Lots happening

I have justfinished my second assignment for the term so I have time to post. The torsoes were submitted for the exhibition and rejected by my little art society in the suburbs of Melbourne (with a membership of 180) on the grounds that they were not a painting, My answer....do you think this is the Archibald prize? To which the answer...."rules is rules" or words to that effect. All hell is breaking out up there. My teacher is great and I have lots of friends who are abstract painters up there, but in order to have preference to show....Bowl of flowers...with white dot! Enough of that, if any of you are Mapp and Lucia people it is very "Tilling" and I can't help laughing about it all. Had the best time at Geelong Fibre Arts this year and worked with Bob Adams...a lovely gentle man, and we did discharge of various sorts on fabric. It was a super class with lovely people These are two pieces I made. The first is a little book I made up of a stitch-resest piece of black fabric...a tea cup.The second ie 4 small pieces a bit larger than A4 tracing the narrative of a cup. This was one of the possibilities for my assignment for Uni. I wrote a piece of doggerel to tell the story, but would feel diffident about airing it on this post. In this I used thiorox mixed with an alginate...manutex and did a monoprint for each one then added the cup with some stitching. I will post some of my assignment pieces tomorrow. I can not recommend Open University too much it is a fabulous way to study at your own pace. I am lucky that being a pensioner I can afford it, I do feel guilty a bit about having all this for free, but hopefully it will save the country ultimately, if I stave off the dementia!

electrical box

Well it did become a book in a box I used the plates for the side and the feet are little plastic electrical 'somethings' and the handle is one of those cords with loops on the end and I screwed them in.

Electric bag

For some extraordinary reason I could not download on the post before so here is the bag!

Electric

I have been working on the "challenge" I asked the local electrician if he could put his rubbish in a box and he kindly left it for me to pick up. I spent the next few days pulling bits apart it was truly cathartic as awful things were happening in my life. Well the "studio" began to encroach on the House as a whole. I was though amazed at the shapes and intricacies which were inside the pieces so decided to photograph them. Then realised how many "faces" there were: It was then that complications set in...my friend Trish would have found the solution out of the problem very rapidly, her skill is to set herself a difficult task and then see it through to the end. I tend to set the bar considerably lower...well I made a book and covers out of the switch plates I now think that the whole book idea may become a "book in a box"....who knows I have one more day to make my decisions...oh what a dilemma!I did however make a bag out of beads and electic wire .

Firing,Garden Exhibition

It has been.....since my last.........! I have been busy getting ready for an exhibition at D.T.A.S. which is an amateur art society, I have mentioned before mentioning the newsletter...well now I am to be resposible for the web page when it is set up...what a learning curve that may turn out to be. I have been told that the blogging experience helps?! These torsoes are still unfinished and the middle one is just with black lines, but will take photos when they are finished. I am finding it such fun , the shape determining the way I am painting. I am working in acrylic and have a large painting in my head to be part of the installation. I will talk about my new dolls next time....may be tomorrow.

Bewildered

If anyone is reading this and can help me. I had to publish the last three posts separately and when I tried to 'cut and paste' them together, once more it declined to allow me to publish. It is all a bit confusing.

And again

This is the painting I did in the class, or ideed most of the work was done by 'himself'I do find it difficult to achieve in the workshop enviroment. Most of my creative time is spent endeavouring to correct and make things 'right' so the pressure of having to perform worries me. Funny as I was a 'performer' all my life, but it came from the basis of discipline and confident knowledge.

These 2 painings came from others in the class, neither of whom were used to the technique. The first is an accomplished painter of abstracts and the second, Cathie from the'Very Stuff' is a brilliant watercolourist.

