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.

Surprise Surprise

As you all know, I am being represented by Greenhill Galleries Adelaide. I am also on their mailing list so I am kept up to date with all the up and coming exhibitions. They hold exhibitions in the gallery and also in other venues like hotels and wineries. You can imagine my surprise when I opened this months invitations and see my work and name on an invitation. Apparently I am exhibiting in Penny's Hill winery.

Nice surprise. With the exhibition running till 9th February 2010 in a country location with a different clientèle I have hopes of some more sales. Fingers crossed.

I need to get off this time wasting computer and get into the studio. Only 5 weeks till my first art market and most of my work is tied up elsewhere so I need to be painting painting painting. All is right in my world. I can do this, I can do this.

Yay, I Did it!!!

My new website is up and running. Its a huge step for me as I'm not confident with computer stuff at all. I will in the future have a shop element from which to sell my work but baby steps for now. Click here to check it out and let me know what you think. Julia will be so proud of me.

My daughter Julia is going through some terrible sadness. Her darling pet rabbit Mazzy passed away. He will be very missed as he had such an infectious personality.

My exhibition opens this Sunday at 11.30am and it runs till the 6th October. There is a preview on Friday night and I'm really nervous about it. Deep breath .... in .... out. I can do this! Seeing I'm so good at posting links now click here for the gallery website hehehe.

The Dream

Here you go Bev. This is the suitcase painting I created last year. Its about my dream of meeting Doris in Paris and eating French cheese hehehe. I created it for an exhibition that had a French theme and it received a 'highly commended' from the judge. It was purchased by the City of Marion for their collection in the 'Peeking Through Someone Else's Window exhibition that I had recently with Julia and Zoe. I used images of vintage French posters and pages from a French phrase book in the background and then painted the suitcases over the top.

The Dream

mixed media on canvas

76.2x50.8cm (30"x20")

I haven't got Photoshop, which I use to edit my photos, installed on my new computer yet. It means I can't share the artwork I just finished yesterday. Its called 'Brown Onions' so guess what I painted hehehe. I also had another full day in the studio today and got the background done for the next painting. I have already come up with the title of ' Not Before Dinner' as its going to have a bowl of liquorice all sorts painted on it. By Tuesday week I have to have all work finished and photographed so Greenhill Gallery can put them on their web site. This has all happened so fast. I can't believe I have a solo exhibition opening in just over a month. No time to be nervous. I still need to find something to wear. That always causes me the most grief hehehe.

Sneak Peek

As promised here's a couple of pics of my studio. Like I said its not finished yet so I don't want to show you too much. Maybe once its all done Julia will take a photo with her wide angled lens so you can get a better idea of how it looks. Below is a pic of my Dad's old work bench which he made himself. Its a real treasure. To the left of the picture is a work in progress and just behind that is the door to my garden. I had it open to let a little sunshine in. In the middle of the picture is a lovely old frame I want to do something with one day. It probably held a mirror at one time.

The pic above is a close up of my Dad's bench with all those lovely dents and marks all over it. The wood has that lovely used patina which makes it very inviting to work at. I have given it a nice polish so its nice and smooth to touch as well. Below are some storage shelves. I love old suitcases and find them a nice way to store various art and craft treasures. I want to make some luggage tags and write the contents of each case. Yes I know its my German-ness coming out. Neat and in order hehehe.

I don't have time to clean out the shed any further at the moment. I only have two weeks till all my work has to be finished and photographed and ready for Greenhill Gallery to put up on their web site. I'm trying to get a few new works in this exhibition so its work, work, work from now on. I love being busy with my art :)

Dismantle

It was the last day of 'Peeking Through Someone Else's Window' yesterday so today its time to dismantle it. I'm not sure on the final sales but last count I know I've made enough to buy a nice shining new laptop and some wireless broadband. I've never had a new computer before. Only ever had old hand-me-downs that were made in the dark ages. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the hand-me-downs but I've outgrown this poor old computer that's struggling with the new technology more than I am hehehe. Mixed feelings about today. I'm really happy about bringing my work home. I've missed it (silly I know) and feel strange that I'm losing some of it because its sold. Here I am making work and hoping to make money from it and yet I'm reluctant to let it go. These works are very personal pieces that have been inspired by particular people and situations in my life. On the other hand I'm rejoicing that people have thought enough about my work to buy it and have it in their daily lives. Artists are strange people aren't they? Can't please some of them hehehe.

