Red Art Gallery showed my work in Nelson last week

This time last week I was heading down to Nelson to open my exhibition at Red Art Gallery.
This week I'm back at work (have a look on Picture it so to see what I've been up to) and looking ahead to the next creative project or job on my books.
That odd and over-used phrase 'onwards and upwards' delivered with an Irish lilt and a heavy sigh, springs to mind. Although it makes me inwardly smirk, I do feel as if I've barely caught breath this year before lurching towards the next deadline.

Regardless of being a little time impoverished, I can't let this event pass without posting about it - it's too special and working towards it was sometimes so hard to fit in.

I want to write about how warmly I was welcomed and hosted at Red and how much I appreciated seeing my work hung and lit so beautifully there. It was a pleasure to see the tiny paper works on the wall, which Jay framed with such a light touch that they were allowed to speak for themselves and be delicate.
I'm sorry, I didn't take a camera - I'll have to ask her for a picture to post here.

I really enjoyed chatting to those friendly Nelsonians who came last Tuesday evening, who came to appreciate seeing a bit of new art in their city and greet a visiting artist warmly or who bought my work because they loved it. Thank you to you all for coming, you were lovely.

If you're heading to Nelson in the next 3 weeks do call in to the gallery at No.1 Bridge St - they do a great lunch and a superb tea or coffee in their café too.

So... although most artists like to sell our work, it's not all about sales is it?
It's as much about completing a creative project and having it received by others, in order to let it go and move on to the next creative endeavor we're bound to explore.
And what would that be ?

Always there's room to reflect about why I make the work I do, the difference between drawing and painting - and this time, the contrast between the scale of the works on show. I've come away with plenty to ruminate on.

My pillow book this year includes:

• textures that make your fingers twitch - not necessarily larger than life, but intimate, barely there or conversational textures.
• marks that have genuine depth and meaning
• images that sing to souls - some of mine do, some don't (why is that?)
• scale that is both accommodating for rooms and expansive enough to allow freedom of movement
• colour that's allowed to shout or be subtle. (Its about time for subtle I think).
• supports that suit the medium. The old paper versus canvas debate again!

OK that's about it for now - there's plenty there to keep this active brain busy and experiment with in the days to come. As Fifi says, it's time for some head down work now, so it might be a bit quiet in here for a while.

Wanganui Summer School

Now that my paintings are boxed and sent off with the courier, it's time to assess the fallout here in the studio.
Brushes are standing stiff and irretrievable in solidified varnish; the boxes left over from the Storylines Festival and the Spinning Gold conference are tripping me up daily, and piles of papers are dotted about, their contents a jumble and a mystery. Somewhere in there is my ACC invoice- but where?

In the mess I have found the brochure for the Wanganui Summer School. You can download it here if you don't have it.
Summer School is a week of stimulating classes and artists talks for professional and emerging artists, with whiskey tasting (if you're me) and sunshine in the company of like-minded artists. It's stimulating and exciting enough to keep you going as a practicing artist, if you're thorough with your post-summer explorations, for another 8 months at home. If you're lucky you'll bring home the bones of your next show too. It's not to be missed really and Rob McLeod is tutoring again too (though I hear his class is probably full already).

This year I'm not attending, and although that's a bit disappointing, the holiday I know I need from the crazy full year I've had to date, will be more replenishing in the long run.
There's a time to push the hell out of yourself (and I know when I need a good kick!) and a time to rest and breathe slower. This year I just long to be still a while and not have to be anywhere or meet my own tough expectations.

I'm looking forward to next week though - to being in Nelson and seeing my work hung outside of my studio, to having it received and to wearing my new Spanish shoes!

Quotes to be remembered

Here's a quote from Picasso that resonates with me today.

The artist goes through states of fullness and emptiness, and that is all there is to the mystery of art.

Pablo Picasso

I've been varnishing paintings this week - and learning a lot in the process about the fickle nature of varnish. After one piece clotted up and gelled alarmingly in the warmth of my studio and I washed it off hurriedly, I also learned a lot about the outer limits of acrylic to be soluble!

Glazes that I'd made with a dilute solution of paint just melted off the surface of my canvas and trickled own the sink - and those I'd worked with glazing medium stayed behind. It was a good lesson. Consequently here I am back in the studio today, to paint a new last last piece to complete my 10 canvases.

Mary Cassatt said:

I doubt if you know the effort it is to paint! ...The trying and trying again and again and oh, the failures, when you have to begin all over again!