Advent calendar of gurus, heroes & icons (2) Sir Nicholas Serota....

... and I didn't even know his name till this week.

Watching the Turner Prize last night, it turns out that Nicholas Serota, director of Tate Modern has been instrumental in it for many years. And while I don't really remember the first Turner Prize, haven't always paid attention to it, and haven't necessarily at the time always understood or appreciated the art it offered, I have increasingly felt its presence in the national psyche. The Prize is an annual opportunity to raise art in our consciousness.

Why is art important? A complex and for some contentious question. There is of course, the economic argument:

'Businesses in the UK arts and culture industry generated an aggregate turnover of £12.4  billion 

in 2011, which is 3.5 per cent lower than its peak in 2008. The subsets of the arts and culture 

industry’s productive activities of book publishing, performing arts and artistic creation are the 

largest contributors to the industry’s aggregate turnover performance.  

This led those businesses to contribute an estimated £5.9 billion of gross value added (GVA) to 

the UK economy, also in 2011. However, the GVA contribution of these businesses has grown 

since  2008,  in  contrast to turnover.  Closer  analysis reveals that  businesses  in the  arts  and 

culture industry have been successful in cutting costs and have thus, by increasing their GVA, 

increased their contribution to UK GDP even as the wider economy contracted.' 

The contribution of the arts and culture to the national economy, Report for Arts Council England and the National Museums Directors’ Council May 2013 

 And this is important. It allows the employed to earn their living and support themselves and those less fortunate to have a better chance of being supported through tax revenue.  But no less important is art for art's sake - because it enriches us, enlivens us, causes us to make connections both in our heads and socially.  Two personal examples: one from Tate Modern and one from Gloucester Cathedral near where I live.

Visiting Tate Modern one year I entered a gallery and high on the diagonally opposite wall hung a long piece of heavy blue canvas on a rail. Its drape could be adjusted in various ways causing it to be interpreted differently. Apparently one draping is likened to what I shall daintily call 'the male member'. That wasn't what I saw. For me it was a Katharine Hepburn or Lauren Bacall film star dress from the 1930's or 40's. Because it was my brain and my memories and my likes and dislikes and my artistic and fashion aspirations it was interacting with. Art as an individual experience. I bought a post card of it. I have it still. I'm going to dig it out and design that dress.......

Gloucester Cathedral hosts an annual exhibition of sculpture. It is one of the very best things that takes place in my city and people come from quite some distance. We get to see new works and older works, works from this country, works from abroad and from local artists. We also get Henry Moore sculptures and Damien Hirst's. We count ourselves very lucky. The event is a triple whammy of pleasure though.... We get to see all this imported art but we also get to remind ourselves of the beauty, art and workmanship that exists in the Cathedral day in, day out. And the third whammy is that people don't just view in silence. They talk about it. Even to strangers. 'That's amazing', 'oh, I love that', 'that was done by one of my neighbours', 'that's my favourite', 'I never would have thought to put that with that, but now they have - it just makes you feel...', 'it's good - you can tell it's good.....but ...I couldn't live with it.' 'couldn't you just take her home and have her striding across your house, looking out into the distance like that.'  And so on.

Life enhancing. And so, therefore, has Nicholas Serota been. Thank you.

A quick thank you also to my fabulous niece Michelle who told me her favourite fashion magazine was 'Red' and caused me to pick it up and read it in the dentist's waiting room. Serious business, this trend research.

Faye Brown Design's Advent Challenge today was Christmas Trees - it's been a long day so here's just a couple of quick sketches to be worked up properly tomorrow:

A personal advent calendar of heroes, gurus and icons (1)

I just thought I'd spend December paying tribute to people I admire and / or who have influenced me on my journey. 'Tis a time to be thankful.  Also gifted to you in the spirit of one of  'The 7 habits of highly effective people' - reading about other successful people. Although defining 'effective', like defining 'successful' is a relative exercise in itself, depending on you and your own values.

In no particular order, I present Muriel Gray.  Many of you will know of her as a writer, journalist and broadcaster and may recently have seen her on news programmes when Glasgow College of Art burnt down as she is Chair of the board of governors there. In researching this little piece I've become aware of so much more about her and of so much more I want to know.

