Back On My Feet!

Doesn't it drive you to distraction when you turn into a clutz overnight?  Well, that happened three weeks ago when I tripped down the last two steps in my house and broke one of my toes in my left foot!  Now, a day or so ago, my niece has done the very same thing to the same toe on the other foot!  However, she did it during Tae Kwon Doe.  At least she wasn't being a clutz like her Aunty.

And now, I'm able to get around my place - and go some distance - without the use of the walking cane, I'm able to do some gardening and get into the painting again.  I'm absolutely stoked to work on at my easel by the back door!  However, over the last week - while I was still resting up a bit - I sorted out my paintbrushes; and tossed out three-quarters of them!  Yes, I had that many dreadfully old ones in the containers that I didn't realise they had built up.  So, into the bin they went and the small handful I had left are the ones I have to use.  There's another five or six that are in another container of medium-sized brushes and larger brushes that are contained with the paint - and within easy reach. 

So, I've bought new brushes, sorted out old ones, started painting again and have enjoyed working on my self-portrait again.  And it's always good to have new brushes to work with when you really do need them; especially detailing brushes.  Now, it won't be long until it's finished and I can work on the next painting - which is also half finished as well.  This one is one I worked on while I was sitting in the lounge one day and I got an idea for it while I had my foot up... so I sat there with some paint, water and brushes and worked on it while watching television.  After two hours I had gotten some really great work completed.  I haven't taken a recent photo of it yet, and will upload one soon.  Until my next post, keep creating!  

Out of Action

I've been out of action this week... not in any horrible way, just a broken toe has slowed me down.  So, instead of working on my portrait (which is still sitting by the back door under an old tablecloth awaiting completion; and new detailing brushes), I've been knitting up a storm in front of the television.  

I was hoping to get a few good feet going on the scarf, but I haven't.  I have got a few inches... hehe... funny how it all goes to waste when you think you're going to get something done.  But my foot is healing well.  I have been watching some shows and movies on dvd that I have forgotten about and I've been reading as well.  So I'm glad I'm catching up with a few other things that have been neglected.  I'll soon be back working on my paintings and other arty things too. So, until my next post, keep creating!

New Self-Portrait

I'm doing another self-portrait.  This one isn't like last year's where I didn't use a mirror or photograph.  This year's portrait, I got some help from an artist friend who was I modeling for to take some photos of me.  Well, he needed some for his work and so I thought to use them for mine as well.  So, what do you think of the colour so far.  I won't reveal the whole portrait until it's finished completely.

Henri Matisse Exhibition

Yesterday, I was off to the GoMA here in Brisbane to see the Matisse Exhibition of his drawings.  I caught two buses in and walked to the place in the heat of the first day of March to find that there were over 20 school groups and hundreds of people arriving for the day to do exactly what I was there for.  

After paying my way in to see his works, I walked through the door and found the walls covered with a massive collection of his drawings, etchings and engravings from his entire life which he devoted to art.  There wasn't a single day that passed where he wasn't drawing something - anything - and he mainly drew to warm up himself to get into painting.  Even though there were only a few paintings in the collection, it was the people who influenced him that astounded me.

Picasso, Van Gogh and other Masters of his time - such as Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres all influenced him in how he worked; and he took the time to try out their styles as well as work on his own style.  He tried out Picasso's cubism, Van Gogh's impressionism and landscapes and Ingres' Arabesque to see if he could do these styles.  And once he mastered them, he worked on his own skills and works; even through both WWI and WWII, he was working his craft.  Between 1927 - 1930, Matisse devoted himself exclusively to printmaking.  However, once had mastered this - and perfected the technique - he became restless; and so packed up his belongings and set sail for the USA and eventually Tahiti.

As I walked around the large rooms with all this work on the walls and inside glass-covered tables, I noticed he had used almost all the differing types of styles of art.  From pencil to charcoal, to watercolour, coloured pencil to ink, Matisse, used all of the ways to get his arts onto the page or canvas; and he was forever learning.  He even used Classical Motifs and mythological figures as inspiration for his works as well to keep his artistic juices going.

I found a lot of this work overwhelming and wished I had been there to visit as soon as the exhibit had opened last year; so I could come back and visit again today - to see it again and find something new about it again - however I didn't and now I regret that.  But as I found myself at the end of the seemingly endless rooms of Matisse' work, I found myself in a Drawing Room where there were people sitting around with clipboards sketching still life pieces and statues.  A lady at the door had handed me a pencil and invited me to draw something in the Drawing Room.  I was absolutely delight!  I thanked her and looked at the boxes of clipboards with A4 and A3 sized parchments attached to clipboards.  I pulled out an A3 sized clipboard, walked around and found a stool, pulled it around to a side view of a statue and sat, put my bag on the ground and began drawing.  I gave myself 2 minutes and drew as fast as I could.  It's a fun exercise to do this... and I came up with something that looked good too.

I was advised that there was a model coming in - fully-dressed - at around 11:30am until 1pm, however I had other plans after this place.  So, I couldn't stick around, no matter how tempting it was.  So, I handed my clipboard back, folded up my sketch, kept my pencil and went to the gift shop.  After looking around, I purchased a handful of lovely bookmarks... all Matisse ones.  It may be the cheapest way of buying souvenirs, but I'm a reader, and enjoy remembering great things like this.  Until my next post, keep creating!

New To You

Have you ever worked on something in where it's new to you?  For me, it's self-portraits.  I'm not a person who can draw or paint people all that easily, so I've avoided trying as I get the perspective all wrong.  However, last year, while  I was stuck for something new to paint, one of my friends suggested that I try out doing my first self-portrait.  

It was a great success.

