Quietly Confused...

I've applied to take part in an Art Fair in London this May; the closing date was yesterday. 'Send (images of) your best work', they said. I struggled with this for a long time. My immediate thought was, 'I haven't done it yet...' but of course, that's not what they meant. In the end, I chose eight pieces, which seemed to relate to each other, and which I'm proud of. I'm not sure that it's my 'best' work...but perhaps that's just subjective. The one I'm proudest of... actually, there are several, so one of them, 'Losing My Religion', is shown here. I think the thing that all these paintings have in common, is their energy. This is a fierce painting, about a difficult time in my life, when I burned out (aka The Breakdown From Hell). The eight aren't all fierce, they have different moods, different feels to them, but the amount of energy in each is similar. Different, but similar amounts.

What truly interested me is that although textiles is the area I'm known for (if I'm known for anything...), but there isn't a textile among them. I hope the textiles I make in the next year or so will be as powerful as the paintings. At present, they aren't, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps it is the medium itself, but I doubt it. I think this is a process thing, and I need to work it out for myself. I seem to start textiles in a different place entirely from where I start a painting. One of my textile friends, Jane, commented yesterday that the paintings would have benefited from having stitch added. I'm not sure I agree, but I could see where she was coming from. I don't feel my textiles have the power that my paintings do. That is going to change... but for today, I'm going to make a painting. I haven't painted for some time, and I realised, as Haydn was photographing the work, that I wanted to paint some more. I know, for once, exactly what I'm going to paint, and I'm off to the Little Green Shed, now that the heaters have been on for a while, and I'm going to paint it...a spring garden. Hope and rebirth...strong ideas, strong images, I hope.