http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 Hundreds Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:54:51 +0000 a-n rss generator a-n The Artists Information Company and contributors edit@a-n.co.uk technical@a-n.co.uk http://sites.a-n.co.uk/img/logo.gif http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 I've spent the day speaking to suppliers, arranging travel and getting things ready for tomorrow morning  - when I'll be heading down to Milton Keynes to do some research in advance of starting the paintings. I'm planning to explore the area by cycle and I'm taking my bike with me on the train. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 As the train approached MK Central at 11.25 this morning I prepared to lift my bike onto the platform. But no-one came to unlock the door and so I was trapped and had to continue to London Euston! Almost 2 hours later I arrived back at MK and I was very relieved when the Train Manager remembered to let me off.Cycling seems an appropriate way to get around Milton Keynes. There were hundreds of bikes parked at the racks outside the station and it was easy to find a cycle path towards the city centre.I visited the WHITEWALL to see the current exhibition by Maslen and Mehra and to get a better sense of the physicality and atmosphere of the space.  I then spent some time doing a bit of 'visual grazing', my digital camera proving to be a very useful tool for taking notes.I walked back through the WHITEWALL space at dusk and was interested to see how the light changed. I ended the day with a bit of research in the local studies section of the library and felt it had been a really productive afternoon in spite of the detour.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 On Saturday I cycled clockwise around Milton Keynes on the Redways (a network of tracks for walkers and cyclists). The fold out Official City map gave a good idea of the green spaces surrounding the city and made me eager to explore. It was a little unwieldy but this was compensated by the scale and sense of location it offered me.It was a bright, clear day and I continued to collect 'photosketches' as the redways weaved through miles of housing, dipping safely under the busy roads. I visited the Secklow Mound, an ancient meeting place where the elders of the local 'Hundred' would have gathered (it's behind the present day equivalent - the council offices).Heading North East out of the city centre I cycled through Campbell Park, to Willen lakes (stopping to visit the Buddhist temple) on to Milton Keynes village and finally making my way back to Bletchley.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 The research visit to Milton Keynes last weekend provided me with plenty of material. There are lots of practicalities to deal with before beginning the process of painting.Last week I ordered paints, mediums and five 5ft x 5ft canvases. I also rearranged the studio ready to accommodate the canvases. I tend to work on more than one piece at a time often moving the paintings around to develop relationships between the pieces. I’ve now got two working spaces and a place to stack the other three canvases vertically; this will allow me to look at 3 pieces at a time.On Friday I started some large preparatory drawings (about 2 thirds scale) - it was good to make a physical start on the creative process of filtering the stimulus I’d gathered.The paint order was due to arrive but by 5 o’clock there was no sign of a delivery. On calling the supplier I was told that the parcel had been delivered and signed for at 9.30am! Hopefully I’ll find out where the paints have actually been delivered – and get them back to the studio on Monday. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 5 beautiful blank canvases were delivered yesterday. This courier was really helpful - backing the van up to the studio doors to unload the cartons. I unpacked them and installed 2 in the painting spaces I'd prepared last week, then prepared to make the first brush strokes...... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 Full days in the studio - it's very physical working at this scale. The paintings are only 5ft x 5ft (they look so small on the blog photos) but that means that with my arms outstretched I can only just reach the edges with my fingertips. Working up close my whole field of vision is filled by with the surface. I'm climbing up on steps and stools to reach top edges, crouching to reach lower areas, moving in close, stepping back, shifting from one piece to another. Swift broad brush strokes, detailed slow movements. Updating the surface; fragmenting, unifying.Three main things in mind as I paint, the order changing as I work: Distilling elements from the visual residue of things seen on research visit.The changing qualities of light in the gallery space, how light this affects the space, will affect the appearance of the paintings and therefore the experience of visitors.The correlation I see between the physical processes of painting and how a place develops and how we build our internal pictures of places.As I cycled to the studio this morning I wondered why I haven't updated this blog as often as I'd hoped to and how I could change that. As I paint, different streams of thought flow from conscious to subconscious. Sometimes as thoughts surface I think I'll record them later, then just carry on painting. At the end of the day, if I get around to writing, the thought processes are different; I struggle to recall the essence of those thoughts. I think the answer is to get into the practice of jotting things down as they occur so I can type them up later. Hopefully these ‘blog-it notes' will help transfer thoughts from my creative process more directly into the blog.