The Path of the 4 Ys

OK back a week now and two doses of depression already - I think that's a record -for me anyway; however I am sitting on the train having been saturated on he bike on the way up and I don't feel too bad. Brain is like a washing-machine with vague ideas churning around and the simile is particularly apt in that when you look at the window of said machine you get flashes of colour, fleeting images and lots of very insubstantial foam.

Two tutorial meetings tomorrow and we will see what transpires.

This was where I was at:

 

Two surfaces

Maybe the seaweed looks better than the skin...

 

In passing, does anyone recognise the name H.R. Giger?

 

 

This give you a clue? He did all he original designs for  Alien - In truth its not really necessary to invent fantasy creatures  -they are already here

 

Much later........ got seriously distracted after wring the above and with a brisk twirl we find ourselves already in the fourth week - to try to catch up I will work backwards from here telling what has been happening.

This is Monday and over the past weekend was back in Cloughjordan for another bookbinding course, this time in the company of three of last years sculpture students -Helen Carey, Aileen Nix and Sarah McDowell all of whom seemed to enjoy Mark's teaching very much; my main objective was to go again to the hot letterpress which I did with great enthusiasm (rather than skill).

 

In the studio things have started to happen at last after a very difficult start - I feel that I set a record in getting depressed within only two days of start but the fact that Fiona Quill had a project going in the second week certainly helped to get things moving. 'Symbols' was the name of the project and the object was to visit cemeteries and the produce a response to one's visit in the form of a print of some sort.

 The variety of the response was very interesting as all three years of PCP were involved. I was far more taken with the small Protestant graveyard in St John's Square than the very large but rather uniform Catholic cemetery of St Lawrence's. While walking around I ws faced with something which immediately chimed and I took some photos . Here is the original image:

 

 

 

 

Here are the pair of prints I made from the image:

 

 

The reason I was so taken with the original was that it said everything about life and death to me and I particularly liked the blankness of the old stone because after all that's it isn't it?

 

In the two prints the flower was reworked garishly in P/S on the right and much more true to the original in gouache on the left -maybe that says something about me too.

 

I'm going to post this because it has gone on too long and it is time to get online again.