Its been a few weeks since returning from Cairns and I've not yet really settled into routines. Instead, after losing the best part of 2 weeks quietly recovering from tropical infections on my legs I've found myself looking to 2013 and thinking/planning for possible projects, needing to determine the pragmatics of certain ideas so as not to float around in a limbo of hoped-for ideal scenarios.
Seems an abundance of ideas issued from that slow time of recovery... time to do some serious research and thinking over the next phase ... consider more fully the key focus. A surprisingly dense process Ive found as a number of unexpected elements have been thrown up that in time will be part of the fabric of a new year but at the moment require much processing.
Consequently Ive used studio time for thinking rather than doing. Usually these moments between are when journals get filled.... but instead I turned to stitching ... the slow and simple process of stitching edges of linen I will paint on later was a tonic as I pondered all kinds of things, listed to Radio National and even watched a series of films and docos.
Two lino-cut motifs I used in Cairns for Unique Prints as well as part of the layering in paintings
This morning I noticed on Pinterest a small yet personally interesting thing ... this print below had been pinned onto a series of other's boards...
Yet, I never finished it in time for the show. It was one of a series of 4 works... but the other's took up the entire page... 50 x 70 cm whereas this one was out of proportion.
In the last few days of preparation for the show I was run down and those infected midge bites weren't helping. Right at the end I made a stab at finishing this work only to see it destroyed... oh the mess I made! That then made me stop and give over... put up my brushes and focus on the details for the opening night.
So when I noticed today on Pinterest that 11 people had pinned or liked it I had to laugh and cry at my inability to know when to give over and when a work is good enough. Sometimes its plain to me and I settle easily with the sense of it being done... but I can get very unsettled at times and often need to put something aside and let it wait.
If it cant wait... then this is what can happen. Best to laugh and sigh a bit and move on!
Hope to be back soon slightly more in a routine .... but I suspect there are a few factors that will challenge that. We'll see!
A good week to all!
