Open Studios 2006

Well, this years' Open Studios at the end of May / beginning of June was probably the best ever, for me - and as usual I still didn't sell anything! But of course I never expected to in the first place; it's just a great opportunity to put some work on show and get some direct feedback. I'm always surprised by the feedback I get - my work genuinely seems to interest people, which I can never quite fathom...

I had a few 'old' works on display; one of them was a large hanging made with a series of 28 self-portraits. People kept asking 'who are all these people?'!!! Since they're all me I'm obviously Jekyl and Hyde, someone bordering on some kind of multi-presonality disorder anyway! I was trying to capture how I felt rather than how I look, so maybe I am just the moody bugger I always knew I was...

Other pieces I had on show were a wax footprint sculpture, which I changed the display of a couple of times during the exhibition. I'd dragged 3 huge bags of compost up three flights of stairs to my studio to display it on, all because I wanted to give it an 'earthy' feel and draw people's attention to where the footprints came from (Mylor Creek river mud!). At first I made a mound and put the sculpture on top and it reminded me of a barrow, you know, the burial sort... This wasn't too bad because I had been thinking about the Laetoli Footprints when I made it, and a reference to archaeology wasn't undesirable. But then I decided to level the earth and sit the sculpure on that to see what difference it would make. I don't know - I still wasn't convinced... The thing is I'd envisaged it much larger than it was, but for reasons of cost and practicability had to make it smaller - and every time I sat and stared at it I just kept wishing it was five times bigger!

I was also showing work in progress (dead bird stuff) and some recent sketchbooks, both of which seemed to create curiosity and interest in the people we had through the door. The private view was great - almost busy! I think this is what made it a good event for me; it was a chance to talk to people about the work and get some feedback, which is something you can never get enough of!