catch-up, caught up

It has been around four months since the last Blog Post for no other reason than a hectic period of transition between paintwork and sculpture work, a transition that has brought an entirely more satisfying outcome than I received ever through Paint.
Change is so necessary whatever the pursuit, passtime or even, sometimes, employment and life style.  The world around us will continue to grow no matter what, it is an unstoppable force and probably the main cause of social discontent, if we ourselves do not evolve with the world it is then that we find ourselves alienated within and highly charged and fast paced technological world.
Last year a new Arts Cooperative opened, within a week they had in excess of 100 members, within 3 months they had three exhibitions, artists sales and an art trail, last month they celebrated their first anniversary through a very successful first year, The Kendal Arts Community, (KAC) you can find them on facebook.
Over that same year I put away my paints, brushes, easels and all of the bits and bobs that went with paint, I changed the studio around incorporating a dirty and a clean side, I went back through all of my sketchbooks over the past 3 years for information and drawings that I had done in relaxing abandonment to my inner and higher self, within these I found the starting points for my new direction with regard to equipment, designs, ideas and materials, always being a great advocate of the humble sketch book this transition cements my ideals.
There is little else over the past few months, a trip to the hospital for two extractions, registration to a dentist in preparation for the new teeth, the arrival of a sick mother cat and her 3 kittens of which only mother and the single female remains in the studio, great company but a complete pain in the neck when it comes to work but, they are learning that its a waste of time seeking attention during work.
On the occasions that I activate the web-cam the visitor rate has reached its 12,000 total with a bonus featured day from the host company that brought in 450 visitors in a single day, I have resigned myself to shopping on line for clothes being unable to find anything to wear locally and my utility bills have been reduced by £10 a month, information that arrived in the same letter that told me that all power bills will be going up in November..... what can I say.
The Castle Poppy Bid project has moved into the funding stage, a brief meeting with the Arts Council Representative put me in the direction of a Research and Development Grant as the first stage and will help to officially confirm my own research over the past two years.

To end heres a few photographs taken over the past few months, take care and dont forget, you can get more regular updates on my facebook page  

Timely Change

Since my last BLOG the plans to take a solitudinal sabatical continue, with the choice made to visit the Shetland Islands made it is beginning to now more resemble an expedition rather than a brief visit, one thing I do know is that there is much work to be done before I can make such a selfish trip.
Instead, to fill the void, I have made a change in my work output, moving from 2D and Paint to 3D and sculpture; paint has taken me on an intensive journey spanning the last 13 years though at the end I have little more than a mediocre collection of works that have little importance other than as a record of my journey.

Like a duck to water 3D work has proved instantly to be more pleasurable than paint work, paint was always work, the catalyst for this material was while searching for something to make a 3D model of a castle walls, working in this new way however I found that my hands were constantly occupied, my eyes and my imagination were being used more while my brain takes a well earned break as I mellow into the process of creating a solid object, molding, crafting and building.

small mesh chicken wire makes a great
and malleable armature, the shadows also
give good indication of the finished shape

Part of the delay in turning to this discipline has been to find a material that I can enjoy without the burden of interfering with plumbing or structural load baring on the floor of a first floor studio, I have long searched for a material that not only fits in with both my physical abilities and to my environment, it is unlikely that the neighbours would survive the long term 'chip, chip, chop and chip' as I whittle away stone or wood without eventually banging on my door to cease!

