On the slate....

Had a great day in the studio. After a frantic weekend I decided to leave the large canvas that is sat there waiting. I chose instead to play around with some of the papers I have accumulated. After making marks on a few, I decided to make little scrolls. This will most likely become part of one of my box-works that I'm currently developing. I managed to capture some images on a background of slate-the scroll made of modroc is yet to have colour added but on the whole I'm very pleased with the results......

Celebrations

It's been quite a day-big family gathering to celebrate my parents Golden Wedding Anniversary which when we're spread across Scotland and England is quite some achievement.

As a memento I made then a box-work incorporating a photocopy of them on their wedding day on hand-made paper,gold ribbon and a golden heart -for love and their surname is Hart!

The three roses are symbolic of the three children-my 2 brothers and I,and also Yorkshire where we were born.I did want to symbolise the seven grandchildren however it spoilt the composition !

With 2 more birthdays in the offing my Spring Fling work is on the back-burner but doing something completely different really is beneficial.  I have loads of new ideas that I just keep jotting in my sketchbook  for another day...

'Verdandi'

With snow and drifts causing disruption across Dumfries & Galloway, cabin fever was beginning to set in.Luckily today I headed east to Langholm where bizarrely there was no snow. Julie Dumbarton had an open studio event celebrating 20 years as an artist. With vibrant colours covering canvases,prints and cards,there certainly was a Spring feel in the air. Check out Julie's website to see her wonderful work.

www.juliedumbarton.com

Meanwhile the Spring Fling launch event is on Thursday 28th March at Gracefield Arts Centre,Dumfries. I'm really looking forward to meeting fellow artists & makers from across the region who will be participating in this year's event in May.

One work I have handed in for the pop-up taster exhibition (29th-31st March)is 'Verdandi', a box-work which is a new way of presenting my work. I'm pleased with the result and have now a sketchbook of new designs for boxes of varying sizes.....  

'Verdandi'

36 x 36cm

Mixed media

Weaving and Spinning...

'In the ebb & flow,
In warp & weft,
Cradle & grave,
An eternal sea,
A changing patchwork,
A glowing life.
At the whirring loom of time I weave
The living clothes of the Deity'

Goethe,'Faust'.
 
In all mythologies,the art of weaving is originally found in the divine world. Some small mistake must always be woven into the pattern to remind us of imperfection in all created life.

In spinning our own lives,intertwined threads woven together become our own tapestry of life...and we have the ability to create,and make something using those threads of fate.....

This is one of the panels in my completed box-work 'Verdandi'.I've used mod roc on hessian mounted on plyboard. The relief shape is made of sand and modelling paste with Egyptian paste beads.Acrylic paint and inks were then layered...The image is based on a Viking calendar stick which marks important dates and events but is also symbolic for the passing of time... 

'Verdandi'

'All begins with a single thread,wound on the spindle of a revolving cosmos held in the lap of women,spinning the destiny of the world into being...'   Plato.

I've been really busy completing two pieces for the Spring Fling Pop-Up Taster weekend (29-31 March) with the Launch Event on the 28th March,all at at Gracefield Arts Centre ,Dumfries.All pre-cursors to the Open Studio event which takes place across Dumfries & Galloway on the late May Bank holiday weekend of 25-27 May.

Urd,Skuld & Verdandi are the Three Norns ( or Fates)who live by the Well of Urdr at the base of Yggdrasil.
In the Norse poem Voluspa,a seeress sings the story of the world using poetry in weaving,spinning,lacing & binding the stories.....These are the activities of the Norns,spinners of destiny.

My new work entitled 'Verdandi'is a box-work incorporating 4 panels.The above is a detail of 2 of the smaller panels.

 This panel is mod roc adhered to hessian & mounted on plywood.The spirals symbolize the threads of destiny & are here yet to be painted.The beads are Egyptian paste.
I'll put up an image of the completed piece  soon....when the Taster Exhibition opens.....