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.

Poppy paintings

The last of the poppies in the garden have blown away with the strong summer breeze. I managed to capture some in acrylic on collaged and lace stamped pages.

Margaret River Mitre 10 paint sale

Pot of fleurs

Good old Mitre 10 had a night for the ladies recently and the paints were 30% off! I stocked up on some wonderful colours and got cracking the very next day. The background is collaged papers with acrylic painting over the top. I love the texture of this Matisse range. This image will be made into cards for the summer.

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.

Vasse Art Award 2012

The Vasse Art Award is on until Saturday 21st April and is open 10 - 4 pm daily at the Vasse Primary School. This is my 2nd prize winning entry and I'm still on cloud nine from such a wonderful surprise.

I've used redgum sap over acrylic paint in the background on a stretched canvas. I usually like to use a piece of found wood but was playing around with alternatives to meet the requirements for the Arts Margaret River reader's and writer's festival exhibition that is coming up in May. I think the sap works okay.

 

Book review for "The complete guide to altered imagery"

I have just finished using a wonderful library book that I thought worth a post. "The complete guide to altered imagery: mixed-media techniques for collage, altered books, artist journals, and more" by Karen Michel. The title covers it all!

This book explores how to integrate photographs and images into your collage using gel medium, gesso, sandpaper, sewing, stamping, bleaching and transferring, just to mention a few. It offers easy printmaking techniques and layering of paint to create textures and a surface for personal messages.

The author uses guest artists to show their own slant on old techniques plus artist tips to inspire you. Some offer quotes that just hit the spot and helps the new ideas click.

A great book to have around to kick-start some inspiration. What makes it different from the rest? A ton of ideas in one place for putting photos, photocopies and other images into your work using all the materials you have on your art table. No need to buy anything new, just using what we've all got, in different ways. Love it!

also available through your local library.

Poetry in art

The 'Silver Princess' sold at the Vasse art exhibition. I was sorry to see it go as I'd spent a lot of time getting it together. Not just painting it but assembling and thinking about what that particular tree means to me. The whole creating process became quite mind consuming. In the middle of the night, these words came to me and I incorporated them into the painting. Each curl of bark is made from a vintage copy of Gulliver's travels with words from the poem glued on, then distressed and painted with sap.

 

time is written

every curl, every crevise

every crack and every wrinkle

elegant,

fragile,

weeping,

mystery

Yes well, I never said I was a poet! I have found since really getting stuck into working on my painting that my cooking has gone downhill, in fact, now I'm a lousy cook. All my mind seems to be taken up with 'cooking up' a new painting idea, or planning ways to get more painting time.

Vasse Primary School Art Award starts Easter Saturday

I've just delivered my painting efforts for the Vasse exhibition that starts this Saturday from 10am. The awards will be announced at 2pm.

I had a sneak peek at some of the entries and there is a wonderful array of styles, sizes and themes. It's on until Sunday 1st May and I urge you to pop in and have a look if you are in the Margaret River area over the school holidays.

I have entered the 'Best Westerns' and also a piece I have been working on for my art theory studies. It incorporates a poem onto torn vintage paper, sand, modelling paste and redgum sap.  

'Silver Princess'

  Vasse Primary School until end of April.

10am-5pm weekends and 10am-3pm weekdays.


EXHIBITION OPENING TIMES Weekend: 10am - 5pm
Weekdays: 10am - 3pm 

Flowers on Gulliver's Travels

I have discovered this old copy of Gulliver's Travels and am tearing it up for my collages. It goes a wonderful antique colour with the gel medium sealing it to the canvas. I'm building up my layers with washes of colours over more gesso than usual and just generally having a play. School's back and I've only the chooks and the heat to distract me now. One old girl even left an egg on the art table when I went in for a cuppa!

Flower painting

Magnolia

I have started to use up some old canvases laying around and when mum presented a photo of a magnificent magnolia her friend had grown it just seemed perfect for this huge canvas. This deep sided canvas is an impressive 80cm x 80cm square. The staples show on the sides so it really needs framing but I've painted them brown for now.

I've used the music score in the background again as I really like this look. Here's an up-close look.

Magnolia in detail

School holiday painting fun

At last the school holidays have started in earnest and we are back in painting mode. Fleur was inspired first and I was so taken with this colour blue that I asked for her left-over pallet. "Sure, do you want me to mix some more for you?"

It's called "Forest Grove Road"

"Purple bowl"

I had a great time tearing indian papers, stamping and applying texture paste. It's quite a narrow canvas with exact dimensions being 23cm x 70cm, 1.5 deep. I have painted the sides in the blue/green and it's ready to hang.

"Bowl of flowers"

This one has a range of papers glued to the background first, then colours chosen for the painting from that. Lace flowers are glued on and some texture paste accentuates the bowl. I bothered this one for a few days until happy with the contrast. My favourite bit which is hard to see until up close is the music scores under the lily cream paint.

"Giraffe"

Experimenting with a stamping technique has worked nicely on this giraffe. There's a nice contrast of fun/spontaneous background with the more controlled main character. I sold a similar giraffe painting last year at the markets and have been meaning to have a go at another one but have found it difficult to do one exactly the same. I prefer this one I think.

Fleur gave her masterpiece to her dad for Christmas but I am happy to sell my creations.

Just email if you are interested and I'll think about how to get it to you.

All on canvas and ready to hang, acrylic and mixed media.

