Braque can rest in peace

These are the latest additions to the exhibition preparation.I had a lot of encouaragement from the girls the other day so not quite so anxious.

I had never really realised how voluptuous a violin was. I was going to do a collage and before I began I took these photos..

The challenge was in my Art class to make a collage that was somewhat "Literal" and vaguely identifiable I feel that Braque et al can rest undisturbed by my challenge.

Fun?........

Though Photoshop is on my computer I have yet to know how to use it so this is just using Paint.

This is a book made for my great physio Janet...she laughed!

One of the challenges as a group was "Fasteners" so this is an accordian book the first two are the covers I especially like the zippers.

I wonder if we will still have zippers in the future?

The pages are all facesSome not so very attractive ???

Another project is a pelmet for the front room based on Indian designs.

It has been shelved for a couple of months but maybe now is the time to resurrect the next big project.

I cannot tell you what a lifesaver this blogging is.

I have been finding things quite dark but doing this blog really helps.

With my students who were especially self deprecating I would ask them to sing for me and tell me all the parts or sounds they "Liked" I guess the blog is a little like that.

Thankyou to all who belong to this world of "sharing".

Heat (and Books)

Jo of Mystory has inspired me with books.

I love making them but sometimes confused as to their purpose if not to write in them.This one marries the two ideas, discarded drawings coloured over then used as notebooks.

Here is a couple of pages from a fun book I made...I seem to have a few of these, they are such fun to do but I am not sure if I will write on them.

This next one came from a class where I asked my classmates to give me a little piece of detritus from their workspace to put in the pockets.

I love using all different papers, that way I also feel I am not being wasteful.

I like pockets and this has used an envelope in the front to keep things

For travelling books I need a larger pocket.This is just a cover on a work book.

For those locals "stay cool"

Books waiting

How many books have you got by your bed with a bookmark in the first 3 cms. of the book?

These are mine!

Thats not all...... This is the one that I am REALLY reading!

Now all that is OK (after all it is 45 C degrees here and the power has been off for 24 hours)

But.... Dave King put on his post about John Updike dying and as I read him thousands of years ago he (Dave) has sparked my interest again so they will come down from the bookshelves and if not join the bedside community then they will be in the small shelves in the bedroom. Some of these are "dip in" but...it does become daunting.

One of my favourite painters is Nicholas de Stael, he makes it look so simple

The only solution is to keep going....with everything!

Back about Philip Glass.

He said that he felt his need to create was based on the river that was constantly running beneath him and he had to tap into it.

Now the way I begin is that I want to try something out, so is that enough inspiration...how do you move to the next step where you have to "say" something? And does that mean that "what" you have to say must have value for others...shades of the Rothko argument.

This is a drawing I thought I would like to etch ,.... so I guess that is about "trying out".

Meeting of the girls

Today was the meeting of our group despite the heat ( higher tomorrow) we had a great time together . A great deal of my fears were dispelled by the mutual support,...... how fortunate we are,...and the invitations to our exhibition have arrived from the gallery.

Our fate is sealed.

This painting had gone to the "unsure" basket but Jo has just taken it to her framers for me...so I guess another "seal"!

The felt landscape is on a canvas now with more stitching.

The sides of the canvas are painted Red.

I watched "A Portrait of Philip Glass in Twelve Parts "by Scott Hicks

Aesthetically I am much more a classicist so am a tentative admirer of his work, but how amazing to see the life of a genius and perceive his urbanity , warmth and simplicity juxtaposed with the astonishingly prolific output.

The final frame of the movie will stay with me for a long time. A shot from the back of him standing on the beach and looking at the sea. .....alone.

I am in the middle of this and I must learn when to stop...I am not too good at that. I am really interested in city buildings as I have mentioned before and the idea of them coming out of the mist/rain/clouds or whatever have been the endeavour of many paintings I have worked on.

Australia Day

Our Australian of the year is Aboriginal, how good is that.!

Obama closing Guantanemo, how good is that?!

It is not all gloomy.

My mantra for now is:

"Let me stop believing that life is hard".

This is todays morning picture.

For those new to my blog, Jo is a member of our group and over a year ago we began a collaboration of daily photos,

It is a beautiful thing to do. Last year it was morning pictures, which was so good to "get the eye in" as it were (apologies if you have a prosthetic), and it is lovely to have someone to communicate with each morning. It heralds the day in a way that people on their own will understand.

