The addiction and process continues ....

In an earlier post I talked about my desire to continue with this series of detailed pen and ink drawings with the concept of 'The Weaving'.

Well this past week has certainly seen me spending every spare minute completing more of these. It's been like an addiction. Seriously, each drawing takes many hours to complete and then I would start another!! I just couldn't 'get enough'.

And the more I have worked on these, the more my energy has shifted, the happier and more connected I have felt too all aspects of my self.

That's a big statement for me to make.

And note when I say I 'couldn't get enough'  I have managed to only get four completed, I'm not talking ten or twenty works here!!

Are they any good? Do they still continue to be individual ( stand alone) works?
Have I honoured the concept and the authenticity of self? Have the designs and colour used in a few of them worked? Am I happy with them?

The process has and always will be the most important aspect of my work.
The Process.

You know as I sit here writing this down, (and writing has always been my 'tool' that I use to 'think' things through and get those thoughts or feelings out), I am so aware of the honesty in that statement.
The process has and always will be the most important aspect of my work.
I thrive on it. I need it.

To become so fully immersed that everything else ceases to exist, there is only 'now' and that act of  pen to paper, brush and paint to paper or canvas is all consuming....
That emotional connection to the work itself during the process, during the very act of creating. Mentally preparing oneself through simply making the time and space, gathering the implements and materials needed. Putting the work aside when one knows it is time to stop, to look at it again in the light of day and assess. Placing various sized paper over sections of the drawing to protect it as you work on another area.

All these and more are a part of that process.

Hence why when the work is finally completed, matted and framed, it is done. My emotional connection to it ceases. It is now for others to interpret or perceive and hopefully connect too.

I am trying to train my self to document my work by photographing, cataloguing and recording the details. I have always struggled with this aspect. It is one I am not comfortable with. (It fits within the category of professional and artist in the same sentence ...and I shake my head and make a grimace!!)
However I am trying and will put some images up soon!!

In the meantime ...and I smile with pleasure ...hmmm wasn't I still needing to work on those 'pods of hope' series !!!

Pods of Hope 2.

No hope of me getting a swelled head with a daughter who thinks I keep drawing 'worms or intestines' and a grand daughter who thinks these look like jelly fish!! The worse thing is they have me now checking out pictures of worms & sea creatures to double check!! (I'm not saying anything else about the comparisons or similiarities!!)

pen and ink 29 x 42cm

pen and ink  size 29 x 42cm

The Weaving...

courtesy of Carole Nickerson

At one stage I was fascinated with embroidery, knitting, and crochet ; however not in the way  you might imagine.
I came from an age where you learnt to do all of these skills, just as you learnt how to cook and clean, in preparation for being an adult and taking on those associated roles.
Learning how to knit and sew was important yes, and certainly I find them relaxing and satisfying to do.

courtesy of Patrick Hajzler

However .....

That wasn't the reason my interest became so centred on these 'crafts'.
                          

My fascination became much more focused on the feminine principle and how these yarns and threads symbolised our lives.

So I dissected and magnified the actual components, loving the textural line elements. The result was a number of series in  both paintings and drawings that used those actual line elements.

This fascination has extended over the years from being representational, to abstracting and utilising these fragments of thread and yarn in the linear mark making that you see in my drawings now.

The weaving, as I refer to it, has such a strong connection within me. The archetypes of Earth mother, the feminine principle, Goddess, the crone, and wise woman are all a part of 'The Weaving' relationship.....