Much happier with the way my collagraph is going now that I have pulled back from all the colour I have been using.
Also I am getting much more detail in the image through careful inking. Thinking about all the changes that the earth has been through in deep time. So slowly.
Waiting for the forest to emerge.
This is still work in progress which I intend to print over. I have been thinking about blocking off the image in parts with paper stencils before I print the collagraph to leave blank spaces to print on.
Making a template for hanging ‘Collected Thoughts’ at the Surrey Contemporary.
This way I can just fix the paper up on the wall and tap the nails straight though.
I hadn’t been to the Robert Phillips Gallery in Walton on Thames before. It is a bit tucked away but a lovely space right on the river with a little café and terrace.
The gallery has high ceilings and lots of light.
It was good to meet the other artists and chat about their work.
Stephanie Wright told me about the nervous excitement she feels when slicing through her thrown pot to reveal the figure inside and the alchemy of using glazes.
Stephanie Wright
Dave Richards demonstrated his website documenting the Museum of Modern Zoology where new hybrid species have evolved via his imagination from a fusion of technology and the animate, like the Makagadikadi big cat which shares its aerodynamic structure with a racing car.
Dave Richards
Jill Flower explained the inspiration behind her sculptures using recycled papers and stitch to convey the seven ages of man (and woman) through a literary journey.
The Private View was really busy. Over the tap tap tap of Mat Clark’s morse code installation on the obsolescence of the art object Alison Clarke from Surrey Arts welcomed everybody while Chairman of Surrey County Council, Mr David Munro thanked all the sponsors and wished he had a rosette to award to an artist like he did for the prize bull at the county show. The artists present were not sure how they felt about that.
So glad we have at last had some sunshine, and ‘Subluminal’ which I have hung in our sunroom is doing its thing with the rays.
If I worked it out maybe it could even be a sundial.
Would be so great for the big piece ‘Incidence’ to have a wall that gets the sun rather than be in a bag under the bed.
Had great inspiration on the themes of nature in the urban environment at the Soho Theatre in the witty and surreal play ‘Pastoral’ by Thomas Eccleshare.
Nature is fighting back. The forest is returning. The army have been called in but are being pushed back by the speed and strength of the growth.
The south is being abandoned as buildings collapse and roads are swallowed up and the only escape is to evacuate to the north behind the big plastic wall.
It’s everyman for himself when the only game for dinner is one hedgehog between 6.
The man from Ocado can only regret his perseverance to deliver his goods at all cost.
Great staging and wonderful delivery from Anna Calder-Marshall as Moll blessed with the freedom that comes with age to say what she thinks (about ‘the fats’ and other blights of our time)
The weeds bursting through Moll’s carpet did resonate with me – ‘Emergency’ made while at Goldsmiths had a similar idea at its core but in this case it was the rubbish from landfill mutating and bursting forth.
Some musical inspiration from Flaming Lips.
Photo by Chris Boland
Blinding light show and space age silver sculptures. Photography at www.distantcloud.co.uk
Wayne Coyne was ill and couldn’t really sing. He gave a moving speech at the beginning to say in the scheme of things what was going on at the Roundhouse that night was insignificant when children were dying at the hands of a hurricane. Real nature this time.
Also on a higher plane the soulful voice of Eska and her thoughtful lyrics.
‘Seeds of her memory grew up from the earth….she’s in the flowers….’
Susan Eyre 
Reblogged this on ART AND EXHIBIT and commented:
Susan Eyre’s blog post about her exhibition