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.

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.

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.