It is "hard rubbish day" today....that means you put all your crap outside the front of your house, then you walk around the neighbours piles and you bring back rubbish from their pile which you keep till the next hard rubbish day and then you put their rubbish from last time outside....and ..you can understand how it all works.

To top this all off it is illegal t0 remove another persons rubbish because the council (who collects it) wants it........??

However yesterday I took a rusted bucket-like thing from Allan,s front pile and then Cathie and I brought down a chimney thing from her pile, the top came from an old roofing throwaway.

I think it looks great, don't you?

Seems like it has always been there.

Now there is some yellow tin outside Peters...........I wonder if Carolyn or Trish would like it..........should I get it just in case.....?

Imagine some people don't have these major decisions in their life ....and they know where everything is in their houses.

Perhaps I would like to be them just for a day.

A collage of pieces to be in our exhibition "4 Letter Words" It is pretty eclectic.

I soaked a piece of muslin in plaster and hung it on the line...not sure yet how I will develop this idea or if it was just a diversion.

two hours later

I have decided there are three people in the world.

1.Those who write blogs

2.Those who read blogs

3. Those to whom blogs are a total mystery.

It is very difficult to combine with satisfaction any 2 of those, for the whole morning I have been in "blogland" how about the studio.????

This next will be quick!

Here are a couple of embroideries one is the cover of a book and the other I have just finished

I am finding it more difficult to be wayard with my stitching these days, I guess it is swapping from the tapestry to this style is asking a lot.

I did a piece called "Gentlemen Only" once where I played the maestro, so decided I would play the violin, now I come from a family of string players and violin was my 3rd instrument.

The violin arrived on the day of the rehearsal in front of the "fixer" and you can't imagine how deadful it was.

When the producer later introduced me to his mother he remarked what a good violinist I must be to have been able to make it so funny and play so badly!!!!!

This is an old painting I want to do more work on I really like where it is going.

Love the symmetry again beautifully crafted a pleasure to see it and also know what beauty it can produce from such hard edges.

Surprise intersection

Is it a castle from where Rapunzel lowers her hair?

Is it a fortification?No it is a water tower!This tower is at an intersection near me and it lifts my heart when I see it.

We have such a responsibility to make the ordinary less ordinary...and even beautiful.

This is the next stage, an aerial landscape with crop circles?It has been mentioned my interest in Cityscapes. This is a cover of a folder I did a little while ago. I was looking for something for my friend Jeanette.(the quilter) .

It caused me to look at some past work and it felt really good.

Learner Driver

I am always sympathetic to "Learners" even more so now I am blogging.

I remember when the car took ME before I took the car.....well that is what it is like.

My last post had this enigmatic picture at its head....wasn't supposed to be there! however there you go, it was a version of the cut up piece in a transition stage.

This next piece is a patch work of felt made on the embellisher. I have no idea where it is going but it was just fun doing it.I am not sure whether to work on it literally or as an abstract.

I reworked another small felt piece with stitching and .....the embellisher.

When I originally made the large piece from which these were cut it was all felted traditionally, "traditionally" for me means a sander instead of rolling.........I hear you gasp!

While playing with the Alaska picture the thickness of the paint, like thick cream makes me want to eat it. The palette knife is such a friend.

Jo and my collaborative photo this morning was; I love it

Jo on Mystory has told about the morning pictures...and now after a year..."Day " photos.

To be honest though we both like the morning ones.

View from the window

I have always loved the idea of views from windows.

When visiting artists come from overseas they often begin with the most astonishingly beautiful visions of their house or studio, set in wonderful surroundings.

Well I live on a corner block in a city and the collage following is the view from all the windows in my house.

Not bad for a city ?

It is always what I wanted , a city house that felt like the country!

I have framed this Matisse inspired "view from the window".

I think I will begin a series or as Joan Schulz prefers..".a set of variations".

I had a little foray into pastels and I really like them...this is my first adventure.

We have a lovely lady called Mary who is in our art class and she does some exciting work and is a great evangel for the medium.

This is a view of the studio with a picture I did of a door, which holds similar magic to a window and the beginning of an Alaskan inspired picture.

My friend Cathie brought back fabuluos photos and videos from their trip last year.