Books

My two books from Blurb arrived last week in Glasgow and I have now managed to get them through to Dundee. Unfortunately the small black and white book that I ordered has a printing defect (somebody else's artwork has appeared halfway through it!) so I'll have to sort that out. The other book, however, is beautiful so I can't really complain too much.... just a little bit.

Front Cover (30cm x 30cm)

                       

Prints!

My seven 20x30" prints were ready for collection on Saturday and are now in my possession. The edges are pretty fragile so I have to avoid handling them until necessary (i.e. mounting and hanging them) so I'm afraid this is all I can show you of them:

Note Rod Stewart watching over them, such a helpful guy.

Studio Life

Art Girls, hard at work.

New Painting

With two weeks left until install, I've started on my fourth and final oil painting as a means of winding down before the panic and adding to the one small and two larger paintings that I have almost completed. Surprisingly for me, the painting has progressed fairly quickly over the past few days considering I am usually a very slow painter. Here's a peek of the painting's progression so far:

My aim is to have this painting finished by the end of next week, so watch this space...

Studio

My studio space is becoming as increasingly cluttered as my head right now, but here's a wee snapshot of my working space. The paintings currently have studio priority, as all photographic work is either away for printing or contained in books.

All  of my paintings are currently unfinished (but getting there...)

Progress

So it is officially 3 weeks until the install of our assessment work and Degree Show. My work is progressing but, as always, could progress a little faster.

•  My seven large images have been ordered and currently in production - I am hoping to pick these up by Thursday or Friday and store them safely until it is time to hang them.

•  I am currently working on creating two accordion-folded image books: 1 narrative book regarding the hypothetical myth of Hestia and one book of monochrome images of each Goddess. Because I am having to do the design and specifications of this myself (with a great deal of help from a certain Kerry Lindsell) I have already had one dodgy test printed and had to return to the drawing board, so to speak. This week it is my aim to have both books printed (possibly on the same sheet of A0 paper to save costs), fold them C-A-R-E-F-U-L-L-Y (a word that often goes missing from my vocabulary) and finish them with image front cover and plain back, possibly both matte laminated.

• My large image book has been ordered and on its way from the US! I have also got a very generous uncle helping with the proposed presentation of the book for the show - watch this space...
• My paintings are starting to look a bit more human, even if I am looking increasingly less human myself. Three of them just need finishing touches and the other small painting will need started. My priority for this week will be to get the new painting drawn up, under-painting done and, with a little bit of luck, be about 1//3 on its way to completion. My current plan is to 'hang' the larger paintings at an angle which encourages the viewer to look down upon them (as the paintings should depict the Goddess' fall to Earth.) I have experimented with the angle with which I could do this, however the final decision will probably lie with the advice of the technicians...

Proposed presentation of large paintings, with white shelving rather than table

Aside from this, the Degree Show Catalogue form submissions are due in 4 days and having photographed various other students for their artist's profile picture, I will be distributing the images to them today and tomorrow. Having to sit for my own profile photo made me realise how much I hate having my own picture taken and gave me a new sympathy for many of my models!

External Shots

Although I usually photograph in the studio, I have been trying hard to move out towards a more natural setting for specific photographs. This year I had three of such shoots examining the myths or hypothetical myths of three Goddesses: Persephone, Hestia and Athena. Each Goddess was assigned a different setting and talked through the myth or how I wanted their myth to be told. The results are not to the controlled standard of the studio photography; however I believe that they function as a slightly different type of image. 

Persephone

I chose Linn Park in Glasgow as the setting for my Persephone's underworld, modelled by Jill Henderson.  The setting was ideal in portraying the same world in various ways - as the sun-drenched field that Perephone had been snatched from, as the dark, twisted realms of the underworld and eventually as the enticing place that Persephone would become enthralled with and leave her mother and Olympus to stay with Hades. The pomegranate was fairly essential in establishing the Goddess concerned, however I felt it important that the initial stages of the work could be any young girl.

Athena

With Athena's myth, I wanted to highlight the contrast between her isolation within Zeus' head and the freedom she gained upon emergence. Although she was effectively Goddess royalty, I often imagine her as a bored, unfulfilled woman, restricted by her royal status and lacking  I photographed in numerous settings for this, from Crail and Kingsbarns in Fife, to Lochinver in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. (Model: Lauren Peebles)

Hestia (and Athena)

Hestia's myth is relatively unknown, due to her supposed wishes to stay indoors and avoid much contact with the oustide world. This allowed me to be as flexible and imaginative with the narrative as possible. photographing in various locations across Ullapool in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, I imagined Hestia as a traditional Grandmother figure to Athena and ready to pass on to the next life. Venturing outside for the last time, she tells Athena of her wishes and refuses to succumb to Athena's pleads for her to reconsider. In a further twist, Hestia tells Athena that she must be the one to complete Hestia's life in a ritual of fire. Athena builds the stone circle, says her goodbyes and the final image sees her lighting the match. (Models: Jennifer McLachlan and Lauren Peebles)

LYMA Images 2012: These images belong to Lynsey Mather, do not copy or use without permission.