Friday 23 September 2011

Empty Headed


Sitting on the little balcony above our apartment in Soller, I looked out over the sun-splashed Mallorcan landscape and sipped a small glass of local brandy.

"Pat," I said, "my head is completely empty."

Far from being a worrisome condition, I realised that this was a very desirable state. In the weeks before flying out to Mallorca, my head was full of stuff: worries about money, things that needed doing in the house, the way my work was heading, ... just stuff. And now here I was recognising the absence of all that stuff. Where it all went, who can say, but it had gone and for the two weeks we spent ambling around in fantastic sunshine, my head remained happily empty.

What this inevitably meant was that I did no work in my sketchbooks, so for now I have nothing to show you; but I've mentioned recently that I felt my ways of working were becoming stale and now I can sense the seeds of new ideas settling into the welcoming emptiness of my brain.

In a little while I suspect my long-awaited shake-up may make itself felt. Could be fun.

2 comments:

John Salmon said...

Hi Harry, sorry to hear you feel like this too.

I've heard a lot of artists are going through a similar thing.

What with all that is going on around us, it is very hard to turn our thoughts to decorative art when I feel I should be thinking about what I can make that people really need in order to make a little money.

Strange times.

harry bell said...

Strange times indeed, John. But I'm more optimistic than my post may have made you think. I'm genuinely looking forward to some new directions, even if they're only to do with materials and their uses.