Making Marks and It's OK

By -
I have been away from a good place for so long.

Now as I make amends and try to reconnect, I find that I have brought my fear into my studio. The result is that tentative efforts to work have been woefully far from the free and expressive place that I remembered could fire and consume me.

I try too hard, forcing minute concentrations of detail into a twisted tight fist of constraint and control.

This is not working and this is not helping.

Me.

To be free and unselfconscious is the thing.

And so today, with graphite blocks and paper of different weight and texture and with anxious brain ignored, I managed to begin again.

Let go and make marks.

Graphite on paper.



Graphite on grainy paper.



And wondrously (how could I have forgotten?), graphite on beautiful, old coarse linen.



Now I think I might just be able to carry on.

Comments

Jill said…
You've been missed. "This too will pass". Jill
18 March 2014 at 20:50
Unknown said…
Please carry on. Your work is beautiful. I am awaiting more Maggie lines.
18 March 2014 at 21:06
Maggie Ayres said…
Jill... Thank you so much for your kindness. "This too will pass is truly my mantra".x

Tierza... I am very touched by your warm words. Thank you. x
18 March 2014 at 21:58
Unknown said…
So happy to see you, I am inspired by, and love your work.
18 March 2014 at 23:27
Julie Shackson said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
19 March 2014 at 00:21
Julie Shackson said…
Hope this phase passes swiftly now my friend. xxjxx
19 March 2014 at 00:21
Jacqui Galloway said…
glad to see you back.
Jacqui x
19 March 2014 at 07:03
Maggie Ayres said…
Donna and Jacqui...Thank you so much for your warm words. x
Julie... At last I can feel that change is possible in me and that there is hope.
Thank you so much for your caring x
19 March 2014 at 17:55
Ann Scott said…
Maggie, Your words hit a nerve with me today. Thank you for expressing feelings I can relate too about moving forward. Your work is wonderful and inspiring. I hope every day will be better and I look forward to seeing the new.
28 March 2014 at 19:08
Anonymous said…
Hi Maggie, I just watched your video about encaustics, brought to my attention by my friend Kim Rodeffer Funk. I love your way of drawing and making marks. Also, I guess we know those moments of creative fear so well. It's good to see your marks, and I wonder, what you might have created since March, certainly wonderful staff! Hang on in there:) greetings from Paris from Andrea
16 May 2014 at 09:30
Rolina said…
I love your art and hope to see more in this blog soon!
16 March 2015 at 15:53
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spring Fling 2010

By -
Image
There are 3 things that without fail I will cry out as it gets closer and closer to Spring Fling , the Artist's Open Studio Event in SW Scotland this weekend: "I'm not going to have enough work finished in time!" "What if nobody comes?" "What if people think my work is rubbish/a joke/not worth looking at?" This will be my 3rd year and so far, in reality, it's been a grand experience. And so far, none of the above has arisen (at least no one has been harshly critical to my face). Most of my work is made in isolation, so it's always good to meet people who are interested in seeing what I do, and gauging reactions. If you're in the area this weekend, do take the time to pop in and introduce yourself. "Curve" - a sculpture in plaster, scrim and acrylic - click on the image for a larger version
Read more

and the sky was the land and the land was the sky

By -
Image
Since I set up a table in our living room, locked out of my studio, oh it must be years ago now, I’ve been getting used to new ways. Moving water and paint around in fluid flows across comfortingly weighty papers has been my distraction. Making a fresh familiar. Trying not to listen to any predetermined directions that I offered up, I have splashed and poured and spilt and stroked. Torn boundaries. Isolated eddies. Dried markings. Swirling and coalescing  into the beyond. I see worlds that are watery and sky. Land that is undefined and one. Sky and land together, inseparable. And so began a new series of small works on paper - collages with watercolour, India ink and graphite on textured paper. About the wholeness of our environment. No separation. Made slowly. This narrative thread trails on along many paths and ideas. And there will be many workings on the theme as I try to make sense of their meaning. For me. And for universal connections too. From time to tim
Read more

Not Whining But Screaming

By -
I’ve always been surprised by the way other people see me, especially by their use of certain adjectives: “mild-mannered”, “passive”, “easy-going”, “laid-back”. – On the outside, squishy, sweet, amorphous marshmallow, it seems, while on the inside... a raging, ranting banshee, a fire disgorging dragon, a hardened, steely warrior or a possessed uncontrollable spirit capable of metamorphosing the elements in order to have her will obeyed. That disconnect between internal and public persona probably exists for most of us, I suppose. But now, quiet, un-self-confident Maggie wants to stop the background whine of “It’s not fair!” (can’t you just envisage the petted lip?”). I want my voice to grow and connect my sense of injustice to the public universe. Change does happen. We don’t have to accept the power and drive of the capitalist market to sell us a vacuous myth- the insubstantial veneer of youth and beauty and therefore “acceptability” at an unacceptable price, both on our pockets
Read more