Friday 6 January 2017

Feeling sorry for myself...

It's Friday and I don't expect that this will see the light of the internet until Sunday as I think I will have little to show for the weekend. I had bronchitis before leaving the UK which was virtually gone after antibiotics. It's come back with a vengeance and I am trying to stay indoors, drink lots of liquids and rest, hence the lack of art work.

I will begin this now and add to it as the weekend goes on. I didn't go into the studio yesterday because of feeling ill, but also because the wind was very strong. I stayed in trying to make sense of the Wacom Intuos Pro Tablet I bought to bring here with me, but ended up having to leave the room in case I threw it out of the window. I will try again tomorrow but it feels really alien to me. It has become a personality that I detest and I am shouting at it all the time. Maybe I should give it a name??

I still haven't gone accustomed to the light patterns yet. It's not even a tiny bit light until 10.15 and that's a kind of dull, horror movie type of half dark. The sun rises over the mountain around 12.10pm and is amazing when it does as the whole place changes from dull grey/blue to yellow/orange. It's remarkable and everyone becomes aware of it. The light starts to disappear soon after 3 and by 5 it's completely gone. Evenings haven't been too bad as it's so similar to home, but not having any light to wake up to is weird and disconcerting.

I packed my camera bag today and began the windy walk to the studio armed with backpack, tripod bag and Tesco Orla Keily bag (filled with various art materials, computer, tablet with no name - yet!, coffee, milk, baby wipes and loads of other stuff I didn't really need. This was at 12.20pm and the sun was beginning to rise above the mountains across the Fjord.


There was a welcome meeting for the January artists and I met those I will be sitting next to/avoiding storms with/collaborating with/travelling with. There are 11 of us, 10 women - I am the oldest by far! and 1 man from the UK. A mixture of nationalities including Americans, Australians, French Canadians, Israeli, Irish, Greek and UK. Watch this space for ongoing dramas and the inevitable excitement of putting a bunch of artists in one studio with the distinct possibility of being snowed in at some point. Speaking of fireworks (see what I did there?) there was a celebration of sorts in the village tonight with lots of fireworks going off. It seems to be the marking of the end of the Christmas with epiphany - 6th of January.

I have been playing around with making some charcoal and paint pieces which I intend to layer up with photographs (I Think...). This is work in progress, but it does show that I've done something other than cough all day.....





I have played around with one image so will keep playing until I get something. Also the photographs are taken with my phone which is not high spec enough to make big images.


I've decided to post this after all so that I can sleep comfortably knowing I am not going to renege on my 5 out of 7 days of blogging promise.

Sleep well this Friday night. I am about to walk from the studio back to Manabraut, across the windswept gap in the houses where the gale attempts to blow me off my feet. Send me some positive thoughts to get better! I need to go out and make photographs.

Bless bless

Love 

Aly x

12 comments:

  1. Just checking if this works....

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  2. Love the charcoal drawings!

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    1. Thanks Kirsty. I'm hoping to do lots more when I can drag my pathetic self to the studio!

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  3. Fantastic drawings....and beautiful pics, even if on the phone! Hope you're better soon too x

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  4. Fantastic drawings....and beautiful pics, even if on the phone! Hope you're better soon too x

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  5. Great to see you drawing. Hope you feel better soon. Xx

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    1. I know - me, drawing again!!! I feel so ill. Just want to be better. Xxx

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  6. absolutely LOVE the charcoal and paint pieces ! x

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    1. You're too kind libs. I am NOTHING compared to you. Love xxxxxx

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It would be great to hear your views or any questions you have about Iceland, Skagaströnd or the residency. Fire away!!