Both very successful in terms of the direction of the class

second try

A Man of 'Feeling' The emphasis in the demonstration which began the class, was on 'feeling'. He talked about 'painting from memory'. Look at your image for as long as you need, several days maybe, then let it go. If you are using a camera , look then' hold the concept', record what you feel. Before using the camera always consider the element of 'feeling' over 'copying' the detail. "sometimes" he said "you paint and you know there is a problem, but you cannot resolve it, even possibly taking years.....but maybe that is the attraction" Some points

• begin with black and white then add colour
• use a lot of medium to begin with dark
• lightbrush strokes over the black
• water more transparent in the foreground, less reflection
• scrape paint when it is too wet or dark
• dust on the horizon makes it more green
• many different colours in the sky, warmer in the afternoon
• soften the edges of the clouds
• mix on the canvas rather than the palette- easier to see if you need to warm or cool it
• minimal palette
• contrast soft and sharp edges
• keep flexibility between realism and abstraction

It all seemed so easy when he did it, making all our paintings come alive as he worked owith us on our own work. A Man of 'Feeling' The emphasis in the demonstration which began the class, was on 'feeling'. He talked about 'painting from memory'. Look at your image for as long as you need, several days maybe, then let it go. If you are using a camera , look then' hold the concept', record what you feel. Before using the camera always consider the element of 'feeling' over 'copying' the detail. "sometimes" he said "you paint and you know there is a problem, but you cannot resolve it, even possibly taking years.....but maybe that is the attraction" Some points

trouble

This is by way of a test, I have not been able to publish my last post...keeps telling me I am 'in error' sounds like a certain religious group! This is a painting from a workshop I am endeavouring to tell you about.

Went to a workshop on Saturday with Charlie Tong. He is a fine artist who commands good

prices for his impressionist/realist works. I am not sure how he wold describe himself. I wrote a piece for the newletter and if you find it helpful here it is:

Promises, Promises

I said I would post on Tuesday....well I lied! This is the still life which has so many incarnations. Following the painting is the original still life. This is the next one which alsochanged a lot and I suspect has not finished those changes yet. This changed as a result of my great nephew inviting me to go to his school on grandparents' day. It was quite "out of the blue" so I was very touched by it.

New beginnings

I have missed being in the loop with posts on the blog so will begin again. I am heavily involved in my local Artists' Society and am now publishing the newsletter....what an exciting occupation I REALLY LOVE IT! I am learning so much about the computer at the same time, now know how to convert the newsletter for emailing....WOW. Anyway this blog is about art so I thought I may show what I am doing. This is one painting, based on a still life it is not finished yet but will post the finished one . Will send another post tomorrow.

post movies

I discovered the wonder of downloading movies, and much to my amazement I exceeded my allowance on the internet, which has of necessity kept me very quiet, but now into the next month, I will be more circumspect. Here are some more natural dyeing the first was in onion skins and then I scattered some saffron These are some books in various eucalyptus leaves

This inside paper was from an old sketch book of my husbands, he was a watercolourist and some of the water colour shows through as well as the sketching

This book "before" and "after"

Our group meets on Monday and I have to finish off the challenges

On Thursday night I went to a demonstration by a painter called Charlie Tong. He came directly from heaven...his painting was amazing, speedy and dynamic using very wide but thin brushes. I have taken a lot of photos, but I feel I must ask him before I put them on the blog....so hopefully it will be in the next post.

A lovely thing happened.

My mother posted me a book from Adelaide, but put on it the wrong address, Julien, to whom the parcel went, found out my mothers phone number in Adelaide, rang her to find out where I lived, and offered to deliver it to me....I am going down to pick it up shortly, but there really are some very kind people.

All we need to be in this world is "kind" I wonder why it is so difficult some of the time.....there would be no conflict!

Palette Change and stitch

If you are a "butterfly" in the Art/Craft sense (and I am!) one needs a lot of space!

This is my studio, with its new shelves....

No, This is my studio

Collecting the rainwater for the new projects

Remember this

Now with the stitching for the "challenge" for our group.

It is astonishing how the eye adjusts to new sensibilities, is it the inspiration which triggers the change or does the new work influence what you are attracted to for inspiration?

Journey

This was the last challenge from our group....".journey" It is so special being a part of a group that constantly,challenges, encourages and inspires each other....and we laugh as well!