New printed bag

I have just added a new listing to my online shop! The tote bag features the owl print that was originally an ink drawing. I hope to be able to set up a website soon, where I can make more things that will be available to buy :)

http://www.coriandr.com/item/8846/little-owl-printed-tote-bag

I thought I'd investigate with the cage as an image, and try a simple painting next. I'm happy with the materials and like the cream wallpaint background on the hessian, but I think i'll need to try some more paintings to figure out where I want to go next with my ideas.

Having not painted for what must be coming up to a year, I thought I'd have a go to see how rusty I was! I was interested in seeing what effect painting would have on the reading of the image of my mother, but am undecided on the outcome. My style of painting has turned the image into a loving scene, and maybe a little kitsch? Perhaps this is something I could play on and investigate further.

From a photograph taken of my mother with her pet budgie I have taken the silhouette and cut the image out of wood. As the photo was taken by my father when they had first moved into the family home, I feel this is a particularly significant image. Within a frame, the object turns into a decorative piece, ornamental almost, and this compliments my intended meaning of being captured, and a possession.

New term, new work - Jan 2011

So far this term I have been continuing my research into womens' roles in society and it has lead me to the writings of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

An American sociologist and writer, she was also 'a utopian feminist during a time when her accomplishments were exceptional for women'. Having read 'The Yellow Wallpaper', I have become interested in how doctors diagnosed supposed 'illness' in women, particularly in Gilman's time, when the rest cure was prescribed. The rest cure comprised of having no more than two hours intellectual life a day, and never picking up a pen, paintbrush or pencil for as long as the patient lived. The aim was to live 'as domestic a life as possible' but this unsurprisingly only worsened Gilman's feelings of depression and helplessness.

This leads onto my work so far that centres around birds and the idea of a captured bird within a cage symbolising a woman stereotypically 'trapped' within the home. Although I'm worried that the symbolism is a little too obvious at this stage, I hope to progress my ideas far enough so that there is a great of ambiguity and questioning within my work. I hope to achieve work that will cause the viewer to question what it is to be woman and how traditional roles differ from the past to the present day.