I shared this at the time, and looking back it was a good start. I have spent hours in there since, bouncing around like that. One day drawing, next day cutting lino, next one making collages. The paper collages become digital, they are printed out and lino printed on top. The reverse occurs, I put a large sheet of black paper up to draw on, then decided to roll out white ink and create blocks of white to draw on.
Then decide to project film on them instead. So I buy some new kit, a video-cam and a projector. The action spreads into the bedroom, because it can be blacked out. The film is projected onto the black sheet, settling on the white patches. I refilm them together.
I am continuing…I think I am getting somewhere interesting….
Here is how it started:
20th July 2019
The fantasy studio:
I will go there every morning with my first cup of tea
And sit
And think
And imagine
Gaze out the window
Dig into my inner thoughts
Be calm
Focussed
Concentrate
Eventually
I will send my attention to my hand
Quietly lift my pencil
Relish it’s wooden feel with my fingertips
Open my dedicated notebook
And begin to write
Or draw
Or simply mark the paper
With my philosophical thoughts
What will today bring?
How shall I pursue my practice
With daily dedication?
Commitment?
Analogue procedures
Banish technology
Return to the haptic
Be authentic
A real artist
The reality:
I gaze through the window
I grab my ipad and carefully film a one minute section of the activity in my garden
While I hold it steady
I enjoy watching the way the different trees move in the wind
The blackbird that settles below me on the rail
Out of video frame
Damn
Always seem to miss the action!
I self-discipline
Remind myself of analogue activity
I grab a notebook from the shelf
On its cover, it explains what it is
NOTEBOOK
Yes, this is what I must do
I find a pencil
I open this paper NOTEBOOK
And find in the central pages a photo of an empty desk
This seems very poignant to me
I too have an empty desk
And an empty head if truth be told
I carefully release it from the staples
And attach it to the wall
Just behind my empty desk
And take a photo
From my sitting position
I also take a photo of my NOTEBOOK
As evidence
I intend to write in it
On my empty desk
I print both photos out
And lay them on the desk
Very satisfying
I take a photo of them
I am already distracted from analogue
Too late to pretend
I take one more photo and add it to the others
It portrays my NOTEBOOK
Resting on my MacBook
I discard the NOTEBOOK
And enjoy the way I think
No rules
No boundaries
I write this piece and smile
This is me
My reality
My world
Let’s see where it takes me
This is my line:
I shall take it for a walk
Carolyn Black 