Early days, early sunshine.
Sanded board.
Rework a blackout drawing to restart.
Experiment, improvise, play.
Let’s see where it goes.

Found in one of my piles of paper – a blacked out exhibition flyer from earlier this year (or maybe even last year).

Sorting through and sanding back old surfaces. Getting ready for the next batch of work.

One from the archives above and a few conversation snippets from the week below…

• The cost of making art… the amount of money and time artists put into their practice with no guarantee of return.

• The loneliness of being an artist (in any form) and working freelance, and the challenges this brings.

• Do art competitions really benefit the artists?

• Where are all the affordable / cheap studio spaces?

• Instagram – how important is it, what’s it got to do with art, and is it worth the effort?

• How do you get into a curated group show?

• And remembering the excitement, energy involved when you find yourself talking about a topic you’re really into.

Another day of wrestling with code and crossing the gaps in my knowledge. I find it so different from painting – all cerebral and not of my body at all. Quite separated in fact.

Open my laptop, type ⌘-7 atom, hit return, ⌘-7 term, hit return and I’m good to go. The best solutions come quickly and are elegant. Ugly works too. Or it doesn’t.

Captivating and consuming, the process tickles the problem solving aspects of my personality. I must find something attractive about it (even in the shallow levels I work at) and yet after overcoming frustration with moderate success, I find a day in front of a screen less than fulfilling. My body feels empty somehow.

Time to escape the screen and see what I can do with some paint.

Oh, and the image – it’s one from my year long project. The work was released five years ago this week.