Desperate Artwives night out ♥

Hello everyone,

Here are some pictures from the Desperate Artwives Christmas reunion and our wonderful Secret Art Santa! (Sorry in advance to some of the artists as I couldn't cover each and every single artwork).

The below piece was made by Chloe Bowles. Chloe's work consisted of a kids orange play dough container inside which is a web address and a password. Sharon Reeve's picked it out of the big Tesco bag that I used as my Santa sack. It was very intriguing and mysterious and we only found out what it was a couple of days later when Sharon sent an email revealing its identity. Sharon wrote "I was bemused! I was intrigued! And I was rewarded with the most beautiful image from the virtual Dropbox world!... It really is gorgeous to look at and is now my desktop wallpaper - giving a lovely glow to all the windows I open on top of it. It's a seductive spiral in a sultry sunrise and I love it."

Chloe Bowles 2014 ©

Chloe Bowles picked Louise Nevett's collage. Chloe - "I was thrilled with this striking black and white image created by Louise. It reminded me of my daughter giving up her violin lessons this year, despite my best efforts, Maya refused to continue - and her determination seems echoed by the confident and challenging stare of Man Ray's model in this picture, as if she is saying 'it's my life, and I'll live it how I choose!' (also reinforced by the 'fight the power' style fist!). A powerful, evocative piece that for me speaks of the strength of a woman - and a daughter too!"

Louise Nevett 2014 ©

Sharon Reeves 2014 ©

Esther Geis holding Amy Dignam's 'Golden time' paint and gold leaf- Amy Dignam holding Esther Geis' 'Alice in Yogaland', paint on paper- Karen Barnett holding Juliet Guiness' 'Fixing Fontana', Stitches on canvas

Karen Barnett picked Juliet Guiness' 'Fixing Fontana' work. 'Fixing Fontana' is a little canvas with a vertical cut in it (reminiscent of Lucio Fontana's spatial concept). Juliet tried to fix the incision by applying surgically precise stitches running up, down and sideways on the canvas. Karen said "I think it's beautiful,leaf like, precious and intimate which is open to interpretation of either... Today as I write this my daughter is 20 and I'm reflecting on her birth so as I look at this it has those conertations too, stitching and darning both linked with birth and motherhood. The pieces that I've exhibited with Desperate Artwives have all been with stitch so I feel very privileged that the only stitched piece in the secret Santa found its way to me."

Me and Esther Geis picked each others artwork. Esther made a beautiful sketch taken from her 'Alice in Yogaland' series. It is completed in purple, pink and white paint. Alice's head is the subject; surrounded by intricate doodles that remind me of reaching out but at the same time also sheltering her. Esther described my work 'Golden Time'(made with black paint and gold leaf)like a moment in the sun where childlike naiveté and adult seriousness meet but somehow don't contradict. Thank you!

Thanks for all the DAWs for coming over and making it a very enjoyable and interesting evening. More to come!

DAW Selfie 2014

My pre-Christmas time ♥

Hello everyone! Hope you're having a nice pre-Christmas! For as long as I can remember, Christmas time has been a time of sickness, not just for little ones but for us too. This week I have been fighting with all my power against an ear infection and finding it quite difficult to keep focus on my blog. However, today was a better day and I managed to use my birthday voucher (my birthday was back in September!) and was 'escorted' by one of my very good friends to the nail shop. I had a back massage, a foot massage, mani and pedi and even managed to have my eyebrows waxed! Check me out getting some 'me time' again! 

My husband is usually always happy to let me go whenever the opportunity comes but today he was a bit stroppy because "we have so much to do!"... yes, he's right, like all practical men he knows exactly how much needs to be done and how long it will take to do it... Well, needless to say I won!

Dixie also felt very festive today and wanted to go shopping with baubles for earrings. Again, my husband wasn't to keen on the idea...but needless to say she won too!!!

