A little done...a lot more to do

I am super grateful for all the amazing friends I have. A couple of weeks ago, one of my friend's got free tickets to the Charles Avery talk at Ingleby Gallery. 

Charles Avery - Ingleby Gallery Postcard (Exhibition 29 Jul - 30 October 2015)

Both of us love Avery's work and to have the opportunity to hear him talk about it was fantastic. Obviously a very intelligent and talented artist. To top it off, we then meandered to Waverley Train Station to see his public artwork. Here is an article about the work that my sister happened to send to me a few days ago http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/what-s-on/alien-tree-for-waverley-during-edinburgh-art-festival-1-3843811

Ashamedly, I confess that I interpreted his 'alien tree' as a massive shower, due to the 'strange fruit' appearing like big rotating shower heads and what I took for streams of coloured water. My friend immediately understood it was an 'alien tree' and this week we got to talking whether the Tree of Gondor from Lord of the Rings or the tree in Avatar may have wound its way into the artist's subconscious. 

I also joyfully confess, that while it was a bit naughty of us, we went to another excellent exhibition in Trinity Apse which while it said 'no public access' there were lots of people milling around and free cake, so we thought it was okay to go in. Banana cake superb!

There is just less than 3 weeks to go until my Straffe Hendrik competition painting needs to be submitted. I have finally done the underpainting and am quite worried about painting the text and whether the branding is obvious enough. To be that precise and fine, is going to be a true challenge for me. I can't give you the design yet as that would be telling, but here is a little excerpt of a research photo...who/what could it be of..? 

K Fisher (2015) Straffe Hendrik Research Photo

In the studio at last!

At last! This is my official first day in the studio. I feel like it's the first day of school with knowing hardly anyone and everything being shiny new and clean. I don't think that will last long and to be honest I'd like to get some things on the walls. Today I have started to work on my idea for the Straffe Artists Competition 2015. I couldn't source the beer in Edinburgh so I have ordered my Straffe Hendrik Wild, Tripel and Heritage Oak Aged Quadrupel online. Ah, the Quadrupel is 11% so I think I might have to get someone to test share it with me!

Other news of the week is that last Friday evening the sun was shining and I had finished work early so I went for a late afternoon stroll. And this is what I found...

I am very excited that good quality street art has started appearing in my neighbourhood - so a massive thank you to the artist for making this dingy part of the road much more lively. I am hoping more of these beauties will pop up.

Okay, well best go back to the beer ideas...

Birdies

I have been taking a lot of photos of little birds lately. Of Robins, Grey Wagtails, Blue Tits and a few others I have yet to identify. I am always amazed that such little fragile beautiful creatures can be born/hatched, learn to fly, survive and flourish. The Robin I have seen a lot on one of my many walks probably will not be alive next year and it will be another Robin I see. The surprise and joy I felt at seeing a little Blue Tit build it's nest in a car park light pole. How is it even able to put it together in this small space? Watching a grey wagtail bob up and down on the loch's shore. What a miracle that it can even concentrate on finding something to eat with all that tail movement going on. I think fragility is going to be a focus in my art this year. I got an email about my fees the other day and to be honest, even though I knew it was coming, I'm really thinking at this stage I can't afford to go back to uni and I am not sure that I'm ready to get a studio yet. On a happy note, here are a few photos of the little birds I've seen.

K Fisher (2015) Robin St Margaret's Loch

K Fisher (2015) Grey Wagtail St Margaret's Loch

K Fisher (2015) Blue Tit Lochside Avenue

Jesus Loves Me Fine

Hello! I have been meaning to post something for months and months, but with working in order to try to save funds to go back to uni and not being so well the past couple of months, this is probably the first time that motivation to post has returned. I have been drawing again the past few weeks. In particular, a robin has caught my fancy. Most times when I take a seat near the place the robin hangs out, the little bird usually flitters down from somewhere, perches on the same rock and blinks at me in recognition. Well, I like to think we have a mutual appreciation/fascination with each other. 

A number of months ago I went to an exhibition of Tom Wilson's work at the Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh. I really enjoyed his works which I think were witty and clever, together with being skillful and interesting in execution. I bought a small publication of his works at the gallery and the one below Jesus Loves Me Just Fine talked to me.  I had been thinking about doozers, as per my last post, and also about the gospel of John where Jesus says that he did not come to condemn the world but to save the world (be made safe and sound through him). That I'd been feeling judged for quite a while when actually Jesus gets it that I'm human and fall in puddles sometimes and loves me anyway.

So I hope it's okay I post Tom Wilson's work, because I think it's fabulous.

