Rendering, a sense of achievement

I have been editing some video footage I took whilst in Wales, on the beach. A few years ago now, I started to make video collages. When I looked at my previous videos, I couldn’t believe it had been so long! One of the ideas I had was to break down a walk to the sea edge. I have been visualising what this would look like, and thinking about the various ways I could document it for a while now.

desk

Today, I finally sat down at my tidy (ish) desk and began to remember how to use Adobe Premiere. It has been a real treat to play with it and see what comes out. The video I have made is the very start of thinking about how I will document the next beach I visit and other walks/adventures. There are a number of things I would change, like using a tripod for the video of the sea, to get the horizon straight.

Below is a screen print of the video in progress. There is the sky at the top, which is a video taken with the camera pointing upwards whilst walking on the beach. The middle section is a static shot of the sea moving in and out, and the sound used is what is captured whilst filming this. The finally, you have a slideshow of photos taken on the beach floor, whilst walking towards the sea.

Sky Sea Sand print screen

I am really interested in documenting these experiences and exploring different ways I see what’s around me. My next mission is to get an app on my photo that has a pause button, so I can make videos, like I used to, with short clips of parts of a walk/journey.

Taking a break

I am almost two weeks into a two month break from work. I decided I needed to stop and do some thinking. So here I am, in the fortunate position of having time. The plan is to not be distracted by my job and attempt to focus on remembering what it is I like to do outside of it.

One of the things high up on the list is putting into practice some of my ideas. I have lists of them but I rarely sit down and do anything to make them happen. I want it to be part of my everyday, so that it doesn’t feel so daunting/out of reach. I found a list of questions that I had prepared when I was organising the Art Works page in LeftLion and I hope, by the end of the two months to be able to answer the questions on it. At the moment, my mind is like scrambled eggs.

Last week, I went to Bishopston in Wales, with my parents. It was a last minute decision to tag along and they were super lovely to let me. It was just want I needed to clear away the cobwebs and start to think about what I want to do with the luxury that is time. One of the biggest things is to give myself a break and try not to give myself a hard time. When in wales, we went on a daily walk and it made me think how good it is for you, not only for the exercise but also for the change of scenery.

Here are a few photos taken:

Brandy Cove

 

Rope swing

Rhondda valley

My Mum, Ali and I sat in the garden and painted the garden. I have no technique at all, but it was so relaxing. These were my Nan’s watercolour paints and below is my painting.

Watercolour paints

watercolour painting

Time for art

I got married to my best friend Alan Gilby just over a week ago, and we had the most wonderful time. I have been reflecting on the last year and am aware that I have been putting some of the things I love to do on the back burner. I think having space away can be a good thing, as it can give you a new lease of life. I am excited to be starting to think about what I want to make/do/see next.

The first thing I have done, is create a page to my Instagram feed, as I really like it and it’s another way I share things I have seen that I think may be of interest. You can view it here.

I feel like how I look in this photo; ready to get my things in order and do a lot of thinking whilst gazing into the distance.

Petal by petal

I was bought some beautiful flowers by my friends Flo and Luke. The roses were starting to wilt, so I decided to make video by peeling the flower each petal in turn. Such incredible colours were revealed. There were petals that I would never have seen if  I hadn’t peeled it.

P1110115 web P1110255 web P1110257 web

 

Today in January

Diary photo in a row

Since I can remember I have tried to write a diary, in some form or another. This year I thought I would share some of the descriptions I have given to a day in January. January is the most well documented month, I sometimes don’t even reach February.

I choose the first sentence that started with ‘Today…’ and here they are:

1997 – Today we went sleighing we met my form teacher there.
1999 – Today was a bit on the argumentative side but still enjoyable.
2000 – Today was nothing special, celloing all day an average Wednesday really.
2001 – Today was better than a crap day but not nearly as good as a good day.
2002 – Today wasn’t the best day it could have been but it was good.
2003 – Today was a really class day, I smiled all day.
2007 – Today I woke up as happy as Larry – unaware of last nights mishaps.
2009 – Today it was really good to start using the brain again.
2010 – Today I was full of beans at the prospect of having some well deserved time off work.
2012 – Today was hard to describe.

I am going to attempt, at the very least during January to keep a daily something.

 

Thinking space

Today I have a meeting at 12.30pm so this morning I have had a good couple of hours thinking time. I sat in Pret for 2 hours and consumed two cups of tea. It was truly lovely! I witnessed one woman put 6 sachets of pepper into her soup with such speed, that you knew she had done this before. I wrote notes about my recent ideas and thought about what is wanted to do next. Finally, I visited Paperchase like it was an exhibition of pretty things and images.

image

My studio for a few hours

Freezer bag

Yesterday I filled a freezer bag with plaster and here are the results:

Unfortunately with this design of bag, the plastic has got stuck in the fold but apart from that I like the shape it has created. Shall experiment with different bags.

Cast of time

Recently I have been messing about with plaster to make brooches, collage and now sculptures. I had an idea way back when to make physical sculptures out of PVA glue, but quickly discovered it wouldn’t dry in large quantities in my lifetime! When making brooches, I fell in love with the instantaneous nature of plaster. I was experimenting with adding different materials to the plaster and then laying plaster on different materials. I poured a bit into a plastic bag to see what shape it created. It made a cast of the bottom of it, with the creases and seam details on show.

The idea of making a cast of time was born. I am currently waiting for a bag filled with plaster to dry and am very excited indeed. The next thing for me to work out is how I measure time using the material. I think the measuring of time will be done using the water, which will then be mixed with the plaster, but have some thinking to do!

 

 

11.11.11 11 Hours, 11 Minutes and 11 Seconds

Yesterday was a day with a moment that will not happen again in my life time. Regardless of that, I missed it as I was at the printer at work. Disappointed I text my Dad who consoled me with the genius idea that I could experience the American version of this moment. So at 4pm (11am New York time) I sat in front of my camera, which was set up facing my laptop to capture this second of history via an online clock.

I like the idea that if you miss a certain time in a day, you can just gatecrash another time zone.

Types of time

I was having a conversation this week about the different types of time and how it becomes increasingly more difficult to make time for everything. I have been musing over the different types I think there are all week and categorised them as follows:

There is obligatory fun celebratory time, Weddings, Birthdays, leaving parties. There is fun time ‘just because’ which often happens without too much planning, like a trip to the pub on a Friday night. There are breaks away and adventures, camping, festivals, holidays. There are catch ups and chats, this usually involves drink or food as the centre point, pub, cafe or cups of tea on the sofa. There is inbetween time, usually on the way somewhere, to the shop, to work, on the train. Necessary time, work, life admin and sleeping. Relaxation time, watching TV, cooking, reading, sitting, going for a walk. There is also development time (couldn’t think of a better word for it!), learning, thinking, making art, trying something new. This list is not exhaustive and obviously everyone is different, but for me at this point in time these are the main ways I spend/organise my time. On Thursday evening I spent my favourite type of time, the fun type!

Me, Amy, Haydn and Al drove to a pub near the river Trent which was super lovely as one minute I was sat on the sofa watching one of the many terrible programmes I watch and the next thing I knew I was going for a drive. It was so good to get out into the countryside; there were beautiful reflections in the water and a very nice looking bird.