My second tutorial with Jonathan allowed me to reflect more critically on various elements of my practice. Initially, we talked about my writing.
He asked me how it feels to be putting my writing on my blog. I said that it sometimes feels quite exposing but that being uncomfortably personal has become important in my practice. This is not something I had planned, given I’ve always been very introverted.
Initially I knew I somehow wanted to bring my writing about my childhood into my work but I wasn’t sure how to go about doing that. I just started posting pieces of writing about my rural Highland upbringing. In all its feral glory.
It felt liberating for this eternally shy introvert to finally describe the vivid detail I’ve always taken for granted. To describe the world from my perspective but through the razor eyes of a child has been like seeing my practice with fresh wonder.
The conversation with Jonathan reminded me that the act of articulating these memories and material processes doesn’t just document things for the sake of it. This active reflection directly shapes the work itself and the directions I move in.
It’s been really helpful to have a regular writing practice because I’m learning to articulate where this background information fits in my art practice. Most importantly though, it’s been great practice in listening to my inner voice and simply expressing it. Jonathan said that as I do it more, it will become easier. I recognise thats already true.
Jonathan asked what I think my challenges are. I explained that I’m still working on establishing a sustainable rhythm to making and then processing and articulating things. I acknowledged that the blog framework was a really important reflective surface for me to work through ideas and processes, given my rural location and often lone practice. I’m resolving to buy large sketchbooks and use them. Document everything.
Posting on my blog has been a helpful way to map out the many interrelated strands of my practice. To untangle the knots and realise what the strongest threads are. My blog is fundamentally a research tool where I can voice, clarify and consolidate learning.
I explained that I’ve spent many hours researching the labour intensive process of photogravure. From learning to navigate Quad Tone RIP software, preparing digital images for photopolymer plate exposure and learning to print on my etching press all takes time. Jonathan reframed this labour not as delay but as foundation. I agree that these skills are the structural foundation of the direction my practice is taking. I think the labour involved in acquiring all these skills reflects a kind devotion I feel to a slow, attentive way of making. The time I’m choosing to invest is part of the ethics of the practice.
Honouring slowness, taking the time to look and learn. It feels almost radical in this busy, sometimes dizzying world. When I think about my early childhood I’m reminded that’s where I learned that slowness incubates curiosity. Looking and exploring dissolved boredom. My particular mode of attention grew from early experiences of curiosity in a wild, tactile landscape. Constantly outdoors, I had the time and space to develop a strong sensory literacy which directly informs my practice today.