Artists Blog

We are lucky to have a fully equipped on site artshop whilst we create at ArtEscape.

Adrian Wolf kept himself out of mischief during quiet times with his wonderful painting.

Can you guess who she is?

Adrian was completing this piece for a commission, and someone wandered in and ordered another. A good week for Adrian! He’s also an accomplished patchworker. Look out for him in an upcoming edition of the patchwork magazine, having already been featured for his Marilyn Monroe pieces.

With regards to how much I spent at the in-house art store? Just call me Cleopatra - Queen of DeNile.

Day 2, and Jez has joined me. He spun out when he realised I was being tutored by Paul Margocsy, and wasn’t at Uni. One extra school holiday certainly wouldn’t hurt, and his teacher actually said he could spend the whole week there if he wanted.

Jez says Paul is “Hell Awesome”. That’s pretty much the highest accolade a teenager can give. He concentrated deeply as he watched Paul work, absorbing as much as he could. He didn’t want to stop for morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea. Paint, that’s all he wanted to do.

Today we were tackling the airbrush, which can be quite daunting. Air compressors, needles, reading gauges - a scary metal monster to some. Jez couldn’t wait!

Paul led the way. A tip is to have your board on an angle so the inks don’t pool. Careful they don’t drip though!

Another tip is to start outside of your board’s edges, so that no blobby bits occur.

Jez lays down the first colour  (blue) in  broad sweeps.

Next are some ochres. A test sheet of paper alongside your board is good to get the inks flowing smoothly through the airbrush needle.

Foliage greens are laid over the top. The masking fluid covering the bird sketch can be removed once the inks are touch dry.

Got a problem with your painting? No problem with Paul around. He could fix the impossible with a flick of his brush.

Jez was well impressed. There were airbrush dramas going on in the background.

The artist well pleased with his efforts.

There was a TV crew buzzing about in the morning. They were right “in my face” when Paul and I were discussing some aspects of one of my paintings. My “28″ from late last year needed some form of plastic surgery, and Paul was physically positioning his arms/wings so I could see where to place them on paper. The camera crew were having a great time positioning their camera to capture this hilarious pantomime from all angles. I couldn’t even look at them I was so embarrassed.

The “Meet & Greet” BBQ followed into the evening, so I was relieved not to have to watch Channel 7 news. Unfortunately other people did and let me know!

ArtEscape - a whole week of being tutored by Australia’s best artists in a tropical rainforest - just bliss on  a stick!

The Red Bamboo Gate sits alongside the lower Tank where the Oil Painting  classes are being held.

Before I could whip the camera out, glossy black scrub turkeys with their lipstick red heads ambled past the tank doors and back into the rainforest.

Some beautifully inspiring big brush watercolours are being created in a class right alongside my miniscule brush watercolour class.

I’m doing Paul Margocsy’s class again this year - he has such talent, you can’t believe your eyes as you watch him create a masterpiece before you.

Working on his trio of owlets painting.

The finished piece soon after.

After a day of observing, and more tomorrow morning, we are all itching to get stuck in ourselves. I’ll take in my desk top compressor tomorrow,as the huge compressor at the Tanks scares the beejeebies out of us when it repressurizes itself. Just gotta find mine tonight. I know it’s in a box somewhere….

I’m so tired, but so excited still. I feel so inspired by this man who realised his true passion, no matter how late in life. We talked about it for a while -my admiration for his work ethic and self motivation. He had a studio purpose built by Ronnie Burns (the Aussie Pop star of the 60’s), which he treats as a place of solid work from 8.30 to 4.30 every day.

Discipline. Self Discipline. I need to get me more of that!

With all the work at the gallery with the exhibition installation, I completely forgot about Illustration Friday. A  really quick graphite sketch is what I’ve got this week.

It’s inspired by the homeless Moggie that used to visit for food. (Every house we’ve had has a Ginger Tom come to visit) Took a long time before I could pick this cat up (he trusted no -one), and whenI did, he weighed less than a bird. Lots of food and cutting of knots from his coat made him feel comfortable inside, but everyone else miserable. He just did not get that he wasn’t supposed to fight with the cats, the dog, the Man….a very sour customer.

When we left the house last year, the new resident was determined that he wasn’t coming inside, but I’m not so sure…..

And in suitcases again.

A loooong day and night.

First stop the skatepark in the morning.

Then back to the Gallery for suitcase therapy again.  Sam, who was my partner in  pliers & wiring yesterday was busy painting the video walls white for extra sharpness. Carrying the 25 ltr paint tin towards us, she tripped and “Splodge!” white paint disaster in the hallway! Nothing major, just some furniture with extra “character” now.

There are more interesting museum cases set up in the installation now. This is a human lower leg, overrun with the minutae of the natural world - beetles, bugs. wasps nests, coral etc.

