This email has taken ages to write because I’m on my phone. So…slow your reading speed down accordingly please.
I’m in Rush, County Dublin, Ireland, where it looks like this:
Dunno if I mentioned this before, but I’m from Ireland and living in Belgium, so I go back and forth a few times a year.
Which brings us to travelling and making art.
Having to work in less comfortable conditions, like when you’re travelling, feeds into my obsession interest in making small, portable, everyday art.
Check out my last post for a different slant on this riff:
First, what art supplies do you bring?
So many quibbles. Which (if any) art supplies do you throw into your baggage?
Which ones earn their place in among all the underwear and (in my case) nappies?
It’s an exercise in constraint really, which is something hilariously foreign to me.
Here is what came with me this time.
Highlights include: a black Woody pencil, an aluminium ruler for tearing paper, a date stamp and ink, and 2 differently-coloured highlighters.
The main event is my notebook and an expanding “three fold file” insert that I got for it, which allowed me to bring sooooo many paper ephemera materials and stickers. Yay!
Or do you dare to bring NOTHING.
This would work well in terms of collage, I think. You can see how I used a receipt from a bookshop, and pieces of the paper bag from the same shop.
What kind of art do you make when you’re away from home?
So, I mean, I don’t make art about my travels when I’m out and about. I make art because I need to make art. It’s not really about documenting my days or my feelings.
I’m not so interested in myself, I think, as an artist – just as how when I’m writing fiction, I’m trying to conjure a world that reflects reality, while resolutely averting my gaze from myself.
Here are suggestions for “minimal supplies” art:
Finally, here’s a collection of art I’ve made so far here in Ireland.
Enjoy! See you next time ✈️
Love to see art making on the go!
Really enjoyed this!