A Weird Time

Well, we are most definitely living in weird times! Covid 19 struck and lockdown hit us while ‘Celebrating The Goddess’ was still set up in The Woodshed (the exhibition had been extended for a further couple of weeks). With my normally quite full social life seriously curtailed, I suddenly found myself with enough time to do a few of the things I’d been promising for ages to do at home, but had never got round to actually starting.

One of these chores was sorting out my studio, which was so full of ‘stuff’ there was barely room in there to work. It was painful making decisions about what had to go, but I bit the bullet and threw out a skip load of things I’d been hanging on to for years in case they might come in useful (they never did, of course!). A new set of shelves and a good sweep up later, and my studio is once again a space I love to be in.

But apart from tidying, what else have I been doing? Well, Zoom has been a revelation, and I’ve enjoyed many a session with family, friends, and various artistic community groups. I’ve made several glass panels, one of which - ‘Wisteria’ has been included in the lovely Linden Hall Gallery’s online Lockdown exhibition. And I’m experimenting with dropping glass through wire mesh - nothing to show yet, but I’m finding it fascinating. Several sculptures are in the pipeline. I need to mull over them at every stage, sometimes for weeks, so it may be a while before any are fully realised. And every Monday morning I’ve been joining in the excellent Secret Drawing Club’s Zoom life drawing sessions. After abandoning all attempts many years ago, I’ve recently become interested in painting again, and I’ve been using paint to make the images from the sessions. You can see some of the results on the 2D page.

So all in all, I count myself very lucky to be an artist during this time. I am of course well aware that many artists, unable to access their usual markets, are suffering huge financial hardship, and I’m not in any way brushing that aside. But at least an artist is unlikely ever to be bored! And if you ever see an artist silently staring into space, possibly for hours, trust me - they’re working, even if they’re not actually hands on. I think all artists will know exactly what I mean!

Keep safe!