I am happy to announce that I have pulled myself out of the doldrums. I faced a giant fear. I sent an email to a commercial gallery I'm interested in, enquiring how to go about exhibiting there and being represented by them. They replied stating I was to email my cv, artist statement and images of my work and if they think my work suits their vision for the gallery they will let me know. My inner censor grew very loud, telling me I was silly to try, that I wasn't good enough and who do I think I am trying to get into a gallery like that etc etc etc. But guess what??? I pressed the 'send' button anyway woohoo! Of course I had trouble breathing afterwards and thoughts of 'what have I done' were swirling around my head but this morning I feel very proud of myself. I faced a fear and stood up to my inner censor and that's a step in the right direction no matter what the outcome.

I went on a photo shoot with Julia yesterday. I was the photographers assistant which means I carry the camera bag and watch out for traffic so no one gets run over. Oh yeah and I also got to drive the car to and from the location hehehe. We headed off to Port Adelaide with two young models, Jai and Adrian. It was a cold stormy winter's day and we were hoping the forecast of torrential rain would hold off till the photo shoot was done. Port Adelaide has some amazing old industrial buildings with raised loading platforms and lovely old stone or red brick walls. Some of the loading platforms had 'no parking' painted underneath and there were bits of broken glass etc strewn around to add to the atmosphere. It was perfect for that young urban street culture look that Julia was aiming for. The models were easy to work with and changed clothes in the freezing conditions without complaint. And yes the rain held off. We were in the car about two minutes when it bucketed down. A good fun day.

Well I'd better stop rambling. I'm off to dismantle!

My Unprofessional Photos of the Photo Shoot Location

To check out Julia's new work click here and here

Meet the Artists

As you know I had to be at the gallery on Sunday for 'meet the artists'. I felt uncomfortable at first. Do I approach people??? Do I wait for them to approach me??? What do I say??? As I was talking to a group of people, not really knowing how to pull myself away, I saw an old friend out of the corner of my eye. We went to high school together. She learned about the exhibition on facebook and thought she would surprise me. We have known each other for forty plus years and our paths always seem to cross throughout our lives. I haven't seen Glenda for 15 years I reckon and she hasn't changed a bit. Our children used to play together. She came with her daughter Laura who is a mother herself now. We hugged and I got a bit misty.

She Performed Her Duties to Perfection

mixed media on canvas

60.9x50.8cm (24"x20")

Glenda bought my favourite painting and I'm really glad its going to live with her. Its fitting somehow. Its a painting of two of my treasures, my grandmother's frying pan and my great grandmothers colander.

Its Up and Hanging

The exhibition is all up, yay. The lighting is done, everything is numbered, catalogued and ready for the preview on Friday night with the official opening on Sunday afternoon. These aren't the final pictures. Julia has taken some with her wide angled lens and I will post these as soon as I can. The gallery staff and volunteers have been such a help. A special thank you going to Ian, Dennis, Julie, and John who have really helped to make the exhibition look so professional. Gallery M is a wonderful gallery. It has movable inner walls so you can partition off little intimate areas in which you might display a particular theme. We used two movable walls to create a family area where the artwork is mainly portraits of our family and another area where Julia has more of her staged photographs where she worked with models on a particular theme. I will also be taking plenty of photos of the opening to share with you.

Setting Up

Its been a very busy day and I'm off to bed for an early night. I just thought I'd show you a few random shots of the work in progress. Check out my poor little car crammed full with art hehehe. Its taken most of the day to work out what goes where and what works with what. Its all sorted now and tomorrow we will begin hanging. I will show you more then. Goodnight, yawn.