' The Shin-hugger ' in progress

I have worked in chicken wire before to create larger works and have no reason to discount this as a suitable armature for my work, it is flexible, malleable easy to shape and grow, either with the addition of more wire or to shrink and mold either by cutting pieces out or by compressing, what has eluded me for some time has been a material to lay over the netting.

components drying before assembley

I am quite taken with the idea of returning products derived from wood, such as paper and wood fibre and turning it back into its natural state, to compete with the beauty of  the individual tree would be quite difficult in this process as there is no grain, no evidence of how long the tree was developing before contemporary man decided to remove it for better use than as wind-breaks to protect underlying eco-systems or as a simply beautiful structure, it is a challenge for me to find that hidden beauty and magic that does justice to 

the humble tree

' Last Button '

' The Shin-hugger '

I have chosen a paper mulch curtesy of a new paper shredder and copious amounts of PVA glue, I have also experimented in covering this paper mache with a wood veneer, formed from dampened cat litter which dries to a beautifully smooth wood pulp.  Through this process I have found I can create a beautifully smooth paste when dried and mixed with PVA or specialist wood glues that would leavin a surface when dried that can be sanded and smoothed as if it were wood;  I have an inate love of the curve, it is a complicated structure and best managed with a keen eye, on the product vial its shadow to produce beautiful curving surfaces that, with experience I will be able to perfect and improve upon.

Thats it for now, have a nice week, with awakened passion there will, I am sure be more to come.  best wishes from  andrew

choices and decisions

My last Blog showed me at a point in life where I had to deal with the all consuming need to escape, to get somewhere to reawaken my creative spirit that has, over some months been battered with 'real life' issues all of which are by association rather than of my own responsibility.

I need a break though the time is not right for me to just 'up sticks and leave', the castle project is at the stage where I have to see this part through before a break can be taken, this does however allow time to plan an expedition of importance, being one who observes life as a series of signs and subliminal information I am given two choices, the first Alexandria in Egypt and secondly The Shetland Islands, both of which have borne significant relevance at very specific times throughout the past 15 years.

What a choice, between somewhere that offers long warm relaxing evenings and filled with visual and cultural delights, or somewhere, out in the far reaches of the North Sea, of uninhabited windswept and unforgiving islands that offer the ultimate in solitude though not without a daily life that would be filled not only with work in relation to survival but also with some element of suffering where my general and physical health is concerned !

solitude

I have spent much time in happy solitude throughout life, either through that of my own choosing or by circumstance, it is that choice that currently occupies me and directs my thoughts at this moment in time.

In times of old it was an easily remedied solution, pack up house, leave job and throw a dart at a map on the wall and post the keys through the letter box, my only choice being whether it were a national or international map that would determine my destination, without concern for time or responsibilities mode of transport was never an issue knowing that there will always be something travelling in that direction be it truck, car, boat or camel.

Times has moved on as have I leaving me now with the dilemma of how to pacify this state of mind without packing up and moving on, in order.

Times of solitude by choice has always brought me great peace of mind, the time to dwell to ponder, meditate and take stock of what and who is in my life and the forces that act upon me through others, there is little worse than dogma when wanting to take control of ones own life; research throws some interesting light upon the subject suggesting that extended periods of solitude can lead to depressive type illnesses though I notice also that for the most these models have been gleaned from the study of rats, monkeys and prisoners; of the three none were subjected to this clinical study of their circumstance where choice had anything to do with it; my own experience is that a reclusive lifestyle can enhance the circumstance of a person suffering from depressive type illnesses though only for a limited time before detrimental effects become apparent.

I can remember some occasions when to share my own company was an absolute impossibility there are more occasions however when I could, and did, go for months without any contact with anyone yet, rather than to sink into depression I found a freedom that is otherwise impossible to find in normal day to day life;


"Mans inability to sit quietly in a room by himself contributes to all of the major problems in society" Mahatma Ghandi. 
I am not sure if this is true, word by word, it has clouded in my mind and changes each time I consider it, the intent however remains the same.  

The wait

While I await the plans from the castle survey there is little to do these days other than finishing off and packing up earlier trials and outstanding jobs that have surved their time; for me it is that period of waiting between commitments that mainly orientate around the Castle Project and preparations towards the November period of Remembrance,
An early spring gives opportunity to reacquaint myself with the outside world and to get back to the roots of my existence, nature itself which left unattended overcomes the intrusion of man leaving rusted metals and other rubbish dumped, as awful as this is even nature overcomes the ugliness, metals change to autumnal colours through oxidation and rust, other materials slowly get taken over with moss and tiny ecosystems that eventually meets with the nature of the land as they slowly move toward each other.

this old burner sits in the allotment, still usable and aesthetically fitting to its surroundings, you have to love the process of natural degradation and evolution.

