I’ve had a big gap from the painting conversations. Over a year. Its September 1st now and the last conversation was June 2023, crammed in right before my exhibition of the physical gallery of conversations at Applecart Arts, ending my 9 month residency there.
In case you haven’t been to my gallery of conversations before or don’t know about the project, it started in 2022, a few months into my residency. I was showing up a few times a week at Applecart, drawing people and writing or painting how I was feeling. A couple of things happened/I realised. One was that I’m not someone who will (generally) assertively approach people, starting conversations, which is what I had imagined. Secondly, I was struck by all of the fascinating creative people working at Applecart in different capacities and how easy it is to not know more about them when you visit the space.
A third thing I discovered when a good friend visited London and we went to Applecart, and we did some painting. I mixed up some purple paint and it became the background colour on the paper. He commented that it was the colour of his childhood bedroom. I kept asking questions about his childhood bedroom and painting how I imagined his answers. I really enjoyed the process, I felt relaxed and I learnt more about my friend. He said a lot of it was just like his memory of it, which was fun too. So, putting those three things together resulted in inviting people who spent time around Applecart into conversations where I painted whilst we talked and so I could find out more and share what happened.
I’ve thought about continuing the project lots of times. I’ve written lists of people I’d like to have a painting conversation with. Recently, I’ve got closer, inviting some people to have one with me. One friend agreed but we haven’t got around to it yet. Someone else didn’t respond. I had feeling it would continue when it was ready so I didn’t push it.
Today, a kind of painting conversation happened organically. I was involved at a local nature event celebrating the skylarks and the volunteers working to protect them through their nesting grounds. We had a walk in the hot sun, learning about skylarks, the story of Ostara and the link between skylarks, hares and Easter eggs, about bees, spiders, hoverflies and other creatures and birds.
By the end of the walk, we went back to the small gazebos and put down blankets in the shade and I got out the art materials I had brought. A few of us sat and drew and had periods of chatting and silence. I just drew without thinking too much, just doing what I felt like doing on the paper. I enjoyed different lines and shapes and colours. At one point, Clem (who I had a painting conversation with before, you can see it here) asked a question to someone from a local bird group, about swifts, which he has recently got very interested in. This prompted a conversation about where and how you can see them. We also talked about things we know and wonder about moths, pigeons and kingfishers. I found myself writing down the bits of conversation which stuck out to me or jolted me a little bit. I wrote them along the wriggly lines. I love doing this, I love documenting the phrases that can unexpectedly happen in conversation which are mysteries outside of the context they come from. I love the swirling lines which connect, intercept and flow around and away from one another.
I had the embodied memory of this being what a painting conversation felt like. I was in the conversation but I was also making marks and tuning into the words that stood out to me. I enjoy how both of these things are possible at the same time and even make the conversation a more relaxing experience for me.
So, I guess the painting conversations are back in a new format…