The Countdown

Today being the 24th of October means I have exactly 8 calendar months till my exhibition opens in Melbourne. I am working on a whole new body of work for this exhibition and as you can already see the work will be with a 50s, 60s and 70s retro theme. I want 20 good paintings for this exhibition so I did some quick calculations. Allowing time for the festive season and organising the transportation and allowing travelling and hanging time etc. etc., I need to do 3 paintings a month. With all my other womanly duties (sexist I know :P) and commitments it means head down and bum up for this little duck hehehe. Its just a little mini freak out, nothing to worry about. Of course any retro ideas or memories you might have would be welcomed. In fact any inspiration at all.

In The Groove

I haven't had much painting time but I thought I would show you my work in progress. Next week looks a lot quieter so I'm hoping for some much needed studio time. This painting already has the title 'In The Groove'. Another retro painting that's in the planning stages is another 'wallpaper' piece with a set of ceramic flying ducks on it. I hope I can pull that one off. I think it would look hilarious on a wall instead of the actual ceramic ducks. Maybe its just my humour hehehe.

I recently joined the Adelaide Art Society and they are having a members exhibition. I am delivering 3 painting today and I'm still undecided which ones to take. The exhibition will be opened on Saturday 30th October 2010 at 2pm and runs until Sunday 14th November 2010 at Adelaide Art Society, 112 Margaret St, North Adelaide. Come and have a look if you are in the neighbourhood. Check the website for opening times.

The other bit of news is the lovely postcard I got from my cyber friend Julie in the UK. I am a big fan of her work and she sent me a post card of one of her drawings. A lovely surprise and its sitting on my shelf where I can see it daily. If you haven't seen Julie's work its well worth a look. She is a warm hearted story teller and her work is sure to put a smile on your face. Thanks again Julie :)

Ok its time for me to get off the computer and work out which paintings to enter into the members exhibition.

Art Business

This art business is keeping me so busy. I hope to have time to do a proper post soon. Not much time spent in the studio although I have made a good start on my retro painting. More soon .....

Experiments

You know how Picasso had his 'Blue Period'? Well I am entering my 'Retro Period' hehehe. Well at least I hope I am. I recently found some images from an old calender that Bob's mum had kept for whatever reason. They were all of retro rooms and the main feature was the (ugly) wallpaper. Well that just set off my imagination. The last few months I have been playing around (in my head) with the idea of retro paintings featuring the (ugly) wallpaper. I've had work to finish for competitions and then travelling to Melbourne so I've not had time to physically do anything towards my 'retro period'. I have had a lot of time to think. I do a lot of thinking before any painting actually begins. When I was in art school we had to put all our ideas down in a journal. I always had trouble with that. I prefer to think and as the ideas develop I do little experiments like a mad scientist mwa-ha-ha. Yesterday was experiment day. And very tiring using my brain that much hehehe. I need to create a 'wallpaper' pattern without actually recreating it (if that makes sense). No point actually recreating it. If that was the case I might as well just paint on wallpaper. I wanted to hint at a pattern and create a certain mood rather than reproducing the wallpaper exactly. I thought for a long time that stamping would be the way to go and I thought those foam craft sheets for kids might make good stamps.

These all fit inside each other so each hippie circle can be a different colour. A little bit of tape for a handle so I don't get paint everywhere. The next thing is I wanted to extend my use of text. Text is an important part of my work as you know and its where most of my work starts. Years ago on my old computer I played around with layering text on Photoshop. I used the manual and followed the tutorial step by step. I don't remember how its done but I thought I could give it a try again. Trouble is my manual is for Photoshop 6 and my version now is CS4. I did give it a try but its changed too much for a computer illiterate like me to cope with, sigh. Brain started ticking over. I will just have to do it another way. I use the gel medium image transfer method quite a bit. Why can't I do different fonts, sizes and tones to create the text layering? I printed out some smaller text in black and then some larger in mid grey all in reverse so the text comes out the right way when you do the transfer. Bob was going to the hardware shop so I got him to do some photocopies while he was out (ink jet prints don't work).
Now remember this is a quick experiment and I didn't wait for the gel medium to dry properly so its a bit rough and all the paper bloom wasn't removed properly etc. What it revealed is the smaller black text shows through the larger mid grey text which was transferred on top woohoo!!! Dance of joy!!!
This is my stamping experiment using the new foam stamps I made. It gives the shape without it being a perfect application. I have a lot more fears and worries to work through. The catch word being 'resolve resolve resolve'. Fingers crossed I can get this all to work for a new body of work. What do you think of the colours??? Aren't they just deliciously ugly??? hehehe

