Retrospective Almost Finished!

A few weeks ago, I began a painting of a retrospective of another that I had done years ago.  I have been working on the fine details of it lately and just leaving it alone so I can get it right when I can get to it.  Seeing that it's around the Silly Season, I haven't really had time to sit down to it lately and really work on it.  Afterwards I will.  So, seeing I haven't had a recent photo of it up, I thought to take an nice photo of it this morning before going out with my iTouch (which I received for Christmas).

Art Exhibition Application!

I'm going for it!  I'm applying for an exhibition in 2013.  I have filled out most of the application and have to get together my cd with photos of the completed pieces for the board to look at.  The gallery I'm aiming to show at is where I work:  The Logan Art Gallery.  And I am hoping to get my work into the First Gallery; this is the one which is the first room to your left when you walk through the doors.  It's got an even feel about it, a great look and I'd love to have my work in there.

I currently have about six pieces which are finished and two more that are being worked on.  So, I'll have enough to cover the walls.  Wish me luck that my application will be accepted! 

Holiday Work

It's the holidays, and I'm still working on my paintings.  This time around, I've got some flowers I've been working on that I love.  They are simple, yet not as easy as they look.

I have enjoyed painting this one... it's been the most relaxing out of all my paintings.  Now, I've found the one that began it and I'll be fixing it up to put it with this one as a retrospective piece and they'll be sold as a pair.

Progress In The Past Year

A lot has happened over the past twelve months with my art - and everyone else's.  As some of you know, I've had the most horrendous time with new neighbours and with all artists, it's our environment that can inspire us or make our muse take a hike for a long time.  For me, I found I couldn't work due the hostility of my next door neighbour's wife.  She didn't like me doing anything around my place; from reading to gardening, to do the laundry, I wasn't allowed to do it while she was around... pathetic and very childish.

Then, one of my art friends - Geoff - suggested I try out doing my self-portrait.  I'm not very good at painting people, and so it had never crossed my mind.  So, I grabbed a piece of Masonite, sanded it down and painted it orange and then tried my best to draw a picture of me.  But it didn't work.  So, I scrubbed it and painted over it green, put on some music and painted what my mind saw when I closed my eyes when the Red Hot Chili Peppers thumped through the speakers of my stereo.  The initial white outline didn't look much, but I took it from there.  Four months later, I had a finished work of art that I was happy with; and I cleaned off a new piece of Masonite, painted it up and started on a new painting that evening and haven't stopped since.

It's now December and I'm working on my sixth piece this year.  I have about four original pieces and two others that I have fixed up from my archives that I rushed when I did them.  I'm so proud of the paintings I've done and that I've achieved so much and come so far.

Also this year, I posed for Geoff as a model for a collection of work he was painting.  There were four paintings he did and had hung in Barsoma's in Fortitude Valley.  I had posed in March, when it was still warm and the paintings were shown in July for a week or so; along with a few others of his from his collection he had done.

A few months back, I went to an art opening at the Logan Art Gallery and chatted to Annette Turner (who used to be our Curator) and she asked how my work has been going.  I told her what went on; and that I did my first self-portrait and she was impressed.

I have been knitting still; just not as fast as I usually do in Winter due to the warm nights.  So, I have lots of nice knitting yarn still sitting around waiting to be used in a bag here at home.  Also, I have learned about a few things about my outsider art that's a bit sad.  My first tree that I attached my yarn bombing to in Kookaburra Park on Park road has been removed by the Logan City Council.  They fixed up the gardens and the park there - giving it a facelift - and that tree was taken out in the process.  So, there went the first tree.  I'm not sure about my other tree projects as I haven't checked on them lately, but it's been a few years since I did any yarn bombing so I'd say they've seen a lot of the weather and are most probably gone by now.

More recently, I've taken up a very old hobby that I thought I'd never take back up again:  sewing.  Mum and Dad bought me a Elna 1000 Sewing Machine for my birthday in October and I was kinda disappointed.  However, after looking at it for a week, I thought that the saying about having lemons you make lemonade rung true; and so I did.  I had noticed that books I was receiving through the mail were either smelly or stained and wondered if this problem could be avoided.  And so, my idea for my Book Baggies came about.  I've been perfecting them and making sure they are lovely and bright and in just the right fabric for everyone to use.  And I've been taking one everywhere with me to use as a prototype in a lovely eye-catching colour.  And now, my PayPal account is up and running, I'm hoping it will be easier for people to contact me about them.

'Lost Pages' - a painting about Writers Block.

All four paintings I had done by mid-year.

'Chained to the Sink' - an artworks I did at a knitting worship in Sept.

'Melting Flowers: A Retrospective' - My most current work.

'Message In A Bottle: Part 1' - From my Archives

My New Book Baggies.

'Flower Power' - From My Archives

 So, what has your year brought you artistically?  Has your work moved forward?  Or are you at an unfortunate standstill?  Have you sold any of your work?  Have you made the papers in any way?  Let us know, leave a comment.  Love to hear from you all. 

Seven In One Go!

Today, I made great steps in my Book Baggies.  It's been a few weeks since I started working out the templates and sewed my first few on the sewing machine.  Today, I wanted to see how it would go doing them with a straight stitch and working with the folds the way they are.  And, you know, it all worked!  Each time I put the baggies through the machine, each one became easier and easier to do.  I found better and easier ways to work it.  By around 3:30pm (I began work at 12:30pm), I had gotten seven of the baggies done!  How good is that?  There are the ones you see here, a green one with stars on it, another with reindeer on it and another purple one (as well as the purple ones you see here).

