It's been a bit of an up and down week for me. Amid the satisfaction of things turning out the way I'd hoped, there's also been lots of disappointments and frustrations.
Experimenting with plant dyes
Crushed and dyed deep red leaves from a maple tree
soaked in vinegar and hot water
The ones with salt (right) weren't half as pretty.
Of course they dried much paler than while damp.
I spent a couple of hours over at my neighbour's. The printmaker/teacher. We spent most of the time talking. I shared me "mental blocks" and she shared some of her journey as an artist, a woman and solo mother. She loaned me some books, two about Paul Klee and his artist journeys and understanding about his work. She also loaned this article from a newspaper she had and thought might be inspiring for me. The woman, from Japan is Yayoi Kusama. She is 82 and has lived in a mental health hospital since the early 10970's and from 1977 she has live voluntarily on an open ward, building a studio across the road and communting back and forth on a daily basis. Kusama says it has helped her as she has been able to channel her illness into her work.
Thursday I worked at THE BACH for a couple of hours but left before closing time to get Cam from school as it was such a wet day. While there I did a little "doodling" *need to take pics* Friday dawned a lovely day so I took Kaeli out for a long morning walk and collected some flora as inspirations for art
I thought this was Bushmans Friend (rangiora) but after googling I see that it's not. The leaf is huge (about the size of a dinner plate!) and kind of soft and furry. I thought this would make a great sculpture, an idea I've had for bowl/dish so with much enthusiasm got out vaseline, plaster gauze and a container with a little water (to soak the gauze)
Dahlia flower - a massive bush cascaded down a steep bank by the High School. I was amazed at the size of it. (I'll take a photo next time I'm out walking) I love the back light effect on the petals as it hangs drooping...
I also collected a fallen totara branch (covered with lichen) for soap making
and some flower/berries..not sure which or what. Must google and see if I can identify them.
Seeped in a little vinegar and hot water a lovely pale pink hue
The back of that big leaf
I smeared it with vaseline and cut strips of the plaster gauze
placing them in an ice cream container with a little water
but that plaster didn't/wouldn't soften for me! I tipped out the
cold water rlacing it with hot thinking that was the problem
and the first lot of strips softened but the rest didn't
so the centre of the leaf coverage worked but not the rest.
I was SO frustrated! What the heck was I doing wrong??
You can see the centre were the plaster has softened
with the water, therefore picking up the details of the leaf veins
but the rest of the gauze didn't soften at all.
So then I tried some painting warm-ups....
...blending blues with white and black...
..and I had "fun" playing around with different shades
but when I attempted to do some REAL painting...
...it turned out disastrous...argh!
So much so, it ended up in the bin again. Sorry.
I've got to find a way that works for me.
I'm going to break through what ever it is that
inhibits me from producing work that I am satisfied with.
Otherwise, what's the point of doing it??
In other news, I injured my left rib cage over the weekend. Well, the puppy did. My sister and I have been planning a trip to the beach with the dogs for some time now but she has been really busy with study (nursing) and end-of-semester exams. With them behind her, Saturday was the day for beach and it was a lovely sunny winter day to boot! We'd only just got out there when Kaeli, in her excitement to get onto beach, slammed me into a gate post injury my ribs. So things are a bit difficult to do right now (like breathing!) so I'm having to take it easy and rest up a little. I'm feeling pretty useless right now.
Week 3: 13.5 hours
Drawing (doodling) 1 hour
Painting (exploration/research) 3 hours
3D Sculpture (leaf) 1 hour
Printmaking (exploring plant dyes) 1 hour
Soap-making (plant preparation) 2 hours
Research/Reading 2 hours
Time spent with my neighbour discussing artist
self-confidence 1.5 hours
Blogging/Recording process 2 hours
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