Road Trip to Melbourne

We had a wonderful time in Melbourne. I went with my art buddy Mignon and her husband David. We left Adelaide at 2pm and arrived in Ararat, where we were staying overnight, at about 10pm. We left the next morning before 9am and arrived in Brunswick Street, Melbourne at 12 noon. I primarily went to check out Brunswick Street Gallery where I will be having a solo exhibition next year and also to check out some galleries on Mornington Peninsula. Mornington Peninsula is just out of Melbourne.

the landscape was ablaze with yellow canola fields in full bloom

Federation Square where there is an Australian Art Gallery

Flinders Street Railway Station

Swanston Street

Yarra River

Melbourne has a network of trams

Brunswick Street

Brunswick Street Gallery

Manyung Gallery on Mornington Peninsula where I hope to exhibit one day

Jenny Pihan Gallery on Mornington Peninsula

Anyone who knows me knows that my favourite artist is Jeffrey Smart. He is an Australian artist who now lives in Tuscany. Although born in 1921 before my time, he grew up in my area. I am reading his memoirs again and when he talks about places where he grew up I know exactly where that is as I grew up there too. Anyway I love his work and one of the highlights of going to Melbourne was seeing my first ever Jeffrey Smart original!!! I got rather emotional and couldn't look concentrate on looking at any other artwork after that. I just stood in front of the painting and took in every detail.

The Melbourne trip was a real blast. I met some wonderful people and did some major networking!!! I feel like I'm getting somewhere!

Melbourne

I'm off to Melbourne tomorrow to check out some galleries. Will have some pics to show you when I get back. That is if I don't forget my camera.

Spring is in the Air

I just love spring when everything in the garden is bursting into bloom. And the scents in the air just stop and make me smile. I am lucky I don't suffer from hay fever!

wisteria is my favourite and reminds me of the garden where I grew up

peach blossoms with the promise of summer fruit

jasmine outside our bedroom window smells delightful

orange blossoms and looks like a big crop this year

Now onto some work in progress. I am trying to paint white objects and I didn't realise how hard that is. Not only do you have to put in the shadows but white objects can't just be painted in white. They have to have quite a few colours to get them looking right. Below is a not yet completed painting that will be titled 'White With Two'. Its been a real learning experience and quite a bit of looking at books to see how others have painted white objects. Any tips would be appreciated. I have left the painting for today and will look at it again with fresh eyes tomorrow.

Time for me to stop thinking about art and think about cooking dinner instead. Don't want to though.

The Revelation

Firstly I would like to announce that I was accepted into the Adelaide Art Society. Hip hip hurray!!! Last night was their monthly social evening so I decided to attend that and meet some people. It was just so great being with a group of fellow artists. I was part of a group instead of feeling the odd one out like I usually do. And on top of that they had home made scones with jam and cream and chocolate cake! It just couldn't get much better than that hehehe. On the way home I was feeling pretty happy with my world and I suddenly had a revelation. You know those moments where it seems the clouds part and there's a ray of sunshine and a chorus of angels singing (even though its night time)??? I will start at the beginning but be warned I am rambling. In August 2007 I read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron for the first time. One of the tasks in the 12 step program was to describe your ideal life, to think about your goals or dreams, to really work out what you wanted. I had no idea what I wanted. I had this vague sort of dream that was way off in the future but that was all. Silly really. How are you meant to reach your goals if you don't know what your goals are??? I continued with the tasks in the book and little by little my vague sort of dream started to take form. I started to understand what I really wanted. Once I had the goal worked out I started working on ways to attain it. I started reaching for that goal, for my ideal life. Sometimes I strayed from the path, sometimes I stumbled and even fell but I kept on going. Somewhere in the future was my ideal life. I could feel it. Here comes the revelation part. Last night while driving home I realised I AM ALREADY LIVING MY IDEAL LIFE. Its not somewhere in the future, its here and now! Ok a lot of you will be saying "Der I could've told her that" but its something you can't be told is it? Its something you have to realise for yourself. The dream is not yet complete. The ideal life still needs a little tweaking. I still need to earn a good income from my art and I still want to be more 'known' in the world of art but they are minor details that will work out very soon as long as I keep on living the dream. Yep all is right with my world.

