Like Most Artists...

I love making the work, but hate selling it.  And yet the balance probably should be less making, more promoting and selling.  In fact, there's no probably about it.  The world seems to be full of people telling you how to sell your work, these days. You could spend all day reading and thinking about it.  Why am I talking about this?  Mainly because I'm planning a new website, and as a result, have been looking around the internet at artists' websites.  Some of them are fabulous; others are Not So Great.  What do you think makes a great artist website?  I'd love to go look at any examples you think are exceptional, or even just good!

The stuff I am making, though, is enjoyable.  I had fun at the Hub this week, making shopping bags from fabric, and red rose corsages for Valentine's Day.  But the real fun is in the jewellery.  It has given me ideas for larger pieces, which would be part jewellery, part wall piece.  Not quite got there yet, but Watch This Space.  Meanwhile, above is what I'm working on now, all of it in process.  The top left hand one doesn't look terribly prepossessing in a photograph, but is better in Real Time.  If you look at it closely, you'll see that it is mixed media, rather than strictly textile, the base is shredded paper, and it is wrapped in yarn.  I think the ones I like best, though, look to me like abstract landscapes, like the ones in the bottom  row.  Despite their small size (they are no larger than about two and a half inches in any one direction), they seem to me to have space in them, for imagining. I'm still exploring to see what I think works, and what doesn't.

Please do let me know what you think.

Moving Things Around...

is a good way of seeing them with fresh eyes.  This textile piece has been sitting in the conservatory, but at such a height, and with so many other things, that it was difficult to actually look at.  Now, here it is on a clear wall, and it can be seen for itself.  To good effect, I hope!  I forget what I called this piece, which is alarming.  Usually titles stick with me, but clearly I must have got the title for this one wrong.   I'm tempted to call it 'Palely Loitering', not entirely sure why; probably something to do with the abstract figure to the right of centre.  We'll  see if that one sticks.

I like this piece, partly because it has a lot of movement in it. As part of the tidying up process, I looked through a couple of large sketchbooks and found these images in one of them, along with several black and white versions.  I realised that the feeling of movement in the textile piece is mirrored by these earlier sketches.  Interestingly, though, I find myself wanting to use them in a very different way, now, as works in their own right, and I'll doubtless ruminate about that until it's clear in my head, just as I must have done, unconsciously, with the sketches.

I've been ruminating on the other blog about not getting things done; this has been moved because I'm making a space for Big Bertha, my large scale printer, in the conservatory.  Mainly, I'm doing that because I'm about to go on a dyeing and felting frenzy, and steam and damp are not good for the printer.  But it does also mean that I might actually be able to sit in the conservatory, once I've finally finished tidying it up.  It is probably my favourite room in the house, simply because of the amount of light in it.  Of course, all that glass means that it's very warm in summer and cooler than I like in winter.  At the moment, though, I'm ironing hand dyes, and the coolness is very welcome.  More of the handdyes later...