Some snaps from the studio this week.

Erik Otto and the love of found throwables.

One of my favourite creatives is artist Erik Otto, who spends his time making things out on the West Coast, California. I was fortunate enough to see some of his work first-hand in New York last year, when me and my travelling accomplice made our way to 191 W. 4th Street, to hunt out Charming Wall. Charming Wall is a gallery which hosts imaginative, illustrative work by a host of creatives. Many of them are self taught, which in this case, works out to be rather pleasant. They have an equally charming website, which is worth looking at even if you can't stand art or artists and have no idea why you are still reading this blog. Go ahead and enjoy yourself.

It was in this little gallery that I stood so close to Erik's creations, I wanted the wall to swallow me up so I could somehow enter his world of floating houses and rain clouds. I probably wouldn't stay there for long, but still, there's something about finding things and re-creating them to have a new purpose that is irresistible.

Some of these thoughts perpetuated my mind during the third year of my degree. I began to think about the passing nature of everything we can see and touch and claim to have ownership over, that passes through our hands as our bodies eventually pass through this world. Everything we see is transient. Which means that this place does not exist just for me, and "reduce, re-use, re-cycle" is annoying because it's inconvenient and no one likes being told what to do. However, this air of consciousness, the desire to make something bigger than me, plus my student status, resulted in the making of Le Rubbish out of cardboard, newspaper, bubble wrap, crockery, paper bags, milk bottles and, of course, paint. etc. Here are some images of said collage in the Sofa Gallery at IU, 2008.

The beginning of Le Rubbish in the studio.

Sofa Gallery BFA Painting exhibition 2008.

A close up of Glenn's pretty face.

I forgot to mention that oil paint is carcinogenic. And after painting in a closed space for a little while today, I actually thought a lady in my yard had a badger head instead of her own. For a brief second. Let's move on...

This winter, me and dad fixed up a space in the barn to make it into more of a "studio". Here is the first painting to come from the barn: Papillio in Flight, 4x4 ft, oil on board. And here's a little close-up.

The sight and smell of paint is enough to excite any artist. Fresh, gooey, untamed, uncontaminated, voluptuous, unspoilt. The thought might even kick the salivary ducts into action and induce a little dribble. We all agree, paint is a wonderful thing. (And if you're like me, you might also have a soft spot for stationary). The trouble is, what to do with it once it's been birthed from the tube from wence it came, and there's no going back..

So here are some of my stories and images (for the picture-book "readers" among us) about my relatively new, but notable, involvement with paint. And paper. And plasticine.

*PLUG* For a little nibble at previous creations, check Paint and Paper at www.annaleamay.co.uk *END PLUG*

Thanks.. stay tuned