Desperate Artwives

I have my pictures in this show. It opens on 28th June - my birthday! Unfortunately I won't be there for wine and nibbles, which is a pity as I'd love to meet the other women in the show.

Come to the Private View!
I am really excited to be chosen for it. This is the second show put together by Amy Dignam. The first show was reviewed favourably by Jane Martinson in the Guardian - here. There are a lot of very talented women squeezing time from the daily grind to make artwork as you can see on the Desperate Artwives website.

Mothers of course, aren't alone in this tightrope walk of the daily grind v artistic practice. Its difficult for anyone, beyond Art School to carry on making stuff. Time, space and money are all necessary. Essentially, this show puts the spotlight on women with a family making art and it is timely. Surrounded by lifestyle and craft blogs, sometimes I feel it would be easier if I just knitted and made toys for my children. It would seem, that its very acceptable to be a creative mummy if it is directed toward your children. I say this as my children are playing outside, whilst their dad is in charge for the second day in a row. I've got a deadline for next week...

I feel guilty, yet at the same time I'm pleased that I'm trying to get my career off the ground, something that will hopefully benefit my family. But this is not yet a paying job and right now I know that I'm letting people down. The people who mean the most to me. Maybe that's the difference between the Desperate Artwives and the other Desperate Artists. The emotional pull you feel as a parent is a particular context in which to make art.

Cyril Connolly famously said, "There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall."

I disagree. I could have got my finger out before I had children, and I didn't. For me they're my biggest inspiration.

I would say that the rubber gloves under the sink are an altogether more sinister opponent...

Motherboards and motherhood

I'm typing this on a Dell keyboard on a machine running Windows 2000 and I'm not especially pleased about it!

Yesterday, my Mac went pop and it won't reboot. I'm taking it to the hospital this week but strongly suspect that the motherboard is kaput. Without funds to purchase a shiny new one, I'm resigning myself to having 2 shit machines to do the job of one average one; an ancient G4 mac to make artwork and this for the internet.

I've also been having a bit of a crisis in my work lately, trying to get back to some artistic habitat I lived in before children. And hey, the G4 just took me straight back there! I replaced it whilst pregnant first time round so its free of bookmarks for mumsnet or excel spreadsheets referencing school stuff, etc. If I were overly optimistic (I'm not) I'd say its serendipitous!

The novelty will surely run out in about 15 minutes creating an incentive to sell some pictures and  get a new one. Until then I'll be mostly using a pen and pencil...

Gil Gerard, nice!

To donate to the cause of bringing me - Buck Rogers style - back into the 21st Century, look out for my Etsy shop opening soon!

For the musings of a desperate house husband neighbour with a keen interest in forest gardens and raising kids in the country check out Diary of A Country House Husband.

See, I'm not the only blogger in the village!

(I really hope this looks okay on a 'modern' browser. The whole thing could be in comic sans for all I know.)

Now what?

 
If you're the nice person that bought my picture then a great big THANK YOU!!!! 

Now for the difficult bit... what to do next? I know what I'm doing artwork wise but I've somehow got to get stuff into galleries or maybe apply for an MA?

Dunno. Feel a bit inert. A slight down after last weekends up, maybe. Its the end of something so my energy is tailing off, yet actually, in the broader sense this should be the beginning of something else.   

Its half term this week so I'll be dedicating time to the littlies. I am grateful for this bank holiday making it a 4 day week though. Bill is tinkering with bike things and Nos 1 and 2 are painting each others faces whilst number 3 has a nap. I've got no food or laundry liquid so I'm off to get provisions.

Check in soon for the next thrilling installment... 

Curtains


My latest effort for the Southbank Arts Trail on Saturday and Sunday. I'm showing my stuff in Paper Village on North Street, Southville, Bristol.

It is still a single piece of paper sandwiched between two pieces of glass but its a bit of a departure in process; a combination of a soldering iron and scalpel with synthetic paper. A more painterly process, using heat to remove the material, but just as time consuming! I'm sort of  hoping to get another bigger one done before the weekend but I'm probably kidding myself.

Got a billion things to do, like make business cards and sort out prices and of course, actually hang things on a wall! I'll probably sell nothing but it'll be an adventure.

Be thankful

I had the idea to make light blue neon sign saying, "be thankful" about 6 months ago after a medium sized hospital stay. Its been a tough year for a variety of reasons and I want to be reminded of how lucky I am everyday.  

My daughter spent a night in hospital last week. After IV fluids and antibiotics, she is definitely on the mend. This is my next papercut. I'm forgetting the other stuff for now.



Today Bill, did a big tidy of the garden, cutting back all the dead stuff from winter. This fell from one of the trees...

Like a birds nest from your imagination.

So perfect - soft inside and the outside is glued together with clay. Its very light. After we all had a good look, Bill put it back in case it might be reused again, this year.

So there you have it, another corner turned. Spring's around the next one... 

St Valentine

This is my effort. Started it a couple of days ago with plans. Its wholly dependant on symmetry as I have no time to do both halves of anything today. Daughter still very unwell and I can't be ignoring my children in order to draw pretty pictures on my computer.

Feeling like a half hearted artist and a shitty mum. Can't do anything wholehearted today.

Sorry. Back later with some cheer, maybe.