I also made two more new templates that made inbetween sizes!  This will fix the problems of having something that may be too big or too small... there's the inbetween size that I can make for people who wish to stash notebooks or a certain sized book that is too big for the small one, but too small for the medium one.  So, here they are,  I have found great, thick, brighter fabrics that will look great and feel wonderful once I get them finished.

I'm going to personalise the book baggies with buttons and letters/initials so that they get a feel about them; a more personal feel of ownership.  Otherwise, I'll be sticking to thicker, vibrant fabrics that hold books or notepads.  

The price listing is below; along with a flat rate of postage and handling.  Let me know if you'd like to know anything else about this item.  I'll be more than willing to answer any questions.

Small: $5.00

Small-Medium: $7.00

Medium: $7.50

Medium-Skinny: $7.50

Medium-Large: $8.00

Large: $10.00

P/H: $5.00 flat rate.

If there's something you don't see - and would like done differently to yours (like an initial or something else), let me know, however it may add to the cost a little.

New Work - A Retrospective Piece

I've begun a new piece based on an old piece of work.  Years ago, I painted a vase of Melting Flowers that were sitting on my parent's kitchen table over a weekend as they wilted in the heat.  In my eyes, they were truly melting as each flower drooped in the Summer Heat and the petals fell to the table.  It wasn't hard to get the right feel for the heat in the painting.  However, my Mum hates the painting itself as she thinks it's creepy, to me it's just a vase of flowers with the colour of them melting onto the tabletop. 
This new painting it along the same lines, but it's a close-up of a couple of the flowers I painted all that time ago.  I only started it a few days ago; and I'm happy with the results so far.

Bribie Island - Full of Artworks and History

Yesterday, I went out with the other volunteers of the Logan Art Gallery for our annual Christmas Party to Bribie Island where we visited some great arty places.  The first was the Matthew Flinders Art Centre and an arts market which was next to it.  As we disembarked from the bus, we found the carpark was a lot cooler than the bus itself... how bad is that to know that we had been sweating it out even worse than the people outside?  

Well, I gave the art centre a miss and hit the market as I hadn't been to one in over a year; and I scored some Byron Bay coffee ($8.00), a cake of Neem soap and some Lemon and Myrtle soap as well - both $2.00.  There were wood-turners, people who turned a piece of wire into a bracelet, gems, knitters, gardeners... all kinds of people who did all kinds of arts.  I didn't get to see them all.

Too soon, we were back on the bus and off to the Bribie Island Bowls Club to have a lovely roast lunch.  The beautiful air conditioning made it hard for us to go back out into the heat of the day; but we did after we received our gifts of a wood-spun pen in a matching wooden case!  Beautiful and it writes well too!

The next place was a Seaside Museum which housed many things about Matthew Flinders, Bongaree and Ian Fairweather (who lived in a hut on Bribie Island for many years).  There was a lot of different exhibitions in this museum - traveling as well as permanent ones - and it was a great place to visit.  The only thing the pulled it down was that the place had only one toilet to service the whole building.  I bought a money box resembling Nemo (from the movie 'Finding Nemo'; as he was my favourite from the film); but found out today that I couldn't put in 50c pieces as they'll go in but won't come out - damn!

The whole day went by at a steamy, slow pace and we all bundled on board the hot bus where the air-conditioning didn't work and tried to have a bit of a siesta (and failed) even with the windows open.  I was so grateful to arrive home and have a nice cool shower to get the sweat and sunscreen off me.

John Hancock... and that's it!

Well, after a few weeks' work, I've finished up 'Lost Pages'.  Now, that makes it two paintings awaiting my signature because I'm on a roll with getting onto the next one!  Yesterday, I sanded down the next piece of Masonite, painted it green and it's currently waiting for me to begin an outline on it... of what I'm not sure.  This will be my 6th painting this year if I finish it before the year's out.

Lost Pages Update

I've been working hard on 'Lost Pages'.  However, recently, I had to stop and wait for my pay to come around and buy some blue paint.  The problem with this is that the paint I wanted - and needed - for the background didn't come in the bottle I wanted.  So, I have had to compromise and use a darker colour.  This is something I thought this was going to ruin the way the painting looked, however, it hasn't.

 I think the darker blue brings out the colours better and I'm now happy I bought it instead of trying to get the lighter colour exactly right.  I am still going to put the white where it originally was, and update all the other colours as well.  I hope this painting ends up looking better and fresher than it did before.

Photography

There's a few people out there who know I love to photograph pretty much anything that's out there; even if some people don't like it.  I'm often not without my camera and it's amazing what you can photograph when you're out and about these days; especially when you're not looking for anything specific.  I thought to share with you a few of my favourite photos I've taken in the last few months - and years - since I moved from film camera to a digital.  

Me meeting Sir James Galway and his wife Lady Jeanne 2010

A garden art piece outside the Con in Brisbane take last week or so.

A Temple given to Brisbane by the people of Nepal 1988.

Taken: 17th, Sept 2011 at 4:30pm

 I enjoy taking photos and these were taken on a Canon point and shoot... a very basic camera that I've had for a few years now; and takes a great photo in almost any light.

What photos have you taken with your most basic of cameras which has turned out great?  Please do share your best.