Artists Blog

Calligraphy Class was all about playing with Paste Paper, which is essentially any paper coated (in a wide variety of methods) with a mixture of cooked flour paste, with paints or pigment added. Above is one of mine with combed colurs in the background and then metallic powders sprinkled on top. Once dry,the paper can be used as background for calligraphy work, or in collages.

Here I used a woodgraining tool through the paste.

Here our esteemed teacher, Gaye Godfrey, demonstrates how to blend paint and paste in correct quantities.

Then swirl it on with a simple household sponge (brushes, rollers etc will do nicely also).

Then she writes back into the paste with a calligraphy pen. You can also do this with a skewer, chopstick etc.

And voilà! The finished product.

We all got stuck in, and produced lots of pieces reasy to be transformed into calligraphy works. Below is a detail of the metallic effects that gives a matte piece of paste paper a little sparkle.

At the end of the lesson Gaye teased us with what’s in store for the next class. I can hardly wait!

For those that are interested in Calligraphy, I highly recommend joining your local Society or Guild - it’s a great way to acquire some beautiful (and fast disappearing!) skillls.

Having  recently amassed a HUGE amount of new watercolours (all different brands from lots of different countries), my old colour charts are no longer up to the job. Time for new ones, and a new way of organising my pigments. I am boldly going to attempt to arrange them on one all-encompassing colour map. Famous last words perhaps…..

Below I am testing Winsor & Newton pigment density (student quality Cotman colours versus artist’s quality)

Other busy work was going on in our household over the weekend. Can you guess what the boys were building?

A Quarterpipe!

Yet another one, this time much, much smaller and no steel welding or huge skate park area required.

Having a play with my pan paints today, and this bird appeared:

Quite a change from my usual bird paintings!

It rather matches some of the paintings and drawings I did for the Rainbow Catcher (see last 2 posts)

Lots of critters hiding everywhere in my house!

Rainbows

Rainbows

Rainbows.

They seem to be everywhere in my life this week.

This is the interactive CD cover of a project I worked on a while back. I came across the original artwork whilst clearing out the Studio. More about that later. A couple of days ago I was driving home from Drawing Class when I saw this out the side window.

I told Jez to grab a few photos.

After 5 minutes it slowly vaporized.

With not a single drop of rain to tone down this excessive heat.

Back to the Rainbow Catcher. It was a collaboration between a few of us  (writers, artist & musician) to create a “Values” package for Early Childhood. A lot of work but a lot of fun. There is a heap of artwork that was associated with this, when I get the time I’ll scan and post them. The ship is called The Rainbow Catcher and is home to 20 creatures that each represent  a Value (eg Love, Courage etc).

I had a lot of fun with watercolours, metallic inks and holographic glitters.

I’m off for a swim now as I’ve melted all over the computer chair…….”Cooling down” to only the high 30’sC tomorrow!

For an exhibition late last year I decided to go BIG. Having only ever worked small, painting one sq metre canvases was quite a challenge. I scaled up my Red Girl and then painted her mirror image in blue.

I enjoyed the large scale format so much that I have quite a few canvases (much bigger ones even!), stacked against the wall awaiting their appointment with the big brushes. Quite ironic when I consider  I’m working on miniatures for admission to the Australian Miniature Society!

On a different subject altogether, we seem to be “blessed” with scaly visitors. Not the Pythons of the Far North this time, but something more sinister.

This is a Dugite (Pseudonaja affinis), which can grow up to 2m, and can be fatally venomous (they are of the Brown Snake family). I picked this fellow up out of the gutter, but he had already met an unfortunate end.

And no, those aren’t my hairy legs, they belong to Jez! I’ve buried the snake in the garden, and look forward to unearthing a nice clean specimen skeleton before winter.

I’ve been “sketching” with watercolours today. I pulled out my little field kit and BIG brush (my tiny 20/0 brushes were given a rest today) and laid down some wet, wet washes on unstretched paper. No planning or pre-drawing, just paint splashed straight down.

The only restriction was that the dimensions were under 10cmx10cm - Australian rules for miniature art. Painting done with 4 colours, then finished off with ink. A very loose style which I’m quite unfamiliar with, but which I found very enjoyable.

Digging through some old artwork I found another piece that I’d forgotten about.

This was from a Botanical Painting Weekend workshop through Uni Summer School - fabulous company and so, so inspiring. Maybe it’s time to get those teeny tiny brushes out again tomorrow!

On Sunday I joined the North Coast Art Club. These artists get together once a month to paint with each other in really relaxed, supportive atmosphere. You can’t get much more supportive than boxes of good chocolates and cups of tea!

