Blog

Back in Sydney • 2 Comments

Kirsty • March 11, 2008

Well, I've just got back from a fantastic and very luxurious wedding weekend at Peppers Manor House in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Being an artist, I'm not used to 4 1/2 star hotels but damn, I could get used to that style of living very easily...

The wedding went well and I'm thrilled to have a delightful new sister-in-law. The two of us get on really well and my brother is clearly head over heels in love with her, which is very sweet to see. I have a fund of stories from the wedding but most of them aren't repeatable on this blog. Suffice it to say that the combination of Australians and Scots at a wedding is quite a party - there probably aren't many weddings where Waltzing Matilda gets played on the bagpipes!

...........

Mardi Gras

Despite my sunburn, I managed to make it to Mardi Gras on the Saturday before last. I don't have any good pictures because my camera isn't good at night but there are plenty here. It was great fun but a little odd because I was at the start of the parade and mostly surrounded by apparently straight people who didn't seem to quite 'get it'. Fortunately I met a lovely man called Andrew and his group of friends, who took me under their wing and made the experience much more enjoyable for me. We were whooping, clapping and cheering while most of the people around us just stood silently and watched while taking photos. Personally, I think that if someone has gone to a huge effort to design and make costumes, put on elaborate make-up, learn complicated dance routines and generally put a lot of work into something, the least you can do is give them a clap and a wave.

...........

Kiama

Kirsty Hall: Kiama Sunrise

The week in Kiama was also a blast - although I could have done without the flea and cockroach infested house that I was staying in! The other three houses our group had booked were gorgeous, while the one I was in quickly earned the titles The Roach Motel and The Flea Pit. I was bitten all over by the end of the 5 days, which did not make me happy. My dad left a very pointed note, I left the flea spray I'd bought in a prominent position and strong words will be had with the letting agent when my brother and sister-in-law return from honeymoon - I hope they get some money back because honestly, the house was far too dilapidated to be let out.

But apart from that, it was fab - lots of barbies, swimming in the sea and great company. There were between 20 - 25 of us at various points in the week, so it was quite a party atmosphere and I enjoyed meeting my sister-in-law's family for the first time.

...........

Minnamurra Rainforest

During the week at Kiama, a bunch of us visited the stunning Rainforest Centre at Minnamurra. It was a gorgeous place that I'm sure will inspire many drawings, I just loved the way the forest grew around and through itself - all the vines and ferns were very seductive to me.

Kirsty Hall: The Rainforest at Minnamurra

Kirsty Hall: Fern at Minnamurra Rainforest

Kirsty Hall: Vines at Minnamurra Rainforest

Although we could hear loads of them, it was hard to spot birds in the dense forest canopy. However, we did see lyrebirds, parrots and a huge water dragon sunning himself on the rocks by the river.

Unfortunately I didn't quite make it up to the waterfall because it was very steep in places and I strained my dodgy hip trying. I should have known better than to attempt it but I can be too stubborn for my own good at times. Other than that though, I've been doing well at pacing and resting and I'm not struggling too much. I was exhausted yesterday though, so today I'm having a quiet day of recovery back in Manly at my brother and his wife's house. They left for honeymoon this morning and the rest of my remaining group also headed off this morning, so now I'm all by myself for the rest of my holiday. Fortunately, I enjoy my own company and although I've enjoyed being part of a big and vibrant group, I'm looking forward to having some quiet introspective time where I can get more drawing and thinking done.

I'm about to go off and do some internet research to decide what to do next - there's so much to do here that I feel a little overwhelmed with possibilities but I'll see what feels right. If I can find a cheap flight, I may jet off to somewhere else in Australia for a couple of days but I won't be sad if I end up staying here, because Sydney is just amazing and apart from my evening at the Mardi Gras, I haven't had a chance to explore it yet. Basically, I'm just going with the flow.

A Quickie

Kirsty • March 4, 2008

My goodness, Kiama is stunning. We've got scorching weather so I've bought a ridiculously large hat to try and stop from burning any more than I already have. My nose is peeling now - always a great look for anyone! I'm hoping it will have improved by the wedding.

I'm enjoyed soaking up all the new flora and fauna, I'm sure it will inspire a lot of new drawings when I get home. We went swimming in the ocean rock pool down by Kiama harbour yesterday - watching the sun on the gently rippling water, I couldn't help thinking of David Hockney's Californian paintings of swimming pools.

Kiama also has a wonderful natural blowhole that sends whooshes of water up into the air and makes momentary rainbows as the sun refracts through the spray. It made me think about Tacita Dean's recent work where she went chasing the green ray in the sunset.

