Is Your House An Art Gallery?

Okay, I don't mean, a real one, I mean do you have pieces of work around that you've collected from across the world or across town or even across generations that mean a lot to you; so much that you thought it deserved a place on your wall?  I can say that I do.  So, here's a photographic list of my work around my small - yet lovely - home.

 At the top of the stairs you can see this century-old mirror from my front door.  It was first owned by my Great-Grandmother.  What a lovely piece of artwork; and I love it being in my home.

 I bought this piece at an auction to raise money for the Breast Cancer Foundation of Queensland.  It's a Wayne Clements original and he painted it at Centro at Springwood years ago.  It was the last time I saw him doing public work.

 This is a Darcy Doyle print that a friend of mine posted up to me from Melbourne for one of my birthdays.  I love his work and it was lovely of her to send it all that way for my birthday.

 Now, I've been wanting to hang this in the house, but haven't found a hook strong enough for it.  So, the unfortunate thing has happened that it's stuck behind the television for now.  I want to hang it in the stairwell along with other works of mine.

 This is just outside the kitchen and is a spin-off of the above one behind the television.  I do love it; but it didn't sell at the exhibition.  And that's unfortunate.

 I bought this one in Chester, UK for 10 pounds.  We had a limited amount of time to wander around the city; but I didn't want to walk around too much as I had friends I was coming back who wanted to surprise me.  So, I stuck to looking at the East Gate Clock and the wall; and found an artist who was selling some lovely work... and I thought to buy this one.  This ones is just inside my bedroom door.

 This is my own work called 'Eighteen Butterflies'.  Trust me, there's 18 there!  I get a lot of people saying there's not, but there is.  It's a great optical illusion that played well at an art competition at Brunswick Heads. This one's above my bed.

 This lovely one is across from my bed, next to my bedroom window and I look at it every night before retiring and wake to it every morning.  Sitting Bull really does help me keep my head about me and the Commandments ring so true in today's society.

 Two of my favourite movie stars are always watchin' me... and a great artist too!  These have been on my wardrobe door since I moved into my unit in 2002.  After Heath's death, I just haven't had the heart to take his down.

 This one was bought at a Blockbuster Video store... actually I put it on layby and clean forgot about it!  Then, one day, the manager told me they needed me to pay off my layby and pulled it out absolutely covered in dust!  So, out came my wallet and I paid it off!  Thank God I had driven the car down that day; it had also begun to rain too.

Signed On The Dotted Line...

Today, after a few things were done around the ridges of Logan, I got onto a computer with a printer/scanner attached and signed the contract to the Traffic Signaling Boxes.  It feels so good that I'll be working on one of these things and Mum wants to be my companion while I'm there (as it's in the contract that I must have a second person with me for safety reasons).  

So, all I need to do is wait now... how tense... how fun... how... exciting!  I can't wait until I get my box goodies (paint, rules and flouro vest) and get into working on this box that will be out in the public eye for all to see.

First I'll have to talk to the residents who live right on the fenceline of it and let them know I'll be there for a few days and that I'm not casing their place or a prowler of any kind; just your run-of-the-mill artist trying to make the world a better place through art and paint.

I hope this works... I really do.. as if it does, I'll be doing more of the Traffic Signaling Boxes around Logan.  The people at Clayfield said that I was the first to put my hand up to paint one that they know of because of the area.  I'll keep you all posted about how it goes; and I'll take before and after photos of it too!

I'm also still working on my knitting.  I'm in the process of making a blanket for next Winter for the lounge; seeing how cold it's been getting.  I'm enjoying it and it's progressing nicely.  All the squares are going well.  After about 25 or so, I'll be stitching them all together and then doing a blanket stitch around the whole thing to keep it from falling apart.  But that'll be a few months into the future yet.

Until my next post, keep knitting and keep creating!

A New Project!

It's been a long time since I wrote here; and I have a good reason.  There really hasn't been all that much going on for me in my arty ways.  So, I thought to change that.

I volunteered to paint up one of the Traffic Signaling Boxes that are around the street corners here in Logan.  Now, normally, the Main Roads Department don't reach out as far as Logan City, but seeing the one I've had my eye on is on a road that is one that is on an arterial road, they have let me have a go.

After my third design being handed into the TSB Urban Smart Project people at Clayfield through their site online, they said they'd accept it!  So, all I needed to do was let them know of the dates and sign their contract.  I've put in the dates and will be signing the contract as soon as possible (tomorrow) and then, I'll be getting in and painting my first TSB... what a lot of fun!

Once I've got this one under my arty belt, I can others.  Hopefully, bringing colour to an otherwise very dull part of Logan City.  I hope to get more done in the future.