I first became aware of her as an interviewer in the early days of The Tube. With her short dyed blond hair, her gangly figure and individual clothing style, she was very different from the people I'd grown up with. Obviously knowledgeable and with opinions, I took to her and her Scottish accent immediately, whilst also being slightly intimidated by her. The intimidation passed with the years..... I believe her to be a very warm and genuine person. There are two specific instances I want to mention: years ago I heard her interviewed on the radio about rambling (she is a great walker) and she talked about prefering that to spending Saturdays in the 'shopping sheds' that outlie all towns and cities. A comment that caused me to re-evaluate my own relationship with such sheds and the value of shopping as an entertainment in itself.

And I chiefly recall a wonderful BBC2 series she hosted where she gathered up a group of ordinary people from the North East who had never had much to do with art and artists. She took them on a tour of art galleries around the country, looking at all kinds of work, old and new, modern and traditional. At the end of the series they were each able to choose one piece of work they had seen, the one that had had most impact on them. That piece of work was transported to their own homes and hung there for a day. In the course of the programmes I and these people were introduced to artists and genres we had never heard of. Our eyes were opened and so (often) were our hearts, with that magical and somewhat unfathomable power that certain pieces of art have to connect with the individual. Curmudgeonly 'all this art's a waste of time' attitudes were transformed unexpectedly and while some people's choices were predictable (the woman who started out liking Constable's The Haywain still chose that to hang in her living room), others were much much less so. Fascinating to watch and feel and try to second-guess the transformations taking place. A series I'd love to see again; a series the making of which I'd love to see repeated on a regular basis.......A series I have tried and failed to find or name.  Reality TV at its absolute (& quite early) best.

So I think the thing I like best about Muriel is her great advocacy of the arts for everybody - for everybody to appreciate it, for everybody to 'do' it.

Two further gifts for you today: a photograph from today's walk - starry leaves for the Advent calendar (when I was a child, you didn't get chocolate - the picture behind the calendar door was the exciting thing in itself. Here's to re-instating that spirit! Not, you understand, that I have anything against chocolate.....).

Starry leaves for the 1st December

 and a quick Santa's hat - for the 2014 Advent challenge from Faye Brown Designs:

Milestones in self-belief

Milestone 1
Late 2013, on a quick trip to London, I finally visit Tate. A great admirer of David Hockney, particularly his Yorkshire paintings, I've only seen his earlier works in books and not been entirely convinced by them. 'A Bigger Splash' seems somewhat 'flat' on the page but up close, personal and 'live', I see the layering and detail of the brushstrokes and understand the whole piece in a deeper way.

The milestone moment really comes when I see 'Mr & Mrs Clark and Percy'. Not that interesting on the pages of a book (who cares about these people?), the reality is a large canvas containing a huge variety of texture and stroke and, most significantly for me, what could have been regarded as an error. I realise I've always thought true artists didn't make these. That this was what marked them out as true artists, truly gifted. Something to which I could never hope to aspire. But there, where the woman's hand meets her hip, you can tell Hockney changed his mind about the way it was shaped or proportioned. You can tell he has filled in his 'mistake' in colours that don't quite match. And yet he is (for me) the God 'Hockney'. His work hangs in Tate. And if he can change his mind about something and still allow his development, process and improvements to be visible, then what am I afraid of?

Milestone 2
The same visit to London. Quick breakfast at Giraffe with my sister and brother-in-law before returning home. My brother-in-law takes issue with my mealy-mouthed timidity in declaring my artist status.'Of course you're an artist,' he says, 'you do it, you create, you don't just talk about doing it.' And my sister added 'What makes someone an artist, I think, is when they constantly explore and try to develop and improve and question. And you do all that.'

Milestone 3
Though I still refer to myself as a librarian, I also talk about being 'in transition', being more open about having taken redundancy and accepted a part time role to allow myself to explore my potential. I admit to being self taught for two years before allowing myself to commit to (paying for) an industry based course. My self-concept is changing. I talk about my 'design colleagues'. I refer to 'my work' (meaning my design work, my style, what I'm hoping to achieve - not my paid employment as a librarian).

