Last October I had an abortive attempt at making a Tree of Life. This time I saw it through. I used coloured hemp and, although I thought the colours would flow into each other better, the result, although maybe a bit disjointed, is growing on me.
Things have moved so fast. An outbreak of a flu like illness in China late last year has now become a global pandemic that has changed EVERYTHING.
Happy International Women’s Day.
This was in my head and now it’s on a can. I’m very pleased with this, especially as, although it was in my head, I had no real idea about how to do it when I started. Even when I started painting the sunflowers in the foreground, I had no real notion about how I was going to make them look like sunflowers. So there was a lot of trial and error. That’s one of the joys of gouache, though. It’s very forgiving. You can change your mind, paint over things and hide mistakes to a certain extent.
I took a trip out to Killiney beach this afternoon to replenish my stock of pebbles. It was a beautiful day with a clear sky and a slight haze softening the edges of things.
I enjoy papier-mache. I enjoy the whole process: ripping up the paper, diluting the glue, pasting, the mess, working out when to stop, waiting for it to dry, peeling it off the mold, fixing the edges.
Teabag tentacles
Lavender on a teabag.
Yesterday, frustrated with seeming to have lots of time and the impression that I really had little to show for the week (which actually, as this blog post has demonstrated, wasn’t true), I grabbed a Sostrene Grene impulse purchase, and a Lidl impulse purchase, and an old book of Celtic knot work, and I did this piece of pyrography.
It’s the uncertainty. The invisibility of it. The sense that, as time passes, you’ll hear of someone related to someone you know succumbing. Followed by someone you kind of know. Followed by someone you definitely know. And so on. The sense that this thing is growing exponentially and getting closer. All the time.
Last October I had an abortive attempt at making a Tree of Life. This time I saw it through. I used coloured hemp and, although I thought the colours would flow into each other better, the result, although maybe a bit disjointed, is growing on me.
Things have moved so fast. An outbreak of a flu like illness in China late last year has now become a global pandemic that has changed EVERYTHING.