Apparently, you can take an artist on holiday but you can't stop them thinking about art...

Half way around the world • 10 Comments

Kirsty • March 1, 2008

Well, here I am in Australia and wow, what a stunning place!

I arrived on Thursday evening and after eating dinner, I promptly fell over - it was a very long flight, although not as gruelling as I anticipated.

Yesterday I ate breakfast outside, looking at the Pacific Ocean - it was slightly surreal to be able to text home and tell them this and promptly get a text back. Ah, the wonders of modern technology. Strange to think that many of the first convicts and settlers out here probably never saw or heard from their families again.

After breakfast, I went for a walk around Manley, where I'm staying with my brother and his girlfriend. I saw lizards, parrots and all sorts of birds that I couldn't identify. Also, spiders as big as my palm - eek! Apparently they're totally harmless but it was still unnerving to walk beneath them as they hung completely motionless in rows above me.

I've been taking photos but working out Flickr is a bit beyond me right now, so you'll have to wait on those. I'm also doing a travel journal, which is great fun. I haven't done any drawing yet but I've been writing and sticking in receipts and bits of memorabilia. I'll do some scans when I get home.

I also went paddling in the sea - in the rain! This struck me as deeply ironic, since it was beautiful spring weather when I left Bristol. It is a lot warmer here though, although all the Ozzies are complaining about it being 'cold'. It cleared up later on though and I managed to catch the sun and get a little red, that's the disadvantage of being 'a pale blue Scottish person', it doesn't take much sun for my skin to be very surprised at the concept! Fortunately I'm not sunburnt and I'll be more careful today. Apparently even overcast rainy days need sun cream here.

I'm hoping to go over to Sydney later today to see the gay Mardi Gras. That is, if my killer jetlag allows - I'll be fine for a few hours and then I'll suddenly start swaying and staggering as though I'm drunk and have to lie down and pass out.

Well, I'd better go, my parents and some family friends are just about to arrive, my brother is picking them up from the airport. It's really a little odd to be having a family reunion at the other side of the world.

Yep, still here • 8 Comments

Kirsty • February 17, 2008

So apparently getting a lower wisdom tooth out is a really good way to lose an entire week. I had an upper wisdom tooth removed in December and while it was sore for a few days it wasn't too bad, so I was expecting the lower one to be similar.

Wrong, very, very wrong!

I was well and truly knocked for six by this one. The tooth was only partly erupted so it was a much more difficult extraction, which resulted in stitches and a great deal of bruising and swelling. Then the next day, I had a bad reaction to codeine - it turns out that opiate-based drugs are not my friend because they make me panic, pace relentlessly and cry uncontrollably. I didn't need to go to hospital or anything but I could definitely have done without it.

Unfortunately, it's been over a week since I had the tooth out and I'm still in quite a bit of pain - it's extremely likely that I've had a condition called Dry Socket where the jaw gets inflamed, I've certainly had all the symptoms. I think it is getting better because the pain is definitely a lot more bearable than a couple of days ago but if it's not right by Monday, I'll go and get it checked at the clinic. In retrospect, I should have gone back to the Dental Hospital in the middle of the week and I'm not entirely sure why I didn't: I think I was just on so many painkillers that my mind was foggy and doing anything at all felt almost impossible.

Still, in between heroic doses of non-opiate painkillers, I managed to finish updating The Diary Project. Yep, all 365 envelopes have finally been scanned, uploaded and blogged - now I just have to work out why the set over on Flickr is mysteriously missing 6 envelopes. Oh and there's also the small matter of organising an exhibition for the project but I'm not even starting on that until I get back from Australia.

Speaking of Australia, here's my schedule:

Evening of 28th February - Arrive in Sydney
28th - 2nd March - Staying in Manley and exploring Sydney
2nd - 7th March - Kiama
8th/9th March - wedding
10th - 20th - in Sydney, Manley and Blue Mountain area, possibly fitting in a quick visit to Melbourne if I have the energy
Evening of 20th March - fly home

If you're a reader who lives in any of those areas and you want to meet up for tea, cake and art chat, email or comment and we'll arrange something.

I have other stuff to blog about but right now I need to go and take more painkillers and sleep. In the meantime, here's a photograph that I took on my one of my very few trips out of the house this week...

Kirsty Hall: Trees reflected in a bus stop during a clear winter sunset

Facing the empty page • 14 Comments

Kirsty • February 10, 2008

Kirsty Hall: Drawings in progress, Feb 2008

Starting a drawing can be scary. Drawing on crappy paper (that's a technical term!) can be one way to overcome the fear of the blank page.