Milestone 4
Needing more more pointed feedback and sensing a trust in the opinions of my design colleague, Whitney-Anne Baker  (from the course) I bravely pick up the phone. Going through my work she points out to me that designs I think are terrible or hideous are not in fact so. They just are not my own personal taste. They are useable and probably saleable - it's just that I am not yet satisfied by them (see my sister's comments in Milestone 2).

Milestone 5
The response from fellow guests and the owners at La Grande Maison.

Conclusions? I think my personal dissatisfactions with my work can serve to indicate the paths I should be following next. I don't think I want to be a designer of stationery for example (though I love a beautifully covered notebook or sketchbook).

I am tempted by the idea of wallpaper having learnt to do mock ups and I think I will explore this avenue. And fabric, of course,  has long been a temptation. The need inside me to perfect the most beautiful patterns and designs for my scarves is so strong, though, I start to feel I don't want to be a designer of high street patterns. My style (still developing, a lifelong journey) is not, I think, a quick flash in the pan - this season - next season - have it now, reject it next week thing. I want my work to stand the test of longer time than that. It is seeping through me that I want to create a brand. I have not launched my scarves after all this autumn - for several reasons, a main one being that my personal sewing & finishing skills have proved inadequate to the task. Which requires re-costing and finding people who can do it and do it properly.

Which is fine, actually. Despite the title of this blog (I'm beginning to feel it's a bit misnamed), I realise it is a designer that I most want to be - not a maker. And my passion for perfecting the scarf designs is so strong that honestly, if the manufacturing quality and the total package and experience of buying receiving, owning and wearing them is not going to match up to the design quality, there is little point. I want people to love these scarves.

I'd feel the same about the wallpaper.... Can you have a brand that mixes wallpaper with silk scarves? (Insert winking smiley here!)

And talking wallpaper and to counteract the lack of visual stimulus in this post please,  please pay a visit to Ellie Cashman Design. I've never met Ellie; I'm not paid to promote her. I've followed her blog (see link to the right) and been inspired by her journey for several years now and I am a total fan. I'd love to interview her for this blog one day.

Enjoy...

Catherine

Pattern Design Heaven - as promised...

In truth, I expect there is a little bit of pattern design heaven everywhere. Even in the desert the light changes and the sands shift bringing new inspiration daily. But after two solid weeks of concentrated work refining my proofs ready to be printed, I was somewhat 'patterned out'. To have a complete change of environment was just what was needed.

First Rouen which, though I've only visited twice for overnight stops, is fast becoming one of my favourite places. A city of fretwork cathedrals, Joan of Arc, cobbled streets, and medieval buildings.

There is an abundance of wrought ironwork in France, from the elegantly simple to the very ornate (see a selection here). I confess to a bit of a thing for wrought iron. I think it stems from Sundays spent looking at the 'angels and leaves' altar rail in the Methodist Church of my childhood. Also maybe the toddler hours spent tracing the bannisters at home (followed by more, older, hours spent dusting them).

Although the patterns I create are not all 'traditional' in style, I do love looking at old patterns. One of my favourite resources is the book 'Pattern Design' by Lewis F. Day which I treasure for its old diagrams and inspiration, although rather less for its archaic (1880's) language.

Pattern design heaven really kicked in when we reached our home for the week. Billie & Ben, the owners of La Grande Maison, allowed me to photograph the old original wallpapers they found when they bought the house, some of which they have managed to restore and keep.

They also showed us the, as yet undecorated, old ballroom, a quite atmospheric and lovely room. If you look carefully behind the mirror you can still make out the words written by German soldiers stationed there during WW2.....