I'll keep you guys informed about others I hope to be doing soon, what the design looks like in the sketch book and what it'll look like once finished on the boxes and you'll be able to find it too once I get my name working around the area.

Until my next post on my arty works and other outsider artworks I've found for you.  Keep knitting and keep being creative.

New Projects In Progress

At long last, I've completely painted up all the Dolly Pegs!  Yep, that's that particular project complete!  This afternoon, I sprayed them with varnish as they sat connected to an old glass coffee percolator container and then as each one came to the end of drying, I hung them on the line to dry faster in the breeze.  It's always the inside pieces that don't dry all that well when they're positioned like this.  By the time all of them were almost ready to come inside, there were only about eight that had to be put back onto the edge of the pot to finish up inside.

Smelly work... really smelly work considering I'm working with aerosol varnish and I have to be outside for this part.  But the end product is absolutely worthwhile!

My next project is to do with painting again and collage.  I'll be back into finishing my uncompleted works and doing collage work; just like before.  However, I'll also be painting a Traffic Signaling Box down the road from me.  First, though, I'll have to get my design into the people at Clayfield before next week is up.  I'll express post it and it'll be okay.  I hope I get the job; even though it's on a volunteer basis, I know it'll be fun.

The one thing I'll have to do is let the people know who have the TSB right outside their house what I'll be doing there in case they think I'm some creepy person sussing out their house for the next week or so.  Once I know I've got permission to paint the box, I'll let them know what I'm up to.  I'm really excited about this project because it'll mean my art is out in public and I'll be able to do more of them around Logan City if I want to (seeing not many Logan artists want to do them). 

Well... now, I've updated my arty things with you guys, I'll keep you uptodate with photos too soon in the coming weeks.  Take care and until my next post, keep knitting and keep creating.

Adding Colour to the Clothes Line

To some, pegs are pegs; they are used to hang out

the laundry, made of plastic and go brittle after a year or so of use.

For me, my pegs are Dolly Pegs bought from the hardware store; they are durable and very much a part of my artworks as they are a part of my laundry.  However, when I moved into my unit, I found that I didn't have the most honest of neighbours.  I found that some of my plastic pegs were going missing and my clothes were on ground - my clean clothes that I had just washed and hung out. 

So, this is when I brought the Dolly Pegs out and painted them up, varnished them and used them.  They added colour and pizazz to my daily use of the clothes line.  And they caused me to catch out my neighbours as thieves of clothes pegs.  Now, this may seem petty; but when the said neighbours had a container overflowing with my plastic pegs (as well as theirs), I had a right to take back my nicely painted wooden ones.  Don't they look just lovely? 

They have lasted around six years and I've begun painting up another lot of them to add to the growing number I have with new designs.  I had dedicated some to my favourite footy team, one to my budgie and others to my country and favourite colours.  It's a fun way to not only pass the time but to also make hanging out the laundry fun.  The best thing is:  on a really windy day, my laundry will stay on the line.

Ron Mueck Exhibition an Absolute Must!

Yesterday, I bussed it into Brisbane City to visit the GoMA and see Ron Mueck's current exhibition of his lifelike figures of people and animals.  At $10 for Concession card holders, I could hardly pass this one up.  So, I arrived armed with my camera and was asked to keep the flash switched off and encouraged to take as many as I wanted.  I told the people that I was a blogger and that I'd have the photos on the net by the time this weekend was over.

However, the quality was absolutely brilliant.  I had seen the interviews on the art shows on the ABC and seen the photos they had shown on tv.  However, seeing his work up close and personal is the only way to experience it.

Do take the time out here in Brisbane, QLD to go and see it.  I have found it the most wonderful and display of sculpture in a long time.  Some of it is very

touching; like the baby.  While other parts are funny, like the turkey all bled out, plucked and ready to be roasted; strung up by its menacing-looking feet with its rather pathetic wings hanging out at its sides.  This display of art will touch anyone who goes to see it in many ways.  Each piece has its own

personality and will keep you thinking about what he will do next.  As for me, I loved the woman in the bed who was sitting there looking like she was thinking of something while looking of into the distance.  The one that really touched a sensitive nerve in me was the old lady who was wrapped up in

bed with just her poor, wrinkled face showing.  She appeared to be waiting for something; almost hoping to die sooner rather than later.

So, if you have a spare few hours on your hands, do take the time to venture into the Gallery of Modern Art here in Brisbane and pay the $12 for adults and $10 for Concession, and see Ron Mueck.  It is well worth it.

Exchanging of Gifts at a Glassworks

I was out and about today to a friend's house in Logan Central.  I bussed it to Doug Cartwright's place to help him with starting up a blog for an artist who needed something that was easy to maintain and was in the public light enough that people would find it.  So, of course, I insisted he uses Blogger because it will show up on Google.

