2011 - where i was, what was passing around me

2011 has been a long and strange year. At times it seemed it would never end: t & m’s wedding was so far away, but in other moments it all seemed to be hurtling past me and I just couldn’t keep up: the moments were piling on top of each other and I couldn’t seem to find space to breathe. 

At some point in the year I lost myself in some sort of metaphorical hole and emerged with little memory of that precise space: only questions of who was I, what did I want, who did I want to be, where did I want to be, and where did I want to go.

Sitting here, now, on the last day of 2011, I find it hard to believe that this is real and that so many things happened only this year. Did I really fly to Sydney to see Carmen and eat copious amounts of food in January this year? Did I really see the Antlers the same year I saw Seeker Lover Keeper? The first half of this year seems an age away, whilst the second half feels like it was just yesterday. 

Through it all various songs have floated around me; Adele seemed to be everywhere but the rest of these songs are split between places I was passing through and the places my friends and family brought me to and through. These songs are a record of those spaces and perhaps a hint at where I’ll be next.

To my wonderful friends and family, I love you all and thank you for being with me through 2011.

1.      George Bizet - L'amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle (Maria Callas)

2.      Lykke Li - I Know Places

3.      The Antlers - Bear

4.      Kanye West - Lost In The World (Feat. Bon Iver)

5.      Sbtrkt – Hold On

6.      Avalanches - Since I Left You

7.      Little Red - Rock It

8.      Cat Power - Theme From New York, New York

9.      Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blue

10.   Adele - Rolling In The Deep

11.   Bon Iver - For Emma

12.   Seeker Lover Keeper - Rest Your Head On My Shoulder

13.   Beirut - The Rip Tide

14.   Hackney Colliery Band - No Diggity

15.   Calvin Harris – Bounce (Feat. Kelis)

16.   Angus & Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane

17.   Badly Drawn Boy - Silent Sigh

18.   Fleet Foxes - Grown Ocean

a tower of silence

an experiment from my studio arts course....

hands

Where is your hand? I miss it so
        smooth out my skirt, untangle my hair-
        eyes cast down hide an anxious stare.
Time will heal wounds as spring melts snow:
one knows what's true, but even so-
sweet fictions are easier to bear,
than having what was, no longer there
but it's time: I must let you go
though just before you walk from me free,
please hold my hand, this one last time-
       so I'll remember what was mine:
       dreams, memories: a life once shared
ending now to divide this we,
       two souls once united, bound and paired.

(a 10 year work in progress, abandoned and then reviewed and then abandoned again. no more after this)

WIP - The Wall of Contemplation

I'm hurtling towards a deadline and i'm still experimenting. Fingers crossed I'll make it.

epitaph

we long for each other
but miss the turn
a child never born

LightCycle - joint project | cardboard city

In some sort of madness, last Friday and with only 6 days left in LightCycle,  I decided to see if I could enter the competition. Perhaps it was meant to be, because when I rang up - someone had just returned kit number 50 and it was mine for the taking.

The State of Design Festival has become a firm feature in mine and my brother's calendar; and given our recent successful creative partnerships, the obvious thing to do was to rope my brother-frustrated creative and willing participant into my plan.

The last 6 days have been utterly draining as we've scrambled to design and assemble an entry. Below is the results of our struggles. If you're interested you can hop along to the exhibition and vote for our entry. :D

Artists' Statement

Cardboard City 
Like a city block at night, this light embodies our hope that future cities will be built and breath in an environmentally sustainable way. Made out of ordinary recycled and recyclable materials: cardboard boxes, empty handtowel rolls and milk bottles; the light calls us to reconsider how we view and use everyday things and materials.
 
As the ‘buildings’ and 'floors' of this light are not fixed, the light open to individual customization. This reminds us that we each have the capacity to change and improve our world for the better: we only have to choose so.

Papercut in a rush - The Bleeding Forest

For a girl who is fond of robots

Home ownership is fun

sketches - paths

sketches - twisted

Papercutting - Tiger stripes for a tiger boy!

My nephew is moving into his new room soon. To mark this change, I made a papercut of his name, cutting out the letters in orange and black, before 'carving out' holes in the orange to create tiger stripes for a tiger boy.

Painting - Apples

I did a short course on painting last year and nervous about my ability to paint, chose to paint some apples. I got sick of these apples last year, but didn't mind them so much when I took them out earlier this week. One or two more sessions and these apples should be done. I think they're quite charming.

Papercutting - Intimate Moments

One night at the VCA course, we had to bring in examples of our work. Having not painted for such a long time, I didn't have anything to bring in. I've always loved paper cutting, and quickly (we're still talking two days here) put this together. Hopefully I'll find some more images that appeal equally to me, and make a series of this.

VCA - Studio Arts Term 1

Various turns of events have ended up with me being enrolled in the VCA studio arts course, and in the painting stream!!!! The last time I painted regularly was sadly, about 10 years ago. This has left me feeling panicky about whether or not i'm able to paint and what will i produce this year??? Below are some of the things which have arise as a result of the course:

An acrylic painting based on a paper collage. My second go at acrylic paints and painted in one session.

This was the result of a masking activity, again using acrylic paints. The darkest blue is a bit too dark but i like the composition.

 

My first go at oil painting in a year. We learnt a blending technique. I've spent two sessions on this painting now and hopefully I'll get it done with a third session.

Life Drawing: No Vacancy - December 2010 and April 2011

Dave's been telling me off for not posting up the outpourings off my creativity (i.e. showing ppl my vomit). So here's some sketches from my last two life drawing sessions: 

Chloe in December 2010

Zoe in April 2011

robyn

a simple way to label an envelope

2am and candlelight

When I was seeing this girl I used to like putting together mixtapes for our more intimate moments, as dorky as that is. After we stopped seeing each other I started to put together another mix as a way of psyching myself up, but as the tracklist shows, somewhere along the way it became its own creature, and is probably now best described as my first break-up mix. Link just below:

2am and Candlelight

1. Aphex Twin - Avril 13th
2. Janelle Monae - Oh Maker
3. Robin Thicke - Make U Love Me
4. Bilal - Think it over (Exile remix)
5. Yann Tiersen - Comptine d'un Autre ete - L'apres midi
6. Washington - Lover/Soldier
7. Foreign Exchange feat Yazarah - The City Ain't The Same Without You
8. The Roots - Dillatude
9. Dinah Washinton - This Bitter Earth
10. Diddy Dirty Money - Shades
11. Janelle Monae feat Deep Cotton - 57821
12. Little Brother - All for You (instrumental)
13. Bon Iver - re: stacks