I have lots of ideas but I also have lots of kitchen implements that I want to use if I can... It's good to use the same materials in different ways! Figgy has just returned from Ethiopia where she climbed Ras Deshen (Simien mountains). She brought a coffee pot and some salad servers as presents. How could I use those as a stimulus? What material would capture it and appeal to a range of different aged children?

I want to create an experimental station at the Big Draw event that will lead to something different but also they are proud of. String, a pencil and ink... what do you think?

Sharing with The Bury Art Society

I had a fantastic evening with the Bury Art Society last night. They had invited me to do a pastel demonstration three years ago and what with my injured hand and chaotic schedule, not to mention a bit of fear and trepidation, it wasn't until last night that I was actually able to do it. I'm not sure how many people attended, but I would say there were more than 30 and I'm not sure what they expected, but I am quite sure they got something rather different.

I love the way life converges. My job, Eastfeast, has taught me that if one begins from who he or she is and does things in a way that feels right then everyone is much more comfortable. I approached the evening with that in mind and began with Cranberry Island, a little island off the coast of Maine where wonderful artists have inspired me and guided me to see and interpret. I thought that my otherness would be interesting. From the response, it seems it was.

Although hired to give a demo, I again decided to begin where I feel most comfortable, as a facilitator, rather than an expert. My talk headed in that direction, while giving people some of the tools for developing their own process. I was heartened by the enthusiastic way the members of the society experimented with pastels and monotype. Thank you all, and lets hope a few of you discover the blog!

How do I draw?

On Wednesday I will be giving a demonstration for the Bury Art Society. It will be a combination of slideshow, demo and hands on activities for participants. In preparation, I have been trying to consider my own process so that I can say or do something useful. The problem is every time I begin a new drawing, I feel as if I don't know what I'm doing, that I have no process. This week has been about pushing myself in lots of different directions and then just drawing. This is the final result. You can tell that Nancy Delouis is in my head.

Stimulus

Creative pursuits tend not to be the priority with me.  

I bought a bunch of flowers (snap dragons, an african daisy, some freesias- a mixed bouquet) two weeks ago, hoping that they would be the stimulus I needed to get out materials, clear a space and magic the time to draw.  It's been a bit busy and demanding lately.  The flowers drooped, the next weekend came and I conned myself into thinking I would definitely draw a bouquet of bachelor buttons and stocks.  MY COLOURS.   This morning I noticed that they too were looking tired and felt that pang of disappointment that they were slipping away into anonymity too. On the way back from walking Lyra (the dog) I wandered through my vegetable garden.  I have a cutting area this year and the smell of the stocks was a second reminder. Smell the flowers, make time for creative pursuits, draw the poor stocks!

If you've ever been in our house, for some reason there is red feel and when I arranged the still life, looking through the scullery to the study what I saw were the red tiles and the red rug when I had intended a drawing about the stocks.  

Molly at the museum

Molly has had her work selected by a panel of judges to hang in the Young at Art show at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.  Now that school is almost over for summer vacation, I hope Molly will find time to use her ten objects to make some more beautiful art so that I can feature some more of her work on the blog!