Tom Wilson (2006) Jesus Loves Me Just Fine (28 x 66 cm)

Other than that, I've been meaning to post this cartoon strip I did nearly a year ago at uni as part of a collaboration between Illustration and Painting Students at Edinburgh College of Art, UK and Students at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA, where we swapped narratives and illustrated the one received. The book Picture Stories (Spring 2014) was the end result, which is available on Lulu.com

K Fisher (2014) Battering Ram & Rotten Fin 23.62 x 29.43 cm

Doozers

I have a bit of a fascination with construction workers. Not in the way you would think! I was trying to explain this to a friend the other day. The only way I could put it was that there is something about their hard hats and high vis jackets that when drawn or painted on a small scale is quite appealing. I explained to my friend that this fascination probably stems from my love of Fraggle Rock as a little girl of 8 where the Doozers were the cutest delectable things ever. I recently found this youtube video which I think if you watch you will get what I'm talking about :) 

This probably explains why I liked taking photos of my work in West Tollcross which is now officially finished and publicised! Here is the link to an Edinburgh College of Art article on my piece and those of my two fellow students, Matt Fletcher and Sky Su. 
http://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/eca-home/news-events/three-eca-students-commissioned-for-public-art-pieces

I have also put the official photo of the finished piece below, together with some shots of the tilers while they were working.

Image courtesy of Maverick Photo Agency

K Fisher (2014) Saving one another 

K Fisher (2014) Saving one another 

K Fisher (2014) Saving one another 

And if you are still reading, I have some artist books in an the artist writing room, at eca, running from 15-24 August. Poster below - come along! 

The Western Isles

Ahoy mateys! I have recently been away to The Outer Hebrides (also known as the Western Isles) for a week's holiday and am back again. I have also just finished the Chronicles of Narnia where the excellent story of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader frequently talks about how the fresh sea air gives you a wonderful appetite. Quoting this to my friends on the trip gave me a guilt-free excuse to eat quite a bit and indulge in a nightly gin and tonic and glass of wine. One of the girl's on the trip made a delicious Thyme and Nectarine gin and tonic. Top notch! Oh and quite often also in Narnia, the Pevensies keep saying, "He's a brick!" meaning a right good old chap. You will have to excuse me, I've been quoting Narnia non-stop since my friend gave it to me for my birthday in June. Reading it as an adult has been somewhat of a revelation to me and I am beginning to think about things in a new way.

As far as art is going, I did a few sketches in Eriskay on the beach and the thatched cottage in Benbecula we stayed at. Given I have got a contract for the new few months with a lot of bus commuting, I am endeavouring to draw bus interiors on the way to work with a view to making them more fantastical. 45 minutes on the bus in the morning isn't a lot of time and getting the same seat can be a bit tricky, but at least I turn up to work with a bit of spark. Here are the few sketches I did at the Isles. I am not really sure how this year is going to progress in terms of art as I'm also aiming to grow my accountancy business at the same time (note with a focus on creatives!). I need a studio and I also need to somehow find a way to get over to Australia this time next year for a few weeks. I know - take it one day at a time.

K Fisher (2014) Benbecula thatched cottage

K Fisher (2014) Eriskay

K Fisher (2014) Eriskay colour beach

Lochrin Basin - nearly there

Occasionally, there are some pretty rubbish days where my world falls apart and nothing makes sense. The past couple of days have been like that - I found out a funding application to pay for my tuition fees for my honours year was unsuccessful and I wondered why I had even bothered to start studying art in the first place. But today was so, can I emphasise "so", so much better. Today, a proposal that I had put forward and had been accepted for a wall piece on new student accommodation in Lochrin Basin in Tollcross finally began to come to fruition. The piece, as well as being a pun on words, is very much a nod to the men and women who once worked and lived on the canal boats and helped each other to survive. It's a bit of a romantic notion, but I think they helped save each other. It's also a nod to those students who will be living in the student accommodation, starting or continuing their own romantic notions of relationships and career. 

I am not going to say much more, except that it was a lot of fun going to the construction site today and watching the tiler, Gareth, and Lance, who was assisting him, line up and glue the tiles to the wall. They made it look easy business, but from the little experience I had last semester in making my own tile model out of mosaics, I can assure you it's not. Well, not for me anyway. Here is a bit of footage from the tiling today and a couple of photos of the design proposals I put forth all those months ago. And yes, having the design on tiles was my idea.

K Fisher (2013) Lochrin Basin Proposal 1

K Fisher (2013) Lochrin Basin Proposal 2