New Backgrounds

Here is a sneak peek at the new backgrounds I have been playing around with. I have been trying out a different technique. Not sure how much detail you can see on the computer screen but I left the pics large for a closer look. I still think I might add some text as it seems to have become one of my trade marks and I do love text whether it be printed or hand written.

For the blue background I plan to paint some red poppies on the top. Of course they will be larger than life. This canvas is what I call my small size 60.9x50.8cm (24"x20").

The red one doesn't seem to show all the detail that can be seen in real life. This one is for a painting of cutlery. A fork, a knife and a spoon with their all important shadows, much larger than life of course as the canvas is 50.8x76.2cm (20"x30"). Again some text still needs to be added using the image transfer method.

With this heat we are having (42.9 degrees Celsius yesterday, thats just over 109 degrees Fahrenheit) I have just been working on backgrounds. Backgrounds are about splashing paint and stamping etc. Its more like intuitive play and that seems to suit these hot days where concentration levels are at a low.

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

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")

Its Monday

Monday morning. The nights are getting a bit fresh. Have to put my dressing gown on while I run around doing my chores before heading off to gym.

Got a good start on my new collage yesterday. Its calling me now and I have the urge not to go to gym so I can go back to it now. No! I have to look after my health in order to create. All things in my life must be balanced. There's that word again "balance". That seems to be the hardest thing for me to maintain. Its all or nothing with me.

I read week one of Julia Cameron's Finding Water yesterday. In it she spoke about being connected to the higher realms while doing art. That's such a good explanation. I get so involved in the process, in the sheer joy of creating that I become so blissfully happy. Ok that sounds like I'm off with the fairies. Its a very difficult feeling to describe without sounding too "out there".

The new collage has a sea theme. This theme reoccurs a lot throughout my work. Yes I live in Australia and am surrounded by sea but its more than that. I'm also a migrant and travelled to my new home by sea. I was only 4 years old but I can remember the sounds, sights and smells. Its had a profound effect on my life and how I view home and family.

Still on the sea theme, one of the best days of my life was when Bob and I hired a canoe. We strapped it on the back of the ute and headed off to the Port Adelaide ship's graveyard. As the tide went out it revealed more and more of the ships that had been sunk there. They became beautiful rusty sculptures. There was only one wooden ship and that had turned itself into an island which I scampered over. Think I'll have to put a shipwreck image transfer into my new collage.