Of coffeepots and sharp scissors

This page in the latest RA magazine caught my eye -

Why a picture of a coffeepot? Oh, an article on Matisse - his own coffeepot? William Kentridge has a coffeepot, a bialetti, he's using it in one of his animations - that is, in the animation the man, who looks very like Kentridge, is pouring and drinking cups of coffee. Do other artists have attachments to coffeepots? Will keep an eye out ...

In the interests of having a clear space under the coffee table, I had just put some recipe pages from 1996 magazines into the recycling bin (that is to say, magazines published in 1996, though I suspect if all the magazines squirreled away in hidden places in my cupboards were to be collected in one place, and counted, there might well be 1996 or so).

Back out of the bin with those pages and find some scissors and Have A Play. Cut freehand ... what to cut ... ah yes, a vase like the one on the coffee table, another vase, a cup, some fiddly candlesticks [invent a method to get them symmetrical], and of course the coffee pot that's across the room next to the kettle. Thoughts of drawing kettles in the Draw-Paint-Print course at city lit last year... how good it was to have that precise focus.

There's something so nice, so ... homey? ... about a kettle, coffeepot, etc. And cups ... favourite mugs ... but I digress.

It's taken longer to process the photos and write the blog post than to cut the shapes and arrange them - which was "just play".  But I felt some sort of record was vital ...

It's hardly great art - just playing, remember? - and the few minutes spent immersed in doing it has got a few new ideas jiggling around between head and hands. Love the spontaneity and surprise of "drawing with scissors", and the "oh it doesn't matter, just start again" feeling.  I also love how the handles and spouts make the pots into "people" - or rather, how the groupings become little stories in themselves.