New Year 2012

Highlights of the welcoming of the New Year 2012...............the markmaking of the unknown. These anonymous marks are they vandalism or the silent cry of the disaffected, the dissident, the disenfranchised?

Complimentary Colours 21st April has decided to be the 1 Jan 2012!

Op shop finds...knitting needles, wool remnants knitted into   juxtaposed with Katazome papers.

Egg in Antique Etching

 A friend bought for herself a beautiful book of  reproduction intaglio prints of birds. Flicking through the pages was a plate of an old breed of fowl with an egg. The detail in the straw around the egg was so beautifully rendered by the artist of another era, so inspiring.

Return to the NEST

Today when having a sort through one of my folios I found a drypoint etching from 1997 with a favourite motif, a NEST. It seems we return, loop, travel in circles! There seems repeating patterns in history as well as repeating patterns in our lives.  Round and round we go. It is always a comforting pattern though to return to the NEST!

Drypoint is a beautiful form of intaglio printmaking. Lines are drawn into metal or in this case a plastic with a sharp instrument. The plate is inked up and then cleaned and the ink stays in the grooves. The lines are 'soft' and some ink ( plate tone ) can be left on the plate before printing to create a more painterly effect to the finished print.

We will be doing a Summer School, Introduction to Printmaking, in January 2012. The drypoint technique will be covered, as well as techniques of relief printing. Printing, with and without a press will be explored in the workshop. There is a one day drawing class before the printing workshop with an emphasis on drawing approaches that link with printmaking. 

NEST

Find of the week.........Mother bird off the nest ..... a photo opportunity!

More Monochromatic Musings

                                            Chinese ink on Arches paper with  Isabey brush

Monochromatic Musings

Having a play with calligraphic markings using fabric printing paints and one of my favourite Isabey brushes. Was VERY careful not to let the paint dry in the brush!

Poppies

 Spent awhile
 today just watching
 these beauties

 petals
 fluttering
 in the breeze

 honey bees
 in a frenzied grab
 for pollen.

Abstract Expressionism

 The artists at work in their studio.

A painting movement characterized by a desire to convey powerful emotions through the senuous qualities of paint (and other mediums!)

Dragonflies

I have been working on a body of work for my exhibition titled,  Interpreting Place, to be held at Halls Gap in conjunction with the Textures Forum in February 2012.

During my research for the exhibition I came across an article that mentioned that a small dragonfly or more correctly a damselfly, called Ancient Greenling had been found in the Grampians/Gariweld. Over the years I have used the image of a dragonfly as a symbol of resilience. The insect is found today in much the same form as in prehistoric times, only smaller. It is a stayer as they say!

It was interesting for me that the insect again was beckoning me! Not only as any image to be included in a new body of work, but that I was about to return to the form of the quilt, to stitchery.  Of course, the paintbrushes and drawing equipment will not be deserted, but the lure of fabric, to print dye, cyanotype and stitch, is where I want to be right now!  That an actual dragonfly came to visit and stay awhile confirmed my direction!

Still Here !

September....teaching drawing at Grampians Brushes art seminar at Halls Gap......

September...organised 'The Moonah Stand" exhibition with 10 artists at 135 Gallery

September/October....getting the Spring vege garden up and running....

October......preparing...working towards an exhibition at Halls Gap February 2012.....and thats in my spare time between scrubbing the floors, shopping, cleaning, cooking, doing my nails and feeding the chooks!

News

Watch this space....things are happening

Lost and Found (Edges)

To learn to draw is to learn to see. Search for the lost and found edges (of the shadows) to help you gain an understanding of the subject that you wish to draw. A warm up exercise...place a simple shape like a white bowl on a dark background cloth...then to exaggerate the shadows, use a bed lamp or something similar,highlight the bowl from one side. The found edges are those where the light area meets the dark with a clean edge. ( the left hand side of the bowl illustrated) The lost edges are those where there is a gradual tonal shift from light to dark.  (the left side to the right side of the front of the bowl) With an awareness of the principle of lost and found edges draw the bowl with its black background using a range of 'B' grade pencils. 'Pull out" the light light...the reflection of the light globe with a kneadable eraser to finish the drawing........... Let me know how you go J.  !!

Remembering Margaret Olley

Promise of Spring

 The first of the Peony Roses has opened. These flowers with an old fashioned charm are a welcome sign of a shift in the weather. The plant has responded very well to a generous helping of mushroom compost around the base. Had to hurry and pick for indoors as some hoodlum young snails have been tagging, chomping petals leaving graffiti holes.

Tassie Treasures

Of the land and sea

Tasmanian Shabby Chic

 Oh how I love the place....Bushy Park Community Hall and at a nearby cottage, socks drying on a clothes line under the veranda. The Bushy Park Hall had lots of treasures for sale...old china, jams, fresh eggs, books and ambience (not for sale, priceless!). The locals were raising funds for repairs to the beautiful old building. 

Back (from the Apple Isle)

For  APPLE CRUMBLE........chop and core apples......put in pan with  juice of one lime......on very low heat, cook till tender.

Combine,  one packet Amond Meal (mine is 110gm), 1/2 cup caster sugar, 1 cup SR flour.

Rub 100gm butter (I grate it into the mix first), into the dry mix.

Put cooked apple into baking dish, top with the crumble mix, bake in oven till brown, about 20 minutes (oven 200c.)

Yum!

Another NEST

NEST(ing)

A Yellow Day (CAUTION)

              DANGER     Paint     Bin Lid     T- Towel   Leaf       Yellow Tomatoes      Fish and Chips

            ALL      OVER    THE             P L A C E        ......................................................

A Big Yellow Taxi Day

Don't it always seem to go,

That you don't know what youv'e got 'til its gone

They paved paradise put up a parking lot

With a pink hotel, boutique and a swinging hot spot

Joni Mitchell  (40 years ago?) 

Unwelcome Messages

                                  Scrubbing bird 'messages' off the deck of the Deborah D!

Calligraphic Messages

The aerial roots of the mangroves tell us much about this highly adapted plant growing on the mudflats in the Barwon River  not far from the sea. The ink brushwork beautiful in its execution and form holds an unknown message.

Reminders of Brack

                                           Brushes lined up.......poised, ready for action.

Spools of ribbon on the march.................reminders of the artist John Brack.  

Orange Interface

                        Mop meets brush and shovel.....................possible blossoming relationship.
                                                          Colour symbology of orange