Nearby, Chateau Villandry provided another opportunity to gourmandise on period patterns:

This holiday was also heaven for the company we kept. Twice a week Billie & Ben cook meals served in the old wine press room - you don't have to go if you don't want to and if, like me, you can't eat what they are serving that night, they are very happy for you to take your own plate round. We met tree surgeons, industrial chemists, stone carvers, (all English), a teacher and an illustrator of children's books (both French). And we met Billie & Ben, actually both professional musicians.  Best of all, for me, was that I happened to have taken some of my printed designs with me. I showed them to a sixteen year old guest studying GCSE Textiles and told her about the Art & Business of Surface Pattern Design course. And then other people showed interest in seeing them. The feedback was amazing.....I am an artist!


So, if you're feeling jaded and inspiration-less, leave the house behind and travel. Even if, for you, it can only be a walk around the block - go with eyes & mind open to what's hiding there. I promise you will either see something new or see the old in a new way.

Love

Catherine

My silk proofing is here!! Sneak preview!

Having clicked 'send' for the file below to go the my chosen silk printers.......

......I got back from France to a note from the Post Office telling me to pick up a parcel. Da da daaaaaah!

Last year was the year that got away from me. I'd intended to have products to sell for the Autumn lead up to Christmas and didn't make it due to those pesky personal circumstances. I started the New Year with renewed good intentions, making use of the 'Do What You Love' New Year's Revolution kit to focus my thinking. Not a new way of thinking for me as I've worked on & developed projects in various fields over the years, but it's always useful to get a timely nudge and reminder via a well loved blog.

So, back in January I decided I wanted to

• be more balanced & focussed, less stressy & impatient; 
• become more confident in my artwork and in my ability eventually to make some income from it;
• to have created a product with which to test my quality and appeal 

The kit suggested we write down things we believed were true about ourselves but which were holding us back from our goals and then, in the adjacent column, write the things we believed could become true for us in 2014 (ie the opposite of the first column). Mine looked something like this: 

Holding me back		Could become true in 2014
I can’t settle on what my style is / should be / could be		Through the ‘Make it in Design course’, I will find my style
I can’t decide what patterns etc suit what products best		Through the course and through practice / prototypes, I will learn what patterns suit which products
I find it difficult to believe in my abilities as an artist		Through the course and through practice, my abilities and therefore my confidence will grow
I find it difficult to believe the world has space for / needs / desires my art / product		Thorough market research will allow me to discover my niche market
My lack of self-belief and my proneness to a guilty sense that I am not financially justified in attempting this path, diffuses my focus.  This is partly rooted in the sense that, as a self-taught artist, people won’t take me seriously.		By committing to the course I will overcome that sense that people won’t take me seriously. I will give myself the necessary breathing space and time to develop, experiment, learn and ultimately discover whether or not I can make it work.
Since I believe I am only on this earth this one time, I HAVE to commit to trying this thoroughly or I will end up on my death bed, still asking ‘What if?’ and ‘If only I had…..’.   Melodramatic but, oh so true!

How am I doing now, eight months in?

• Definitely getting more of a sense of my style and of what suits what product (more on this in a future post); 
• I am much further down the road of self belief and belief in my artistic abilities (again further blog posts planned, identifying critical milestones on that road). This has lead to a more relaxed attitude to a time scale for achieving sales of my work (although I'm obviously gearing up for the autumn test marketing phase);
• I am writing business plans and doing market research for the scarves I plan. Working consistently with that distinct single product in mind has offered a very useful exercise in developing my style without getting bogged down in achieving a properly repeating pattern (a skill we cover in more detail in the next module);
• Notwithstanding any scarf business I develop I am open minded about where my patterns will take me next. The next module covers designing for wallpaper, for example. 
• I'm definitely more balanced and focused, less stressy & impatient. Frankly, giving myself permission to go for it has taken a lot of pressure off and I've always been better when I have a clear goal in mind.

Finally, as I said at the beginning, my proofs are back. Time to wake my 21 year old son, have a 'discussion' about 'what time do you call this, to wake me up, Mum, you've deprived me of my last half an hour of sleep!' (luckily, our spats are always over quickly), so that he could take on a new role as trainee fashion photographer in the back garden. Lighting conditions were not perfect as the sun had started to shine piercingly around the corner of the house next door - but still, what do you think? (Oh and many thanks to the unknown surface pattern designer who designed the pattern for my frock - which I love & if any one knows who they are, I'd love to credit them?)