Whilst at the Art Club I started my next painting, a miniature, with a familiar subject.

These Forest Kingfishers lived in my garden and the surrounding bush, and were more than happy to pose for photos.

I hope to finish him at home quite soon.

Do you remember the Mystery of the Fish Skull? (click here for original post) Well, scientists at a local University have deemed it a BATFISH, which I had taken underwater photos of at the Great Barrier Reef off Green Island. I still wouldn’t have guessed it.

Thanks to all who took the time to offer suggestions!

Thanks to all of you for your comments, they really mean a lot to me. I have been such a slacker with posting of late - lots of “Real World” goings-on PLUS fighting for the computer = not a lot of posting.

 Another soon-to-be-cyclone is brewing out in the Coral Sea. Bring on the Dry Season and soon!

I’ve been stewing on all the things I’ve got on my “To Do” list as well. I don’t physically have a written down list, just a mental note that seems to be growing by the hour! When did organising one’s life get so hard?

Still, whenever things seem to get overwhelming, a walk and sit outside brings everything back into focus. There are hundreds of butterflies around at the moment, on a manic mission to drink lots of sugar and mate. Not a bad lifestyle really.

This dusk shot of the brilliant blue Ulysses is a bit grainy, but the blue was just so intense in the evening light.

Pink pegs on the clothesline are a favourtie spot for these Eggfly butterflies, who are so often dancing duets in the air - circling round and around each other but never colliding.

I’m feeling a bit disillusioined with art at the moment. So many Galleries have closed down here in Cairns. Lots of artists have lost money and trust. The economic woes of the world has really hit hard in this tourist town - lots of businesses are really doing it tough. On a brighter note I have ben invited to “try out” for the Miniature Society - they have two judged intakes per year - the next being in April. I need to complete 6 pieces (no bigger then 10cm on the longer side) to be considered. I’ve only ever done the one miniature for the exhibition late last year.

Still not sure whether I’m up to the task - more stewing on the subject required!

Even though it was 33 deg C today, there is a definate change in the air. Even though the radio said the relative humidity at 8am last week was 94%, the mornings feel different. We really only have two seasons up here, Wet and Dry, and it’s been an amazingly dry week. (I may have put the mocker on  myself as there is talk of a cyclone forming by the end of the week - Cyclone Hamish). Last year March was the wettest time of the year - who knows what’s in store?

You can’t fool the plants though. We have decidious trees in the street - the Beach Almond (the bat’s & cockies fave). Whilst they are nude for only a fraction of time, they do drop their leaves. They go from deep emerald green to fire red canopy.  It seems one leaf is extra keen.

And speaking of nudes, here is one I did late last year at uni. We had to choose an artist whose palette knife technique we admired, and to emulate that style in a painting of our own. I can’t recall his name, but I do remember the vibrancy and movement he captured in his work. First nude and first palette knife painting. It was quite quick, around an hour and a half, but man did you use up a lot of paint! With some colours at $38 per tube, oil painting is NOT cheap.

Hope you are all enjoying Autumn wherever you may be!

It’s been such a busy end to the working week, isn’t it supposed to slow down after Wednesday?

But a good way to end a Friday was to call in to see my friend Pete, who has been working on a Great Wall.

Pete is a late comer to the world of painting. But it has in no way been a disadvantage. When asked to paint 30sq mtres of outdoor mural, he jumped in with both feet, regardles of the fact that he’s never painted one before.

When he asked me to come and have a look at his 90 hours of work thus far, I was amazed at what he’s created. He’s turned 15 metres of plain paling fence into a vast landscape, incorporating bush, desert and rainforest.

He’s had trying conditions to contend with, wet season at it’s wildest, crippling humidty and plants that “sting” you. I copped a 2 inch thorn from an agave in my bum yesterday!

“Skinning” of paint was also a problem, which he ingeniously overcame by storing the paint in syringes until he needed them. He was lucky enough to have a shade tent erected by the owners.

Left hand side starting with the gum trees of the bush. He’s still to paint in an old tumbledowned cottage in this section today. All up he’ll spend about 100 hours working on this amazing piece.

The middle section encompasses the red desert sands and ancient mountian ranges. I told him it reminded me of “Iron Knob” which we drove past over 20 years ago.

Next is the billabong, where’s he’s thinking about adding some more reflections/shadows, and maybe more clouds to the sky.

And finally the far right, which ends in the rainforest mountains that Cairns is surrounded by. He’s used the most gorgeous lilac to represent the shadows in this painting - just beautiful.

Congratulations to Pete & his Great Wall!