The Home Festival

What a day it was yesterday!  I was up by 7am and out the door by 9:30am.  All my gear fitted in my bag and my little blue trolley.  The day was nice, clear and fine - just as we had hoped it would be.  And it wasn't a scorching hot day either.  

The Art Installation was called 'The Pop-Up Museum' (I didn't know it was called that until yesterday afternoon) and it attracted a lot of attention from the public. People were reading my book and enjoying the pages in the trees as well as the other artist's collections.  It turned out to be a great hang-out spot for a lot of people.  And as the day wore on, and the sun moved, there was plenty of shade thrown by our tree and it was used by the performance poets and community choirs.  People enjoyed the shade and basked in the sun as well; lazing about under the tree with the extra plastic leaves, reading my pink/red leaves and the larger ones of green that Doug Cartwright had put up.  

Too soon, though, it had all had to come down.  We were all tired from the day, eating and laughing.  I had gone to the jumble sale and bought myself plenty of goodies to add to my various collections and scored myself a first edition of an American poet from 1968 - which stunned my fellow collectors - for only $2.  My brother, his fiance and my niece were there to see the installation; only to unfortunately take off and not able to see the rest of the festival.  Oh well, there's always next year's.  I hope you enjoy the photos below I've put together.

The Home Festival 2012 

Jumble Sale Scores 

Christmas Presents

Yep, you guys read right.  I'm beginning my hand-made presents now.  You see, from now until Christmas, the months seem to zoom by and I find that it's a lot easier to get in and begin my Christmas presents bought and paid for now than at any other time - plus I can sit back in December and have nothing to worry about except the grocery shopping.

This month, I've begun a set of dolly pegs for my brother and his fiance.  They're going well so far.  And I'm also knitting up a storm for a married couple I know who are having a baby in December - but their baby shower is next month - and so I must get their bits finished soon.

I'm hoping to get my niece an easel for her art works this year for Christmas to use from IKEA.  I bought one from there and I hope I can get another just like it so she can paint outside, inside or wherever she wants.

I'm not sure what to get Mum and Dad for Christmas... well, not yet anyway.  But the family gift is the family album on the wall of my home.  It's been fun to do and I hope it works.  I'll keep you all informed in how it turns out in the end - which will be closer to Christmas.  Well, until my next post, keep creating.

Baby Goodies

I've been busy over the last few months knitting baby goodies for friends of mine.  From the moment I found out, I dug out all the knitting patterns I had and found bonnets, hats and any yarn that looked lovely and tri-coloured to knit something original and useful.  

And now, I'm up to my last piece:  a second baby square.  I've knitted up one and it looks lovely and cuddly and very much something a parent would use to spread out on the ground to keep baby off the dirt for a moment to change their nappy or to put into the bottom of the pram to add a little more warmth over a cooler day before other covers over their bundle of joy with more covers to keep them warm.

I've also knitted three 6-month hats with a loop on the top so it's easy to pull the hat off if they need to.  And there's one sweet little new-born hat with a loop on it too - just in case when little baby's born, the weather is cooler than expected (as their little one's due in December; and if you remember what Christmas in Brisbane was like last year, you'd all agree it was a little on the cooler side).

I hope you guys enjoy seeing the almost completed pressie I've got for my friends.  It's taken me over three months of solid knitting at night - and during every afternoon (including weekends) to get this all done!  The baby blanket/square too me around 6 times to get started; with the stitch I wanted to use.  And it's turned out wonderful!  

Baby Pressie - 1 

Baby Pressie - 2 

Baby Pressie - 3 

Baby Pressie - 4

Art Opening At A Hair Saloon!

How cool does this sound?  Yep, I went out to a very cool art opening at Retrograde Hair Saloon at Holland Park tonight; and the artist was Sandra Hosking with her 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' exhibition opening!  And what a success it was!

There was so much food and drinks and great people there I loved it.  Mum and I totally enjoyed ourselves as we took numerous photos of the large paintings that were hung around the main front room, the wash room and out the back.  There was even a back area for the smokers - or for people to get away from the crowds - where there were braziers all lit up and hot to keep us warm while outside in the safety of a fenced off yard.

The atmosphere of the opening reflected the style and feel of the mixed media of the paintings which have been put together with feathers, hats, false eyelashes, buttons, paint, resin, lacquer and glitter... as well as other things I've missed, but Sandra has used a lot of things to express how much girls love to dance, shop, dress up, party and have long soaks in bubble baths as well as flirt with guys.  One artist who is most definitely worth looking out for!  

Girls Just Want To Have Fun Exhibition  

Home Festival Postponed!

Over the last few days, I've been informed that the Home Festival has been postponed from today to 25th August.  This is because the weather has been unpredictable and wet; and the park wouldn't be any good to anyone if it's a mud-city.  So, they're hoping it'll dry out well enough for the festival to take place a week after the RNA Show here in Brisbane.

