Lets Create The beginning

Well, this is the beginning, the name, first, I couldn't think of a more appropriate one than this, it was the name I was going to give to a business that I was once going to start, it was going to be holding art workshops with children in schools, a bit like a residency with a difference, it never happened, although I do still occasionally hold art workshops.

Me, well, I've always done a bit of this and a bit of that, I did settle on something in my mid 30's it was always to be so, that I would go into the art world, allbeit late in life. Opportunity doesn't always knock early for some of us. I decided at some point that my art school training was not just about earning a living although I have done that along the way, just to prove that it can be done in the Creative Arts.

I figured that University is about education for life as well, when I say life, I mean about learning about yourself and about the way to live life to suit your nature and desires. What is the point of becoming intellectually broadened if it is only to fulfill the needs of some mind numbing employment.

Philosophically speaking, I wonder how many people have really considered what we trade in life for the money we are paid. We give up hours of our life, we get stressed, we miss our family, do we actually look back and feel fulfilled at the end of the day, or the end of our lives? No, I feel too many of us actually sell ourselves quite short when I think what we give and weigh it against what we receive. Perhaps if we tried to live more simply we might feel better about ourselves. Anyway, enough of the Philosophy. I only thought of all this because I am at present home educating my son of 13 years and I am wondering what his future career will hold for him. I used to teach in secondary schools and I do wonder what we expect from education today and whether it really prepares the next generation for the new world we are moving towards. New Technology and all that. It's all moving so fast I wonder if we can ever keep up. I read somewhere that what is wrong with education today is that it is always changing and this means that each generation of parents are excluded from understanding what their children are learning. I think this is so true. Anyway, I write all this because it is good to take stock of where I am at present in life. Yes, my biggest task at the moment is to try to give my son everything he needs to get an education about the world in which he will work. I hope he makes the right choices for him.

When, I have fewer commitments in that direction I hope I will be able to really get to grips with my own work. My biggest desire in life has been to create. To be an artist, yes I know I have a degree that says that's what I am, letters BA.(Hons) Textiles. That's only really true though if I continue to practice my art. One of my art teachers said, ' You are only as good as your last piece of work' That stuck with me. It made me feel that I should always be practicing, but that's what I desire anyway. It has given me the justification I need when others expect me to just turn my degree into a wage.

My creative studies have given me and my family much much more than just a wage. It's not always been apparent to everyone but as I said on my profile I am still growing and I do believe that is a merit in itself these days, especially when you have a child relatively late in life, I need to be able to keep up.

Well enough of the philosophy as I said way back.

Now to the important bit. I am on here because I would like to record how I feel about my work and I would like to invite others to tell me what they feel, I need to be less isolated as an artist. I need feed back from other practitioners. So that's why I am going to write this blog and share images of my work. The images will not be in any particular order so I will add work when I have pictures available. At present I only have one on my PC so it's a good a place to start as any other:

The image above is a picture of a present I made for an elderly cousin of mine. I know she liked it but that's not what its important to me here. When I said that I would like feedback, I meant just that, I don't want just to know whether someone likes my work or not, I need to have a real critique. It's hard to know how others really see your work and all I hope for is honesty, otherwise, how on earth can I make progress, I need to improve, to do that I need feedback, so please, not just on this, but on all future images, if you have any comments at all I would love to hear them. Good or bad, so long as they are polite, I will take constructive criticism and hopefully my work will grow with me. Thanks for reading my ramblings, do come back again soon. Tricks