Rear view.

There is a big display case with all sorts of objects, some from taxidermists. The jars are full of shed python skins.

The finished interior space.

He’s back in his box, with a turtle shell for a helmet/head. The backdrops of the two large canvases repeat the objects in the exhibition.

Back sleeping in his suitcase. He’s having a more exciting time now than when he was an art room model!

The front of the official invite. The repeating images are part of the video walls display. Can you make out the dancer?

By the early evening it was time for coffee and soothing ales, at the Regional Art Gallery.

The bottle of Italian Malt went down very easily.

A wander through town at dusk was lovely. I have a bucket more photos, but they’re for another post. Jeff gets embarrassed when I fossick around the bushs for all sorts of things. He tends to stand off at a distance whilst I have my “Naturalists” hat on.

Back to the Esplanade for more

Jez carving the over vert.

There are championship  beach volleyball courts alongside the skatepark.

This is a winter’s night in the Tropics.

Back to work. Time to check the pond levels in the night.

Can get very spooky, with wallabies and waterbirds jumping all around you.

Even spookier is what we have to pass to get to the pond…

Can you guess what is it?

I’m exhausted. Just back from a day in the city at Kickarts helping to put together an installation exhibition. Opening night is Friday, and there’s yet more to be done. Up and down and up and down a step ladder, wiring and postioning mountains of suitcases. The backdrop is a video installation, with the eeriest soundtrack you can imagine. It’s only been this year that I’ve been receptive to contemporary art, particularly installations. I was quite honoured to be asked to particpate in this project by a well known and highly respected artist.

My brief from the artist was to cover this steel frame so that it was not visible, and to create an interior space (that is to be lit and filled tomorrow).

 Starting to wire suticases to the back leg of the frame.

Slow going. The suitcases didn’t want to play the game.

Suitcase Mountain finished and video walls active.

Interior space lit by 2 halogen lamps.

A real skull sits atop the mountain.

Another suitcase mountain with museum drawer at the back of the exhibition space.

More pieces of the installation puzzle. Yes, that is a real skeleton.

When an old antique suitcase was opened, this fellow lay inside. I did not think to take a photograph, but it was a surrealistic experience. When he was lifted out, a tooth fell out, which I retrieved from under the suitcase. The artist said “Oh that happens all the time”. This skeleton was saved from being thrown in a skip bin by the artist. It used to be an Art Room’s model, but never had any hands or feet.

There are many beautiful museum display cases as part of this exhibition. This case contains Avian objects - peacock skulls, a pelican skull and various eggs. There are more to be installed and lit tomorrow, so I’ll be sure to take more photos.

Not to finish on a too macarbe a note, on my way home I passed my first cane fire. The harvesting of the canefields began about a month ago. This particular field was harvested recently, with dozens of eagles and hawks having a “field” day with mousey inhabitants bereft of camouflague. I pulled over for a closer look.

The neighbouring cane doesn’t have much time left I reckon.

After years of living in suburbia, in crowded capital cities with neighbours atop each other, driving home with scenery like this is a real sensory delight.

Catch you all tomorrow!

I used to ride. I used to love it. I really want to ride again. 

During these school holidays we have had a whole posse of different horses riding past our house. We are surrounded by acreages here, and the local Pony Club is just down the road.

I used to ride 3 or 4 times a week at a riding school. I was going to buy my own horse, had even picked a young 3 yr old gelding from an Arabian stud in the hills of Perth. I had organised where he was going to be agisted. But I bought a car instead.

Considering the price of fuel, I should have stuck with the horse.

Over the weekend I uncovered my battered old leather riding gloves. I put them on, and that’s just made the whole “I want to ride again” thing worse.

I attended a French owned riding school for years. I had a German instructoress named Marion. Even the horses were scared of her, but man did she know her stuff! The whole methodology of this school was very European in nature, with failure not an option. You learned to ride, and ride well.

Here is Marion on one of her Hanoverian Stud stallions. I think I saw her with her hair down once, at a Christmas party. Last I heard of her, she was receiving obscene amounts of money for a single stallion service.

We were lucky at the school, we had a covered indoor dressage areana with mirrors (very helpful), and several grey sand yards outside. If you rode in summer outside, you would have nostrils full of black stuff for the rest of the day.

Here is Chia, the Anglo Arab I used to ride. She was only a small horse, 15.5hh, but she could go like the wind when she put her head down.

I used to ride at night a lot. Once the lesson was over, the school horses were so frisky, you could hardly hold them back from their night paddock. Chia was a spoilt horse and I returned her to a cosy stall, brushed her down, put on her blankets & hood and gave her some sweet smelling hay.

Here is an old gentleman named Bonsoir. He was 30 yrs old in this picture, but he still played like a young colt. He was the consumate schoolie. When he was retired from group lessons, he really fretted. So they put him back in the lessons, but without a rider. He would complete every manoeuvre perfectly, such was his training.