When I was first learning to draw, my dad would bring home piles of A3 computer paper from his office for me. It was the large thin folded stuff with perforations down the side. Apparently it sometimes used to spool through the printers and couldn't be re-used - at least that's what he told me!

It was great paper to draw on because there was never any fear of wasting expensive cartridge paper: it was already waste, so it didn't matter if I ruined it. I used to sit in front of the TV drawing actors, newsreaders and the like. Documentaries and interviews were the best because they featured a lot of fairly stationary head shots. For a teenager living out in the country with no access to life classes, it was a surprisingly effective way to practice portraiture and speed drawing.

Drawing the envelopes for The Diary Project was similar - if I messed up an envelope it didn't matter and I felt no guilt about tossing it in the recycling. In fact, I sometimes used to draw on the front and back of a couple of envelopes just to loosen up or to test out new techniques or materials. Now my envelopes are all finished and I want to take what I've learnt into making drawings on 'real' paper with the idea of making a series of drawings that could be sold. Yet even after a year of daily drawing, it's still surprisingly intimidating to sit down in my studio and look at those empty sheets of good paper. Maybe I just need to take a stack of envelopes upstairs to comfort myself with...

Ariana Page Russell • 10 Comments

Kirsty • February 7, 2008

Ariana Page Russell is a fine example of an artist really working with what she's got - in her case, a skin condition called dermatographia. Here she explains it in her own words:

My own skin frequently blushes and swells. I have dermatographia, a condition in which one’s immune system exhibits hypersensitivity, via skin, that releases excessive amounts of histamine, causing capillaries to dilate and welts to appear (lasting about thirty minutes) when the skin’s surface is lightly scratched. This allows me to painlessly draw patterns and words on my skin, which I then photograph.

Ariana Page Russell - Index

Russell also takes these images one step further creating temporary tattoos and wallpaper from the photographs of her own skin welts.

Ariana Page Russell - Pivot (detail)

I like February more • 6 Comments

Kirsty • February 1, 2008

We're only one day in, but so far I'm liking February much more than January!

Firstly, I finished the tax form yesterday and got it handed in several hours before the deadline. You won't believe how much better I feel. I swear on Andy Warhol's wig that I will never, ever leave my tax form to the last minute ever again. Of course, I say a version of this every year - feel free to remind me of this when I'm panicking next January!

......................

Secondly my son seems to be on the mend. Progress is very slow and he's still not back at school but we had a good meeting with his Head of Year yesterday and the school are very sympathetic and supportive, which helps so much. Thanks to Sister Diane, Katherine, Cally, Missmilki and Sherrie Roberts who all left kind comments and well wishes on the last post.

......................

Thirdly, I had a great post day. I absolutely love getting post and I often suspect that the real reason I did the Diary Project was so that I'd get regular and exciting post for a year. Today I got the following things:

1) My tickets for Australia - yep, I am definitely going, I leave on the 27th Feb and get back on the 21st March. I'm starting to get just a little bit bouncy about it.

2) My partner's last birthday present - this is fortunate, since his birthday is tomorrow. It took its own sweet time getting here from America and I was getting worried that it had been lost, so that was a relief.

3) The new Rowan knitting magazine - there's a surprising number of fabulous designs in this one and I can't wait to cast on something new and exciting. I particularly like Eeire, Astral, Auria and Gabrielle: I am such a girly-girl sometimes.

4) The new Cabinet magazine. If you haven't seen this magazine before, then I highly recommend it - it's a quarterly that features some of the most interesting writing on art, culture and weird stuff that I've read. This issue's theme is 'Bones', which makes me an extremely happy camper because I love dead things with a rather disturbing passion. At heart I'm just a grown up goth girl.

......................

Fourthly, it was a stunningly beautiful day so I took a slew of photos while the sun was streaming through our library windows. I was literally dancing because I was so in love with the way the light was coming through the lens. It felt more like art than anything I've done since the Diary Project finished and I suspect that I'll be filled with new art energy soon.

Kirsty Hall: Bright Yarn, February Morning

Kirsty Hall: Sort Of Dutch

Kirsty Hall: Dead Tulip

Yuck to January • 10 Comments

Kirsty • January 28, 2008

January is my least favourite month of the year and this one has been an absolute doozy. My son has been quite unwell with a mystery stomach problem and for the last month, our lives have been an endless round of doctor's appointments, extreme stress and official phone calls. We're finally getting somewhere with it, but it hasn't been a whole lot of fun and obviously I've been very worried so I'm not sleeping well. Needless to say, no art is being made, which Really Isn't Helping. Plus I still have to do my taxes, which invariably turns me into a gibbering mess. I always intend to get them done by the initial September deadline but I never do and now I'm rapidly hurtling towards the final deadline of 31st January with not a thing done.