On the way over, I found that there was more graffiti tags than art all over the footbridge; but they were very colourful.  So, I took photos of them.  However, his house was full of arty things; and Doug isn't just a glassworks guy.  he's an oil painter too and has had many exhibitions around the place; including the Logan Art Gallery.

Once lunch was, Doug showed me his studio downstairs where there was so much work he had done, glass sitting around in containers for his famous jewelry boxes that are sold at the LAG and much larger pieces standing up in tall slots waiting to be used in other larger pieces of work.  He began working on a small box when I looked on and began working on it my self.

Over the afternoon, I worked on getting the pieces of glass

together and soldering them, then worked on the sides and mirrored bottom.  After each piece, there was the copper sulfate, washing and polishing to do then more soldering.  It was a slow process; not one for the impatient type (which fortunately for me, I can have a lot of patience when it's required).  Doug found that I picked up the glass work very quickly and was impressed that once I put my mind to something like this, I could do it under

supervision.  I had a few problems, but nothing that Doug couldn't fix.  And now, I have a lovely little jewelry box that I had been meaning to purchase from the Logan Art Gallery Store.  Isn't it just lovely?

Doug's boxes come in three sizes and he also makes business card holders and other arty things out of broken mobile phones and stained glass too.  

Mooloolaba Public Art.

I've been here a week and have found the most amazing public art around here.  And the even more amazing thing is that none of it is tagged or graffitied; unlike some of the good public art I see around Logan.  So, it goes to show how good a lot of it is.

There's the work on The Esplanade along the beachfront area of my hotel; what's better known as the tourist strip.  It's full of shops and food courts, but it's also full of cool public art that nobody seems to notice, but Mum and I did.

There's one that is a 3D picture of a surfboard in a good swell and what you're supposed to do is get on it and have somebody take a photo of you at a particular point in the picture.  We tried it, but it was at the wrong time of day; but we understood how it was supposed to work!  And I thought it was great!

Then, there were the thongs that were just sitting there on one of many flagstone seats; two pairs of them.  I can imagine how many people have tried to pick them up and failed!  But they look very much the Queensland emblem.

I found a traffic control box with the most amazing scene paint on it!  Yes!  At last I found one that looks as brilliant as the last one.  And just look at the colours and how the beach wraps around it!  I love it!  I just wish the artists in Brisbane thought outside the square and painted what they wish they could see instead of what they did around them.  But this one is just lovely! 

In the foyer of the Mantra on the Beach Hotel, they had their own art all around too!  I found these fish-like statues and just had to photograph them; however one of them was broken and so I had to cut them from the picture, but the others were okay.  Aren't they amazing?  

We're on our last morning here in Mooloolaba and so I better be going.  The next time you hear from me, I'll be back in Brisbane.  Take care, keep knitting and keep creating.

Public Art and Outsider Art

I've found there's a difference between Public Art and Outsider Art... but it's very subtle.  I do enjoy these kinds of art, yet you find it hard to tell the difference between them.  For example, the two I found yesterday and last night are so similar and yet worlds apart.

The first one was on the footpath and the type I usually photograph for you all.  I loved it that Mum and I stumbled upon it.  It's something we all see every day and yet we seem to ignore or admire but don't get our cameras out for.  I'd love to get my paint brushes out for these, but find it hard to get to these things.  It's a type of control box; and just look at how it's been painted up!  Don't you just love it?

The next type of art was found on the front of a house.  I won't tell you where (as I don't want the residants having people looking too hard), but it's up on the Sunshine Coast.  This one is done by a local artist and they built them into a whole lot of the newer houses around 10 years ago.  When my relatives bought the house, it was included; and I've loved it since, but never got around to photographing it until now.  Isn't it just lovely?  

Today, Mum and I are off on a day trip to Eumundi and the Ginger Factory at Yandina.  You never know what we'll find around that way.  Until my next post, keep creating!

Art in Mooloolaba

Currently, I'm holidaying at the Sunshine Coast for a week and thought to keep an eye out for outsider art while I'm here.  So, what I've found isn't exactly outsider art, but it's art nonetheless.

While at my Aunt and Uncle's house yesterday for lunch, I spotted some great artworks on their shelves I haven't seen anywhere else (well, some of it looked like Chris Trotter stuff; but it wasn't heavy enough or big enough and it was made in China).  

Then, once we arrived here at the Mantra Hotel, I saw the sculpture in the foyar and thought it was a wonderful piece and found it was worthy of being here (as well as 365project).  So, these are the ones I've found so far.  Otherwise, I'll keep you guys posted about any other art I'll find while up here... we have the Eumundi Markets to get to tomorrow.  There'll be plenty there I'm sure.