The sheds

The sheds

Spend a few days at “The Sheds” in Whiltshire, friends of mine have created a amazing home for their family, a oasis of creativity, whenever I had the opportunity to stay with them, surrounded by original artwork and their deep passion for art, encouraging and supporting artists…I return with the belief that what I am doing has a place, is important for me to persude. I was teaching a stone carving course there and it could not have been different to the weekend in March when we had some snow at the Rococo Garden. We were carving in blazing heat all weekend long, with the luxury of a dip into the pool at the end of the day. I met the artist Andrew Vass during his residency, the conversations I had with him sparked many thoughts about the process of working, decisions during mark making and seeing drawings in a completely different light to creating representations. I do have hang ups about my drawing, because I still have that expectation that a drawing needs to be recognisable, NO IT DOESN’T! Making marks can be a different world, a line can have a massive story to tell, a mark can be changed, has it’s own history and time scale, a shadow of it’s own existence, can disappear leaving nothing but a memory. The conversations with Andrew inspire me to explore drawing in a totally fresh way, it also brought me closer to the work of my colleague and friend Emily Joy. Thank you to Aubrey and Kay Newman for hosting a deluxe stone carving weekend as well as putting up my drawing “Ceasura” this weekend, good to see that one in a new light too. Watch the space!

20.01.2013, Ceasura (detail), graphite on paper

20.01.2013, Ceasura (detail), graphite on paper

Final stages of planning for stone carvings

Final stages of planning for stone carvings

Always a challenge to prioritise, I could happily get more involved into the world of mould making and casting as it is all new and exciting… but I consciously steer away from it, keeping an eye on the stone carving, which is as exciting and needs in depth planning. I enjoy the motion of gaining a deeper understanding through drawing and model making, relating plans to the actual big lumps of rock, realising that a solidly considered plan before taking to the power tools is what I want. At times I feel like walking in the dark, at times I can see where I am coming from and which direction I am taking. It is not easy for me to visualise the whole form available to me and to make decisions where I want to reduce. I am getting there slowly knowing it is time and effort well spend.

Measuring stone 1, 15.04.2013

Measuring stone 1, 15.04.2013

Ideas for stone 1, 20.04.2013

Ideas for stone 1, 20.04.2013

Measuring stone 2, 15.04.2013

Measuring stone 2, 15.04.2013

Drawing stone 2, 15.04.2013

Drawing stone 2, 15.04.2013

Moving between 2D & 3D, 20.04.2013

Moving between 2D & 3D, 20.04.2013