Packing Work for China, a new skill!

My husband attaching polystyrene to the back of my canvas

My husband and I were up very late on Monday night and into 5.am on Tuesday morning, packing my painting for its air trip to Beijing! It had been quite an effort to get the MDF box made up to the specific size (having contacted 10 carpenters, only two were willing to make the box), and to get the painting framed. We were unable to find the correct packing foam so had to use a combination of bubble wrap and polystyrene. The depth of the box was only 7.5 cm and we had to pack the painting so it would not move about while in the box. 

The painting, bubble wrapped, with me

It affirmed how good it is to learn new things because two years ago we packed a much smaller painting for the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale, and that seemed hard at the time, and here we were packing possibly the largest painting I will ever send abroad! Next time we will know exactly how to do it. I don't like to feel daunted by things so I am glad for the experience.

My husband moving the painting out to the van

After we slotted the painting into the box, screwed it up, and stuck on the labels, we had the boring job of brushing up hundreds of particles and scraps of polystyrene from the carpet! Then I had 3 hours sleep before getting ready for the shippers to arrive for collection of the work. But they had made a mistake about the day and did not come until the next day!

The box was very heavy so my husband helped carry it up the stairs to the waiting van. The driver told me that it was being taken straight to Heathrow and by the next day it would be in China. As I watched the van drive off down the road and turn out of sight, I wished my painting luck and hoped it would not get damaged in transit.

Ready to go into the van

CHINA - A ONCE-IN-A-LIFE TIME EXPERIENCE!

Me outside the National Art Museum of China, 24th September

Me outside the National Art Museum of China, 24th September - for the Opening Ceremony

It is almost a week since I arrived back from China! I've been struggling with jet lag but finally feel I have adjusted, and now I'm sorting through my photos and thinking about the new work that this trip will have inspired in many ways. It still all feels as if it was a dream that I went to China.

To actually be INVITED to go there was such an honour! It was such a last minute rush to get my Chinese visa and then I left Tunbridge Wells train station on the morning of 22nd September, full of excitement and nerves (nerves for the long flights!) I was in a daze because I could not believe I was actually going. When I made my application for the Biennale last December I never thought it would result in this trip.

I flew to Charles De Gaulle airport - an incredibly large and modern airport - and had about 4 hours to wait there. I boarded the Air France aircraft at around 10.40pm (L.T) and we took off at 11.20pm. It is the longest flight I have ever done, being around 10 hours. But as dawn streaked the sky in the early morning, I found a vast tundra below, and it gradually became even wider and flatter. I followed the flight tracker with much interest, and then Beijing came onto view. I took many photos as we came in to land.

There is nothing to match the feelings of amazement that flood through you on realising you are now in a place that is very far from home and somewhere that you have never laid eyes on before! I went into the arrivals hall full of happiness and anticipation. Soon I saw at the far end there were people holding large pink BIAB signs, and one of them came forward to greet me. A group of artists had already gathered and I learned that there had been several collections of artists from the airport, and I also saw a 3 page list of artists - and it struck me that there must be around 200 invited artists, much more than I had expected. Artists wanted to take photos with me but the organisers wanted us to go out to the bus.

On the bus we were given our schedules for the next 4 days and also much needed bottles of water. My husband called me and it was strange to realise that it was only 9.am in the UK! As we wound our way through the increasingly tall and modern buildings of Beijing, I felt more relaxed. I had not really known what to expect but it was clear that we were going to be very well looked after.

Taking part in the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale was an experience that artists can only dream of. It felt as if 2 weeks were crammed into the 5 days I was there. I will write much more very soon because this event deserves a huge report!

 

(Above photo - a selfie during the Opening ceremony and speeches, at the National Art Museum of China)

OFF TO CHINA WITH MUCH EXCITEMENT!

'Excursion,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 45 cm

As I mentioned back in June, I had a painting accepted for the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale, which opens at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing on September 24th - this week! The exhibition has work by artists from 100 countries and I feel very honoured to be included. I am one of five artists representing the UK. As far as I know, none of the others are going.

I received an invitation to go to Beijing from 23rd to 27th September, to be present at the Opening ceremony and also to be present during their symposium. Just today I collected my visa from the Chinese Visa Application Centre and tomorrow I will be flying to Beijing in the afternoon. I still can't believe it. Nerves for the flight - I hate flying - are mingled with excitement at seeing Beijing and seeing the marvellous artworks that will be on show. I also hope to meet up with some of the other artists, and the symposium should be very interesting. Possibly this will influence my painting in a very big way. Certainly it is going to widen my ideas about art in general. I'm taking a small book to make some quick paintings of my impressions, in case anything resonates with me for future paintings. Though I may not have time to do this!

My next entry will be on my return next week.

High Summer

'High Summer,' acrylic on board, 70 x 60 cm

This year I haven't been away on a summer holiday. Lots of things got in the way, most of all getting my painting ready to go off to Beijing for the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale (opens at the end of September). Then painting just took over! There has been a lot of change in my work and re-painting of older work. Several themes have been continued - my 'Inscapes' series, the landscapes - and some new ones, 'Migrants' being one of them.

The above picture shows the most recent 'Migrants' painting (70 x 50cm, oil on canvas). It was an old painting that was reworked quite intensely. I saw it as a metaphor for migration and the paint itself is migrating through shapes and colours which are repeated across the painting. It also reflects my thoughts as they responded to paint, as a kind of parallel for the migration of ideas. It was not painted as a commentary for migration, though that is in the News a lot right now.

This was a theme I started about 2 years ago, with a large painting of tents (inspired by the troubles in Cairo at the time) which I have posted below, called WE ARE ALL NOMADS, (oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm). I have always had an interest in the passages people follow through life and how random events can throw a life out of balance.

Collection!

Fiona with the painting, ready to start packing

After all the work, and getting an MDF box made at huge cost, my painting which was selected for the Beijing 6th International Art Biennale was finally collected by the shipping company on July 13th! (This date is always etched into my memory as it was the anniversary of the death of my late partner, Tom, who died in 1998.)

First, a layer of tissue paper

It ended up taking nearly 2 hours to pack. My husband, who is very good about these things, did most of it. We put a layer of tissue paper, 2 layers of bubble-wrap, then he made bubble-wrap cushions around the edges so that the painting sat snugly inside the box.

I had to stick labels on each side of the box, then screwed it shut. We did all this the night before the collection! Then the shipping company turned up at around 5pm on the 13th and I watched the man carry this large and heavy box (27 kilos, 108 x 80 cms) out to the large white van. I could see the boxed-up works by the other 4 UK chosen artists sitting in the back of that van. That was the moment it all became real! I went back inside my flat and had a large glass of white wine.

My painting should reach Beijing by around the end of August. I still can't believe that I was selected. There are works from 100 countries and there will be a huge colour catalogue. I still don't know if I can go. I would love to but it depends on whether my thesis (submitted near the end of June) is considered good enough to send me an official invitation as a guest for the symposium, which would mean my expenses in Beijing would be paid. I really enjoyed writing the thesis ('The Chinese Dream and its International Ripples') as I addressed some issues around the cross-pollination of art between countries and between artists, and had a number of points to discuss at the symposium. I would dearly love to attend as it would be so interesting to hear the discussion.