As for my art works?  Well, the Altered Book is now complete and ready for show.  The pages I've laminated are ready - except I need to buy fishing line and that's it.  So... that's all there is now.  Just that fishing line.  I punched the holes in the tops of the pages last night with a single hole-punch last night after dinner and set the rest of the pages to one side.  And below is the the collage of the Altered Book!  I'm so excited about it! 

Altered Book - Complete! 

Finishing Touches

Over the weekend and the last day or so, I've been working on the Altered Book like a crazy person.  I have gotten off here and been sitting at the kitchen table for 2 and 3 hours at a time without a break just to get it finished before the deadline.  How exhausting!

But as of today, it will be finished!  I have just one more page to finish gluing up and then I can paint up the rest of it!  How cool is that?

Right now, I've glued up the last lot of pages together and organised the last piece of paper to write on to go into it.  The paint plate is in the fridge ready to be used and I'm going to paint all afternoon today.

However, I'm so happy I've gotten as much done as I have over the last week.  Here's some links to the work so far:

Altered Book Cover 1 

Altered Book Cover 2

Over the next day or so, I'll upload more photos and show you all how it finished up before I send it off to the Logan Art Gallery to be dropped off for the Collector's Exhibition.  I have uploaded other photos into the album on the side bar; however as usual, Photobucket isn't behaving itself.  So, I'll upload some links here as well.

Gustav Klimt at 150 Years Young!

This morning, I was cooking breakfast when I received a phone call from my folks letting me know of Gustav Klimt's 150th Birthday this year.  Personally, I haven't heard of him, so I noted down the site Mum told be, ate breakfast and jumped on here to look it up.

And I'm totally amazed at the paintings this man did!  How beautiful!  How modern!  How do I put my amazement into words?  I can't.  Instead, I'll leave the link here for you all to click on and you can have a look for yourselves at this amazing artist's work.  I just find it hard to believe a lot of these works were done over a century ago.

Gustav Klimt 

Progress Report

I've been busy with the Altered Book and I thought to show you guys some photos of it.  But some apologies about the album.  It's not organising as it should; so I've put in the numbers of the photos to look for.  Just put your mouse over the photo until you find it and it should have the number already on it... Photobucket can have its problems.

Anyway, I have come to the last stretch of my Altered Book.  It's almost finished and I've been painting a rainbow through it - to keep the people who pick it up reading it, following the colours through it and the children's eyes occupied as well with pretty colours.  Otherwise, there have been some setbacks; such as the weather.  It's been wet and cold here, which means it's been taking longer for the glue to dry.  Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

Photos for this post:

Altered Book Thus Far

 

Homework

I've been busy as anyone can get.  In between catching up with my housework, grocery shopping and cooking, I've been doing my art project for the Home Festival.

I've been fortunate enough to avoid the colds and flu going around (touch wood!) and so have been working on the Altered Book this week.  So far, I've worked on two pages in the last two days, and this morning glued three pages together in preparation for the next lot of artwork to do this afternoon.

I've been able to work on this project for about 2 hours each day after figuring out what I want to say.  But first, I'll glue four or five pages together in advance, then further along in the book, I'll pull out a couple of chapters so it'll work better, the book will be shorter - but the spine isn't damaged - and it'll keep up the appearance of being a proper-looking thick book. 

By the end of this week, I hope to be getting into the painting and fixing up the exterior of the book; as it's a black hardcover; and I don't want its appearance to put people off.  Well, until my next post, keep creating!

Collector's Workshop - Week 4

Today, I was away early and catching the bus by 11:25am.  I wanted to get there by midday, eat my lunch and jump straight into working on my altered book.  When I arrived at the Logan Art Gallery, I was the first to show!  I thought we had agreed to meet at midday; but everyone else didn't.  Oh well, I got into working on my book after my lunch of Ratatouille and a nice hot Milo.

I unpacked my backpack, pulled out old 'Good Reading' and 'Writer's Journal' Magazines and found a pair of scissors and picked through them over the next hour or so until everyone else arrived.  And before I knew it, they all did - one by one - and so did the people who were bringing the laminating machine (which I've never used before).  Once we got it to the right setting, which was the hotter setting, I started slotting my painted up - ready - pages into the pockets and feeding them into the machine.  They came out better than I thought!  And now all I have to do is get a pair of scissors and take off the excess laminate.

I went through my magazines another 3 or 4 times and still brought them home just in case I missed something in them.  But I didn't glue or paint anything.  So, tomorrow, I'll be working on the next phase of my story in them.  After I've got the whole story finished up, I'll work over it again and paint the background with a detailing brush and some bright colours.

Photos for this blog post:

2 photos of the desk full of work and laminated pages - No. 054 & 52

1 photo of a laminated page of my work up close - No. 53

1 photo of the laminating machine - No. 55