Unfortunately this combination of events means that I'm very behind in answering comments - I have 51 waiting at the moment. If you listened to the Craftypod interview, you'll have heard that I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. This means that my brain and body sometimes run very slow and when I'm stressed, I tend to relapse. I'm not relapsing at the moment but I can feel myself hovering on the edge and I know I have to prioritise how I use my limited energy or I'm going to crash completely. Therefore, in the interests of my own sanity, I'm going to read through the comments today and only reply to the ones asking questions. Please know that I do read and care about all your comments and I thank you for your words of wisdom, even if I didn't manage to answer them this time around. I figure if I start again from zero, I might manage to keep on top of it but right now I feel as though I'm drowning and I need to clear the decks as much as possible.

I've also not been posting as often as I like to here but this morning I'm writing up a pile of book reviews and I intend to finally scan and blog the last ten envelopes of the Diary Project. Later this week I'm also going to be starting a brand new series about art materials. I had intended this to be a January project but perhaps we can have a whole Spring of Materials instead.

I thought it would be fun to do some general posts on various types of materials, write some reviews of my own favourites and then open the blog up to guest writers to talk about their favourite or least favourite supplies. So if you have a burning desire to write about pencils, pastels, pens, paper, paint, scissors or other art materials, please contact me and we'll sort something out. Art and craft stores are daunting in the choices available and art materials don't come cheap: I'm sure we've all got art materials bought in a fit of enthusiasm that have been sitting unused in our cupboards for years, I know I have. Let's pool our collective knowledge and help each other make more informed choices...

So that's what's going on and what's coming up. In the meantime, have a couple of soulful January photos.

Kirsty Hall: Baroque Branches

Kirsty Hall: Patched Boots

Apples and Oranges • 4 Comments

Kirsty • January 21, 2008

Welcome to the Cheat's Guide To Blogging - find an old piece of writing, edit slightly, add pictures and serve!

I was just looking up some writing from my degree course for an unrelated reason and found this piece from 1999 that I thought was worth posting

.....

Abstract art has always had a very different role than representational art. Representational art is very much tied to how well the representation works. Is it “a likeness”: by its faithful representation of nature does it somehow capture the soul of the person, animal or place depicted? We usually judge representational art on how well it convinces us of the reality of the image.

Our response to representational art is also determined by sentimental factors. Is it a portrait of someone we love or a place that is special to us? Can we sense a little piece of the person’s soul as we gaze into their unseeing eyes? Do we even like cats or eagles or horses? These things affect how a piece of representational art is perceived by the person who looks at it. Something that may seem kitsch, unappealing or simply bad to one person will be cherished by another because of whom or what it represents.

Kirsty Hall: Diary Project Envelope from 5th February 2007

Abstract art is somewhat different. There is less to hold onto. It is a Rorschach blot, a screen onto which the viewer can project their own desires and hidden thoughts. Abstract art opens up the unconscious mind, it forces people to think about what they are seeing.

Many people resist this. After all, it is hard to know what to say when faced with something that doesn’t fall into simple categories like “dog” or “cat” or “child”. We are so deeply used to seeing in symbols and categories that images which do not fall into pre-conceived patterns can be hard to look at. Literally not knowing what we are looking at can make it hard to see at all. Yet it can also challenge our brain to new leaps into the unknown. It can open up places in our mind where poetry might begin. It can inspire us, scare us or anger us.

Kirsty Hall: Diary Project Envelope from 12th December 2007

Historically, abstract art and representational art are often pitted against each other. Personally I don’t see them as being in conflict. I think that people make art and look at art for many different reasons and I think that art needs to be broad enough to encompass many different viewpoints and many different ideas.

Many of the problems that people have with contemporary art stem from the fact that they are afraid of it. I think that people are often afraid of looking stupid if they don’t understand art.

But art shouldn’t be a test.

Hey, half the time I don’t understand art and I’ve looked at a lot of it! I’ve also read extensively on the subject and it’s my opinion that most people who write about art don’t understand how artists think and work. So don't look at those words first, just look at the piece and think about how it makes you feel. You might not know as much about art as an art historian or critic but how a piece of art makes you feel is every bit as relevant, worthy and important.

The final 101 • 26 Comments

Kirsty • January 16, 2008

OK, apparently a couple of you want to see this too. This is long, I'm afraid, since I don't know off any way to make cuts in WordPress.

