|
 |
the artist's path
(I came to paint the shutters . . .)
Normandie, France
835 x 400
Painting on textured board, assemblage;
objets trouvées: wooden slab, sawdust, iron staple, wooden slat
blind, text fragments
cement, pva glue, acrylic paints
Location: a 17th century
Presbytère
alongside its ancient church in the Normandy countryside at
Hiesville. The owner, a generous friend, had offered me the
opportunity to spend some weeks there concentrating on my studio
work, in return for painting the external shutters on the house.
Said shutters turned out to be legion. They had to be taken down,
hardware removed, stripped, sanded, undercoated, painted (two
coats), hardware replaced, and re-hung. They were solid wood and
weighed a ton. I worked on them in the ancient barn amongst
centuries-old sawdust and litter. (Did I have any energy remaining
for 'studio work'? Joke.)
I took myself and my frustration off to the nearby beaches for long
solitary walks. It was there – as well as in the old barn – that I
discovered the bits and pieces that eventually came together as the
works in this group. Any carefully conceived and planned pieces
were, as usual, utterly sabotaged by the wonder of what lay around
me and the ever unpredictable creative process. |