I Finished It

Water

mixed media on canvas

50.8x60.9cm (20"x24")

The Tablecloth Saga Continued

So here is my tablecloth painting nearly complete. I still want to add some real stitching where the hem and the trim is. I added more text to the background and a few more washes of paint, some subtle shadow to the tablecloth to really show the movement of the fabric and painted the peg and the clothesline. Its lost a lot of its power in this small image. The sheer size of it in real life adds something which is lost on the computer screen. It hasn't got a title yet either but that will come.

Next painting is in the planning stages. The theme was inspired by my friend April. Yes a cupcake painting, low cal of course hehehe.

The Tablecloth Saga

The tablecloth and the peg painting is going well. I should really call it a construction not a painting. Not much painting going on but lots and lots of tedious cutting and gluing. Very tedious cutting and gluing. Did I mention it was tedious ugh! The results however are quite pleasing to my artist's heart so it keeps me going.

I prepared some altered and stained newspapers before I started as these were to form the checks of the tablecloth. So I needed two types of red and a white.

I started with a bit of text stamping but I lost most of it as I continued to paint in the background. This still needs to be resolved with more text I think but I will worry about it later.

I started cutting and gluing the checks of the tablecloth. Each 'square' is such a different shape and I have to pay careful attention to this to get the movement of the tablecloth right. The wind was moving it ever so slightly as I took the photo and I want to capture that. The colours are a little richer in real life as I took these photos inside with a flash. I looks a little like a patchwork quilt rather than a tablecloth but I don't mind that. Like I've said before, the canvas is on the large side 101.6x76.2cm (40"x30") with the peg measuring 35cm (14"). Still a bit to go and I still need to resolve that background so I'd better get to it.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can ...

Well I gave it my best shot to try and do all four paintings of The Little Miss Series in one week. I nearly got there but I've run out of steam. Long hours have taken their toll. They are so close to being finished but I started making silly mistakes so I thought I will give it up for tonight and see if I can finish them off tomorrow. I am still very happy with how much I got done in one week. It was a huge task and I nearly made it, yay!!!

Workshop

I'll be hitting the road in a few hours. Everything is packed but not yet loaded in my car. I've got that last minute brain scramble hoping I haven't forgotten something. I'm just going to do a quick trip into the market to pick up Jack's food. Then I will load the car and be on the road about lunch time. Be back Monday.

Completed

The Sunflower

Mixed media on canvas

60.9x60.9cm (24"x24")

The Journey

mixed media on canvas

60.9x60.9cm (24"x24")

Eighteen

I now have 18 completed works for our exhibition 'Peeking Through Someone Else's Window'. I finally decided on the text for the old boots painting. Its a quote by author Greg Anderson, 'Focus on the journey not the destination'. I have also finished the sunflower painting. It was too late to take decent photos so I will post them tomorrow.

Bob is starting to be his old self again. He's still in hospital and still bed ridden but he's doing a lot better. Hopefully he will be home soon. He misses Jack. Julia brought in a large photo of Jack and he's stuck it up in his hospital room. Jack misses him too and whines at night for awhile. He's getting used to having Bob's spot on the bed at night though. That could interesting when Bob gets home hehehe.

And to top it all off Julia is sick too. She's got shingles. The pain is easing but she is just so tired.

My son Troy has just returned from a small holiday in New Zealand. He says its a lovely country and the people are ever so friendly. I would like to visit there one day too.

Nothing much else to report. Life is just rushing by at the moment. Adding hospital visits into my day makes me feel like I'm chasing my own tail. I'm having trouble keeping up with my household chores and my artwork gets done at odd hours. Oh well, this too will pass.

Carry On

Still haven't come up with the text I want to use in the work boots painting. I think it might be 'working hard to make a living' or maybe 'focus on the journey not the destination'. Anyway I've put that painting to one side and decided to carry on with the next.

