Studio update Jan 23 I
In Between Places
January is one of my favourite months - I can put all the mistakes and crap from the previous year and start afresh and finally FINALLY achieve all those things I was convinced I was going to do last January. Look, unsurprisingly, it kind of peters out right about 3 weeks in, but generally a couple of things do stick.
So right now I’m in the in-between-place where the old (poor) habits feel comfortable and cosy and the new ones feel like uncomfortable new shoes.
One of my ideas this year is to be more intentional about where and how I’m spending my time - the last few years have been an absolutely delightful barrage and cacophony of wonderful art stuff - but there’s only so much content you can consume before you go nuts. It’s now feeling closer to a bombardment. So just today I removed myself from 84 facebook groups (on topics from art to dog training) - what a palette cleanser!
Another intention is - and this might sound counterintuitive - but it’s to get out of the studio. I spend waaay too much time by myself in there - reworking and reworking and reworking - and not necessarily making any progress. So instead of spending every evening sponging misery dust all over the panels, I’m trying out an hour of intentional (there’s that word again) painting in the morning before work. I tried it out today and finished four paintings that have been hanging around the studio for weeks. FOUR!
Workwise I’m busy working on pieces for the West Cork Creates Easter show in Unionhall which I’m giddy about because there’s a whole host of West Cork artists I’m looking forward to meeting. And just painting a lot. I want to make so much work this year I can’t fit it in the house and end up building an extension to store it. I’ve been really into shapes and pattern the past few weeks, think neon yellow diamonds against coral rectangles. Considering I was painting in mainly muck brown all of December I think it’s a good sign the winter blues are passing. I’ll do some snaps of the shapes in my next post to share the good vibes.
If you have any intentions that are feeling like uncomfortable new shoes I’d love to hear from you in the comments. If you want to keep in touch check out my substack - Aoife’s Substack - or join my mailing list xx
Image below is currently showing at Beframed Gallery in Douglas until 30 January 23.
