Studio Update Feb 23 I

Imbolc, existential crisis and a sander

Hi everyone,

Because today, the 1st February, is traditionally associated with Imbolc I’m going to say it (sorry) - Happy Spring…

Imbolc is a Celtic festival that lies half way between winter solstice and spring equinox and marks the beginning of lambing season. Looking outside I think my weatherman might say hold your horses, there’s plenty of winter left yet - but to be fair there are some stirrings. The birds have begun to sing and are beating the heads off each other. Green things are rising up from the muck. Things are waking up.

Art:

This week in the studio it’s been an unholy mish mash. I’ve felt like when I was 13 playing basketball for my school team. Whistle blows, Aoife leaps into the air and snatches the ball, sprints down the hall leaving everyone in her wake (dribble dribble) and smashes a spectacular 3 pointer - into the wrong net. There were many existential exclaims - What am I doing with my life? Who am I? Are those my feet? But on reflection, I think that might be very normal for this time of year, so am taking all my nonsense with a pinch of salt. It will come right.

Some good things though - I’m zeroed in on something I am very interested in and something that always comes through in my art. That is shapes. I like shapes. I like how they connect and flow away from one another. I like how many shapes come together to make a bigger shape. I like cutting through a single shape to make multiple smaller shapes.

I have this board that is sitting untouched because even though it’s not finished there’s something about it that I love. It’s the shapes. And the diamond pattern. It’s hanging off the top of my easel (precariously) and is the current guidepost for my work.

As for the existential nonsense - I woke up Sunday morning and realised I hated everything I had been working on (despite being mad about it the day before). So took out the sander and gave all my panels a good seeing to. It felt very new beginningy and got rid of a lot of built up paint and pulled some lovely textures through.

Life:

Outside the studio, life trundles on - work, dog walks, eating soup, falling asleep in front of Miss Marple.

In the spirit of trying new things, I’ve joined an actual in person (yes face to face) oil painting class. I got very comfortable in my little lockdown zoom bubble, so it was more than time to step back into the physical world. You know I think it was the first time I’ve painted in the same room as other people for at least 20 years. ‘What do you mean I can’t wear pyjamas and go for a nap?’ But it was a change from working by myself all the time and just a right laugh. I need a few weeks before I can figure out how I feel about oil as a medium, right now I’m still fixating on the stink of turpentine.

In Between:

Here are some things that have been keeping me company this week:

Modern Art is Rubbish podcast - lots of art banter and just great info.

Miss Marple (Joan Hickson version) - make some tea and grab a blankie.

Katy Hessel is rewriting art history with her book ‘The History of Art - without men’ - really looking forward to getting a copy and digging in.

To finish off here is a song that is on constant replay in the studio when I want to shake a leg and get some energy going:

Take care and wrap up, the weatherman says it’s not Spring yet! xx

Aoife