Barry and I are working our way towards an exhibition in March next year and I get the feeling I'm really going to have get down and do some things very soon! So yesterday in the studio I did a range of things - I stitched my Letter a Week letters, I stitched and progressed a white on white book; I scrubbed and prepared about 30 rusty metal pieces that will be used in books/hangings and I dyed some papers in preparation for overprinting and adding embellishments.
I am often most comfortable doing a range of things all at once - progressing this, testing that, moving that along and keeping that on track. It seems to me that if I focused on one thing for too long I would run out of time. This way I keep myself kind of calm by knowing that lots of things are moving.
I know managing lots of things at once would make others ill with worry; but I find it works for me. Perhaps I also fear getting bored just doing one thing at a time. Who knows!?!?!
Here are some of the papers I dyed and then threw salt flakes onto to soak up some of the ink. The pages will be about a map and I love the marks the salt left. Oftentimes the backs of pages are just as exquisite and I like the soft waviness of these 'behinds'.
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| ©Fiona Dempster |
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| ©Fiona Dempster |
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| ©Fiona Dempster |
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| ©Fiona Dempster |
I work the same way - lots of irons in the fire at once..... but as my best friend (a traditional blacksmith) warns me - you CAN have too many irons in the fire.....
ReplyDeletelooks like you're handling the heat just fine!
Love the marks on the paper. I also like juggling but find that sometimes it does my head in and then I have to find the mental space to just "stop", which takes some effort but is infinitely preferable to all the balls falling on my head. Which occasionally happens. Have fun! Sara
ReplyDeleteI used to multitask but the older I get the less I like it..... I do like fiddling with rusty metal for hours on end though.
ReplyDeleteThe marks on these pages are just lovely and I can't wait to see how they develop....oh and maps!....another favorite of mine! Delicious! I also like to have a bit of this and that going on at the same time...somehow I feel more accomplished in moving several things along, than only one, for the most part, that is! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteWonderful effects on the paper, Fiona! Yes, I find I work best with two or three things running at the same time - if you can handle the feeling of no one project reaching completion in a short period, it really does seem to get the maximum out of a work day. Maybe it takes the pressure off a good work day defined by a finished work to show? I do like the sense of progress, and the refreshing effect on the mind to be able to set something aside for a few hours to focus on something else. Or maybe we are just ADD? Whatever. It seems you have found a style that works well for you, and that is all that matters. The end product tells it all. Have a productive multitasking week!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, beautiful pages. Nice to have a few things on the go. Hope to see you soon...
ReplyDeleteNow here I was thinking I had replied to all these comments, but no, so here goes!
ReplyDeleteRonnie - I loved this story - and she would know! I'm really not sure what lies at the heart of it, but for now it works for me.
Sara - Thanks - the marks are quite lovely aren't they? I made some more pages today just for the fun of it. I think I have had the same experience when everything on the go feels like I'm actually going nowhere so then I just stop and finish something - makes me feel better again. I must be a funny mix.
AP/Robyn - I guess for each of us - at different times we approach things with different passions or needs or time or desires, and perhaps the time will come for me when I leave this mad approach behind and take things one at a time. It's neither good nor bad - it just is, and it's just right for the time, the place and the person.
Patti - Thanks - I think they are looking delicious too and hope that I can take them from here into something worthwhile! Maps - fabulous imagery and thoughts and a really strong affinity. I think for me there is something about multiple little feedback loops that whisper - progress - rather than a long haul, helps me stay motivated. See comment reply to Sara for when that falls over!
TT/G - Like I said to Patti - it's like lots of little feedback lops that whisper progress! The marks are quite yummy - the pages were dyed with this crazy graffiti (no for legal purposes I meant to say mural) ink it has such a lovely blue tone. And you're right - as ever it is about what works for each of us. Not right, not wrong. Just is.
Carol - hopefully you might get to see them in person! I hope I can create something worthy of their early promise.
Go well
F