'Produce Patterns' or maybe I should actually finish that...

Consider this the before photo, evidence for use in the future - to prove how much work is needed on this painting. Its been a few years since I last touched it (literally) and during its exile the canvas got fairly abused, left dusty and dented in my back-room.  A combination of making the canvas bag and a conversation with a student at my work placement has re-kindled my desire to see the painting reach completion; in  many ways the hiatus in painting is beneficial since I can now cast a critical eye upon it and make some improvements, such as making the background not black ( I now wonder why it even started out as black, I must have been having a little moment - to borrow a friend's phrase).

So now I've re-stretched the canvas and removed the pesky dents, I can crack on with painting and with a little luck you won't have to wait long to see the after picture...

Canvas Bag

I made this shoulder bag the other day as a gift for my old textiles teacher, its made using a canvas painting I abandoned half finished when I was a student ( at least 5 years ago), I removed it from the stretcher frame, hacked and machined it (complete with lining). In its former state it was a painting which my teacher hated, loathed, despised and ordered to be removed from her sight... looking back I can see her point ( its hardly my best work), though I'm still 'proud' of certain elements and the links to more recent works are fairly obvious: an affinity for the household object in abstracted formats. The happy news is that when I presented the finished article to my old teacher she didn't instantly throw it back at me or aim for the bin, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if she secretly quite likes it (though its longterm wearability is questionable - the paint is already showing signs of abuse), plus its helped to re-kindle my interest in another of my old canvases ( a better one) that I now plan to finish painting! (the before and afters photos of which i'll post up soonish)   

So to begin (finally) ...

This blog has been a long time in the planning, or rather intending:

I intend this to space to be filled with processes, on the go artworks, sketches, sketchbooks, finished pieces, craft projects, doodles, discussions and generally brimming with my creative outpourings.  I greatly value the opinions of others and therefore welcome comments, likewise feel free to drop me an email.

So without further waffle, heres an image to get this going -

'Wall Carpet' (6 x 8ft) summer 2011

This mammoth piece was created using sections of different carpets, hand cut and arranged in a manner similar to marquetry - or a big puzzle.