Trying to Count my Blessings in the Face of the Big Chill

Oh my goodness! Has all of Europe, or maybe the whole world gone freezing cold!

I have to remind myself that I did have the most spectacular summer that I have probably ever had in my entire life just put behind me. That is the only thing that is (just about) keeping me going the last couple of days.

It has not helped that I have not been able to get warm again after returning from Norway. We had temperatures there of -3 to -8 and I was so torn between wanting to be with my beloved Vic and returning to what I thought would be a warmer Spain. Well it is, but still cold and also wet at the moment. Add to that the fact that as our house is still under construction it is not yet properly sealed and insulated against the cold weather and we have not yet got our promised wood burning stove in. I know that that will make a huge difference to the overall temperature of the house, but at the moment it rather seems to be a bit of a pipe dream. And right now I have chapped lips!

Still I try to remain positive in the face of all the weather and all the other difficult things that are going on in our lives at the moment. I also worry about my children when I am feeling like this and wonder what the future holds for them in this rather uncertain economic climate of ours.

But these are the musings at the moment as I find myself at this low point now, where I am just after my exhibition and deciding what is the best way to go forward.

Well there is one positive thing, I have finally started to set up my very own website, not a blog, (which is really just for me to talk about whatever I want to), but a proper website with all my pictures up on it and where people can go and look at the art and also buy what they see, if they so wish. It is still under construction so I will not post the address here just yet – but I will soon. I should think it will be up and running by the weekend.

I suppose the second positive in spite of the chill factor is that I really feel an improvement in my Spanish. I have always found that shutting off for a spell can actually help and that is what I did when I went to Norway to visit Vic last week. It wasn’t really intentional as I did take my audio tapes with me so that I could listen while walking, but as I did not do as much walking as I had intended to, owing to the cold, I did not actually manage to get my earplugs in at all the whole week and in fact spent a happy time trying to remember some Norwegian, which to my delight I still could. Not all but more than expected. So much so that I keep saying ‘Hei hei!’ to people now instead of ‘Hola!’ although I am back in Spain – they probably think that I am mad. Well actually I don’t suppose they would be far off the mark there!

But getting back to that point, yes, after shutting off the Spanish for a bit I have somehow absorbed more of what I have learned and feel that my skills have stepped up a notch. And it feels good.

Another blessing is that after two and a half days of almost solid rain the sun is now trying to raise its head.

And I suppose the biggest blessing of all is that in a mere two and half weeks Vic will be winging his way home to me for Christmas!

So there, I have suddenly talked myself around again to looking forward to good things to come: Christmas, Vic, Websites, talking to friends in Spanish as well as English and also I have been reliably informed that this cold spell will be taking a break this coming weekend so I might get myself warmed up a bit then.

Jester

Jeepers Creepers!

I have just spent two hours battling with my printer!

What a waste of time and yet what a necessary evil. My head is absolutely splitting now with the effort and I am now desperately behind in my day's work.

It all started when I wanted to print out the next in my 'Many Faces of Vic' series.

This is the first drawing/painting which I completed yesterday. This morning when out on my bike ride I got a couple of new ideas which I decided I would draw up first thing to get the new ideas down.

I worked them up on the computer first - to get the elements put together and sitting right and then I went to print. Very red and yellow and definitely lacking in Blue. So I did a test print. No cyan coming through at all. So I did one clean and then another and then a deep clean. You know the way it works, over and over I cleaned and printed. I changed the cartridge and had to replace two others that were empty by that time. I don't know why I am moaning on really, everyone has printer problems. I guess I just needed to vent!

So now I am calm again - the problem is sorted, I think and hope. But I have at least got my prints with cyan included :-)

This Jester is a bit of fun. I had not meant it to be such a caricature, but Vic's many expressions do so lend themselves to exaggeration and fun. I hope that the next two will not be quite so cartoon like, but i suppose we will have to see.

