In the studio

Well I finally managed to pull apart the plan drawer and even then Ross and I had to still jiggle and coerce her through one of the narrow doors leading down to the studio. I felt so relieved once she was in...she is such a difficult piece of furniture very broad around the girth.

I proceeded to to put the old girl back together and then after the beating she received with hammer and nails I lovingly coated her with beeswax furniture polish...she was so dry and soaked up a whole tin of the stuff.

I am not sure what it is about this piece of furniture but I am connected to her in some strange way, when I first acquired her some 14 yrs ago I felt she had finally come home...it is almost like we have known each other before...sounds crazy I know...but I love every scratch, dent, hole that she has acquired over the last 150 years (some of them only last week).  She has these unusual crazing...almost calligraphic like text markings...I often wonder when in her life they appeared, what memories they hold and who owned her in the past.  Over the years her past lives and experiences has imbued her with a soft patina brought about by years of existence with other owners whose character and tone permeate from her.

 

The studio required a little re-arranging to fit her comfortably in, she now looks at home in this spot

 and once again back into full working mode, crammed to the brim with paper and prints. 

When I have had a few spare moments I have been playing around with book structures for the book(s) I will be working on for the BAO project..if you want to know more about this I have written about it here.

I also cut up a couple of old prints that worked well in sections but not as overall images and created a small journal to practice and improve my bookbinding skills.

Plus I mounted a few about the size of postcards to create a series of images that now work better together.

 

 Collograph and monoprints on photographic (type) paper

Finally the renovations have started this week...hip hooray! Will post some photos soon.