Small Work Number 5

I have now completed all 5 paintings that I want to enter in The Small Works Prize at Brunswick Street Gallery. I have enjoyed doing them but I still much prefer to do larger works.

Just a Couple o' Pears

mixed media on canvas

25x30cm (10"x12")

Small Work Number 4

I had a great day in the studio today. I finished another small work. One more to go and I've already started it! Deadline for entries of The Small Works Prize isn't till Sunday 21st November so I am ahead of schedule. Still have to work out the most economic way to ship the work to Melbourne.

Nuts

mixed media on canvas

25x30cm (10"x12")

I have decided to apply for membership to The Adelaide Art Society. I thought it would be a good way to meet other artists, to learn and share and network. I have my application form all filled out and I have an appointment with them tomorrow afternoon to show them some examples of my work. Fingers crossed I get accepted.

Studio Update

As my studio is a shared space with Bob's man cave, I had to come up with a way of hiding the man cave mess. I thought cupboards would suit Bob better than shelving to hold all his stuff. You can shut the door on cupboards and not see the disarray. I took over the whole organisation of his space much to Bob's horror hehehe. I sorted all his stuff so it is now easy to find everything. I put all the painting gear together and all the plumbing and welding stuff all have their own space. The power tools are all together etc. etc. Bob had to admit he liked it. I have put a lot of time and effort into this and it still wasn't quite right. I decided I had to make a clear division between the spaces. I plan to have open studio during the SALA Festival next year and didn't want the studio to look like a corner in a man's shed. I ended up buying some old wardrobes which I not only used to create a wall but it also gave Bob more storage space.

my space as you first walk in the door

in the distance is my desk

walk around the shelves towards the desk and this is the lounge area

the lounge area showing off my new 'wall'

beyond the wall is the man cave

the lounge area showing one doorway into the man cave

the back of wardrobes painted make a good wall to hang artwork

that's my desk looking from the lounge area

and back around to the door that leads into the garden

I still have the yard in front of the shed to clean up. That's where I have put all the things that I decided to throw out. That is my next mission.

A Step Forward

I recently entered a competition through a gallery in Melbourne. Only 50 entries would become finalists to be judged for the prizes. First prize $5,000 and second prize an all expenses paid solo exhibition in the gallery and various other prizes. I received an email from the gallery. Unfortunately blah blah blah, another rejection I thought. I read further and to my surprise it said unfortunately I was not one of the 50 finalist but I was in the top 75 and that they liked my work very much. And here's the best bit, they invited me to have a solo exhibition either this year or next. I have been trying to get into a gallery in either Sydney or Melbourne for awhile now so I am very excited with this development. Next year would be better for me as there is a lot to organise to get an exhibition worth of work over to Melbourne. Plus I have been developing a new series and I want to have time to get some of these ideas onto canvas. I want to use altered paper to create a retro wallpaper look for the background but its still early in the development stage. To quote Laura "I'd better bust a move". I bust a much faster move when I have something to work towards that has a deadline.

The Cherry

I am planning on entering the Small Works Prize at Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne. Works are to be less than 30x30cm (12"x12"). There in lies the problem. I have trouble with such small paintings. I like to do paintings with a bit of size behind them so they hit you in the face visually. I usually paint things much larger than life. So how can I do that on a small canvas? The answer is painting small things! I am aiming for at least 5 small works and below is my first one.

Kirsche

mixed media on canvas

30x25cm (12"x10")

Also note my new watermark, created by my daughter Julia, to add a bit of protection to images of my work posted on the net.

I have been spending much more time in the studio and I must say I feel so much better for it. Its not that I'm giving up on the promotion side of things but I have stopped obsessing over it. Bottom line is I need to create in order to be complete and when I spend too much time away from the studio I become ..... well, I become unhappy. Life is way too short to be unhappy right?