A lot of people didn't think it looked like me though.  However a self-portrait is what you look like to you; nobody else.  And your first one never looks all that great... just like your first painting never looks great.

This year, I've begun working on another self-portrait and it's from a different perspective completely, one where I needed some assistance from one of artist friends.  He needed me to model for him for a new line of work he's doing; and I needed a new lot of photos to work from with my self-portrait.  So, we killed two birds with one stone and I modelled for both of our ideas last week.

I picked out a half-lotus pose where I'm meditating for two of my Chacras and he's picked out another of a reclining pose.  Both are coming along quite well.  however, I'm not going to reveal anything just yet; unlike my other pieces, this one will be kept a secret until it's completely finished.  There's a lot of work to be done on it and I'm very excited about it... and so far it does look very promising.

So do tell, where in your art life have you needed a change - wanted it - and didn't know how to go about it?  And when you did change and work on it, did it work out?  Did you try something new or take something old and turn it on its ear?  Did everything work out?  Leave a comment and let us know, love to know what you're all working now now.  Until my next post, keep creating!

Art Books

Besides working on art, attending workshops and walking through galleries full of the work of arts from all over the world (or just around my area), I have a nice little collection of books about art.  One of the first books I remember picking up is a little, thick book on Vincent Van Gogh.  This artist is one of the reasons why I took up painting and also why I keep going with it.  He had the worse medical problems around; and to make things worse, he didn't just have one problem, he had a few.  There was Manic Depression, Epilepsy and Bi-Polar; all of which really screwed with how he lived.  But could he paint!  His brother had a similar condition, but he had it under control; unlike poor Vincent.

The only other book I have on one other artist is 'Michael Whelan's Works of Wonders'.  It's a collection of his cover art; of what it looked like as a book cover and what it looked like before it became a book cover with his description of how he came up with it to start with.  This is a book I stumbled upon in a Life Line where it was hiding from the world on the top of a bookcase and it only cost me $4.00.  When I got it home, I looked it up on the net and found out that it's out of print and worth so very much more!  Now, it's one of my most prized possessions in more ways than one.

Other books I have collected are about how to get my brain to work the right way to be an artist.  I know this sounds strange, but 'The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron and 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' by Betty Edwards are two such books that have helped me in the past.  Even though I rarely use them now, it's always good to know they are here in my bookcase just in case I need them - or somebody in my family does.  

The most interesting books about art I receive are always from my Mum.  She bought me 'Essential Impressionists' by Antonia Cunningham.  This book covers a wide range of Impressionists from all over the artistic arena who changed the art world.  Some of them I like; some I don't.  But they are all there in this wonderfully large, heavy book to see; in full colour!  Another book Mum bought me - and I love delving into just to exercise my brain a little - is 'Incredible Visual Illusions' by Al Seckal.  This is a book full of the most brilliant visual illusions that by the end you'll have a headache, but it's always fun to look at some of them; especially if you wish to put something like them in your paintings or sculptures.  This kind of book can give you great ideas.

The last set of books are something I bought on a whim; and didn't think much of until recently.  They are 3-volume set of home decorators books from the 1940's.  The first book shows you how to paint a house... from peeling the paint, choosing your colours, brush size, primer to the the final coat.  The other two volumes work on the inside of the house; showing you how to wallpaper, choose wood panelling, shades, curtains and how to get your house looking very modern.  These kinds of books don't exist in these sets anymore; so I picked this set up very cheaply at a charity store and kept them as I find this is another type of art form in itself of interior design.

So, what kinds of art books do you own in your bookcases?  Are they up-to-date and modern, of your favourite artists lives or do they date back centuries?  Or are they all to do with the other side of the arts - the learning side of it all - where you delve into the studies of the arts?  Love to know which books you guys own.  Until my next post, keep creating!

Not All Black and White

I have to tell the truth:  I got stuck with the Melting Flowers painting.  My detailing brushes are stuffed and the ones I received for Christmas aren't the ones I was hoping for.  So, I have to put that painting on hold until I can get my hands on new detailing brushes to replace my old ones.

So, I pulled out another piece of canvasboard that had been painted over and painted it green (which, for some reason, helps me with new work) and started painting a black and white painting.  About a week ago, I was talking one of my friends and said that I'd love to do a painting completely in black and white; and the shades of grey in between.  It would be a real challenge.  However, as I started out, I realised this one wouldn't be completely like this.  It's going to have some colour in the middle; showing there is colour in the world of black'n'white.  I only started it today.  What do you think so far?

The World Loses Dorothea Tanning

This afternoon - just now in fact - I was perusing the ninemsn.com.au site for some news (as I hate watching the news on television; it's all so depressing when it comes from there) and I found out that Dorothea Tanning passed away a couple of days ago; aged 101.  
I don't know much about this artist, however, I have found her home site on Google where her passing has been announced by The Dorothea Tanning Foundation.


Dorothea Tanning

On this site, it tells more of her life than I ever could.

Melting Flowers Update

This painting is coming along in leaps and bounds.  As with most of my other paintings, music usually helps me focus; and this is no exception.  I do love to paint, however my paintings take so long because I like to have the colours at such a vibrancy they look as good dry as they do wet...

Knit, Knit, Knitting!

It's been such a long time since I got into knitting a scarf... and the way I'm knitting one is a fun way of doing it.  The one thing is that I didn't know it would grow so fast; or look so nice.  The colours I've used all work well with each other and - even though they are so very different from each other - they are just beautiful.  here are the photos of the scarf currently.  I'll get a full measurement of the scarf once I'm close to finishing it.  

Now, remember to put in your posts for how long you think it'll be to win my patchwork scarf... or scrap scarf.  I'll be adding in tassels and making it look good too.  If it doesn't get raffled off, I'll be keeping it as a part of my wardrobe.