There was a wonderful documentary film though I can neither find it nor remember the name; it started with the sudden and unexplained disappearance of the entirety of all of mankind and how the the natural world would evolve in omnipotence, with excellent special effects I watched the mighty dams of the world shut down, break down and eventually give way, the eifel tower and every other great building ultimately disintergrate and become lost, in fact, all that would be left for the duration of the earth would be a return to nature pre-man with no visible evidence that man had ever been here, thats powerful.

Manuscript sketches

It has been a quiet but busy few weeks for me, while the neighbours have continued to try and destroy each other with post winter blues I have lost myself, back into the world of sketching and fotoshop.

I was asked some time ago if I would Illustrate a book for a local poet, aka Judas Rose, though I replied, '' of course!'' I could not have known the journey that his work was to take me, nor how soon the manuscript was to arrive at my door.
When it did I found his work was not of the short and harmonious poetry that I had heard him recite at the local 'open mic' nite at the local arts centre, instead, I found darkness, sadness and misery, I found a person that was lost, alone, in mourning and of such morose nature that I knew I would have to read the words over and over again, not so much in to find illustrations (there was much within to work from) instead, to find an understanding of the abstract nature of his words.

I started out reading and re-reading the work, over and over again, jotting down images that appeared along the way, finally, I realised that none, or at least few of the images I had drawn had little to do with what the work was all about, I put it to bed for a couple of days and returned with a new direction, the emotions of the work rather than the words. His work took me on my own journey, a journey into my own past miseries and shame, of pain and regret, fortunately I was able to revisit old wounds and return intact with only limited emotional damage.

The work is now complete and collected, with only one image left to draw, I was able to put together 22 images that I felt fully represented his work, he was happy and now, I sit, with fingers crossed for him, that his publisher is able to match the images with the work,to see all of the images, click the following link.
Lithium Clockwork manuscript sketches first draft

success -v- fulfillment

It is of no secret that the entire world is filled with individuals seeking some level of success in their lives, it is what education, promotion and recognition is all about, it is where IQ takes over from EQ, in support of this the government a few years ago suggested that by the year 2020 the greatest majority of people of school leaving age would enter the world with a degree, the reality is that this adventurous initiative has for sure resulted in more people having degrees than ever before.

in 2008 I put together a collage piece headlined with the outline of the great and good of history, from philosophers and scientists to artists and men of great faith and wisdom, a question was raised and put forth,
''Is this what you aspire to be, successful?''
My answer at the time still holds good today, '' I have a roof over my head, food in my belly and a paintbrush in my hand, I am happy, I am successful!''

In reality it is not his vision of success that drives me but a mission toward ''fulfillment'', it is this which creates the security in success rather than the success bringing security, how many great people have found a somewhat awful and early retirement from life, an overdose of drugs and alcohol being just one of the many ways that some of the most wealthy and successful people have used to escape from their demons in life, their own unfulfilled life, they did achieve, they did excel, they became what it was they sought, a number one hit song, a great painting, directorship of a huge conglomerate, it matters not, for each died unhappy despite life bringing them all that most can only dream of having or achieving.

Success remains for me only as a single step in the great journey of life, beyond this is the search for 'fulfillment'

Noun

1.

fulfilment - a feeling of satisfaction at having achieved your desires

IT'S NOT HOW MUCH MONEY WE MAKE THAT ULTIMATELY MAKES US HAPPY BETWEEN 9 AND 5, IT WHETHER OUR WORK FULFILLS US.  -- malcolm gladwell, author, The Tipping Point.