All Packed Up

All my artwork is labelled, priced and packed up in our lounge room ready to go. All forms are filled in. The t's are crossed and the i's are dotted. Is it normal to feel a bit sad? Its like my children are leaving home. They are all part of me I suppose. They are the evidence of my struggles, my fears, my perseverance and my growth. They are the pictures of my journey and our home is going to be empty without them. Gee I sound so mournful hehehe. I am also very excited and can't sleep properly. Its going to be great to see all my work in that lovely uncluttered space. I must remember my camera tomorrow so I can show you how its going.

Peeking Through Someone Else's Window

The Gallery M newsletter for May is out and look who they are advertising. The opening is only a week away and I'm so excited weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Anyway, you know what to do, just click on the newsletter to get a larger version.

F I N I S H E D

I have finished my goal of 30 pieces for the exhibition with one week to go!!! No photo yet as the medium is still drying. It took roughly 8 months (not counting December as Christmas prep gets in the way). That's an average of one piece per week. It actually feels strange. I feel happy and lost all at the same time. I am going to give our place a much needed clean. Catch up on all those things I've let slide while I concentrated on my art. And then what??? What am I going to do all day??? What am I going to think about??? What am I going to talk about??? This hectic pace has become normal now hehehe. Tuesday and Wednesday next week will be spent hanging the exhibition. Luckily the gallery has someone who is an expert on hanging and making the whole exhibition look good so I will be listening to his advice for sure. Here's the link to the gallery if you want to check out what it looks like. http://www.gallerym.net.au/ When the next newsletter comes out there will be a write up about our exhibition which is on the website as well. I am going to make a cup of coffee now and put my feet up and see how that feels.

All Going Well

Everything is under control. I feel a lot better after my slip of confidence. I hope that's the end of the nerves so I can enjoy the exhibition opening and also the 'meet the artist' day. Delivery is 10 days away and I can't wait to see all my work in a nice white gallery space. I'm also looking forward to catching up on my neglected housework!

Fears, Doubts and Slipping Confidence

Have I really not posted since last Thursday? Time is flying by. Its two weeks until our work has to be delivered to the gallery. TWO WEEKS!!! There are still two more paintings that I want to do. One is part of the way through and the other one hasn't been started. I'm having trouble getting things to work for me as the fears and doubts are setting in. My confidence is slipping as the exhibition gets closer. Anyway I thought I'd share with you what I have been doing with the layers of advertising posters. This canvas is on the large side 101.6x76.2cm (40"x30")

some advertising poster, book pages, found paper, acrylic paint and some stamping

some altered paper and some tie dyed paper towel added with more stamping

more of the same, nearly covered the canvas

the canvas is all covered and now a protective coat of matte varnish is applied

once the matte varnish is dry I covered the whole thing with white gesso

water is sprayed on and I start scrubbing back the gesso with a toothbrush

a very light wash of black

then a very light wash of raw sienna to age it a bit

a bit more stamping on the boring bits

The Meaning of Art

There's a blog I came across by Katherine Treffinger. There Katherine poses the question "What meaning does art have for you? Why do you show up in your studio, or wherever and pick up your tools day after day?" Well I thought about this for several days before I emailed Katherine the answer. She posts the answers on her blog http://katherinetreffinger.blogspot.com so you can check out my answer and answers from other artists there.

New work below. That makes 28 pieces for the exhibition. I set myself a goal of 30 so only 2 more to go. The colours aren't exactly right on the photo as there was no sunshine today. Only gloomy dark skies. We've had quite a bit of rain YAY!!!

Tick-Tock

mixed media on canvas

50.8x60.9cm (20"x24")

Painting Painting Painting

Its 5 weeks till delivery of work to the gallery and I'm painting, painting, painting. I'm really enjoying it too. I still love losing myself in my art but am getting increasingly annoyed when I have to pull myself back into the now to cook dinner or some other necessary thing.

I haven't started the cupcake painting yet. Just squeezing in another before I do that one. I would like 4 more paintings. That will make 30 altogether. That should be enough shouldn't it???

Ok I'm rambling. I'll just go and do a little bit more before cleaning up.

Do You Like Colouring-in?

