More Works of Art

I have always admired the (ever changing) bricks a painter friend uses to sit his canvasses on when he's working on them. Having just visited Collect, the Crafts Council show of high end craft I think it was hard to find much that was actually more beautiful than these - craftsmanship aside of course. I notice Collect's sub-title is careful not to use the word 'craft' but rather 'the international art fair for contemporary objects'.

The wear and tear or signs of use of tools of an artist are often full of passion and interest and their aesthetic has evolved unselfconsciously - I love this.

Countryside

This is the beginning of my second studio I'm setting up here on the edge of Dartmoor. It's not exactly by choice - my mother has had a stroke - what dreadful things they are and so common - so I'm needing to be away from the London studio part time but wanting to work when I'm not at the hospital. I often wonder how other people cope with the mix of professional life and crisis with friends or family health, though it's not a new scenario for me to down tools to be bedside. I suppose we creative self-employed people are lucky to have a more flexible set up than many. Anyway I found this nice old tin and thought I'd keep my new tools in it. I hate cheap crappy far eastern tools - I'd rather pay more and get a decent pair of pliers but they're hard to find so sadly I succumbed to the £1 guys - lets see how long they last! What a cynical activity it is to produce a load of cheap rubbish to make a fast buck.
Countryside tales to come!

Beloved Tools

I love to see the workshops of real artisans and I've just visited my industrious friends Urban Upholstery. I think their work space is even colder than mine! I also love to look at workshop tools and I'd admired a hammer Andrea had, it's the longest slimmest, most elegant hammer I've ever seen. 

It's specially for upholstery and Andrea has used it for decades and wonders how many pins it has served. He has bought a similar advance replacement but actually it doesn't compare well to the original's fine proportions.

I asked him if he had a favourite tool and apart from the hammer he is particularly attached to this webbing-stretcher. It has sentimental value too as it was made by his first teacher who he learned upholstery from in Italy and who's sadly no longer alive. So Andrea has used this all of his working life and re-upholstered the tool itself several times over as it's cover wears out.

Patrizia was busy deconstructing....

......and I want to show you a finished piece of theirs....

Follow their activities by visiting their BLOG here.

My Unsung Tools

I'm ridiculously reluctant to throw away this scruffy piece of paper - it has served me well. It's my marking out sheet for marking where drill holes go. It's had tea spilled on it, got doodles and tons of wear and tear but it's a faithful friend. Underneath is a new one I made but I don't love it like the old one. Maybe I shall keep it and one day make a collage that is a hommage to much used bits of paper.
I did love geometry when I was at school but I never thought I would use it so much on a daily basis.

Here are some more old friends, I've been through quite a few of these and I'm also reluctant to admit when a block is actually too chewed up to be a good prop and base anymore. I wonder how many holes I've drilled?.......
Was there a tiny bit more daylight today? (and a whopping 1 degree of temperature!) I find I'll have just got in full swing in the studio of an afternoon and find there's only half an hour of daylight left. I wish I could photoshop the sky like I do these photos and just lift the gloom out and brighten it all up.