All this trouble for an anonymous artist and summer reflexivity

Well, the end of the summer is finally here and its been a crazy summer!

After driving down to Bristol to see the Banksy exhibition on a Saturday and discovering that the queue was 6 hours long, me and my long-suffering partner Chris decided to make the pilgimage last Wednesday.

After leaving the house at 6am (and a quick stop for a Maccys breakfast on the way), driving for 3 hours and 4 hours waiting in the queue in the rain ... feet aching, desperate for the loo and starving we finally made it!!! Luckily it was worth it! What struck me more than the doctored old master canvases was an installation in the left of Banksy's exhibition space which included amazing sketches and drawings.

Also what made it worth it was the installation in the central foyer of the Bristol Museum; consisting of doctored sculptures and doctored signs hidden between the chaos of the public and the large installation.

With the Banksy mecca under my belt and the inspirations of the studio installation making their way through dissemination (and a glass of red wine) into my research diary, Ive spent the last couple of weeks cramming in as much time with friends and exhibitions as possible.

Life-changing realisations, inspiration and Letraset text

It seems like the past week has been one of those filled with realisations and epiphanies ... the sort where you want to cry with happiness but also because you know that things have changed.

On Friday I saw with my P.I.C Rachel, Coco Before Chanel, possibly amongst other things one of the reasons for my realisations. It was one of those films, which, with the possibility of sounding pretentious can change your life in 2 hours. It made me realise that absolutely anything is possible if you want it to. I would definately recommend it ...

I have had the strange feeling this week where i feel like I NEED to make. Need to paint, make draw, create. As I have been researching for the past couple of months and just about to begin the 2nd year of my PhD adventure, making has been on my list of things to do but where all things textual seem like an urgent priority. I have been thinking a lot of intertextuality and intermateriality and the need to create a dialogue between theory and practice or as my research aims to explore - writing//painting.

I can feel my hands reaching for the letraset text ...

And then there was text ...

Okay, so I have succumbed to creating a blog despite being a total computard ... here it goes ...

After spending the beginning of the summer relishing in having a break and not teaching, I am begining to get itchy feet. My PhD research has taken priority at the moment; responsible for the 2am going to sleep and the not so 8am as I originally intended getting up.

Writing, text, words, writing ... the research is starting to form and I'm hoping to apply to register my PhD at the BIAD-tastic BCU. I have been inspired by my true P.I.C (partner.in.crime - Miss Rachel Marsden) who will soon be partaking in my BIAD research adventure : )