College Rules My September

Oooh - sorry to have been so elusive - the start of term is BUSY BUSY BUSY - and I have been so very very very tired at the end of each day - energy for anything other than children, teaching and the odd 'Fitsteps' class has all but disappeared... 

Therefore - I'd like to share some fun stuff we've been doing with the students.

This week our forty-four open minds and creative souls spent the day working very hard to make one hundred drawings in just one day - I love that!  Lots of styles, techniques and materials - plenty of approaches to making a drawing were explored...

Here's the Maths:

4 people, 

+10 groups,

+11 zones, 

+10 drawings in each zone; 

+10 zones visited by each group

= 100 drawings

Themes were: 

'Let's Get This Job Done - DIY'

'Stationery Still Life'

'Woodland Wonder'

'Letterform Chalk Drawings'

'Car Park'

'Hey, Good Looking, What You Got Cooking?'

'Following In Your Footsteps'

'Patchwork'

'Monsters'

'Urban Recovery'

'Ten Green Beans Hanging On The Wall':

Last week our students became human photocopiers - as they enlarged and replicated gorgeous 'mid-century modern' book cover designs from all over the world. They had to work together to mix up batches of paint and attempt to match up their personal quarter enlargements - to create the whole. They were given A6 images and had to paint on A1 - finished articles are double A0...MASSIVE! Here are some of them - and the originals. They make an amazing impact on the walls of our little old Hub:

There are more but maybe they're for another post....

Lastly, something different...

I was checking emails tonight and one from Etsy flew in with a link to an article about this seller and her ethos. There was this little video of her made a few years ago.

I found it quite inspiring and want to share it:

I rarely feel in control of my life so it feels like a place - a life - a million miles from mine - a dream..

Should I Be This Nervous Before A Show?

What a lovely venue St. Lawrence's Art Centre is.
After a nervy morning, we left rather late and I was the last one to set up my work (t'was ever thus..)
I get SO worried before putting my work up - and it's difficult to sort out exactly why - as even thinking about trying to assess it all seems so emotive.
But this is something I really have to address as it almost ruins the experience every time for me!

I wonder if I am on my own or if there are many peeps out there who get nerves like me...?
it's almost a kind of 'stage fright' I suppose - and yet it has also stopped me from selling online so far.
I joined Etsy in 2008 and had a shop set up since 2011, but it sits empty!
How silly is that?
OR
How lazy?
OR
How chicken is that?
OR
How techno shy? Or what...?

All of that continues in my head and there are butterflies in my tummy - yet I'm there and it's the preview - with over seventy people looking, chatting, milling about. The whole space looks great, my work is out, it looks fine - lovely people come along and say complimentary things about it - and I smile - and - and I should be talking to everyone.
The other artists seem to make it look easy - working the room; 'networking' -
I just feel awkward and self-conscious...
How do I start? What do I say?
Smile, open mouth; words will come out:

"Hello there..." 

Once I get that far, it's a bit easier and things to say start to come into my head, finding their way to my mouth and I say stuff, ask people questions.
It's funny because I can normally talk for the Northern hemisphere...but put me in front of my work, tell me to sell it and I'll freeze.
Am I the only one, or does everyone find it hard?
Is it too personal? - I'll sell your work for you, if you'll sell mine - that could be a way round it...

 

I'm OK with eye contact though...

Next time I'll tell you how I felt after three days of exhibiting my work - did I hide up; serve teas and wash up away from my work?