Beauty in The BATHROOM!

In an ideal world, I would have liked to have hung each piece of this exhibition in their room groupings; bathroom, laundry & kitchen. That wasnt feasible in reality, but it IS here in blogland!!!! Therefore the first pieces we are going to explore in more depth are those inspired by hair-loss in the bathroom!

In most of our homes ensuites & bathrooms tend to be small spaces with few windows to see out of.  Being a tall person there is a lot of me to fold into that small space when I am trying to clean it!! Consequently, I find bathrooms particularly frustrating & claustrophobic , & I would rather be anywhere but there! In fact, my initial working title for the bathroom series was 'I'd Rather Be....'.  I would have a group of flower-like pieces & title them 'I'd Rather Be....In The Garden'! Then there would be 'I'd Rather Be...In The Sea' and 'I'd Rather Be...Dancing With Clouds'!! Mindfully observing the tracking of water drips, the reflections of light on tiles and the curvature of hair on those square tiles, helps distract me from the task at hand & has given me glimpses of beauty in the process.

I begin each new project with a mind-map.

Everything that comes to mind relating to the subject gets written down, whether it seems crazy or not.  I may not use everything I put on my mind-map, but it all contributes to the process!

The next step involves gathering my inspirational resources. If I have time, I draw the interesting hair contortions I find into a sketch book.

If I dont have time, I capture the hair design by sticking the adhesive side of a piece of contact (plastic film used for a protective covering on school exercise books) onto the tile & over the hair. It is then stuck onto a backing.

The accumulation of 'short & curlys' were recorded once a week before I removed them from sight!!

Some of the shapes and forms took on distinctive characters; flowers & jellyfish, while others were just interesting combinations of line. Gradually groupings emerged & ideas of presentation slowly formed.

Whilst this preparation was underway, I was also reading about the Spanish artist Joan Miro. He said;

"For me a form is never something abstract.  It is always a sign of something - always a man or bird or something else.  For me, painting is never form for form's sake."

All of these background stirrings were slowly brewing away in the creative crockpot of my mind! Excitement & feelings of anticipation are generally indicators that....it is time to start the DESIGN process!!!!!!