Pittenweem Arts festival. Getting ready for the Pittenweem Arts Festival. I'm working on several drawings. They are abstract. I want there to be more drawing rubbed out than the boundaries of the drawing can contain. I want to explore the space left behind when the line has been erased. As usual, I erase anything that hangs about as form or that I just don't like. This is a constant re-evaluating and obsessing. Recently I've been obsessing about wittgensteins Tractatus Logico-philosphicus. I've read it and reread it but I need to read it again ( I've peeked at in in German original which isn't easy since I don't speak german but its the language he used when he created this strange work of modern art so I think it needs to be viewed in that media - like, I want to see the original oil when I look at some work by monet or pollock or some other artist then I might be happy with a photo after that but if I never see the original I never really grasp tru nature of the piece of art) and I've drawn it and redrawn it. I felt there was a sentence missing - the top level sentence - so deided to make it up and include it in one of my drawings. I wrote, "Before We can speak, we must compose free space enough to fit all that is the case." and this is what I have called the collection of work this year in Pitteweeem - Before we can speak.

British Art Show 7 workshop

British Art Show 7 has been running in Glasgow 27 May to 21 August . On its last day I managed to get down to the city and joined a creative workshop/masterclass with one of the artists, Mick Peter, who lives and works in Glasgow and who had drawings in the GOMA show and sculpture in
CCA. He introduced his art and practice to us and then spent a few hours showing us how to use materials that he works with in his sculptures –alginate for mould making and jesmonite AC100 for
casting.

The timing, for me couldn’t have been better. Recently I have been thinking a lot about whether to introduce casting or cement to my practice . It’s hard one to call for me because the material is always one of the most significant facets of my sculpture so I’m not sure about using materials out of a packet - these materials don’t have the same significance or environmental language. But, on the other hand with a cast I could capture the nature of the material – obsess over it a bit more without worrying about its limitations, explore other directions. And I have wanted to look at taking some of my sculptures and covering them to change their nature again – I’d like to cover one of my ‘Seven Thunders’ in resin or cement. Last week, in Uist, I
visited an artist, Amanda Rae, and made my mind up that I needed to explore this once and for all. And so that’s how I found myself interested in the advertisement in artmag for this workshop - I phoned from Uist to booked it. Because I have no formal visual arts training,
and no prospect of ever getting it, I try to get the best tutoring I can from living (or dead) artists so, brilliant!, what more could you ask for than a day with one of the most remarkable modern artists in Britain.

So at the workshop I made this piece called ‘Meet me’. Wouldn’t win any prizes but it let me explore a few things Mick had referred to. Most of the figure is assembled out of bits of junk, plastic, polystyrene, metal, paper then painted with coloured jesmonite resin. The section with the heart on
it is resin cast from a wooden block and plastecine using aliginate and then cemented onto the rest using the coloured resin. Mick spoke about how he often paints his whole sculpture in a solid material to bring it into one cohesive piece. When I photographed it I wanted to
echo a drawing Mick had in GOMA. The drawing shows a failed sculpture against a geometric background. This intriguing process of making sculptures to draw, making drawings of planned sculptures, drawing failed sculptures came into conversations during the day. Anyway this
is my failed sculpture – not drawn, only photographed. Another thing Mick spoke about was the use of words or phrases in his work – particularly in his drawings – sometimes leaving uncertain the relationship between words and drawing, leaving the viewer guessing. I did carve ‘meet me’ into the wooden block before casting but the detail got lost – I think because I used too much and wrong type of paint to colour resin. But we learn from our mistakes

conflict drawing

Recently I've been concentrating on drawing and have devised a new method of working. It involves a lot of drawing and rubbing out. I try to allow the internal energy evoked by this process to find its way onto the paper. This video shows me completing a drawing. Marks are made and rubbed out. My daughter tries to prevent the rubbing out with all her might. I try to persevere. The drawing is the result of an exhausting but non-aggressive collaboration - a conflict between my need to reform my mark and her will to keep what I have laid down. It is fun and a good way to shake off any mother-daughter tension if ever there was any - we laugh a lot while we make the drawing. The conflict is only allowed to happen when I am rubbing out, never when I am drawing. She places her hands on top of my right wrist so she can remove them and move away at any time she wants to. Sometimes life as an artist can be an exhausting conflict between marks you have made, marks you wish you hadn't made, your attempts to put right and the ongoing parallel pressures from outside. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miZEfKMIROg

Drawing Trip To The outer hebrides

After returning from a short drawing trip to Lewis and Harris, new resolve to take up blogging again. Here are three poems I wrote during the trip as we stayed in a Gatliff hostel in Rhenigidale,a cliff-top bothy in Mangusta and a relatives home in Berneray, North Uist.

