Walking, Looking. Drawing, Sticking

Hello,

Well, this week has been interesting. trying to carve out some kind of routine has been on my mind. With the villa not being very studio like in appearence (you know white walls and things, messy sinks and stuff) it has been hard, or trickey, to get my head round making and doing. I#ve spent a fair old chunk of the time thinking about what i want to do, or happen, instead of actually doing it. It's not such a bad thing, but i feel more comfortable when i've got stuff happening around me in terms of things i've made. Something to engage with, maybe in a more direct way, where you can make intuitive moves instead of planned ones. I suppose it's to do with responding to things. In the villa itself there is not that much to respond to....except the other artists! wahey, yep, there it is. Anyway

Doing and Making....hmmmm. They are wrapped up for me.

Doing something...well, i had a great day in Munich on tuesday visiting galleries and wandering about the city. I went to a great gallery called the Lenbachaus Stadtschie Gallery which was full of paitnings by Kandinsky, Klee, Franz Marc and Franz Ackerman and Gerhard Richter. As i was looking at the Ackerman paintings (massive, in your face, not much space to breath, everything painted in the same way) i concentrated hard to just look at them, and not think about anything. I could do it, but i had to stop myself if i thought about anything else. I wanted to focus on the act of looking at the work, otherwise the paintings would overload me too much and i felt i wasn't taking them in.

After looking at the paintings i had a great apple cake and coffee in the cafe, right up until closing time. I thought there is something nice about being in a public building at closing time. it's a bit quieter and you get to notice whos there as you collect your jacket from the Cloakroom. If you have time to think about it. I don't know, but i was in a good mood. Being in new surroundings allowes my mind to wander freely, well in the city at least. It's about getting your head in place where it can take on new stuff and look for new connections.

Wandering round the city taking things in - doing

Drawing and colouring bits in and sticking paper together - Making.

I am trying to bring the action of doing, the free way i moved around the city - into my work.

Bye for now

hamish