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

The Ibis

Now I reach the end of my third year work, asides from the comic book strip I've just submitted today and my Lochrin Basin outdoor wall piece which will be installed May/early June. I think I'm all talked out so here are my Ibis street paintings in egg tempera. These were inspired by the Ibis birds that hang around the street where my parents live back in Perth. 

K Fisher (2014) I See You (Egg tempera on canvas)

K Fisher (2014) You got my back? (Egg tempera on canvas)

A Squirrel on London Road

One morning as I was walking to work, a squirrel was scampering about trying to find a conker in the London Road Gardens. Well I think it was a conker. Having grown up in Australia makes identifying flora and fauna in Scotland a bit difficult for me. I am trying, but these things take time. Anyway, needless to say the squirrel was my muse for the next couple of months or so. Not as easy to paint as a bird. I struggled with how to paint the fur and to give it a 3D edge. Either Noel Paton's technical ability, as in the furry animal skin in the painting of his wife with their son on her lap, or Allan Ramsay's ability to capture the essence of something in a few strokes, as in the painting of the ermine trimmed robes of King George III and Queen Charlotte, would have sufficed. Alas, time and skill seemed to have eluded me. Well, fur success or not, here is my squirrel in conversation.

K Fisher (2014) No More Missus Nice Girl [Oil on Canvas]

K Fisher (2014) I am Listening [Oil on Canvas]

K Fisher (2014) Here I am [Oil on Canvas]

Rest on the Flight to Egypt

I volunteered as a steward at the Shadows of the Divine exhibition in 2011, in Martin Hall, New College. The exhibition initiated a 3 year project that focused on Peacebuilding Through Media Arts. Due to the exhibition I got to know about the Methodist Modern Art Collection of which I am now a Friend (http://www.methodist.org.uk/static/artcollection/index.htm).This copy of a painting by Nicholas Mynheer was in a recent newsletter they sent me. Something about it spoke to me. Probably the uncertainty about my future right now - especially over the next few months. I like that Joseph and Mary look to be enjoying the chance to play with little Jesus while the donkey gets a chance to recover under the shade. All around is desert, but they are sheltered in an oasis for the moment. And Jesus is with them. And that is what I am trying to focus on this Easter week. 

The roof

So I was a little bit obsessed with the roof for a while. I gather I was inspired by Rapunzel in her tower and my studio being in "the tower" I figured we had something in common. Alas, no horse-riding Prince to ask me to let down my golden hair - which is probably just as well considering it's brown and I don't think my neck muscles are strong enough to hold up a Prince - but you get the gist. I do like the old school chimneys in Edinburgh, coupled with the antennae and satellite dishes. It's a nice kind of juxtaposition.You don't get that kind of thing in Australia - not that I've seen anyway. I had this idea of using carbon paper to duplicate printing techniques. I masking taped the carbon paper on one side of the card and drew with pen on the other. Hey presto - two images for the time of one! It didn't work so well and time was a bit short but that's okay. I think I also discovered about myself during this time that I don't actually want to make "artist" books, I just want to make the regular day to day ones. Fortunately for me, one of the technicians at College recently showed me how to perfect bind a book with perfect binding glue, so this may be the way forward as I don't think my stitching is that great either! :) I don't have a good photo of the book I made using perfect binding - but let's just say it was so good that someone said they didn't think I'd made it! But here is my carbon paper roof book for your perusal. PS I should say that today is my 6 year anniversary in Edinburgh. Someone needs to know so I think it should be you! :D

K Fisher (2013) Roof book (Card, carbon paper & pen)

K Fisher (2013) Roof book (Card, carbon paper & pen)

K Fisher (2013) Roof book (Card, carbon paper & pen)

Mhairi the foil sculptor

Last summer I worked at the National Gallery at the Mound, which was a lot of fun. My favourite room was A1, which I like to title Heaven - with all the fat little baby Jesus' and the weird Medieval works. There is a work I like in particular, when you walk through the door on your left. A painting of all these Saints getting killed in different ways - by dragons, drowning, demons - in this one big kaleidoscope image which is very cool if you ever get the chance to see it. One of the girls at the Mound, Mhairi, is brilliant and I think has had brilliant fun in making little creations out of foil. There has been the foil moustache, the foil horses and their riders and the foil men in boats, the latter of which featured at the Peter Doig exhibition. Surreptitiously of course. Nicely placed right near the comments book. I have to say that those little men in boats got a lot of photos from visitors.

Anyway, on leaving Mhairi made for me my own little foil creation - a Kangaroo! I found it a bit hard to place my little Kangaroo in a position that shows her off. For some reason the door handle seemed to work best. I've also put a couple of photos of the Otters I made out of Fimo for a Model project we had last year. You know, they're not exactly smooth, but trying to figure out how to make these just about busted my head. 

Mhairi (2013). Foil Kangaroo

K Fisher (2013). Bubby Otter [Fimo]

K Fisher (2013) Otters

On the second day

And on the second day, the pencil drawings and the first oil painting on a true gesso panel were created....

K Fisher (2013), Low on Batteries [Pencil on Card]

K Fisher (2013), The Two of Us [Pencil on Card]

K Fisher (2013), Chirping Bird [Pencil on Card]

K Fisher (2013), Lonely in Here [Pencil on Card]

K Fisher (2013), Put out with the trash? [Oil on true gesso panel]