I had an idea to use different handwriting and some book pages onto which I would paint a sunflower or part of a sunflower. Some of the handwriting is my grandparents, some is mine and some I got from the net. But as it sometimes happens the background is doing its own thing and getting a different feel to it. Not sure if its suited to a sunflower. I will just keep going with it and see where it takes me. I do enjoy not knowing the destination.

work in progress 60.9x60.9cm (24"x24")

Nearly Finished

I had the best day painting yesterday. I got a good 6 hours in and it felt so good. Its at the stage where I need to stare at it for awhile to see if there's anything that needs adjustment. Then a coat of protective varnish and I'm done. Oh yeah and it needs signing.

Each Peach

mixed media on canvas

60.9x60.9cm (24"x24")

A New Canvas is Waiting for Me

Yay I finished another artwork. Haven't taken a good pic of it yet so can't share it till I do. Its nearly time to cook dinner but I've got another canvas waiting for me on my easel. I think I will start it tonight once dinner is over and done with. Well I say that now. Usually once I eat dinner I just sit and watch tv till I get sleepy.

My daughter Julia has started a blog called My Pisces Heart. I've put it in my blog list on the side bar for anyone interested in taking a peek.

Off to cook some lamb chops and whip up a nice summer salad for dinner. Bob will be home soon.

Busy Busy

No time for a long post. I'm keeping those dust bunnies at bay, going to gym and doing my artwork. Will have a new piece to share soon I hope.

My Way of Working

This is for Deborah because she asked.

Obviously I start with an idea that's been swimming around my head. Its usually something from around my home; something in my everyday life. I then set up a still life and start taking lots of photos. I like to use lighting to see what interesting shadows I can achieve. I keep moving the objects around and keep taking photos. Once I've loosened up I start getting interesting compositions. I play with those compositions by changing where the light comes from, how much shadow is revealed or by adding new objects etc. I choose the pic that stands out to me as being the most interesting and I print it out. I then crop it so its in scale with the canvas I will be working on. I like to work from photos because it means I don't have to keep the still life set up and I don't need to worry about any changing conditions such as light etc.
Next I start working on the canvas to create a background. I do have a fear of the blank canvas so I need to cover it to ensure I don't freeze hehehe. I start with old book pages or other interesting paper. I use gel medium as the glue and once its set off a bit but not completely dry I tear back some of the paper. It leaves a lovely texture and creates interesting results once paint is added. In some instances it leaves the text from the other side of the paper revealed which means the text is reversed. Once the whole canvas is covered I check for ugly gaps and fill these in with either patterned paper or some hand writing or more book pages. I allow the canvas to dry or use the heat gun to hurry things along. Next I put washes of acrylic paint on and some rubber stamp patterns. That's basically the background done. I then draw the image on and "colour it in" using acrylic paint that I've watered down slightly. This allows the background to show through. I don't worry about detail at this stage. Its just to get blocks of colour down.
Final stage is drawing on top with conte crayons. I use conte to do the shading and add the finer details. A quick spray with some fixative (to set the conte) and then some matt varnish is applied as a protective layer.
I hope that answers your questions Deborah. :) I have pics of the stages in some of my past blog entries.

Lots of Art Activity

Zoe has been working hard towards our exhibition. Here is a new piece she did of her dad and his guitar. She's been working with a different medium and she says she likes it a lot because it does instant shading hehehe.
I have also been working hard and have finished another piece. All it needs is a coat of protective varnish and its done. Next I will do a series of three square canvases. They will incorporate coffee cups from different views. I usually start by taking photos. Moving the objects around and taking loads of pics until I get a pleasing arrangement. I like playing around with light from different angles to see what interesting shadows it creates. So that will be on the agenda for tomorrow, photos, lots of photos.

He Loves Tomatoes on Toast

collage, acrylic paint and conte on canvas

50.8x60.9cm (20"x24")

A Little Humour

This is one of a series interiors I plan to do. I almost think I'm creating my perfect home through my paintings. As I planned it out I envisioned a painting on the wall. Then I thought, how funny it would be to have one of my own paintings hanging on the wall. Hilarious hehehe hahaha. The wall was built up with crack filler to give it a really textured finish. There are some torn book pages and other paper showing through here and there. I used to use modelling paste to achieve this texture but its expensive so now I raid Bob's crack filler which only costs a couple of dollars.

