I seem to have lost my Mojo!

Okay, so I am trying to do a drawing a day (well almost) and while that is satisfing up to a point I don't have any new work on the go. As a result, I have a bit of an itch but I'm struggling to scratch it! Does that make any sense at all?

Perhaps it's because things just feel a little bit disjointed all round. There have been changes in the day job, good changes but still changes, and I think, if I am honest, I feel as if I am treading water at the moment waiting for the next direction to present itself. Since I don't share much about the day job here, because the purpose of this blog wasn't to share the trials and tribulations of the day job but to share a creative life outside of it, that probably doesn't make much sense either. But having written it down, I do feel a bit better and a bit clearer on why the blockage may exist.

But just because my Mojo has disappeared it doesn't mean I'm doing nothing.

In no particular order my activities over last weekend were as follows:-

1.  Quilts delivered - another liaison in a carpark, this time the car park at the Redditch needle Museum. You may remember that I was involved with the 'Dislocation' Contemporary Quilt stand at Festival of Quilts. Since then I have been storing the 44 quilts in a neat stack under one of the tables in my studio. I have also been dispatching and collecting various quilts as they went on separate little journeys. I am pleased to say that the waifs and strays made it back in time to be reassembled in the stack and delivered to Amanda Wright Who is taking them to the court exhibition in Holland.  

2.  Dog walked! Also dog's claws trimmed, which might not seem like much but said dog hates having his toenails cut.  And we found these beauties on our walk, growing on a local allotment. The last hurrah of summer!

3.  More paper beads made. I seem to be quite addicted to the idea of paper beads and if I find scraps of paper that look promising rather than throw them away I am spending a happy hour rolling cylinder beads. I am beginning to assemble quite a collection where are they all tend to be the same shape. One thing I now want to sort out is how to finish them. Some people seem to use UTEE while others dip in a varnish. Any ideas? 

4.  Print blocks made. If you doubt, make a print block! The first I used inspiration from my sketchbook from Spain, the town walls at Avila. The second was just a random shape.

5.   Mono printing using the new wall print block and other print blocks from my collection (I call them blocks, but really they are foam shapes mounted on cardboard).  I used a piece of plastic and acrylic paint mixed with a retarder. I rolled the paints and retarder onto the plastic with the brayer, lifted paint off the surface of the blocks, and then printed onto tissue paper, pulling two prints for each image. I think I now have some potential materials to work with. Perhaps that will get my Mojo back!

Okay, so having written it out it doesn't look so bad! 

My favourite drawing pencil is still my 'work' pencil, a Rotring pencil with a 0.7 mm lead. I did not buy this pencil, it was a freebie from somewhere. It has Kingspan printed on the side. Kingspan make insulation materials and I think I might have picked it up at Ecobuild. (There's an example of the day job impacting on my 'dark' side.)

I am finding that the easiest thing to look at and draw are other peoples drawings. So I am using the internet to find pictures that I then draw. Ok, so that's not so pure, but actually doing something seems more important than where I a source the inspiration. 

Mostly I am sketching tea or coffee pots, but I follow the blog by Clive Hicks - Jenkins ( without doubt one of my favourite artists, discovered through Steph and Chloe Redfern).  And Clive posted this lovely, lovely sketch on his blog. 

I need to try it again, but using crayon to add colour. 

Go and visit Clive's Blog http://clivehicksjenkins.wordpress.com/2014/10/11/gold-and-death/

And I really loosened up this evening so I'm feeling bold enough to share ( though promise you'll keep this to yourself, dear reader!) 

Here you go.