Rhenigidale

Lizzie lit a fire in the squirrell by way of announcing our arrival
And now, rally against the all too steep wind,
left below, a single malt moon.
Only to revolve and press the weight of heels on toes,
On our steep incline towards the sea and the waiting window.
I told you I could sense for a little while
One dreamed of traveller who may have rounded this epic bend or that
To face the rose or rowan
And trade german gun for Gatliff gate.


Mangustadh

A white wind blows from Rhenigidale to mangustadh,
And winters bitter whisper slips beneath her overcoats,
Who cares if the cattle are herded back into the steaming barn.
Or the cat curls asleep on the wrong side of the kitchen door.
He takes her, empty-handed, to the rough hewn bothy,
And tells fairy tales of funny murderers and cliff face dancers.
She thinks them all kind and generous,
but takes more care with the fragile eggs nestled in her palm.

Berneray

If I was a braver man, I would grow vegetables.
My leeks would wave at passers-by
And my sprouts would wink at the girls on their way to church,
Not for me the island fair and its home baking stall
I would walk eight miles or more in the snow
And risk life and swollen limb but never leave you in the lusrh.

If I was a dare-devil, I would eat only vegetables
And take my medicine like a man.
I would train the devil dog who barked at you when you passed,
And people would wonder why it was that I became
The kind of man who grows vegetables

First Attempts at Stonework

So, I've fisihed my first three stone sculptures and I'm happy with what I have felt and learned so far. Stone is a beautiful material - it is chock a block full of its own energy and half the pleasure of working with it just now is getting to know the stone a bit better.
here are my first three pieces. Torso is a reworking of my first carving that I made on the PVAF weekend course.

It is limestone. The stone feels fleshy and waxy when I work with it and the figure seems to pull itself out from under my chisel.
The other two are stones taken from a lime quary near Fortwilliam. The Fortwilliam stone is strange and unpredictable and not atall stable. I'm sure an experienced stone sculptor would be horrified. Its inclined to splinter and sheer away - especially when the frost gets to it - and I don't think it will age too well. But i like it for its quirkiness and the patterns and flaws in it.



The head is "Mairi" and the odd-shaped piece is "When You Kiss me". This second pice was quite challenging and cost me two broken chisels. As the sun moves into position, it shnies through a hole in the piece and is reflected by a piece of mirror imbedded in the stone. I worry that, for me, the piece is not aesthetic enough and I can tell that friends visiting me prefer the other two pieces but it is this slightly ugly piece that excites me for now
I've looked at some of the rocks on the beaches but they are mostly granite and quartz and not any use. Its strange being back on the beach looking for stones this time. I think I need to get some advice.

PVAF

Sometimes we need, as artists, to take on a new material if only to satisfy a curiosity. I've been feeling lately like I wanted to try working with stone - I wanted to do something,in terms of sculpture, that was as far away from the string as possible. i wanted to eat into the material instead of modeling it. I wanted to use something that was permananent and fundamental and traditional for a change. So I went to Perth this weekend to do a stone carving course run by Susheila Jamieson http://www.rachan.co.uk/content/susheila.htm as part of the Perth Visual Arts Forum http://www.pvaf.org.uk . It was great - we worked with limestone which was not too hard to work ith - but not too soft either. I made this piece. It was strange to find how easy it was to find the form within the stone - I had thought that I would never be ablt to do that - that it would be lost to me but it wasn't - it was there and all I had to do was move the rest of the stne out of the way. I think I'll get some tools and spend a little time exploring stone some more. Suisheila who took the workshop was an absolute pleasure to be with and i wish I had had some more time to learn from her. It was a great opportunity from PVAF - there were other courses options during the weekend - paper casting and transformation of material looked particularly good.

Dorian Gray

I saw Mathew Bourne's Dorian Gray at The Theatre Royal Glasgow on Wednesday - it was brilliant and dark and loaded with sexy freedom - I think Oscar Wilde must be blushing or giggling in his grave.