Cardiff Castle Inspo 🏰

I visited Wales this week and happened to drive by Cardiff castle 🏯.

I first noticed all the Japanese business people walking past and admiring the different gargoyles and statues on the castle as they walked hurriedly in their smart business dress. I too thought about the makers of the stone and metal castings and carvings. But I wondered about their daily toil. I imagined the working conditions of those aged artisans who made their creative marks luckily lasting 100s of years.

I was in Wales to deliver corporate training for my 9 to 5 employer and took my picture while driving in the cab.

Throughout my journey I reflected on how my scarce visits to Wales tend to be about work. Trips tend to be centred on preparing the self for work or corporate teams for more effective working.

When I returned home through the panic of the storm Ciaran, I felt so inventive and industrious, that I made a lampshade from my art.

I had originally made a skin (technique learned at CSM) shown in my August IG Reel. Seen here

Then I wanted to play with the skin’s transparency. So I considered how to display it so the paint marks from both sides might be seen while exploring the effects of different intensities of light. I also considered the tensions of being betwixt art and craft. I enjoyed that.

I’m quite pleased with the result with a few more modifications I shall make a series of these poured skin lamps echoing the associated wall art.