So I got emailed by Peter, director of Ps2 Belfast, about a short drawing show starting 4 March. They asked if I wanted to contribute. He was particularly interested in the brown paper scroll works I’d shown mainly here on the blog, as opposed to on insta. I had avoided putting this work directly on insta as it was unfinished and also for the upcoming group show Eggs and Butter, which has been postponed for the moment until glór can open.

I am going to make a new brown paper scroll piece for the Line of Thought show. After thinking about it I am going to base it on now- my life now, and what I am seeing around me right now. I am particularly influenced by the distorted faces of my kids -they keep taking photos of themselves on the ipad and as my phone is linked to the ipad I am constantly confronted by strange surreal collections of images they have taken. I tried drawing some of these today- see below:

The pen and ink drawing at the top of the page is one I did last night- thinking about again what is around me. The hedgegrows have all been fairly brutally shorn around here and I am interested in the shapes and forms revealed within.

I am going to try combining the hedge grow forms with the distorted faces and some details of drawings and writings from my kids. Like an homage to this particular time, homeschooling, being constantly together all the time at home, and what that’s like, for me, (stressful) and for them (also stressful). Hedge grows are what I see around me when I get out for a walk. The Kids represent my life inside the house. But I feel like the distorted faces are a glimpse into how they view the world, which is interesting to me. Spatially the faces will look better if not all positioned fully on the scroll. Also important is the visual sequence, as the scroll serves as a narrative. See my starting ideas below. Looking at this I can already see how impactful positioning of the forms will be. this example would work so much better if not all the faces were within the paper:

paper is 4ft high

The work has to be sent by this Friday realistically if it is to get to Belfast for Monday 1 March.