As always, I took pictures of this. I love documenting my children's experiments with the surrounding world. It almost feels like an ongoing collaboration... As with my soon to be featured 'cut out' project, in these images I was very attracted to the 'other subject' - the one that you didn't focus on at first. In this case it's me in the photographs rather than my beautiful Dixie, who has been severely cropped out. 

'The other subject' was an important detail for me. I tend to record my children's life all of the time by taking photos - all their little achievements and creative moments. But this time I can see myself behind the lens. Roles -subject and artist (mother and daughter)are merged within the context of the photos. My memories become hers and her memories become mines.

Now, it's almost 12 o'clock and I am really tired. I'm looking at the pictures I've taken today of my groomed nails and I can't help but thinking 'how long will they last?'... Whilst I was cooking dinner tonight I repeatedly checked them, making sure they still looked pretty and tidy. Tomorrow I will probably already have forgotten and in less than 48 hours I won't even care any more. That's because I know they won't last. The reality is such that I cannot be that careful. I am a full on mother of three who cooks 3 times a day from scratch, I have 2 children in nappies and a 6 year old who's devoted to craft activities. So what are the chances?

This is what my nails look like tonight; Sunday 22nd of December 2013 at 11:46.

I'm planning on keeping a diary to record all the 'accidents' my nails are about to encounter ... Come back in a few days time and find out what happened!

In the mean time Merry Christmas to you all!

Lots of love 

Amy xx

Amy Dignam 2013 ©

It's Christmas time ♥

Yes, it is! I must say though that my excitement about Christmas died during the late '90s and early noughties, around the time I decided to leave my country and come to the UK.  My decision, although thoroughly thought out was also based on my survival instinct.

Back then things weren't great for me and I knew I had to do something drastic. My mum was the only person I truly loved and I just wanted to be with her. As paradoxical this might sound, I decided the only way to be able to cope with the things life was throwing at me was to leave her instead. Our hearts broke but we both knew that for life to continue this was a step that needed to be taken.

I have never met anyone as courageous as my mother and you'll often see me writing about her. I sometimes ask myself if I would ever have the courage to let one of my children go as she did with me. 

I was a complicated person but she "got me". As a matter of fact, coming to London saved my life and indeed changed it for the better too - and I only have my mum to thank.

For me Christmas doesn't bring back many childhood memories, in fact only a few come to mind. But the feeling of happiness during my early years definitely emerges and now, after many years of glossing over Christmas, I can finally start enjoying it again...albeit through the eyes of my children.

The build up is by far the best thing about Christmas. The countdown on the various advent calendars scattered around the house, the secret talks between me and my husband Mike about the choice of presents, the shopping, the hiding and the night before when we get going on the wrapping over a glass or two of port. A great deal of preparation and labour goes into my Christmas these days but the happiness always outways the fatigue.

I'm usually late sending my Christmas cards too, but not this year. Not sure what came over me... but today it's only the 12th of December and my cards are in the post box ready to be delivered. This year Dixie designed the card and this is what it looks like:

I also made a little celebratory installation this Christmas.  Too often I get sucked into my own universe thinking about the chaos in my life and forgetting that in the end, my life is not that bad at all. It's not very often I take the opportunity to pause and appreciate it (Although I think I do, I don't!). So this week I got to reflecting upon it.

"Unmade Christmas Tree" is a work made out of clothes belonging to me and my family, randomly layered one at the top of the other to form the shape of a Christmas tree. However uncool and unpopular, I decided to use the Christmas tree shape. It makes sense to me right now as for many, Christmas is indeed a time of reflection and a collective memory. 

In this work I try to create order by placing and balancing the clothes - in the same way as I try to arrange and control my everyday life. One on top of the other, a bit wobbly and precarious, each item supports the next just as we try to do day after day.

This pile of clothes in the shape of a Christmas tree symbolises the passage of time and the mourning (in advance) of my children's passing childhood and my most precious moments. 

Amy Dignam 2013 ©