Happy New Year!! Catching up and looking forward . .

The view across my field today

 Happy New Year!! 

All is calm on Loop Head today. The light is bright and golden and it is almost warm in the sun. We have just weathered Storm Bella - for 4 days!! That was a big one. With some amazing waves. But not as big as some of the waves we saw at the end of October - my goodness they were huge, as you can see from this image.


Massive waves at the Kilkee Cliffs on the 28th October 2020.

This is a short film I made of the waves. Wave Watching at Kilkee Cliffs

 ***
 
It feels we have a lot to catch up on - but not much has happened. Time has certainly passed . . Who would have thought, this time last year, that we would be in turns afraid, angry, scared and just inert, with the feelings that Covid 19 and all the restrictions brought with them.
I hope 2021 is finding you reasonably positive and healthy. With the prospect of the vaccine looming, there appears to be hope for us all. Do we have the energy for it? I don't know about you, but I have times of feeling exhausted with just - coping.

I have had times of creativity and have been able to sell a few pieces of my new work. As you can imagine, times have have been a wee bit hard with very little income coming in. My new life with a studio that people can visit and view and buy my work hasn't quite worked out - yet!! Fingers crossed, this will be the year. I have piles of new canvasses to work on, but can find little incentive to start work. And I must, quite soon. Are you feeling the same?

 ***

My exhibition in Kilkee library that was due to be open for the month of October, opened for 3 days, and then we went from level 2 to 3 restrictions and the library had to close. I did make a video of the work though.

A wall of canvases inspired by the sunsets and sunrises I see from my home.

 . . and a wall of images from my life between March and October.

This a video of the exhibition - Home - an exhibition of my latest work

The gallery in Kilkee library is lovely, well lit and there is plenty of help with hanging your work and promotion. I was very pleased with the new work I had created. A new way of working for me, and it was so good to be working with plastics again. The exhibition showed the way my work has changed since I moved to Ireland and the simplicity of my inspiration.

I have another exhibition booked for the month of March, but as we has just gone into lock down for a least a month, I'm not sure it will happen. I can still make the work for it though. It is good to have a deadline to work towards.

***

And then it was December and I filmed a live demonstration on the Vlieseline UK Facebook page. It was SO good to be working with Laura and the Vlieseline/Vilene team again. Boy have I missed them. Not having demonstrated at any of the big shows for the last 3 years I have really missed seeing regular visitors to the shows and of course, the Vlieseline team. If you watch the video you will see just how much I was enjoying myself.

 

The video is an hour of me showing you how to paint and decorate Bondaweb on various surfaces.   

 

 

Me ironing Painted Bondaweb onto a wooden box.

Here is the link to the video - Painted Bondaweb

 

***

So that more or less brings us up to date.  I have missed writing this blog and my interaction with you all. Whilst I am very active on Facebook and am slowly getting into Instagram, it is good to sit down and actually write something more than 2 sentences long. The need to sit and think about what you would like to write, and how you would like to write it and illustrate it, is very important to me, and I need to get back into it. The thought process will also probably help me define how my work will continue.

Even though I haven't written to you since July, the blog is still getting around 5.000 visits a month. It is interesting to look at the statistics occasionally. I started writing this blog in July 2010.  It has been a record of my teaching all over the UK and Australia and New Zealand and will now be more about my life and work in Ireland with a bit of teaching now and then.

So far, over the past 10 years, this blog has had 1.154.853 visits. Amazing isn't it? Not bad for a textile artist in a very specialist field of rather obscure experimental processes. Here's to the next 10 years . .  .

 

I will leave you with an image of Pops and Fizz, the reasons I have to get up and out every day. They are great fun, make me laugh and are wonderful company.

 

 

Thank you for reading this, see you next time. 

Keep safe and creative.

 

x x x


Location: Kilbaha North, Co. Clare, V15 X030, Ireland

Comments

  1. Sharon Davis1 January 2021 at 17:25

    Words that capture the essence of all that we, as creatives, are feeling. The fear will be here for a while me thinks, with a measure of time standing still, quivering with anticipation and perhaps dread at what lays ahead. For me I have gone back to basics and have been doing a sketchbook challenge which I feel may be leading me somewhere. The nature that I see from my creative space and the walks we have had, are starting to trigger feelings of wanting to wrap my arms around the never ending renewal, life and decay that I can see. You are an inspiration to us all and I certainly thank you for that. Happy New Year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kim Thittichai2 January 2021 at 12:12

      Thank you Sharon. One thing 2020 has given us, is time. Time to think and look. This will be so valuable as we move into 2021. I think we have excitng and creative times ahead.

      Delete

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