Oh, Yeah!
I got paid more money than I've ever been paid for anything the other week, and it was all for art, which has me going around with a big grin on my face, even still. And I have the EU to thank for it. For the uninitiated, the EU brought in a rule for the funding of public buildings that saya that 1% of the budget for such projects must be spent on art to go along with it. The newly opened Senior National School in Ratoath is one such building.

A notice was put in the paper calling for submissions from artists for projects they felt would befit the school. Myself, my mammy, and some other artists put forward a joint proposition for works relating to the cultural environment of the area. And our project was chosen. The center-piece for the project is a big stained-glass window evoking the entrance to the passage grave at Newgrange. My job was to create two batiks, one depicting the Hill of Tara, the other depicting the Lagore Crannóg.

For the Tara piece, I marked out simple outlines for the significant archealogical and topographical features of the hill on the first layer. I applied my dyes over this layer, and proceeded to elaborate and build upon these real features with the objective of bringing them to life with some sense of the energy that seems to buzz through the hill every time I'm there, it being only miles away from where I grew up, every time I've gone there it's meant something different, just being there. You can see for miles, that's probably part of it.

The Lagore Crannóg piece was something similar. The first layer involved an outline of the original lake as it surrounded the crannóg, and a rough circle representing the crannóg itself. This was developed with enrgetic lines emanating from the crannóg within the lake, and a rough imaginary grid on the surrounding land. It's highly unlikely that anything so artificially laid out surrounded the site at the time. It was well received, as the crannóg is culturally neglected, despite it's archeological significance as the first crannóg to be recognised for what it was in documented Irish history.

They both have a sort of loose labelling and anmes of places, because they're in a school, why not have some information in them. They're both hanging there now.

Overall, I'm very happy with the two batiks. I was apprehensive when I started the project because never since I was in school had I to take my cue from somebody else in a batik I'd created. I came away with what I know are two of the best pieces I've ever done. I'm lucky to have this opportunity so young, and it could lead to somewhere really interesting. And I haven't even taken photographs of them yet. On my list, honest. You'll see them here soon.
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Nerdily bloggish bit that's doing the rounds of the journals:
Six weird things about me
1)I hate repeating myself, even though I have the winning combination of speaking too quickly and mumbling. About half the time when somebody indicates that they want me to repeat myself, I'll just make a noise, and leave it at that.

2)I never feel like leaving my mark on a room when I move into it. I moved into my older brothers old room eight years ago. His posters are still on the wall. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, all still on the wall. This is partially because I know it winds him up on some level that the posters represent a musical taste that he has expanded majorly on since, yet makes it look like he still hasn't grown up musically, his posters still being on the wall.
I moved into my current bedroom in Glasnevin months ago, which was made vacant by my friend Jude. His Roy Keane poster, a pullout from a tabloid paper, is still on the wall, as is his unplugged Budweiser clock. I bought a poster last week, it's still in the bag. And his stupid santa wooden thing is still on the wardrobe. And his american football gear is still there in the press, but I like to wear the helmet when no one else is around.

3)I like to wear an american football helmet when no one else is around.

4)I tattooed blobs of ink into my skin when I was fifteen, in the misguided beleif that only "special tattoo ink" would leave a permanent mark. They're still there, on the inside of my left elbow. I did it using a sewing needle, a bottle of drawing ink, and Lynx deodorant for sterilisation. I also faintly scrawled "667" on my stomach. Because if I did 666, I thought, people might think I was being serious.

5)I find it easier to meet kids and dogs than I do adults, generally speaking. If you spin a kid around by their arms, or just generally throw them around the place, you're cool as far as the kid is concerned (unless it's one of those annoying whingy bastards that react like you were trying to kill them, but who wants to hang out with those dmaged little bastards anyway?). Also, kids don't ask a question unless they care about the answer. I also enjoy "helping" my godchild play with the Duplo I buy her. It's like distilled Lego that stuff, all the building fun of the same, but with audaciously large blocks. And dogs, well I just happen to be the master of rubbing behind their ears.

6)I broke my hand punching a cow in the head. She was ok, but she did start it.

Six weird things about other people
1)People who refuse to beleive that mains water could be bad for you. What the hell are they thinking? Don't they ever wonder why what our government does to our water is illegal in every other EU state?

2)People who not only beleive that all politicians are corrupt, but accept this as the natural order of things and vote for parties that they've already heard the dirt on. Keep voting that way, and you'll always be right.

3)People thinking there are "good" and "bad" animals, and want to kill animals because they don't like them, like spiders. I'm a meat eater, and I've regularly exterminated pests growing up on a farm, but I benefit from both of those. While I don't think benefitting from killing makes the killing ok, I think killing something simply because you don't like the way it moves is one of the most callous things a person can do.

4)People thinking recycling is corrupt because "Those companies get paid to take that stuff away, and they sell the stuff they make." How thick can they be? Why is the idea, that if recycling was pure profit then there wouldn't be a need to promote it, so hard for these dopes to grasp?

5)Irish people who speak like Americans.

6)Billionaires who keep working. Why?
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