you are perfectly reflected

Now, here's something I've been meaning to post for a long time. For a long long time. Since I had my first solo exhibition over a year ago, in fact. After the exhibition I was commissioned to create two of these 'small blue thing' drawings. This one was for Sally, a surprise gift for her husband (it's a scarab, by the way, Sally), and the other was for the Hughes family. When I delivered the Hughes' drawing I was given this poem, below. Karey had been inspired to write it after visiting my exhibition. I read it often, and have been meaning to come up with the perfect drawing to post with it. But, as yet, that drawing has not happened and as this one has remained un-posted it seemed fitting. Plus, if I continue to wait for the perfect drawing I'll never share the poem with you. And, that would not be right. It's one of the most lovely, and humbling, gifts I've received.

Thanks, Karey.

strictly ballpoint?

No, there’s pencil, ink, gel pen, crayon, marker

even tippex, in your riotous attention to detail.
Thousands of careful lines;
such small changes of pressure, shade, direction.
How much of your time
to draw all those buttons, coins, badges, tickets,

hair grips? Even tiny cat claws.

Obsessive? Compulsive?

I can’t look away.

I’m a voyeur reading your notebooks,

a kindred detective with too many clues:

mass-produced, man-made, plastic, metal

or something natural, unique?

Any object is subject.

Nothing escapes a curious eye.

You rummage in the attic of my memory

to conjour your magic; a delicate, crazy art

full of surprises

like your quirky picture-title puns

from songs in your head,

now in mine, old favourites -

Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega.

A kind of give and take

where nothing is too ordinary

or too personal

so you offer up your socks,

like fat birds on a wire,

even a black bra draped over a line,

and in “drawers”  - knickers,

blowing in a breeze!

 

Clothes in a washing machine,

half-submerged in soapy water -

you call it, “slooshy sloshy, slooshy sloshy”

Washed pots draining

and lots of shoes from all angles

and pages of doodles and travel memorabilia,

with whimsical thoughts in curly calligraphy:

“will it ever stop raining?”

“trying to keep out of the rain”.

You must be local. You make me laugh.

It takes time and close attention

to notice everything –

Like peering through a doll’s house window

and seeing my own life,

in every shiny detail:

I want to empty out my pockets!

 Karey Lucas-Hughes 2011

inspired by an exhibition of art work called “strictly ballpoint” by Andrea Joseph at  Buxton Museum and Art Gallery 2011

 

Above is a photo that I took at my show. For some really great photos check out THIS POST by Pippa, which was another lovely gift I received after the exhibition.  I really am a very lucky, ahem, 'girl'.

door to the river

When I made that humongous Moleskine post last week it took me back to France, to when I exhibited my Moleskines. Obviously I've been showing my sketch books online for the last few years. But before the exhibition in France few people had ever seen them 'in the flesh'. And, at first, I was quite reticent to show them. Specifically my 'spare' Moleskine. I had never ever shown anyone this book before. You might have seen a few of the finished drawings from it but that's it. The reason for that is because, apart from those odd finished pieces, my spare Moleskine is full of lists, quotes, lyrics, doodles and thoughts. And that's quite scary. I've always felt that peering into that book is a bit like finding John Nash's shed in the woods and opening the door.

But, to my surprise, many people at the exhibition really enjoyed seeing these pages. Yes, they commented on the obsessive content but it struck a chord somewhere with folk. So, I thought maybe I'd show you some here. The top spread is one of those pages. It's where I chuck everything onto a page for future reference. Then below are some of the drawings that came from those seeds.

Is this stuff of any interest to you? Cos there's loads more of it.

You know, there could well be a lot of posts this week because somebody is desperately trying to avoid doing their tax returns. So let me know if you want to see more.