Junior MasterChef Australia

For those of you who couldn't watch Zoe on Junior MasterChef Australia here's the link to the full episode. Just warning you, it is an hour long show and Zoe's heat is not on till next week. Its a great show and it makes me remember how much fun the kids had making it.

http://www.masterchef.com.au/video.htm?movideo_p=41184&movideo_m=64493

Zoe is wearing a pink beret so she is very easy to spot. You can see Julia and me in the audience too. I am round one in the front row wearing a bright green jumper hehehe.

As Yet, Untitled

Its not quite finished. Still needs to be signed and a couple of coats of varnish. This painting comes from my Sydney trip. We caught the ferry to Luna Park and had a ride on the carousel. Some of the horses were 100 years old. The old steam driven engine was still there but no longer in use. Carousels remind me of Mary Poppins when the horses jump off the carousel and carry them off across the countryside. Its still my mum's favourite ride. The music, the lights and the motion just speak of times gone by don't they?

mixed media on canvas

91.4x121.8cm (36"x48")

Junior MasterChef starts screening on Sunday night 7.30pm on channel 10. I just can't wait to see Zoe on tv! I am going over to Julia and Zoe's place on Sunday night so we can watch it together. Three more sleeps :)

Wrinkled Ladies

I love this!!!!!

Playing Around

I do not consider this one of my best paintings but it really wasn't about that. I have been playing around with new techniques I had seen while visiting some artist's studios during the SALA Festival. I had such fun just losing myself in the fun of play and not concentrating on the actual image. I love the technique and I also like the layers achieved.

The Fairy Ring

mixed media on canvas

60.9x50.8cm (24"x20")

This Year's Goals

My goal for this year was to enter some major art competitions, experiment with new techniques and to try my hand at some portraiture. So not a great deal of finished artwork has happened but I have leant a lot both at the easel and away from it. I also have entered quite a few major art competitions but as yet I haven't got into any of' them. I am getting used to the rejection hehehe. There are always so many entries and only 30 or so places. Its really like winning the lottery.

The SALA Festival is well and truly over. Its been great seeing so much art. Some inspiring and some not so hehehe. The thing that takes most of my time is the whole promotion thing *add groan here*. I know art is meant to be made for art's sake but in order to move forward I need to continue to get my art further and further afield. Searching for the right galleries, the ones that suit your style of work, is many hours of research. Trying to get the galleries to respond to your enquiries is hard enough let alone accept your work. A simple "thank you for your enquiries but we are not accepting any new work" does not take that long to email people!!! The energy it takes to stay positive and retain confidence is really hard going. Most of the time I am ok but sometimes I slip and feel sorry for myself hehehe.

The other day I thought I'd better pull my finger out and actually finish a whole painting. I still have a passion for still life painting so more mundane everyday objects will become my models I'm sure.

Mushrooms

mixed media on canvas

50.8x60.9cm (20"x24")

SALA

The SALA (South Australian Living Artist) Festival is on again. The SALA program boasts there are 3000 South Australian visual artists exhibiting their work in throughout 500 plus metropolitan and regional galleries, wineries, cafes, hotels and other unique, colourful and collaborative spaces. Woo!!!!!!!!!!! Its been such fun. I have been going out with my art buddy Mignon to view as much as we can possibly fit in. It feels like I am eating, sleeping and breathing art and I love it. The sad thing is the 24 day festival is nearly over and we have to wait a whole year before its on again. This is SALA's 13th year and there is literally art everywhere!!!!!!!!! I have spoken to so many wonderful artists who are willing to share their techniques that I have learnt sooooo much. After being out viewing some absolutely mind blowing art today I need an early night so I am fresh and bushy tailed ready for tomorrow's outing of ..... you guessed it ..... more art!

Promise of Spring

The other day we had one glorious day. The sun came out and I revelled in its warmth. Its been a long cold winter. The day had the promise of spring in the air. I headed out to the garden and started pulling up weeds. Sour sobs everywhere. They were easy to pull up as the ground was still soft from all the rain. I even planted a new ground cover my sister had given me. I didn't get all the garden done on that day but I have been out in between the showers since. The peach tree has some little buds on it. Won't be long before it flowers. Hopefully I get a good crop of peaches this year. I have a hankering for some home made peach jam. Not much going on in the studio lately. After the long winter hibernation I need to catch up on some chores. Won't be long though. I have some ideas brewing.