Over this year, a lot of things have changed. I've started a new job(1), I've got engaged to the best person in the world, and the overwhelming feeling of not doing enough creatively is slowly dissipating(2).
But as I keep making things, there is this one I've strived to make that I hate doing. It plays in my mind and I have dreams of showing off an entire exhibition of them, but that requires an ungodly amount of effort that I just don't possess.
This one thing is a Carpet page.
For those who don't know what carpet pages are, they are large compositions that fill an entire page with decoration and forms. The famous ones are in the Books of Kells and Lindisfarne(3) and are opposite the saints pages that form the four books in the tomes. There are a marvel to see, to examine and replicate. If you don't know them, please give them a google, they are a great evidence of Hiberno-Saxon/Insular art that is also inspired by the mediterranean.
One thing that in required by the those who made these marvels is this ability to spend hours and hours just following patterns and repeating motifs over and over again. There is this meditative element in them where you just have to stay in the process to finish it, something that the monks and religious craftsman would have in the boatloads. Meditating on the love of god with every scratch of the stylus and application of ink. If you had that mindset and separation of the task and ego you could go from morning to night just glorifying your beleif into the parchment.
The thing is, for me, is that I'm more practical. I like to see what is happening and getting it done in a day. For this reason, intricate details that I want to include just claw at my brain and I have to leave it unfinished. I do think there is a perfectionist aspect to my thoughts, as any mistake makes the drawing a throw away instantly(4). I know I'm a perfectionist, but the beauty of mitsakes or happy accidents that I love in people like the abstract expressionists are just not present in these pieces.
In my painting, I love the brushstrokes and the physicality of the paint that isn't in the precise nature of a carpet page. So how do I gel these facts together?
I don't know.
The only real answer is to keep going but with styles that do interest me, like the abstract forms and visual riddles that are a massive part of British art, even up to today. Spirals and light are going to be more prevalent in my work, all my sketches are pointing me in that direction. I've been doing this long enough to notice that where your interest points you should follow it rather than lock into one thing. That's why I can't be a monk, I'm too much of a wanderer. I like the freedom, the ability to go places(5).
If I do make a carpet page in the future, I don't think it will be the same as the Books mentioned. I will be putting my own twist on it, and I will be honouring the ever shifting and changing land that we call home.
(1) so much better than the last one, I'm actually engageing with people!
(2) mainly because everything is very expensive. I have a new job but it's still tight.
(3) These are two different books.
(4) The monks would also agree, with perfection being the best way to show devotion. "good enough does not exist in the Celtic Church, nor the later Catholic church in the renaissance.
(5) And if you do too, support the Right to Roam (R2R)
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