The Hall

crack filler, acrylic paint, collage and conte on canvas

101.6x76.2cm (40"x30")

Domestic Bliss

As I was waiting for this image to upload I realised that I actually have a few series of work on the go. This latest one is part of the domestic series where I celebrate the sacredness in the everyday. It also explores the notion of home and the importance of once called "women's work". Its funny that I work in series and that all the different series all fit into one theme.

Starting a new piece today. I have to keep the work going in a nice constant flow so I have enough new work for exhibition next year. We received formal confirmation that our exhibition proposal was excepted by Gallery M. So our three generations of women exhibition is finally a realisation. Its called Peeking Through Someone Else's Window, opens on May 22nd 2009 and will showcase not only my work but my daughter's and granddaughters as well.

Domestic Bliss

collage, acrylic paint and conte on canvas

60.9x50.8cm (24"x20")

The Daisy

The struggle with the daisy is finally over and thoughts of a new piece are swimming around my head. Think I'll go back to some everyday inanimate objects that I understand. I bought a couple of new canvases and am itching to get started on them.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

acrylic paint and conte on canvas

60.9 x 50.8cm (24"x20")

Blue Bowl, Yellow Lemons

This canvas was a piece that I just couldn't get to work so I glued on some old book pages as the first layer.

Now I've added image transfers of my grandmother's handwriting and added some patterned paper.

A little wash of colour is next.

A little darker colour for the edges.

Some text stamped on. (Sun was behind a cloud. Hence the variation in colour from the previous pic)

Still looked a bit bland so more colour!

Patterned stamp used in darker colour.

Picture roughly sketched in and filled with colour.

Details and tone added.

I felt the background was still too pale so another deeper wash was added.

Shadow of the bowl added to stop it looking like it was floating in mid air.

Irene's Kitchen

collage, image transfer, acrylic paint and conte on canvas

91 x 91cm (36"x36")

Tuscany Looks Nice This Time of Year

Two posts in one day. What's the world coming to??? Just finished the Italian piece and thought I'd post pics of the layers like I promised.

First layer is just some random blotches of acrylic paint. I don't always paint first. It all depends on what paper I use to collage with. If I'm going to stick on old book pages I don't paint first.

Layer number two is just a wash of one colour to harmonise all the colours of the first layer.

Layer number three is very ugly. Paper glued on and torn off. This is to add texture. I usually like to use old book pages or newspaper or old phone book pages for this technique. Seeing this piece was about Italy I thought English text would be wrong so that's why I went for the plain paper instead.

Next layer is just a wash of acrylic paint and the texture is starting to appear.

Layer 5 is another wash of acrylic paint to make the surface richer.I like to use washes as they allow each layer to show through which adds depth to the finished piece.

I love text in my work so layer 6 was adding some Italian text and some pretty bits of paper here and there to add interest. Some of the text is image transfer using printable rub ons and other text I've written on myself. Got some Italian love poems off the net. It was hard writing in Italian. I had to be careful not to make mistakes. At this stage I'm still only working randomly and not thinking too much about placement.

Layer 7 is some stamping with my favourite letter stamps. The words say "Its a beautiful day, no?" Still just working randomly.

Layer 8 is yet another acrylic wash to blend everything together.

Now here I should have layer 9 where I painted in blocks of colour for the door and shutters etc and then layer 10 is the detail drawn on with conte and layer 11 was another wash to put in the shadows. I didn't realise till it was too late that they were actually different layers and should have been recorded. Will try again with the next piece. This just needs some layers of varnish to protect it and its all finished.

Tuscany Looks Nice This Time of Year

collage, image transfer and acrylic paint on canvas

76.2cm x 50.8cm (30"x20")