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 New challenge – finding an author to write the text for the exhibition catalogue. Looked on Interface, lots of writers but how do I begin finding the right person? ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 A good solid day of painting in the studio yesterday. Good light to work by and those wild winds that we were experiencing at the end of last week have died down so it was much quieter (and not such an ordeal to cycle).Taking snaps of work in progress -useful at the end of the day to see the changes. Have started working on all five canvases but I was frustrated at not being able to view them all, so I rearranged things yesterday evening and can now see and work on them all. The paintings fill the studio space and it's exciting to see them all together for the first time.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 The search for a writer has led to an interesting development that I'd not anticipated at the start of the project. I was thinking about how we see and how we put together an image of a place. As a result of a misunderstood telephone message I'm now hoping to work with an ‘audio describer'. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 A fine downy layer of frost collected on me as I travelled to the studio this morning.My Dad had been in yesterday, working his magic, adapting the old drawing table to accommodate one of the canvases. Last week he made a ‘lean to' easel from three bits of aluminium sliding door runner. By shutting myself in (dragging the drawing board behind the door) I can now work on all 5 pieces - and at roughly the same height. Last week I was fiddling around with scale drawings to try and get a feel for how the pieces might relate to each other in the space, now I can work with those relationships as the paintings develop. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 At first, I worked on the paintings as separate entities. Sometime over the last couple of days I started to get a sense of ‘travelling' across them. I think they're now got in the order that they'll be exhibited. Working mainly on 2 pieces yesterday, started to develop colour relationships between pieces.Looking towards the gallery from the mall, the light is much cooler - could this be designed to encourage shoppers to spend a little longer, spend a little more in the warmth and comfort of the shops? ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 How to describe the process of revealing through concealing? Carefully working around forms like an archaeological excavation, applying pigment rather than removing traces of earth etc.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 I finished painting a week ago. Since then I've been busy with all the other details that need to be sorted to transform the series of paintings into an exhibition. I've applied a final protective coating to the paintings, ordered packaging and booked a van.The process of finding titles for the paintings has been ‘running in the background' throughout the project, playing with words, searching for names that work for the series as from either end and also for the individual pieces. The works will be titled as follows: [Hundreds] Refresh, Encounter, Centre, Trace, Departure.Justin, the WHITEWALL Project Manager, is coming up this weekend to view the work, discuss installation and work on the catalogue.On Sunday I'm meeting Anne Hornsby at the studio. Anne is coming to look at the paintings in preparation for writing the audio description. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 It took two of us about an hour to wrap each of the paintings on Thursday; the studio was just wide enough to accommodate the packaging. After the recent gale force winds, I was relieved when I woke up to a still, dry morning on Friday, when we loaded the van and drove to Milton Keynes. By midday the paintings were propped up in the WHITEWALL space. As we installed the pieces passers by stopped to watch and comment on the paintings, visitors don’t have to cross a threshold to enter Milton Keynes Contemporary – WHITEWALL, and this seems to facilitate an engagement with the work. By 3pm the installation was complete and for the first time the paintings can be seen as intended.On Friday evening we went over to Word in Edgeways in Wolverton, to meet Philippa Tipper and record Anne’s text for the audio guide. Yesterday, just less than two months since I got the go ahead for the project, the exhibition opened. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505 Details of the show and the audio description are now available at: www.miltonkeynescontemporary.co.uk/The private view is this Thursday (13th March). 5.30 - 7.30pm, if you'd like to join us please email: helen@toastedorange.co.ukThe exhibition runs until 4th May 2008.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/403505