The Brancaster transcript

 http://brancasterchronicles.wordpress.com/
I was invited to take part in a series of studio discussions earlier this year. These have been a brilliant opportunity to really hone in on the paintings and sculptures presented by the artists;  we have had some extremely thought provoking discussions about the particular works as well as ideas and thinking that affects abstract art more broadly. This has been so successful that more are planned for next year. The link will take you to a transcript of the discussion about my two sculptures.

large boots welcome

 The small areas of clear floor has been extended! I now have enough clear space for someone with large boots to be able to walk about; no one can actually walk all that far, mind you and maybe it is just small steps but nevertheless, steps can be taken in relative safety. Still some way to go……

  

disaster zone tidy up time

It has been a quiet few weeks in the studio, quiet in as much as there has been little sculpture and a lot of sorting, clearing, chucking out and generally trying to make the place easier and more spacious to work in. It had not been hugely successful until yesterday, I kept pulling stuff off shelves, opening boxes and creating more upheaval before getting fed up and working on a piece of stone. I made myself stick to the clearing yesterday so that I can work inside in the cold weather and get some new work under way. The results so far are…….

 Polly admiring a bit of floor

 another clear bit of floor

That is it, as a percentage of the overall floor space this is not a lot, certainly still in single figures, but progress nonetheless!  The rest of the space looks like a disaster zone but will be super tidy next week. Really, it will………

the humdrum and the plans

Back in the smoke, symposium over and it is back to the 'busy' of regular life. I had a fantastic time in America, the symposium sculptors were amazing and I met some wonderful people. It was lovely that so many people that I met in previous visits turned up at CAI.
College is starting, some short courses are under way and the long courses start properly next week which is  always exciting, new students, fresh ideas and plenty of enthusiasm to start the new term. Meanwhile back in the studio it is turmoil, I dare not show photos of the studio as it is now, far too embarrassing! I think I will "just sort out this bit, get only part way through and move back to the sculpture. Today I found a small bronze that needed finishing so that was the end of sorting out for the day, I worked outside and listened to geese flying overhead.
I am meant to be having a massive clear out, I have promised myself that sculptures will be boxed, labelled and stored and I will be organised…..that is the plan anyway. It is always good to have a plan

Do not eat the soup

I am running a short 'taster' course in carving bone and horn, these needed cleaning up so out came the handy camping stove into the back garden. Polly the ever attentive spaniel thought her birthday and christmas all at once but she was the only one who was keen, the smell was so vile I thought I would have the environmental health team round - either them or the police thinking I was boiling up human body parts!

Hot news

The Discerning Eye, a major exhibition of smaller works has accepted 'Esclise' to be shown at the Mall galleries shortly! Just when I thought I had my feet back on the ground after my trip to CAI in Massachusetts, I find myself flying again

Chipmunk city

Out in Wyoming and up in the Curt Gowdy State Park close to Cheyenne and a vertigo alert at 7000' above sea level; chipmunks under our feet running everywhere, hurrah, deer, big birds, cactus, decomposing and crumbly granite and quaking aspen.

 bear scratch marks possibly, on the aspen

 lots of sky and space!!!

 

 spot the deer ears 

 big rocks

 a view

 very big rock

 

 cactus

 big bird with white tummy