I’ve reached the final stage of work on the new lion – the application of ModPodge (PVA glue.) Excess glue from the glue gun is removed at the same time using tweezers. Followers of my Blog will know that this is my least favourite part of making a work! This time, I seem to have been more than usually liberal with the glue gun so there’s lots of tidying up to do. I just need to apply myself to the task and do it little by little.
Image to follow soon.
A few days ago, I was emailed by Dora, a leader of the Art History Animation Club of Frith Manor School in London. I was so surprised – I knew nothing about their project to create a short animation about my work. What an honour!
It’s brilliant. The story and the drawings by the children are so sweet – Here is the link:
As if by magic, materials have arrived in the post once again at exactly the right time! Huge thanks to Rachel who works in a charity shop in Nottingham and emailed to ask if I could use some unsold bits and pieces.
YES!
So a few moments ago, some lovely dinosaurs and other toys have already been added to the mane of a new lion: my current work-in-progress. Just what was needed!
Billy Idol is finished! In the end he was great fun to make and I’m happy with him. Hope the new owner will be too …
Last week, a neighbour offered me a bag of plastic animals which she would otherwise have thrown away. What a fantastic hoard of materials!
Not only was I able to finish the ‘hair’ on my current creation, but I’ve also put aside many items ready for the next piece of work – a new lion. Sometimes things just work out with perfect timing! Serendipidy.
Left – another clue to the ‘ageing pop star’ … Guess who? I would say he’s not as well known as some – I only knew of one of his songs – but then that doesn’t mean anything!
Work is still in progress – I need to put a highlight in the ‘dead eyes’ and make a few minor tweaks but but I’m almost at the final glue layer and will then add in the background.
First – a general update on recent posts – the plastic cutlery seagulls (Blog 15/01/23) are still waiting to be re-hung as the installation Feeding Frenzy in The Cafe, Topsham. Unfortunately the new ceiling is so high that the owner is unable to find a ladder long enough to reach! I am awaiting further news…
Vincent Van Golf (Blog 12/12/22) has been sold via Words and Pictures Gallery, Teignmouth, and will soon be going to his new home in Germany.
Currently, I am working on a commission for a different client in Germany – another pop star with interesting hair (following Ed Sheeran!)
I would describe this person as ‘an ageing rocker’. Any ideas??
This weekend, with the help of a friend, I’ve been cleaning and mending the 25 plastic cutlery Seagulls (see blog post 28/11/22.) They were dusty rather than greasy, and cleaned very easily with soapy water and a soft toothbrush. I’ll report again when Feeding Frenzy is reinstalled in The Cafe, Topsham.
From this: To this:
Artist Stephanie Spindler with ‘Wearable’ at the opening of her show in New York last week. How exciting is that! (Thanks for sending me the photo Stephanie.)
I’m finding so much of interest and inspiration in Katy Hessel’s book “The story of Art – without Men”. There are so many brilliant female artists of whom I’ve never heard.
The image below; Self Portrait with Palette (1883) is by Ukranian-born painter Marie Bashkirtseff (b1858) who tragically died aged only 26.
In her journal she wrote;
What I long for is the freedom of going about alone, of coming and going … of stopping and looking at the artistic shops, of entering the churches and museums, of walking about the old streets at night; that’s what I long for and that’s the freedon without which one cannot become a real artist.
This stopped me in my tracks. There is much we take for granted. Today (at least in the West) women enjoy much the same freedoms as men – to have an education, to make decisions about our lives, to travel, to be independent.
These freedoms were hard-won by our predecessors. We owe them a debt of gratitude and must embrace the opportunities which were denied to them!
Happy New Year Everyone!
For Christmas, I was given a wonderful new art book – The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessell. It’s a fascinating documentation of the brilliant women artists who have been consistently written out of history over the centuries.
Yesterday’s discovery was this work (image below) by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (wife of George Rennie) entitled The Opera of the Sea (1902). It was commissioned by Fritz Waerndorfer, a collector of Klimt, as an inlaid panel for the piano in the music room of his Viennese villa.
As Hessel says, it bears striking similarities to The Kiss by Klimt, produced 5 years later in 1907. Klimt would no doubt have seen this work, yet how many people have heard ‘MMM’s name ever been mentioned in reference to Klimt?’ Fascinating Stuff!
Jane Perkins 