He still loved to jump, but only little ones. I disliked jumps, so the little ones were fine by me!

And the reason I got into riding in the first place? I loved horses, as almost every little girl did. I drew them at every opportunity I got. Last night I found an old yellowed sketch from high school, shoved in with some school yearbooks.

I was eventually banned from drawing horses by the art teacher. I think everyone was well and truly sick of them.

So now I’m sitting here wistfully, thinking about jodphurs, boots, and that sweaty horse smell that was truly divine to me!

I’ve been invited to help with an exhibition installation this week at KickArts. It’s a real hub of activity for the Arts scene up here in the Far North. The exhibition opens Friday night, and I’ll post more details and photos as they come to hand.

Next week brings an event that I’ve been waiting for since I attended last July - The Winter ArtEscape at The Tanks. It holds a special place in my memory, as it a provided a catalyst for our move from the bottom left hand corner to the top right hand corner of this country.

I had no intention of coming to Cairns when Jeff’s conference was here last July. “Too far, why would I want to go all the way there?” I protested. However, when I opened my issue of The Australian Artist mag, there was an attention grabbing ad for the ArtEscape, with the exact same dates as the conference. Fate said “You gotta go”.

Never having left our son behind on any trip before (he’s travelled  as a baby and toddler across the oceans through many countries with us), it was a hard decision to leave him behind, especially as we would be leaving on his birthday. School and another family to have him was all arranged. He took it pretty well, although he was very sad when he said “You’re going to the city that has the BEST skatepark in all of Australia and  you’re leaving me behind” (he’s a dedicated skater).

So what does a parent do? 2 days before we leave, I change the day of departure (one day earlier), I book him a ticket and pack his bags in secret.  On the day we flew out, we all arrived at the airport (saying we had to drop off something) and he still had no idea. When we handed him his skateboard and packed bag, it still didn’t click. When we finally said “Happy Birthday, you’re coming with us”, the look of disbelief, relief and sheer exhilaration on his face was just gorgeous.

From that trip last July, we have since moved to this tropical wonderland. Surrounded by rainforest (full of wierd and wonderful creatures), reef, and a spectaular line of mountains, this new home (and I’ve had many!) has been the most absorbing, both mind and body.

But back to ArtEscape - last year I was taught some wonderful watercolour techniques by one of the best wildlife artists in Australia, Paul Margocsy.

Here we are on the last day. He was a cheeky fellow (and a rabid Essendon supporter), and a magnificient teacher. I’m once again taking his class.

There about 110 that attended last year, with renowned artists as teachers coming from all over the country.

Try and spot me and Jez in the group photo below.

Here is one of the paintings I did during the week.

I’ve ordered some Clayboard from Parkers in Sydney, as I’m keen to try that instead of watercolour paper this year. It’s like a laminex board, but one that takes and holds watercolour paint on it’s surface.

Busy busy this week, AND it’s still school holidays….

Dash to the clothesline at twilight this evening and almost put my hand on this nasty fellow - The Robberfly. He was busily draining the life from a hapless native Aussie bee (stingless).

Robberflies inject mega powerful saliva into their victims that liquifies their insides. Robberfly then sucks it up through its straw-like proboscis (ala Jeff Goldblum in The Fly). They have a nasty bite to boot if disturbed.

Later went and blew the empty bee husk off the clothesline.

Lots of other suckers round here. I was able to watch this spider dance a duet with a cicada from my kitchen window earlier this year.

It is a St Andrews Cross Spider, so called because of the intricate cross woven into the centre of the web.

From Life Sucking to Life Injecting, The Man and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with the girls from NYC, catching Sex and The City at the movies today. It brought back so many wondrous memories and images from the time we spent there. Such a fabulous city, I’d be back there in a flash if the chance came again.

Anything that doesn’t inject a sense of feeling wonderful is a Life Sucker soooo, now I am going through my wardrobe with a critical eye (mindful of Carrie’s Toss or Take philosophy), and being ruthless with outfits that don’t make me feel fabulous. The Toss Pile is growing by the minute……

Please excuse my web unworthiness! What I thought was a link to join Illustration Friday, was actually a link to submit an illustration, and one with a Theme!  No means of correcting my wayward error either.

Frantic scrabbling to put something up with FIERCE as the motive - oh no!  I originally offered the 2nd graphite work below as my sad submission. It got a comment that it wasn’t so much fierce as morose, with droopy horns.

OK, I now offer a watercolour pencil and graphite work as “fierce” (to little children & kittens). Still not happy with my inaugural offering to I.F., but better than Droopy Horns.

I have cropped this piece just to show the Fierce side. The bottom bit was a bit cheeky!

Will do better next Friday, I promise!

Cheers,

Artoholic Cindy