Sepia Siren: Process/Progress

I'm trying not to panic. I have quite a few exhibitions coming up plus I am working towards a big solo show which is also part of my Masters degree examination. I'm feeling like things are starting to happen, momentum has been building and I'm grabbing the opportunities as they come. I am confident I can make work. Making in the studio is never a problem in the sense that even when things I try aren't working out, I know its all part of the process. I've even come to (almost) liking that frustration and tension that comes when you have an idea in your head but it just doesn't quite replicate in the materials. I work in short frequent intense bursts. I am trying not to panic at the moment because I get into the studio and want to do five things at once.

There's a huge amount of work in progress. At that crucial stage where I've worked out how I'm going to resolve things but its just about spending the necessary time working towards completing a piece. I'm at the stage where I will make significant headway with one piece and what I've learned working on that will help with resolving another piece of work. What I have been finding hard is drawing the line between different projects. Work for the solo show versus work for the group show versus work for the collaborative show. I'm conscious that my work is starting to take on a very definite 'signature' of sorts. Even though I work across a few different mediums there is a distinctive set of recurring motifs, themes and modes of making. Sometimes though doubt creeps in and I feel paralysed by the thought of either starting something that I'm not confident about or wrecking a piece by doing further work on it. I usually get myself out of a rut very quickly by going off to flip through some art, design or interiors magazines, having a cuppa and a cookie or putting on a load of washing and seeing what I can do in the hour I have before I have to go and hang up the clean clothes.

I've given myself until the end of October to finalise work for the solo show next year, so I have a couple of more months of focussing on the process as well as making progress. In between I'm having my first show in Sydney at Cross Art Projects so look out for a post on this soon.