And after that little fun episode I'm off to analyse them in more detail before making final decisions about which ones to use initially. I know some adjustments are already needed - for example where some colours aren't coming through strongly enough compared to others; where perhaps I'm not sure I've got the scale right; where maybe a particular motif may not be right for a scarf after all. Difficult difficult decisions that will take some time. I'll be reaching out to my local friends to collate their opinions too. I'm already in a quandary over one square which my husband and I are convinced is not right colour-wise but which my mum and dad think is one that works very well - a difference in generational taste perhaps, and something to think about when marketing? And I'm going to make a note of the hex numbers of various colours so that next time I want something printed I'll have more of an idea of how they'll work out. 

Proofing hasn't been a cheap exercise (paid for through some long held back birthday money - thanks to my in-laws) but I do think it's been a vital part of my learning & development curve, and a very vital part of ensuring the quality of my final product. I love this work and this process so much that I am become hugely particular about all the details. There is no way I'm putting these scarves up for sale until I am convinced they are completely ready...... completely perfect.

All my love

Catherine


PS In my next post I'll tell you all about my holiday which - quite by accident, we managed to book in pattern designer heaven.

Developments & friends

I blog when I feel I've got something to say or when my head needs clearing. I haven't felt that need for a while and then - well, it got so that I almost didn't dare. My last post seemed to touch such a chord in people I became like a successful first time novelist who just knows she's going to fail with her second book.

And finally, all of a sudden today, writing this became the one thing I needed to do.

Partly deliberately (trying to concentrate on developing style & other things, also a patch of less than brilliant health) I've kept off the FB page of the Art & Business of Surface Pattern Design course. I have however found it a real boon to keep in touch with Charlotte Brown of LottiBDesigns once a week-ish by email. I contacted her originally via her website after I saw her Spoonflower page as I couldn't believe that she even needed to be on the course. I've since been privileged to see some of her new work - she's very good and intends to do all four modules of the course. I think she'll be a real success. In the meantime she's also developed a RedBubble shop.

For those not in the know, Spoonflower is an American company who will digitally print your designs on fabric, wallpaper, gift wrap and decals. They run a weekly design competition too which is very popular.

I have a Spoonflower shop too. Impressed with my first attempts at designing I was desperate to have something printed up. For me, fabric is always the inspiration so to discover a service like Spoonflower was amazing.

I discovered the hard way that this side of the Atlantic we get charged customs duties on what we buy from there.  My sister commissioned me to make Christmas presents for her to give people. I costed it all out and it was all fine with her. Received the fabric, made the items, sent them off (didn't have the facilities to photograph them). And then received the customs bill. Coming as it did  at a time when our personal circumstances changed, it was a real blow.

But when you open that first package - oh - it's like having that new baby in front of you! You can't stop looking at them, open mouthed with amazement: 'I did that!!!!!'.

I'm hoping to have another moment like that soon. I'm developing my style by designing what I hope will be a collection of silk scarves. I've been researching UK based digital printers for a while now, searching the web, sharing what I find on the FB page and picking up tips from my colleagues on there, getting samples, doing costings, upgrading my blog.  A little nervous but also very very excited! I haven't shared my designs on the FB page yet but am running them past one particular colleague from there, Whitney-anne Baker. Whitney-anne works in a variety of media: photographic, digital and paint. The link is to her blog  - I particularly recommend the post of 12 January 2013 for all my creative friends. She also has an Etsy shop. This is one of my favourite pieces of her work - it reminds me of those days when strong unexpected sunlight pierces heavy leaden skies and gives spirits a sudden lift.

Anyway - nice talking to you - back to work now!

Love

Catherine

Parenthood & Progress

(You'll notice a new style to my blog. I'll talk about that - & why - another time.)

I thought I wouldn't be posting again until just before Module Two of 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design' course started in July. That has now been postponed until October as tutor Rachael Taylor-Davies is due to give birth to her first child in August. Having been there & done that bit of my life - believe me, Rachael, you will need the time!

