Work is coming along on my ‘Can yr Oerwynt’ project (funded by the Arts Council of Wales) based on the history of Rosebush, my neighbouring village. I am working on ceramic decals and experimenting with firing imagery onto old plates in preparation for an installation I am planning as part of the project.
I had a fantastic visit to Martin Bellwood‘s foundry in Clunderwen to discuss getting Martin to make a “plinth” for my glass work for the Rosebush project. It was brilliant to begin to put glass together with metal and other materials in his workshop and to see the possibilities for combining media and collaborating with another artist. I am so lucky to have Martin just around the corner – people travel a long way to work with him. He certainly knows his materials and our discussion opened up all kinds of possibilities which I hadn’t really considered. I am thinking of using industrial iron as the basis of the plinth, to reflect the industrial nature of much of the history of the Rosebush Quarry and railway.
This weekend I am teaching a painting course near Fishguard at Indigo Brown. I hire Indigo Brown a couple of times a year as a base for my courses, Maggie and Andrew are the perfect hosts, they seem to think of everything, and we are very well fed by Andrew, who is great cook. I am running an autumn course here (October 4th – 7th) and there are still some places left if anyone is interested!
The students are all getting stuck in and are engaging with the theme of breaking out of their habitual ways of painting and seeing. Newgale beach was wonderful this morning at low tide with lots of interesting detail, shifting light and miles of wet sand to keep us happy. We are working in the studio with wax and sand and other textural materials and concentrating on mark making and exploring new ways of working.
- Sam pondering in the studio.
Linda Norris Studio Blog 