Giraffe: $70 (25cm x 61cm and 1.5cm deep)

Bowl of flowers: $150 (48cm x 65cm and 4cm deep)

Purple bowl: $85 (23cm x 70cm and 1.5cm deep)

Book review of "Drawing Lab for mixed media artists"

"We all long to have a style that is fully our own. We want to find our voice and develop a hallmark look that is unique. But how do we get there?" (Carla Sonheim, 2010).

The "Drawing lab for mixed media artists " by Carla Sonheim presents lots of exercises to help you explore a multitude of styles and techniques. The exercises use easy to follow instructions that rely on the fact you are going to give it a go and play. You're not out for awards here. Fun and experimentation are the theme in this book.

If you find yourself staring at the blank page and not sure where to start, doing just 1 exercise will relieve the pressure of what to draw and get you over the hump. I found it motivating to just draw for the fun of it, oh yes - it IS still fun and surprised myself. No perfection or idea of end results, just freeing up my mind to draw.

You can use whatever materials appeal to you for the exercises and styles covered include: eye dropper faces; wrong-handed portraits; Modigliani style portraits; scribble drawings; plein-air and the list just goes on. Featured artists are interviews and share their own personal styles, which are all different.

I like the layout of the Lab series of books by Quarry. They aren't fussy or overly wordy but they are obviously choosing authors of quality who are passionate about teaching.

I originally got a copy on loan from our public library in Margaret River but if you choose to buy a copy like I did, I do appreciate your using my Book Depository link on the right banner. Thank you.

The art of swapping

I am now doing a swap of collage and mixed media materials with artists I met doing Flying Lessons. While getting the pile ready I got really inspired with some of the colours and textures and couldn't resist having a play. The Flying Wardrobe in Witchie has a great stash of old music scores, patterns and booklets just dying to be torn up and painted on and this is one of my efforts. I textured up the background with modelling paste & this is beautifully absorbent for both watercolour paints & chalk. The chalk can be blended with your finger for really nice effects.

MY TIP: draw those flowers on your table, even a quickie of just one flower. You can use it in another piece later & you will feel you've done something for yourself today.

Collage with embellishments

This was a tearing frenzy of tissue paper and Indian-made silver flecked papers. It was a good way to clear out some anger and frustration. A few days later I revisited this piece and the random tears were taking the shape of a posy of flowers so I continued on with children's metallic glitter glue and pale pink bling and it has turned out quite soft and feminine.

For the 1/2 dozen sparkles I used here I was required to share just as many (and the rest) with Fleur on her artwork. It can be frustrating to part with these little treasures but I try not to be too precious and say "sure you can have some" hoping the novelty will wear off.

When a parcel arrived for her from overseas and out tumbled an array of unusual bling I immediately wanted some for the wands on my fairy cards. Her response to my request was of course "sure mum, you can share some of my bling". Lucky I shared mine in the first place!

Cards NEW!

I have made some of my little fairy paintings into cards and am in the process of setting up an Etsy shop to sell them online. I have had a wonderful response from the locals (that's you library ladies) and from my family so I'm pretty sure they will create a special occasion for many more people.
They are available in packs of 3. All one design or one of each. All packs purchased will come with a handmade "Mystery Card" of my choosing that I know you will love.
If you are desperate and they aren't online yet, send me an email & I will get some to you.

Painting over collaged papers

With the success of the last painting reverberating through me I glued up another smaller canvas with pretty papers and a fairy in mind. I had done a follow your heart fairy for my niece, Daly, a couple of years ago and dredged up the sketch again. This one is much different but the intention of this fairy is the same, to remind you to "Follow your heart".
The fiddly body bits and gold-leaf I saved for a day when Fleur was back at school & am satisfied with this effort. I asked my father for his opinion to which he replied "what's she for", so this lead me to write the words of intent at the top so there's no confusion.

MY TIP: If you glue papers on with gel medium, return as it dries because thin paper will leave air pockets. Be patient and keep easing the air out from underneath. Some papers do tear if you bother it too much but I like the distressed look anyway!

Happy painting.

Painting with children around

Hi! Welcome to my blog where I plan to talk about my art and show off my latest creative efforts and how they came about.
I welcome your comments and feedback.

I did a drawing session near the start of the year and ended up with a very quick sketch of a friend, Cushla, reclining on the couch. During the last school holidays I came across a canvas whose size immediately made me think of Cushla. My 5 year old daughter joined me in preparing the canvas and helped me glue on the papers. When dry, she doodled chalk drawings in the background while I painted in the body in 'maybe' colours. These have evolved and I like the colours Fleur used and ended up using that mustard colour in the background as a result.

On the more detailed painting session I set Fleur up with a decent size canvas and she chose her palette and we painted together in concentration for quite some time. The final tweaking of lips (3 times), hand (twice), hair and top of couch I did over a few evenings while cooking tea and Glenn played with Fleur. The varnishing was done after tea on the final night. Yes the house was a bit of a shambles that week but I was very happy to have a finished piece. Cushla looks self-satisfied and relaxed on the couch. It's not perfect and it's not technically correct and I LOVE it!

The Margaret River Bookshop has agreed to hang it above their counter for the month of July. I really want people to see it. This is new for me. Usually I'm not sure.

When I saw what Fleur had done on her canvas that day we painted together I was amazed. She stood back and said 'I'm done', then ran off to play with something else and left me to it for awhile.

A very satisfying painting experience. MY TIP
Try not to be too "precious" about your painting with a child around. Get messy, have fun and don't think about the end result too much. If the picture or materials are precious, save it for another time.