Parenthood affects us in many many ways. I defy any first time parent to predict how with any accuracy. No matter that others describe and try to tell us in advance - the sheer difference between before and after is immense.

For the first few months your conversation is likely to contain little else (sometimes to the point of tedium for others - a bit like discovering patterning in middle age, really, now I come to think about it...  :-) )

Almost every waking thought has, perforce, to consider your child's needs & welfare in relation to your plans. BTB (before the birth) you think - "oh, well, yes, of course!", whereas the reality can be difficult to adjust to mentally, physically & emotionally. Everything takes so much time - nappies, feeding, washing their clothes, nappies, feeding, washing their clothes, nappies, feedin.......

I remember even with my second child, saying to my sister (whose children are a few years older than mine), - "I just want to know when I get my life back?" She laughed - "that doesn't happen for years, Cath!"

But would I be without them? Unequivocally no! With them, you experience such heights of emotion & love that I genuinely believe you cannot gain from other sources (not to say you can't experience great highs from other things - but the nature of it is different).

My boys are stunning in the sense that they genuinely sometimes stun me. When bathing my then two year old youngest, chanting some kind of counting rhyme, as you do, I idly asked "if you had three ducks and I took two of them away, how many would you have?" And he answered correctly. So I asked another and another. And he kept getting it right. So I called my husband. And our boy answered correctly for him too. Truly a breath taking moment.

And those moments when you can't keep a straight face for them. On holiday in the tent, trying to be firm about going to bed, he looked up at me and answered, stern faced, hand on hips, "Mummy, I am ver ver coss wid yooo!"

This same child is now 16 and I have to look up to him (I'm 5'2", he's 6'). It's very odd when that happens with them. My eldest (6'1") looked down, reached out & hugged me, laughing "it's really funny having such a little Mummy!"

Thanks, love! But truly, I mean it, thanks - because you are my wonderful child and I will always love you.

Our capacity to fulfil our dreams and whatever it is that we feel we were put on this earth to do (other than procreate and perpetuate the species) is affected by our children's existence when they are young (hence my complaint to my sister). After my last post some people thought I was being hard on myself; not at all - I just want to be the best that I can be, and as I replied - "that doesn't come without a little pushing". But also I think, without a little selfishness and determination in the way you allocate your time. And I personally don't think I would have done this well when my boys were younger. I would have felt constantly conflicted between their needs and the needs of my art. So I put them first then.

And now? Last week was half term and I am on a term time only contract. My son, being 16. didn't need my constant input (would have outright rejected it in no uncertain terms) and got on with his own projects. We met up from time to time, comparing notes, making each other a drink here and there. Twice in the week he made the dinner with very little direction from me. Occasionally he burst in to update me on something exciting and yes, I had to tear my concentration away from what I was doing. Once, when I'd come to a natural pause with my work, I went to his room, curled up on his bed and we chatted for an hour or so about his stuff. It was great!

And in between all that, with greater time available, I made steady progress:

Parenthood gets better and better. And less intensive.

Two more small things I have to add on the subject of parenthood and art:

• although no-one encouraged me in art at school as such, my Dad always did. He seemed to see an artistic ability in me that he didn't necessarily see in my three sisters. On holidays he would invite me and not the others, to go sketching with him. I owe him & thank him for that and much subsequent encouragement.
• when my eldest was six months old, I wept on my health visitor that I was "so lonely and so boooooored".  She sent me to the doctor who said I was 'in a rut' and that I should find a little time for myself. So I began painting every Wednesday evening. I won't claim that has continued unabated ever since: life and its rhythms change too frequently for that. At times my art has been only that thing you do on holiday. 

But it was the beginning. And while I am grateful I now have the time to develop myself without the conflict and pressures of sleepless nights and teething babies or sick babies who can't tell you what's wrong and all that goes with that, there is at least one thing I am envious of with my younger ABSPD colleagues.

You have discovered your passion early. The rest of your life, in which you can develop it, is way longer than the rest of mine.

Make the most of it - make some time for yourself every day.

Much love

Catherine