Nearly two years have passed since I last wrote! So much has happened in that time, most of it good, but it’s time to get back to some creative joy. I’ve been starting lots and finishing nothing, and I need to change that.
Did you watch the Channel 4 series “Grayson’s Art Club”? That’s one of the main reasons I’ve dusted myself down and picked up this blog again. It was thought-provoking, calming, laugh-out-loud funny, sad and inspiring. It made me think about art, and what it is to me, and all those times I was told at school that I couldn’t do “art” because I couldn’t draw. Yet, here in front of me for six episodes were people like me, managing to find their outlet without the need for qualification, passing an exam or ticking a box.
I want to explore new avenues of fibre and textile art, and create more for myself. I don’t want the love I have for wool and fibre and colour to be a chore, a project deadline and a milestone. The last commission I made reminded me that I am capable of making beautiful things, but the pressure to finish and the reason why I was commissioned in the first place had a deep impact on me. I haven’t knit anything complex or ‘beautiful’ since. I’ve finished a few projects, but nothing which sparks joy. I decided that I will no longer knit commissions and have deactivated that page on this site. Maybe one day I might start again. But for now, its time for a different challenge!
Swift and Skein 
Welcome back. I didn’t watch the Grayson series but I did watch the Kirstie Allsopp ❤
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Thanks! I’m afraid I find Kirsty Allsopp grates my nerves so I don’t watch her 🤐
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Everyone I know agrees with you 😂
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Re tesselating dragons – the eventual solution was to print directly from lino blocks onto the fabric, defeating the over-regularity of the containing rectangles by overlapping the (effectively) monoprints. Had to be real careful not to place the red dragon’s foot in the green dragon’s mouth. Took forever. Can’t imagine how people bave the patience ro do tapestries!
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I know what you mean about the tension between external constraints and solving the problems intrinsic to “your own art.” It is challenging but it can also be very satisfying. But now you will have the dilemma of hanging on to completed works/solved problems, or parting with them (perhaps for money). I know there are somewhere in Wales a pair of theatre curtains where I really had solved the problem of how to tesselate dragons rampant. Still miss those. Not so much the pots or puppets. The really great thing is if you can articulate a debate with a problem (or series of problems) which lends a unity to your work (I am wearing my museum educator hat today!) Looking forward to seeing thw new work!
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Tony, I can count on you to put the bubble of thought-crisis into something tangible! I want to know more about tesselated dragons!
If there is any way you guys have access to channel 4 streams Grayson’s series is something you and Pat would enjoy, I am sure. Xx
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Unfortunately there is this thing called BBC America that precludes direct access to the real Beeb. I will have to check out the commercial channels. There is something ca!!ed Britbox that my friend who is an holocaust historian from Boston highly recommends. He has now totally abandoned conventional subscription cable for a portfolio of streaming services. Will look for Grayson
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