Now here’s a thing – I’ve never knitted and never will, having no affinity at all with anything that requires needles, whether knitting or sewing. At school I was thrown out of the domestic science sewing class because I was so hopeless, and sent to do Latin instead. Believe me, Latin was a doddle by comparison. But I do admire the colours and fabrics and textures of all sorts of wearable art, and love the idea of it. A knitter called Brenda Dayne came to my studio exhibition last week and I discovered that she’s also a very skilled journalist and broadcaster. She interviewed me and also fellow artist Linda Norris about our approach to art, to include in her series of podcasts on the theme of events and people within a 20 mile radius of her home. Have a listen on www.cast-on.com – I don’t think it’s compulsory to be knitting whilst you listen!
I thought it was interesting that knitters cast on to begin their journey and sailors cast off. All is connected….
The spiders in my studio dread the end of November. My annual exhibition is a good opportunity to have a clear out, dislodge the cobwebs and take a fresh look at all the paintings hanging on the wall. It’s also a good excuse for a party and if visitors buy something that’s a bonus! It was the physical rather than financial climate that kept numbers lower than usual this time – torrential rain and a force ten for most of the weekend was unhelpful to say the least.
It did get busy on Sunday lunchtime, which took on a slightly surreal quality. Plenty of friends had arrived and Perry, still spaced out from a recent virus, was ladling the mulled wine in the kitchen. An American knitter wanted to interview me for her website podcast (more about that another time) at the same time as a family of seven arrived to view the house. Now we’ve been on the market for 18 months with no viewings, so we weren’t going to turn this one away and they took all the chaos in their stride. I wondered if I should put extra noughts on the price of my best painting and then throw in the house for free….
annual tidy up complete!
As an artist, I would rather draw a face with character than a mask of perfection. (The fact that I’m not very good at drawing faces is beside the point – this is a philosophical ramble but don’t worry, I’ll keep it brief!)
There was a piece on the radio recently about a new dating agency for beautiful people only. In fact there are several – one of them has a long list of banned features, including non-symmetrical faces or bodies, big noses, and wearing out of date fashions. So you can be a cold hearted inarticulate bitch with an ego the size of Milton Keynes as long as you have white even teeth and no centre parting. Hmmm. Perhaps the word beauty needs redefining. A shift of emphasis away from the outer to inner beauty would not go amiss. Years ago I was told a story of a wise man who asked his student what qualities she would like to see more of in the world. “Respect, courtesy, humanity, warmth, generosity of spirit, that kind of thing”, she said. “Well then”, came the reply. “Put them there!”
Enough rambling, back to wrestling with chapter three – all about coastlines, harbours and rockpools. I wonder if sea squirts think all other sea squirts are beautiful…… I’m sure they do.
