Inspiring

Burning Flowers II, Mat Collishaw, 2003

“Central to Mat Collishaw’s work are the themes of illusion and desire, which he uses to draw us into an arena where every-day conventions are broken down and questioned”

She murmured, “glimpses”

reclaimed window frame, vintage lace fragments, gold thread, nails, rope

Second pic shows with some consideration to lighting.

Notes:

A shadow of a face, hair streaked with gold, a closing door, “I wanted you to”

Beauty, longing, being on the outside looking in. Desire to go somewhere impossible.

Missed opportunity/moment. Loss.

Memory/vision of unobtained or unobtainable beauty – better to have seen or not seen.

Perspectives

Preservation of secrets. Elusive.

Time passed.

Lace – purity and chastity but also synonymous with sexuality.

Provides a veiling, an obscuring of true self

finished bed piece

Untitled, 2009. Reclaimed cast iron bed, 300 peacock feathers, thread.

 

Notes:

“The undeclared knowledge of a shared imagination hung in the air; in her half hidden figure against the light on the floor behind, in the silence, the bed in the corner, the thousand ghosts of old rooms”   (p.95)

The secret tension. The immediacy and palpability of that moment. The enormity of the beauty.  “wanted so sharply”

Heightened state of connectedness & sensation. An exquisite perfume.

Desire & fear.

Delicate and beautiful but also potentially powerful and dangerous.

Connections with barely perceptable physical contact. A connection that precedes and transcends the physical one. A dissolving of boundaries and seperateness – a oneness.

Breath. Stillness. Focus, Intensity.

A certainty of emotion in conflict with an anxiety of action.

Fleeting glimpse

Fleeting Glimpse in progress. Oil on Canvas

I feel that the twisted and distorted form is starting to take shape slowly and the surface is building. I hope to get a sense of a fleeting glimpse, a glance down as you jump the stream and what you see is not quite reality. I realise that the position of the viewer is of looking down at this reflection, it is the the viewer looking back at themselves. As well as a sense of movement and of the reflected tree canopy I hope that there will be a sense of a form that should not balance and feels forever about to topple.

fleeting Glimpse - detail

cyanotype prints

I meant to mention these to you a while back. Was talking to my friend Ange at a baby shower and she mentioned cyanotype prints. Went away and had a look at some and really like the painterly finish and almost dream sequence feel they have, both which would fit in with the book. Tempting to have a play but although I like the idea of them in themselves not convinced they would fit in with everything else going on. Mixing chemicals does sound fun though – I may not be able to resist  :)

Cyantoype print by David Rushmar

Dusk by Victor Hugo

Under The Yews

just thought it was worth having this pic of yours here to see while we are discussing the blur photos you posted below

Under The Yews, Dean Melbourne

Blur Trees – Intense Moments in Nature at Night

My idea for these photographs was that they represented that primal feeling of being in nature at night. The level of motion blur seems to describe different levels of emotional state, At first I thought the more blur the more intense but there is an intense sense of waiting and silence in the last one. I like how each one has a different form that is repeated. When I posted these on my blog Helga left a message saying that they implied that there was more than one person there and that something intense was happening or had happened. It is good to post them here because the painting I tried to make from them became Under the Yews which has changed from my intension.

Studio wall, a painting & a sketch!

 

Images on studio wall

 

Re organised my images that are on my studio wall. There are some really strong threads and feelings coming through.

I really like the handling of paint in this image. Loose when you get up close and with a sensuous line. This is something I need to remember so that I do not over paint. I think I get to this stage quickly when I paint and feel like its not enough because it’s not so difficult. I am thinking about combining this with the one of the legs walking into the water from the vintage playboy. I have a few more images by this artist (i forget his name!) He is an old scandinavian painter. Ill post some of the others.

Sounds silly but wasnt really sure what to start sketching. I guess I work from images so I started by translating some of the found images that I have been accumulating for this project. I think that that is going to be useful in that it will help me think about how to make prints. I am still unsure about what will go on the underside of the table but I have a few ideas now.

vintage vogue images

helmut newton from vintage vogue

 

A bit like your post these are images that in some way just had a feel of the book. I guess just the way I played the film in my head. I think that this kind of image is very much ingrained in my mind, the way that I learned what being feminine should look like when I was a boy. I think your images are actually better and these are a little more obscure.  Good to get them on here as a record of the thought though!