Description
This lampshade took me years to complete. Thank God this wasn’t so much a commission as it was a gift for a friend who didn’t know it was coming! It took so long my husband got fed-up one day and asked why I don’t throw it out as it was just taking up space. Admittedly the shade was massive and hard to store. He may have had a point; but I persevered and I can now say it was one of the few paintings I did in the wilderness years when I was creatively blocked. That said, I have some process shots but not all, as I was struggling to create at the time.
It all began when Katrina returned from a trip to Australia with an amazing little book about Aboriginal art, which we both loved. It was her gift to me and so for her birthday later that year, I wanted to give her a really meaningful gift about our friendship, made with the gift she had given me, using the art style that she too loved, and reminding her of a holiday she absolutely enjoyed. A wonderful thought, except I was pretty creatively blocked at the time. I fiddled with that book for months until finally on Dec 9th I pulled my finger out and crafted our friendship story in line with the aboriginal symbols from that fateful book. Here is the story:
One woman lives in a beautiful cave upon which the sun shines. Another woman dreams of a home in the light and a sister of her heart. With her man, the huntress travels over many miles, passing through many camping grounds, stopping at many resting places, looking at many caves, meeting many tribes…still no sister, no cave of light. Finally, one rainy day, the huntress and her man come to a cave bathe in light. There is even a watering hole in its midst. The sun shines brilliantly upon this cave as a man and a woman come out to greet them. The huntress has found her sister. She is home. They all live together and in joy, the women create and dance.
Next I began to put the symbols together in a way that told the story while they flowed artistically across the lampshade. The best thing about using a lampshade for this was that the Aboriginal style of story-telling often uses circles and cycles so the shade fit this technique perfectly.
The focal point of the shade was “The huntress has found her sister. She is home. They all live together and in joy, the women create and dance”. Below are my sketches working out the details of this part of the story.
And finally, the shade design is complete. Only took me 2 days to do this part. Excellent! I even managed to get out some paint and mix up the background colour I wanted. Surprisingly that took ages. The ‘right’ brown just refused to materialise until I’d added so much paint I had to decant it from the palette into an old mustard bottle and seal it with some cling-film under the lid.
And this is where things get stuck. At the time with no studio I had to unpack and re-pack every time I wanted to paint so that in itself was a mission. Add the creative lethargy I was in, and that was a deadly duo. Thankfully, I already had the shade, a bug basic cream shade from IKEA at the bargain price of £8. I painted the brown backing colour on to the shade a few months later and then things stalled for a loooong time.
In January 2012 while awaiting the birth of my first child, I finally got on with it. Suddenly, it just flowed out of me. I mean, this bit was easy – just a load of fabric paint scribblers to add detail in dots and lines. When I was done the relief was palpable. It was finally done.
But something was missing. It didn’t seem very finished… and then I thought about holes. I mean, it’s a lampshade, it should spew light! Hmm. If I was home in Trinidad, I’d reach for my trusty ice pick and be on my way. Here in the UK, ice picks were a bit harder to come by. I ended up using an awl from my local hardware and the effect was brilliant, if I say so myself. Now it was complete.
Katrina tells me it was well worth the wait because she absolutely LOVES it!
As my creativity bubbles back to the surface and I’ve now created a dedicated studio for myself (i.e. my little closet sized Studio 68. Woohoo!), no piece should have to wait years to see the light… get it? See the light? I was always great at stale jokes!
Updated on 3 March 2020
Looking back on this story now, it’s possible that this piece was my first ever Life Story Art. I cannot remember diligently planning to tell a story, deciding on the iconography for it, researching the style to suit the client and putting it all together until this piece. So it is very much a gift that keeps giving – she gave me a book and her friendship. I gave her a painting and my friendship. Giving her this gift, gave me a unique art offering. They really say that happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting some on yourself. I think I can safely say, the same applies to giving.
