Let’s Talk Soon…

If you’ve been reading my previous blogs, you would have noticed that I have been absent for quite some time. Unintentional, but absent, nonetheless.

Where have I been and why have I not been in touch?

Well, as you may (or may not recall), I took the plunge to return to office life whilst writing about my diptych Under the Water Line and Hold my Hand.

Was it a challenge? Yes, in ways I did not expect. I had my highs and lows while attempting a balancing act – but – it has also been rewarding. As a result of my return, I had the opportunity to observe the intricacies of interactions in the workspace and reconnecting with others outside my own office environment and something struck a chord.

While I am a supporter of independence and workplace equality, equality in general, I never saw myself as one to observe and write about motherhood and women in society. However, it seems as I worked through some of the pieces and follow the breadcrumbs laid before me, it is an area that has increasingly piqued my interest.

I found myself observing more and more and thinking about the challenges that women face in the modern workplace. I wondered how they perceived themselves, if they carry with them insecurities and what they were. I asked myself, if I were in their shoes, would these insecurities be justified and how do others from the outside really see them?

I am fortunate to have met many strong, intelligent, talented and independent women.

I am at the very early stages of planning and designing another instalment. One that is long overdue.

I hope that through this I can showcase the many aspects of women’s lives and the amount of balancing and organisation that comes with it.  

Come along with me on this journey and let’s talk soon?

Hold my hand

As I pondered through my thoughts, ideas and what I wanted to achieve from creating Do you see me?, I started to look outwards to the people around me. I suddenly became more aware of the challenges that people around me were facing and the strength they harnessed from these experiences.

As a second instalment to Do you see me?, I decided to create a piece dedicated to a group of five women, mums, who I have come to know and admire. Five women (6 including myself) with different backgrounds who have come together for a common cause – to support one another through a new phase in their lives – motherhood.

Hold my hand, the second instalment in the diptych Under the Water Line, reminds us of the unspoken words and invisible hand reaching out to us when we least expect it.

Left: Do you see me? Right: Hold my hand

Do you see me?

I am at core a hopeful person. So even when I am overwhelmed, there is a good chance that I will somehow find myself a few days later thinking of and seeing positive outcomes from a particular situation. But what happens when you are in the midst of a low day or days?

I’ve been toying on and off with the idea of venturing back into office life for some time while still working on my creative projects and blog. I wondered what it would be like and how it can all be managed. That was when Do you see me? was conceived.

It’s about dreaming (however big or small), about putting in the time and effort to get there and how sometimes we are so focused on the ifs, when and hows that we forget to check where we are right now. Are we on the right track to achieving our dreams or have we been so focused on getting there that we’ve forgotten what it was exactly we were looking for?

I have since taken the plunge and truth be told it is a challenge. And I am still adjusting, learning to balance, continuing to dream.

Do you see me? uses Posca bullet tip pens on a 30cm x 30cm fine grain canvas. May your paths be filled with happiness wherever they may lead.

Do you see me?

The Unveiling

I think it’s fair to say that canvas and paint markers have been kind to me and I am for the most part happy with the materials I have been experimenting with. My two main quibbles are: 1. Markers tend to start off well but not soon after you will find that the nibs deteriorate and your vision of fine lines through the whole canvas starts to fade; and 2. Stretched canvas is convenient, however, it can be a bit frustrating to work with if you want to use larger pieces and need to apply pressure which could lead to bleeding and warping.

That said, after a couple of months of testing and starting over, I believe I have arrived at what can be called the first instalment of ‘Imperfect Balance’. It’s a triptych as previously mentioned using 10 x 10 inch medium grain stretched canvases and oil based paint markers.

The triptych (First Encounter) begs the observer to accept that not everything we see in the first instance is what it seems. It then goes on to challenge that if we can accept the trivial imperfections around us, we get a glimpse of how things might look like when all is in balance and in symmetry.

First Encounter

Are we there yet?

It’s been about 5 months since I got hold of my oil based markers and a few weeks since ‘Imperfect Balance’ was conceived. The set has moved on a bit but there’s still work to be done.

And as I am still exploring my own style and direction, I would like to share with you the process in which one of the canvases takes form.

For my first project, I decided to venture into the world of canvases. Previously, almost all of my doodling was done on paper so this will be a good test to see if canvas is a good medium for me. To start, I decided on the 10 x 10 inches medium grain. Masking tape is used to loosely manage borders and a couple of fine pencil lines are added to further guide the concept. The rest of the canvas (and majority of the work) is created freestyle using only the Pebeo oil based markers.

And here is my progress to so far. Enjoy!