Edited to add: Sorry about the weirdness at number 8, I'm not especially happy about that task, it's just a weird WordPress formatting thing but there's no way that I'm going to change the numbering on the other 100 just to get rid of it.

101 THINGS LIST

1) Apply to Axis
2) Assemble garden bench and chain to railings in garden
3) Assemble new wheelbarrow
4) Be mentioned in [AN] Magazine
5) Buy a digital SLR
6) Buy and put up nesting boxes
7) Buy binoculars
8) Clear out and organise shed
9) Complete 4 thread drawings
10) Complete 8 UFO's for the L&V Finish-a-thon
11) Complete the Paying It Forward Exchange
12) Create a promotional pack for Pin Ritual
13) Declutter and re-organise Cupboard of Doom
14) Declutter laundry room
15) Decorate middle floor hallway
16) Develop and perform Red Thread
17) Do 50 drawings to sell
18) Donate £100 to British Heart Foundation
19) Exhibit in London
20) Exhibit The Diary Project
21) Finish & post Mart's box
22) Finish Gemma's jewellery
23) Finish organising study
24) Finish Pelt
25) Finish re-organising studio
26) Finish shoalwater shawl in time for wedding
27) Finish the research on the house
28) Finish watching Farscape
29) Finish watching Nowhere Man
30) Fix email problem
31) Frame and post Jeanne's picture
32) Frame and post Mart's picture
33) Get big bedroom decorated
34) Get damaged corner in library fixed
35) Get front door painted
36) Get more Moo cards
37) Get my hallmark
38) Get new coil fitted
39) Get notecards made from my art
40) Get over 100 in my Technorati rank
41) Get spinning wheel fixed
42) Get windows renovated
43) Go and see a ballet
44) Go on a picnic
45) Go whalewatching
46) Hem grey trousers
47) Host a tea party
48) Install hanging rail or brackets in studio
49) Invent a new cake
50) Keep a daily log for a year
51) Knit Cat's jumper
52) Learn how to do the more complicated polaroid transfers
53) Learn how to use my medium format camera
54) Learn to follow crochet patterns
55) Learn to spin
56) Lose a stone
57) Make a ‘where things are stored’ database
58) Make a book of The Diary Project
59) Make a limited edition artist's book
60) Make a new will
61) Make and send CD of wedding photos to Z. and G.
62) Make Butterfly Mind
63) Meet up with Siobhan
64) Organise Australia trip
65) Organise registration info
66) Paint outside of study door
67) Paint railings
68) Pay back J.
69) Perform Pin Ritual again
70) Plant a border with bulbs
71) Put £500 in my savings account
72) Remake and photograph 'Annunciation'
73) Renew passport
74) Reorganise the kitchen cupboards
75) Replant my herb pots
76) Rescan the earlier envelopes at high res
77) Save up £1000 for a new computer
78) Sell 5 pieces of artwork
79) Sell a piece of jewellery
80) Simplify my email folders
81) Sort out family lawyer stuff
82) Sort out Irene's picture
83) Submit my work to Fiberarts Magazine
84) Swim in the sea
85) Take or pay someone to take good photos of my recent artwork
86) Take part in 6 exhibitions
87) Test the plastic etching process
88) Tidy and clean under kitchen sink
89) Update descriptions on Flickr
90) Update my art archive
91) Use or get rid of the pile of slate in the garden
92) Visit a waterfall
93) Visit Achnahaird
94) Visit Hay-on-Wye
95) Visit Ireland
96) Visit Red in Amsterdam
97) Visit Roslin Chapel
98) Visit The Bath Museum of Costume
99) Visit the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford
100) Watch Season 3 of Veronica Mars
101) Write up the knitted brick pattern

..........

I was most amused to discover yesterday that I'd apparently started a 101 Things list last May. I didn't remember ever having seen the meme before, let alone writing a list with 50 things on it. It was fascinating to see how many things I've already done (only 7 unfortunately), what made it to the final list and what I no longer feel the need to do. It's obvious already that these lists can change in quite a short time, so you need to stay fluid during the process.

It was especially interesting to notice that a couple of things that I thought were completely off the wall when I wrote them on the final list were also on the earlier one - apparently I have a much deeper desire to go swimming in the sea than I realised.

Well, that's it for goals for the time being but I'll probably do monthly updates on how I'm doing, just to keep myself on track. Oh, and if you can help out with any of these goals - especially the exhibition related ones - please do feel free. Indeed, I'm entirely reliant on you all linking to me in order to achieve No. 40 (Get over 100 in my Technorati rank) - but don't worry, I won't be asking you to come round and clear out my cupboards!