So you see - I decided not to put the jester's hat onto the relief sculpture which I made previously but have made a completely new picture instead. I think this is better. It simplifies the image. The many Vics with some strange snake-like hat would have been very complex, however, I have not ruled it out entirely. For now though I have made this jester with his strange organic and lively hat. I think Vic, the Jester, seems to almost afraid of it and to be honest I think if I were to wear one like it, I too would be very afraid.

Still I like the darkness of this drawing - How often are our comedians in fact manic on stage and miserable and fearful behind the scenes. Two sides of one coin.

In conclusion it only remains for me to say that this is in no way a reflection of the character of the real Vic. and in any event he does not have a hat like this, at least, I don't think so......

The Many Faces of Vic

Luckily my Victor has a very good sense of humor - As you can see he also has a pretty rubbery face!

This relief was made by way of an experiment and a bit of fun. I wanted to practice my portraiture and facial expressions in relief sculpture - which is very important by the way.

For those people who know Vic they might be able to recognise bits of this. I myself think that some of the portraits do capture a resemblance and most of them do capture the strange facial expressions which he is capable of achieving.

A friend of mine called by when I had just begun the sculpture and when she saw the photos I was working from she actually thought that some of those did not look like Vic either. I suppose photos are like that - they don't always capture the essential likeness of the person either. With that in mind I concentrated more upon the various expressions and face pulling that he made, instead of worrying too much about getting a good likeness. The two work together anyway - so the better sculptures do capture a better likeness I would venture to say.

I think that I have had some success with this piece. Most of the strange, twisted expressions are well observed and capture some sort of feeling (madness springs to mind! x). As I have already said I think there are some moments of likeness too, so it has been a very worthwhile exercise. Some of the very smallest faces were very difficult. It was easier to get detail and likeness in the larger faces, so that is good to know. I imagine though working very large you would also encounter problems making all parts hang together without distortion. So I think there is probably a comfortable optimum size to work with. Good learning!

This plaque is approximately 20cm in Diameter, so you can visualise the sizes I was working with.

When I worked i worked my way around the plaque, roughing out the forms first and then slowly building the faces up and finally fine tuning them. This helped to keep an even balance of finishment across the whole surface and design.

I did think it might be nice to put some strange amorphous jester's hat onto the heads, but it would take a bit of working out and I might save that for another time as i have rather a lot of other stuff to do at present - and this was after all just an exercise, so for now Vic must remain hatless. I can see this plaque turning up in some quirky little corner in our new home!

Fern Frond - my first new print!

I am really excited about this today!

It is my excuse for not getting round to posting yesterday. I was completely absorbed, and a bit under the hammer, with trying to get this hand painted linocut print completed. I made two other similar, handcoloured prints, as well - I was trying to work out the colours and what I want in the final Artist's Proof print.

You will see from this print, however, that it is not entirely even but I know what went wrong with it and there is nothing I can do until i can get my hands on a proper press (and also a thickener for my ink) to create the edition. Still I am really excited. I have been working towards my first new print for the whole year really, so problems and technicalities not withstanding, this is a really big deal for me.

The picture itself has been posted before, so you might recognise it. I did the original as a watercolour and pen and ink. I liked the original and thought that it had potential to make a really nice print. I think it does and I hope you think so too.

For me this is a huge step forward. As I have already said I been working towards making prints of this type for a long time now, but living here in Stavanger, in an apartment I have had to battle with limitations like getting supplies and getting access to tools and equipment - not to mention a lack of space. The last time Vic went home to the UK he struggled back with ink and rollers and a huge roll of gorgeous printing paper (Hahne Muehle - natural). He is very patient, waiting for weeks to see the results of his labours. But now he sees before him - albeit taking up even more table, couch and wall space - the fruit.

As we had another issue (about the new house) to deal with last night I have not yet had any feedback from him on the prints and what he thinks. So he too can now have a leisurely look at the print and we can discuss over dinner this evening! ;-)

What a relief! And that is a little pun as it is a 'relief' print hehehehe!

Enjoy!