Busy

I'm really busy at the moment, finishing off work and preparing for the exhibition next month, which opens on the 11th. I've spent so much time recently planning the exhibition, and promoting it, that it's very refreshing to actually be making art today. Yeliz and I are both really happy with how our preparations are going, and we're really looking forward to the start of the show.
Today I'm working on the final piece to be exhibited. Due to the use of natural weathering in my current work I'm hoping that the work will be completed in time. For full details of the exhibition and private view please see here.

Further to the show, this week I was offered a second artist's residency, this time in Slovenia. I was very surprised to have been accepted onto both of the residencies I applied for, but unfortunately I had to decline this offer as I've already committed to the Icelandic residency. I think the opportunity in Iceland is more interesting anyway, as it's a longer period, and also has the advantage of being later in the year, giving me longer to save money.
I feel like everything is taking off at the moment, and I'm really excited to see what else happens in the new year.

A Change Will Do You Good

Nes Artist Residency

For those who haven't seen on my Facebook page, I'm happy to say I have been offered a place on the Nes artist residency programme, in Skagastrond, Iceland. I'm very surprised to have heard back so quickly, as I only made my application last week, but I'm very pleased. I should be there between September and December 2013. I've got a while to plan ahead and get ready.
I've been really keen to find residencies abroad, as travel is also something I really care about. I'm very interested in this residency because the environment will be alien to me in just about every way, and I'm sure it'll help me to produce some interesting work, especially as I hope to focus on my idea of naturally weathering my work. I'm sure that the time of year, and the location will contribute to some really interesting results.
I only found out today, and I'm sure I'll have more to tell later.

Finished weathered work

 

The weathered piece is finally finished!
It's been a frustrating process at times, but I'm happy to have finally finished it, and I'm happy with the results. I'm planning a similar piece, and I think it's likely to get done more quickly seeing as it's now autumn and the weather should be more tempestuous than it was in early September when I started this.
In this piece I've also used embroidery to pick out some of the background colour blocks, as I like some of the strong shapes there. I'm also really happy with the intensity coming from the hanging threads being concentrated in a particular area.
This concept is definitely something I want to push further and experiment more with. I'm hoping to exhibit this, and others works made in this way, early next year.

Today I'm planning to get started on a second piece in this style. However, there will be a couple of differences. To push the idea of being weathered and damaged by life experiences a bit further, the next piece will be a portrait of myself as a child. My mother has kindly sent me some photos to work with.
Additionally I'm going to move away from using continuous line drawings. Instead I'm planning to use drawings inspired by Frank Auerbach. I saw his show at Marlborough on Friday, and found it really inspirational. Since then I've been experimenting with some sketches in his style. I'm planning to build layering up in the work with sketches in charcoal and chalk, and I'm interested to see how this will be affected by natural weathering, even after being fixed.

Weathering

 

I'm finally seeing some results naturally weathering a canvas! There's been a lot more rain recently, and there's now a significant amount of dirt splashes on the canvas. This wasn't the kind of effect I originally expected, but I do like it. The canvas seems to have become saturated with water in some places, and I'm interested in how this will alter the canvas.
I've definitely learned a few things from working this way, and I'm keen to make a second piece in this way, but using an image of myself as a child. I hope that the effect on the second canvas will be more extreme, and I hope that an image of a child will push the concept further. I'm hopeful that a second piece will not take so long to complete, considering that the weather has become more extreme recently. Waiting for something to happen with the current piece was very frustrating for me.
I'm not sure how much longer I should leave this canvas outside for, but when I'm ready with the second portrait I think it'll be time to bring this one inside and begin embroidering it. Hopefully these canvasses will be ready for exhibition soon.
I'm happy with my ideas at the moment but I need some more motivation to actually get on with them. I'm thinking it's time for a trip to a few art galleries to try to get myself going again.

I'm a reject

Yesterday was a grand day, as it brought me two rejection emails!
One was for the residency in Turku that I applied for, and the other was for a London based competition/exhibition I entered. It's obviously a shame, but I can't say I'm overly surprised, especially with the residency in Finland. It's an occupational hazard, so I'm not going to dwell on it too much.
I'm constantly looking for new opportunities, so I have applied for plenty of other competitions and open calls. I'm very eager to look at other residency opportunities abroad, as travelling is also something that's big in my life. A couple of months ago I was looking into a residency in Dublin, but decided it wasn't suitable, and have also seriously looked into an opportunity in Germany. I think today I'll be scouring the internet looking for suitable residencies and working on my two commissioned portraits.
The good news at the moment is that this week Yeliz and I have been really working on putting our exhibition together. There has been a lot of procrastinating with this for various reasons, and a few setbacks, but now we're both determined to just get on with it. I'm sure it's not going to be completely straightforward from now on, but we're working on it. Originally we hoped to have this done by now; unfortunately that didn't happen, but things are thankfully developing now.

My impatience

 I'm so impatient. I've left the painting outside for longer than I expected to, and unfortunately there has been little change in it's appearance. You may be able to see that the ink has been bleached significantly, and there is also some dirt on the surface from when it rained. Unfortunately there isn't much more development than that, and I certainly want more.

 Over the past few days I have debated taking matters into my own hands and using various methods to weather the canvas myself. Hopefully if I try this natural approach again when we're further into winter there will be better, and faster results. However, doing that feels kind of deceptive to me, and feels like I'm compromising my original concept. I feel like I need to put up with feeling frustrated and just let this happen naturally.

At least I have other work to do in the meantime. Today I started working on the first of the two portraits I've recently had commissioned. They are both of children, which is something new for me, so I'm doing a lot of preparatory sketches. These pieces also will not include text or embroidery, just a straightforward portrait, so it'll be a change. That's the plan for today, and hopefully I can start painting the figure in the next few days.