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Moving/not moving no man's land

Well. The plan to not do any more sculpting for now isn't going too well. Luckily the things I need haven't been packed into an unknown or unreachable box. If you're wondering what I'm on about, here's the story. Having had to move from Devon to stay employed after a much too short stay there, I've come to realise how much I want to be back near the coast in a place of smaller towns and villages, near the good (artist/maker) friends I made and to be part of what is a hugely creative area full of talent.

So I started looking for a new room to rent and began the laborious and time consuming job of weeding out the clutter accumulated from living in the same house for a whole three years. That's the longest I've rented a room for, excluding my time at university from 2006 to 2011 (with an 18 month break between undergrad and post graduate courses). That part is largely done. The part that involves finding a suitable place is not. There have been two or three ideal rooms but for who knows what reasons, the initial conversation didn't result in anything actually happening. I've had a bit of this before when I was moving to London; booking a viewing but the owner doesn't turn up and won't take your call or doing a viewing which is followed by increasingly controlling demands from the owner who also says she doesn't smoke but maybe doesn't realise quite how strong smelling cigarette smoke is. So here we are. A bit in limbo but meh, it's fine. When the time is right and all that.

So, why am I sculpting again? Went for a walk around local streets and ended up passing the Corner Gallery, which I used to cycle past every day on the way to work. It relocated when their building was sold and I never followed up where they'd gone to. Well, it's less than 10 minutes walk and was closed when I saw it but it got me wondering how they take on new work (it's all local artists). The new location is smaller than the last so maybe if I had some little pieces that would fit in the limited space...

The power of three

So three new armatures around 18cm tall have now been made and if that sounds as big as my other pieces - they kinda are but these are going to be dainty mixed media like the Firefly and Double Rainbow in the gallery and they still fit on 4cm diameter bases.

Here's the first one. I scribbled that picture ages ago in my random info note book (one of too many I have) and came across it recently. Ah! That's just the kind of thing I had in mind. I've cheated a bit on the second one by doing another attitude pose and she'll be a kind of water sprite. Haven't totally decided on the third yet but the theme for these is fantasy/elemental beings sort of thing. The form will come from modrock and handmade paper. Sadly, the weather has turned cool and the paper pulp I added for the head and to even out the torso is still a bit damp this morning. I need some sun to dry everything out!

It's overcast and looks like more rain again today but I'll take a walk around to the gallery after lunch and have a good look at a lovely abstract painting which I suspected is by my office manager and yes, it is! You can find more about the gallery on their Facebook page, which I haven't seen since I never go near Facebook when using my own devices. If you're a FB-phobe like me, there's also this business page with plenty of images and opening times. For a look at Rachel Maritz's work, look here.

So, I'm going to press publish on this and start on the modrock after I've sealed off the dry parts of the paper pulp. That means cutting the plaster impregnated mesh into manageable strips and trying not to get it super soggy as I apply it. I know it's a chemical reaction rather than heat that makes it go hard but too much water just makes more mess on the table. Hmm, did I pack away my painting apron...