Vasse Art Award 2013

"Peacock Beauty"

My entry in the Vasse Art Award this year is from my Peacock series. I have used recyled wooden school rulers (thanks Audrey) on a found piece of Jarrah (thanks Alex and Amanda) that has been lightly coated with redgum sap. 

Using old French stamps, photos of the peacock at the Dunsborough animal farm, lace, vintage book pages and found papers, this piece portrays the magnificence of the colours on the male peacock wooing the female. The courting phase is dramatic and majestic but the beauty cannot sustain the relationship.

The Vasse Art Award 2013 started today. I went along last night for a sneak preview and it shows a wonderful array of styles, techniques, size of works and prices. A huge layout again this year with new and established artists participating. Well worth a visit.

Here is a link to the Vasse Art Award website so you can get details to enter your own art next year!

This exhibition runs all this week (20 -27 April), 10am - 3pm, at the Vasse Primary School.

More Kookaburra's

Kookaburras. Living in Amanda's living room now.

It's 6 o'clock and the Kookaburra's are going off, all calling to each other to finish up for the night. Such a domestic and comforting sound. I think this maybe it for my Kookaburra fettish for now. These two babes are painted in acrylic, quite lightly so the collaged background shows through. It is a sewing pattern scrunched up in the background with my new favourite red on top. Heaps of fun.

Mixed media fun

Kookaburra

We have a lot of Kookaburra's on the farm and I love their early morning chatter. I came across a couple of Kookaburra feathers the other day and was inspired to capture their cheekyness. This is acrylic with pen and ink over collaged music on cartridge paper.

Margaret River Reader's and Writer's Festival 2012

Margaret River Sojourn

A creation inspired by the visit of overseas friends.

SOLD! at the 2012 Reader's and Writer's Festival exhibition held in the Foyer Gallery.

My favourite bead is the abalone shell with it's mother of pearl sparkle and the beach scene photo bead. It's also got the last of Grandma Darnell's pearls. Those parrot feathers are a devil to hang.

Little blue wrens

I've had another go at painting my favourite little blue wren and here it is. It's titled 'That's not your nest!' The nest belongs to another little bird family from my friend Jenny's garden.

I've used acrylic and felt pen over a collaged background using wine labels from a French bottle we had the pleasure of recently, a Cape Mentelle and a Little Creatures neck label. Don't worry, I didn't drink it all at once!

That's not your nest!

I have discovered clear gesso. When the collage was complete I added a layer of clear gesso and just treated it like a blank canvas. It stands up to being washed down if you aren't happy with your painting, it can be distressed and really worked over without losing the background stage. I love it.

New bird species

I've created a new acrylic painting over collaged papers of some wrens in the garden. It has a wine label in the background from Best's Great Western and as the birds are a bit quirky I'm calling them Best Westerns.

I've just added this original canvas to my Etsy shop called Art From The Shed because I'm really happy with it and want to share it. Also because I haven't been very active in my Etsy shop and it's starting to seem a bit stale. I have done some more little canvases 15cm x 15cm and these will be for sale on the Kids Room Art page of Margaret River Stompers. It's a real pleasure doing these collage pieces and I love how the birds end up as individual little characters.

Best Westerns

Best Western close up

Bests label close up