WEEK 1: Monday 12th - Friday 16th

In the first week it was definitely a matter of 'settling in'. Even though I was a student at Somerset College for six years it was quite difficult to relax into a clean, white empty space after being surrounded by books for the past year. Appropriate, then perhaps, that the space I should be inhabiting is in the Fine Art studios which are in what used to be the art library! So, naturally I headed for the corner of the studio where I remember the best books were (and to those of you who were familiar with the SCAT library I'll tell you where exactly; I'm in the corner where the Visual Culture, post-modernism, semiotics, art theory, lovely books were). At the very least being back there meant I was 'out of the way' and could make as much mess, noise, eat sleep or pick my nose as much as I liked without anyone seeing me. Don't get me wrong, I'm all too happy to see people and talk about art, I just get incredibly self conscious about having people watch me working so prefer to be inconspicuous in that respect.

Anyway, like I said, it took pretty much this whole week to adjust to the weirdness of being back in college, the excitement and euphoria of it all, for me, made it incredibly difficult to start anything remotely creative without giggling or being swamped in the sentiment and nostalgia of it all.

Relax!

I did, however, manage to do some very quick, loose mono prints that are really nothing special but helped my experiment with a favourite process of mine; that of using quink and bleach to create a really fluid and spontaneous mark that has an oily and sepia quality to it that makes things look old or greasy. Perfect, then, perhaps for tools...is what I'm thinking?
Anyone who has worked as an artist in a studio will know what I mean when I say that these first weeks are experiments and play that elements of which I hope will develop and inform my future pieces of work that, hopefully (and I mean hopefully) will become more finished pieces of work that could be used for the exhibition at the end of the residency....

I suppose this might be a good time to mention and explain a little of what my work is actually about....I'm sure you might be beginning to notice a theme so far....
I like working, I'm obsessed with work and making and would prefer not to be so reliant on technology (ironic I know, as I'm writing this to you on a blog) but find it necessary in today's everyday life. Hence, why its all the more important to remember, to look, to celebrate the extraordinary-ness of the objects that connect us back to working with our hands. Tools! I have become increasingly immersed into this subject matter that began quite innocently though an interest in 'mundane objects' in general. So I used to sit and draw umbrellas, irons, socks and any other seemingly boring thing I could find until I came across drawing tools. The rest is a brief but intense two years exploring, explaining, painting and researching this theme on my degree; looking in particular at the artist Jim Dine whose prints of tools have been a huge influence in my work.

Leading up to the present, I have continued to re-evaluate, transform and develop ways in which I can represent these objects in my work, which I continue to do and how I found myself applying for the context residency....

The story continues next time....

My studio space after the end of the first week.

The picture on the wall is a mono print derived from the shapes found and taken from photos of my grandfather's workshop. Compared to my past mono prints, I am trying to use colours that are more 'true' to the tones of browns and greys and earthy colours found on the real objects themselves. I saw this piece as a necessary start point to motivate myself and have something to work from that wasn't a blank white wall. Whilst I don't think it will possibly have a life as a finished piece of work it has been a useful start to re-introduce myself into studio practice.