I still love to colour in and have my own colouring-in book. Its got pictures of fairies in it and I like to sit in bed and colour it. I refuse to completely grow up. I thought it would be fun to do a painting of coloured pencils, larger than life of course to elevate their importance. To give you an idea of their size, the dark blue one is the length of my arm from shoulder to wrist. I had real fun with this painting as its got so many different colours in it.

Why Stay Within the Lines?
mixed media on canvas

60.9x50.8cm (24"x20")

I've set myself a goal of 30 paintings for the exhibition. That means there's 9 to go and 9 weeks to do them in. I will be working on a series of Zoe's dangling legs next. Again larger than life. There will be four in the series, each one with the legs in a different pose and with different socks or stockings on. That will leave another 5 and at this stage no ideas. I am thinking of another domestic painting, maybe with some washing on the line. I have visited washing on the line in an earlier work and have always wanted to do another. Maybe with a nice blue background representing a glorious blue sky. I also must ask April if she minds if I paint some cupcakes. She created some lovely collages of cupcakes and I would love to give them a try if she doesn't mind. Check them out on http://www.aprilsart.blogspot.com/ in one of the older posts.

I'm going away for the weekend. I'm leaving on Friday and back home on Monday. I'm giving a workshop in Mt Gambier which is about 5 hours drive from home. Its about an hour from Naracoorte so I'm going to stay with my friend Vanita on Friday and Sunday night (if she'll have me). I've bought all the materials so all that's left to do is pack and hope I don't forget anything.

Exhibition Invitation

The exhibition 'Peeking Through Someone Else's Window' runs from May 24 - June 14 at Gallery M, Marion Cultural Centre 287 Diagonal Rd, Oaklands Park, Adelaide, South Australia. Its an exhibition of mixed media/collage, photography and paintings by Uta Mooney, Julia Thomas and Zoe Thomas. The official opening is Sunday May 24th 2pm. Come and have a glass of wine and some nibbles if you are in the area. Gallery times are Mon-Fri 11am-4pm, Sat 12pm-4pm, Sun 1pm-4pm, closed public holidays.

The artwork is a collaboration between Julia, Zoe and me. The window and collage is from a previous painting of mine called 'Walk Past the Open Window'. Julia, who is a magician on photoshop, changed the window to accommodate the photo she took of Zoe peeking. She changed the text to the title of the exhibition. I think its worked out great and I want to get a large copy of it framed as a memento of our exhibition.

We have got to start approaching some publications for some publicity. I think its quite a unique human interest story; three generations of females from the same family exhibiting together. Zoe might only be 7 years old but Julia and I feel she is an artist in her own right. We dislike it when people say to children "you are going to be a great artist when you grow up". Aren't they already artists? Aren't they already expressing themselves with art and craft? Why do they always have to wait 'to be' until they are grown up? Children's art is so free, expressive and innocent. We lose that when we grow up. Even artists like Ken Done can't really recreate exactly the way children capture things.

If you can't come to the exhibition or if you want a sneak preview of our work you can go to Julia's and my RedBubble sites www.redbubble.com/people/utam
www.redbubble.com/people/jewelstorm

Lots to Look Forward to

Today I'm taking Mum to visit my sister and we're all going to an art market at the port and then off to the movies. We're seeing "Australia" and the reports on that movie have been good. Beautiful scenery from up north and a love story. What more could you ask for? I'll let you know what its like.

Been a bit slack in the art department this week. Too much socialising. Went out to lunch on Thursday with the girls from my aquarobics class. Had a lovely time and we chatted as only a group of women can. It was nearly 4pm before I got home.

Also caught up with my friend Vanita on the phone last night. Its nearly end of school so I'll get to spend some time with her. We planned going out to dinner for her birthday on the 17th so I'm looking forward to that. I would personally hate having my birthday that close to Christmas hehehe. She did such a lovely job opening my exhibition in Naracoorte this year that Julia, Zoe and I have asked to open our exhibition in May. I think its good having someone talk about your work and art practices that knows you and your work so well. Lots of things to look forward to.

Christmas is coming up fast. Am I ready? HA! At least our home is tidy and clean. I've been keeping up with the chores really well. No dust bunnies in sight. As for the rest of it I'm sure it will all fall into place. It always does.

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")