Tuesday.

A slight deviation from coal; on Wednesdays we have a workshop day with Richard. For our project 'Bookie Wookie' we had to produce work influenced by books and this image is obviously a book [ 50p from the library] dipped in plaster, then by adding more and more very slowly over the sides a thicker, interesting surface is formed. When dry it could be carved or sanded to give an interesting surface. Plaster is one of my favourite materials, I just wish the setting time was a bit longer. I love the effect of fragility that it gives to the pages but yet the cover has references to something on a plinth in a museum! It was a good day, I love not being too sure of the outcome.

Monday again.

You can't beat driving to college with a light frost on the ground and the sun just beginning to shine. It's an hours journey to college so there's plenty of time to think and plan my day. After my conversations on Friday with Eve and Richard I am confident to go with my instincts and do what I had in mind. My sculpture will depict in a very subtle way the coal mining industry, it is the simplification of my thoughts and sketches that is what I now enjoy. The pair of pit props I was donated will have reference to the silent world underneath the house; the miners toiling away so the big house on the hill can prosper and grow rich.

This now seems like a very fast change in me when I look back to September 2009 and the ' Fat Cat ' sculpture I did on the access course. I liked it but now it is a prime example of what I was back then; someone who over did it totally. It's funny but I was really proud of it at the time. If I had to do it again it would now look totally different....a subtle hint of a message about the bankers and the greed not everything including the kitchen sink.
So...that's progress! and a great experience. The 'Fat Cat' now sits in the garage gathering dust and tut tuts from me.

I suppose it is all the research into other artists, the galleries I have wondered around, listening and just developing naturally but just the sheer enjoyment of being able to spend my time doing what I enjoy, surrounded by my peers, having fun and sharing ideas with each other. Brilliant.

A good day.

A meeting today with Eve re 'writing a report', so more to do over the next week. Our group all get on well so we talk everything over and that helps to make sure we all know what we are doing. Not long to go so everyone is concentrating on working hard for the exhibition. I had a tutorial with Eve and Richard which really helped me to just carry on going with my instinct and really just having the confidence to explore my ideas.

One of those mornings.

You know those days when things just do not go right, today is one of them! I have spent all morning working with coal...trying to create ideas for sculpture. It is a beautiful material when you really look at it. When you gently chisel into the layers the coal opens up and reveals the most interesting surfaces and colours: shiny black, beige's, burnt sienna type shades, really exciting!
Our exhibition is getting nearer...so the ideas I have, sketches, balsa wood ideas and photographs etc now need to be transformed into actual ' work'. My chosen subject is coal; the museum at Crow Nest already has some exhibits re coal. Having been successful in begging a sack of coal- of good quality [ Anthracite] and two original pit props which are really interesting; one is very old and has great colour and texture and the other is much newer. I now have everything I need to produce something interesting.

Having seen coal carvings before I just wanted to have a try and find out just how the surface can be altered and by using an engraving tool I achieved some pleasing results,however, the dust cloud I produced that settled on the surrounding studio spaces didn't go down very well and it isn't always possible to get into the workshops.

My sculpture will try to break down to a minimum the message I wish to convey; it will have subtle visual hints of the history of coal mining but in a contemporary way.

Thursday.

During our visit to the Saatchi Gallery in London this exhibit was spellbinding; 20:50 1987 by Richard Wilson has been shown in various other galleries until a room was specially built to occupy it at the Saatchi. It is completely breathtaking and very disorientating. The reflection of the windows on the surface and the huge piece of metal breaking the reflection is only eclipsed by the realisation that it is actually a huge vat of thick, black engine oil [ its type 20:50 ] its surface totally indelible until you give it a slight blow. I absolutely loved it.

Sunday

Having made several visits to the Mining Museum at Middlestown taking photographs and making sketches I was really impressed with the gallery that just deals with the use of children down the mines; some aged 4 and 5 working in tunnels 18" high. It really 'got' to me. They had to drag along baskets full of coal tied to a piece of wood that covered their shoulders. The literature for sale in the shop has some useful images that provoked ideas.

I have to decide how my work will fit into the exhibition venue, not just from a size point of view but also with the ambiance of the building.

Using some balsa wood I made a pit trolley that may look interesting made in lead. Balsa wood is a really nice way of making shapes from; its so light and easy to cut that there is hardly any mess...no complaints from anyone...and when photographed can be any size you want it to be. The basket idea could also be in lead, my model was very quick to make using cardboard. I could cut strips of lead quite easily...mmm ideas. I wondered about using wood but that would just end up looking like a copy of one with is not my intention.

I purchased a 7 kg piece of lead from my usual supplier on Church St in Ossett who I must remember to show some photographs of my work to. I began trying to beat the lead with various hammers [both wood and rubber] to try to make it thinner and therefore easier to handle. It is so heavy that to manipulate it can be difficult; I found holding one end while I wielded the tool proved precarious. It would fold over and threaten to split which drove me mad. I may have succeeded on a very large workbench with a few helpers. It was so disappointing and waste of a lovely strip of lead which is quite expensive.

Return from London trip.

A great time spent in London.

Still feeling a bit tired from all the walking from gallery to gallery so I decided to found myself reclining on my sofa sifting through that amazing BBCiplayer only to find Rolf Harris looking at Welsh Art re the miners. Another one about the female artist Shani Rhys James, herself an Aussie.
It was a total shock to me, having not recognised the name or any knowledge of her work to find that we had rented her cottage that is next to her studio about 7 years ago in Wales. Rolf was sat with her outside the beautiful cottage we had spent a week in oblivious to the knowledge that she was famous around the world for her paintings; usually self portraits influenced by her childhood up to the age of 9 in Austrailia. One of her paintings was hung in the cottage....7 years ago I wasn't at art college so perhaps I would have reacted differently anyway, but even so what a missed opportunity. One of her larger paintings was hung in the Royal Academy last year.