Post Exhibition Blues..

For the last two years I have been planning and working towards the two current solo shows. Now they are both up I'm very aware that this is a time of reflection and planning for the next stage. Past experience has taught me that this can be a difficult time - and I am determined not to succumb to the post exhibition blues.
The temptation is to try to fill the void - to try to immediately replace that very focused sense of purpose which has suddenly disappeared. Other areas of my life - non art based - are also going to undertake major changes in the (hopefully) near future and this has also left me feeling in a state of limbo which doesn't help.  I've decided that the best thing to do is to take my time and give myself permission to do very little work-wise for at least a month. I currently have 3 works in progress - 4 digital drawings (one is a dyptich) which I want to use to explore digital/ traditional source and outcome - but these will take a while to complete as they are large drawings.

Although I have a general idea of where I want to go next - I definitely need to spend some time considering

my options and formulating a clear plan. The above drawings need finishing and then decisions made about printing - which means I will need to do some tests on a smaller scale and have some practical questions to answer - what, where, how much it will cost, funding options etc. I also need to spend some time considering my on-line presence -  the list of sites, images etc. which need maintaining is growing and I want to consider whether all of them are worth continuing with. The time/ benefit ratio needs to be applied! My initial plan is to spend some time on all the recently neglected areas of my life and to embrace the idea of slowing down for a while......

Wacom Inkling

For ages now I've been toying with buying an ipad (primarily for drawing digitally) but have resisted because I wanted pressure sensitivity. Wacom have just introduced a new pen - the inkling - which draws on any paper using a ballpoint pen - the drawing can then be downloaded and reworked on the computer and it IS pressure sensitive (I already have a livescribe but that only saves as vector and again no pressure sensitivity). So I've pre-ordered one and should receive it at the beginning of October. It can be saved as raster or vector, you can apply layers at drawing stage and you end up with a paper original as well...so excited!

Deda show up (nearly)

Mark & Movement exhibition which opens on September 1st at Deda, Derby is installed - just need to paint mirror plates and do labels which I shall do first thing on Thursday morning...so nearly there! The Deda show is mainly wax/ pencil drawings, smaller digital drawings and some of the 'scribble & scrawl' series (which are shown for the first time here). The open evening will be on the 22nd September at the same time as Art Core's - who are exhibiting downstairs - and the shows run until the end of October.

One down - one to go...

Photo: Natalie Dowse

Touch and Trace is finally installed at Derby Museum and will be on until the end of October. I'm going to take some photos soon - but in the meantime Natalie Dowse has very kindly blogged about it and posted some images. Mark and Movement will be opening at Deda on September 1st so no chance to relax yet but I'm going to spend a few days catching up on admin. etc. before I start to think about what, where, how.....

Catalogue at printers..

I've just pressed the 'proof accepted' button and fingers are crossed that I haven't missed anything. I decided not to pay for a hard copy proof and I'm hoping I don't regret it....Still have to make my perspex 'rims'. finish framing, contact the museum shop about sales, order grey paint, sort out invites and have 17 days before the work is off to the museum...

Tracking activity....

One of the disadvantages of tracking my activity on the computer and drawing digitally is there is a constant visual representation of what I'm doing. Above is weeks 29 - 39 (the first 28 weeks are on their way back from Jerwood as we speak) and it can clearly be seen that weeks 32 - 35 weren't very productive. It may look as if the drawing activity picked up then - but in fact I just spent a lot of time doing other computer stuff. As I can now distinguish between drawing activity marks and 'other' activity marks I am constantly reminded of how little I'm doing...time for a drawing day I think!!