The Birds and The bees - part 1

Well dear readers I promised to tell you what I have been up to recently and why I have been absent from this blog.  Apart from suffering from a bit of bloggers block.  I was working on a large commission for a new hotel in London, that is opening in August.

I had to make 5 large pieces, that reflected the hotel's location, near to of our best museums, The Victoria and Albert Museum and The natural history museum.

The pieces I created used a pattern from an 18th century textile that is in the V&A combined with birds and insects.

Here are the drawings I did for them.  I use these as my templates for cutting, though I change bits as I go along and final arrangements only happen once all the cutting has finished.

I will post the finished pieces in my next post.

(c) Claire Brewster 2012

(c) Claire Brewster 2012

(c) Claire Brewster 2012

(c) Claire Brewster 2012

A kind of madness

(c) Claire Brewster 2012

I'm sorry dear readers that I have been a bit quiet of late, but I have been working on a really exciting commission for a new hotel in London (a preview above). The commission has occupied my brain to the point when I haven't been able to think about anything else.  Which is why I call it a kind of madness.  After many late nights and early mornings I finally had the work finished and photographed  (ok I was still pinning some of the pieces when the photographer arrived, but he was an hour early!).

But it got me thinking about the creative process and how it becomes so absorbing that the outside world barely exists.   I become obsessed by the work and often loose all sense of proportion over the work, I don't want to look at it and feel like it will never end.

I was wondering why I always stress so much towards the end of a piece of work and realised, it's nerves and anxiety, this is the point when they will be shown to the world, my babies will be set free to face the world on their own.  It doesn't matter how proud I am of what I have done, it's hard not to want the world to love them too.  Of course I know not everyone will like them but they are a part of me and although I might put a brave face on it I am still anxious every time.  It is worse with commissions because someone has already committed to buy the piece so there are expectations.

Anyway, normal service will resume shortly as I have lots of exciting things to blog about and am itching to share with you.

cx