Finding Stuff.

It has taken a while to settle into this new space, but I think I'm getting there. It's starting to feel like my space to work and explore ideas, it's especially lovely at the weekends, when I have the whole building to myself! No creaking from upstairs or worrying that my music has snuck up to loud and disturbing next door....

The other bonus is that I'm slowly having a good sort and organise of my stuff. I have a LOT of stuff. The textiles have been sorted, mosaic tiles sorted and colour coordinated, canvas's leant up. 

I also found a small stack of Handmade journals which I used to love making. These are made from scratch, I've made the silk paper for the cover, glued and pressed pages, Japanese stitch and bound them together, many hours of lovingly crafting these small tomes. 

So having revisited this making last month at the request of my daughter for a leather bound journal, I've discovered my supply of raw silk to make paper with and started exploring handmade journals again. I also found the notes I'd made at University when I attended the lectures and workshops on bookbinding. I'm not sure how I'd forgotten about attending these workshops! 

Rejuvenating old work

One of the advantages of moving studio space is that I have found lots of old pieces of artwork. Little cards I'd made, small textile experiments and old sketchbooks full of ideas never realised. 

So when a new book arrived on my doorstep, 'Wabi Sabi' by Serena Barton, I embraced my revitalised creativity (thanks to a trip to see Chagall at Tate Liverpool) and used some of Bartons suggestions for experimenting. It's an American based book, so a lot of the products she suggests aren't available here and I'm quite tight so don't want to pay postage from the US! 

So I've embraced the Wabi Sabi philosophy, simple asymmetry using textures to celebrate the small and sublime, adapted my materials and started to rejuvenate & recycle some old pieces of artwork. 

I've come up with three abstract pieces using such a wide range of materials from kitchen towels to latex to acrylic and I'm quite pleased with the results. 

There is a lot more philosophy behind the concept of Wabi Sabi, a Japanese term to describe the aesthetic that is imperfect and impermanent that is subtle. I'm still learning about this term of philosophy but  it may just have become my latest obsession that I need to absorb and read more about.