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.

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

Little Bit of This, Little Bit of That

Had a really good day yesterday. Been a bit mopey lately but now my high spirits are back. I did little bits of everything yesterday. The washing (its still on the line, too lazy to take it off yesterday), some more to the big white canvas, some photography, I watched my usual art programs on tv, my favourite being Sunday Arts and I spent time with Zoe.

The digital photography meet I've been attending, sets a mini project to do in the month till the next meet. This time its using macro and making sure your camera is on manual and you do the settings yourself. So I spent a few hours yesterday exploring the ideas I have for that but haven't got anything I'm happy with yet. Thank goodness for digital cameras where you can see the shot straight away and not wait (and pay for) developing.

Today is Mark's birthday (son in law) and we are going out to lunch but first I must head off to gym to keep my body healthy and my mood happy.

Photography

Went to a digital photography meet last night. They are held once a month and this is the second I've been to. We are learning and discussing how to use your camera on the manual setting. I've learnt about aperture and shutter speed and what settings they should be on for different situations. It gives you greater control over what the shot looks like rather than letting the camera do all the work on the auto setting. I have also learnt how inadequate my camera is. Oh well it will do me for now and what I use it for. No doubt in the future I will want to upgrade but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Number one on my list of must haves is a new computer. One that's not a hand me down and doesn't crash five times in a row (and that's just when I turn it on).

Been good on the food and exercise front over the last couple of days and I'm feeling better for it. I do get tired of constantly battling with it. I swear I just have to walk passed a cake shop and I put on weight. I think I've got the slowest metabolism in the world. Listen to me complain, moan, moan, moan. With all that complaining you wouldn't think I'm in a really happy mood and raring to start the day.

Busy Doing Nothing

Busy weekend not doing anything. Its funny how that happens. The whole weekend just goes and it feels like you were busy but nothing really got accomplished.

Julia and I joined a digital photography meetup group. We meet once a month and discuss the basics which is probably too basic for Julia seeing she majored in photography at uni. At the moment we are exploring how to use our camera on manual and choosing the settings to achieve the type of image we want rather than just pointing and shooting and hoping for the best. I really enjoyed our first meeting last Wednesday night. Its good to get out and do some different things. My camera isn't a real good one. Nowhere near professional standard but its not bad for a point and shoot. Its good enough for my needs now. In the future I might want to upgrade but I'll cross that bridge when and if I come to it.

Started working on the invitation for my exhibition opening in August. Its just a bit of playing around at the moment because I'm not really sure what I want or how I want it to look. Its hard trying to represent yourself in a small invitation. The exhibition is called Listen With Your Eyes so maybe I'll use an image of eyes ???? Who knows at this stage. I'm just playing around, enjoying the process and we'll see what happens. If all else fails I can always use an image of one of my works. Still have plenty of time so I'm not in a panic.

Apart from that I have made it a rule to work on my art every day. If the other things in my life don't allow for big blocks of time spent in my art corner I just do a little everyday. Just a little done daily adds up to quite a lot.