new studio - brief visit

The photos this time are not terribly good, and there are no pictures of the space. This is because I arrived just as it was beginning to get dark outside, meaning all my photos were taken by the artificial light in the studio. Additionally the battery on my phone was low, so I couldn't take long over the photos.

You can find photos and an account of starting work on the new large object in the studio in my earlier blog post here. There may be more on where the idea came from at a later date. Pictures and a brief account of moving into the studio are in this earlier post.

Before I get into the larger object, one of the things I did on this visit to the studio was assemble the now painted pyramid.

So, I finished work around 6:30pm. On the way to the studio I stopped off at a supermarket and a couple of discount shops, and picked up some more bright plastic items.

Namely: four stem glasses, four heart-shaped spectacles, four small rubber ducks, a set of cutlery, two windmills, four small rolls of ribbon, two packs of pegs, three washing lines, and four sprays of artificial flowers.

I didn't have long in the studio, just 90 minutes taking me to around 9.30 but I managed to get a few of the items added.

Even so, it's apparent that even when the remainder of what I bought this evening is added a couple more large items will be needed.

I want the whole piece to be much brighter, much busier, and much more colourful. Still quite a way to go, even before I get back to dripping paint over it.

new studio - starting work

Really, my first three visits to the new studio were pissing about, and getting used to the space. Blogged here.

Today I started work on a large piece I've had in mind for a couple of weeks.

Being a bank holiday I started the day having a lie-in, and then a lazy morning. After I got round to showering I set off to town.

Since it was such a nice day I wandered round for a bit with no real purpose before I drifted into a pound shop, where I spent £12 on bamboo canes, cable-ties, and bright plastic things.

I got to the studio around 4pm, photographed what I'd bought, and started work.

The bamboo and cable ties were to assemble the main body of the piece. That came together fairly quickly. The bulk of it was completed in the space of an hour.

And yeah (2nd photo especially), it does look a little like a badly drawn dog. In 3D.

You may be wondering about the dustsheet. It's not because I'm worried about scratching the floor. That there is your actual forward planning, the reasons for which will become apparent.

The next stage was to adorn my badly drawn dog frame with the bright plastic bits and pieces. Specifically pegs, baskets, bowls, and an umbrella.

That required a bit of playing around until I found arrangements that seemed to work.

Looking at these photos, and remembering the process of making the piece so far, it occurs to me that one of the major reasons in my move to visual and sound art/music away from writing is that I find it much more enjoyable.

Yes, there are frustrations and moments when things happen slowly. But for the most part it's a joyous process.

And as shallow as it may be, I can't deny that the colours and the bright daylight helped a lot in this instance. This bit of the build took somewhere between an hour and 90 minutes.

Then I took a quick break to paint the inside of the paper pyramid mentioned in my previous post, and prepare the cocktail sticks that will pin it when I reassemble the piece at some point over the weekend.

Both of which needed to be done. Though the main reason behind it was to ensure I'd painted the pyramid while I still had the red paint available. Because the next stage in making my sculptural piece was to drip it with paint.

Which is the reason for that dustsheet.

Now, I've only dripped paint on half of the piece. When that's dry I'll be able to switch it round and drip the other half. Although, as I may have said elsewhere, I want some more bright coloured plastic objects and some coloured ribbons to decorate the piece a little more.

I'll also need to buy more paint. Some of it will last until this piece is done, but some is going to run out fairly soon.

Which brings us to the way the piece looks currently.

And finally, a short film which perhaps gives a clearer picture of how the whole appears.

That was shot just before 7pm, which is about when I left. I'm pretty happy with it for three hours work. 

If you'd like to visit the studio drop me a message and we can arrange something.