Mid-week update

On Monday I had a crash-course on how to sculpture with Hebel stone. A lady at The BACH uses it for her sculptures and she was very willing to show me how to work with it. She has a little "shed"  out the back of her house that is her work-spot. This is some of her work for sale at The BACH.

 Isn't she talented?

She gave me several pieces of differing shapes and sizes and I have a list of tools to beg, borrow or steal

purchase as cheaply as I can, as well as some sealer and a dust mask. I can't wait to have a bit of a play!

I'm off to Wellington tomorrow for a week, going to be attending this workshop and visiting Te Papa.

I hope to return with loads of ideas and fresh inspiration.

Time: 1.5 hours (26 August 2013)

A bit of this and that...

The past week I've had a chat 

over the phone with my TLC Mentor, 

received some feedback by snail-mail along 

with some notes on some artists to inspire me

Freidensreich Hundertwasser

 Grandma Moses

and a section about Cloisonnism, 

which is french for "partition" 

or the use of heavy black lines in art

like in stained glass windows.

"The aim of Cloisonnism is not to illustrate

 objective reality but to express an inner world of emotion'

I found this statement about Cloisonnism very interesting!

 I made candles with a home-schooler who 

comes for  a weekly craft lesson with me. 

The candles have coffee beans added

to give a nice aroma when burning.

Wednesday I watched the 3rd Resource DVD 

and attempted a little drawing using varying pencil pressures.

My piece of driftwood looks like a hand!

Thursday, I was at The BACH for the afternoon 

and took some reading material with me, a few 

books I'd picked up from the mobile library bus. 

 One of those books was about paper making. 

With spring just around the corner
 (and the weather trying to warm up!)

 I look forward to getting back into making paper. 

I'm really keen on making handmade art journals

 I love the rustic-ness of this one..

 I'm keen to make a press

 and a drying rack over the summer

 as well as experiment with colouring paper.

 and maybe even trying painting and some 

print-making on my handmade paper.

The other book was about Fabric Art. 

 I love this fabric tree!

..and love these album and journal ideas, too

 Friday, I spent a while phoning around, on the hunt for gummed tape (for stretching paper) and some sort of sculpture material like stone or pumice.I finally struck gold with both! I was able to purchase the tape at a shop in town that not only sells fireplaces, but also does picture framing and stocks art supplies. Sarah, the woman I spoke on the phone to, suggested for the sculpting, a product called Hebel. Well, I  know someone from The BACH who does Hebel Carving (and she just happened to be working there) so I was able to organise a time to visit her next week.. and she is going to give me some off-cuts. That made me very happy! 

 After buying the tape I had a go at paper stretching

I'm not sure if I was supposed to do anything 

with it so just left it to dry.

 I did some mixing of  primary colours

50/50 then adding white and then black.

 Next we are asked to do two paintings using our theme 

and our paint swatches. The first painting is using brushes,

 the second using anything but brushes. 

I'm only on the first painting and ALREADY

 having trouble sticking to those boundaries!

Saturday I had great plans to do housework in the morning and art all afternoon. Except that I had a sleepless night and finally slept as the sun was rising. I was shocked to realise it was midday when I woke! After doing several loads of laundry (because of the sunshine) mowing the lawns (more rain is on the way!) and had a bath, I conceded I would not be having an art day after all. Tomorrow (Sunday) I'm rostered on at The BACH so will hopefully still have some energy when I get home to do a little art. 

Time:  10 hours

Sorting, shuffling, filing and pasting...

Today, I spent the afternoon sorting, shuffling, and pasting all my bits and bobs and things I've printed out into my Visual Diary. I've found some Clear-file folders for storing information I've printed out from the Internet. Project ideas from Cloth, Paper Scissors and Art Journal inspirational pages, so I'm feeling quite good and organised. One of the things I want to star doing with my visual Diary is start jotting down WHAT ideas I  have or what do I do with the art or pictures that have inspired me. I NEED to start WRITING more. Hence my eagerness to include regular art journalling. What I DON'T do enough of, is write out MY THOUGHTS. I have to admit being a little afraid of that so we shall see if I can commit to it!

Edited to add pics that I was too tired to upload last night

 Some time ago I made this Accordion Book
 with paper I'd marbled using oils paint and turps.
With tidying up I came across it again and also
a print out of some quotes about "Thoughts"
I knew then and there what I was going
to use my accordion book for!

 Here's what it looks like now...

 A Closeup of the Quotes

 

The other side of the accordion pages.

Close up pics on the quotes on this side.

I'm really happy with it now it has a purpose and it is
small enough that I can carry it with mein my bag
or if I go away, to remind me to stay positive.

The other thing I work on last night was this..

All I want to do now is add some wording/
journalling to the wings. I googled quotes on the net
about 'Wings' and 'Flying" and found a number
that I really like so my next challenge is to
trust myself to hand write some of my favourites.

Time: 8 hours (Saturday 17 Aug)
drawing, stamping, mixed media, words, quotes.

Art Jourmalling

Day in day out I have many thoughts floating around in my head. Some are nice...some, not so nice. Best thing I can do is get them out and art journalling is a good way to combine being creative with words. I had this stupid idea I could so one a day. Not possible as it takes me half the day to get going and the next day it seems, to complete it. In between what I wanted to say the day before often changes so it sort of defeats the process but oh well..it is was it is. I also know that thinking positive helps to blast out the negativity so including encouraging words, where possible on my pages but with all the word possibilities sometimes I feel overwhelmed by what I want to say and I don't get ANYTHING down as a result. Why can't life just be simple....

 Start with a colour. I felt like pink..and white

 Cover with a piece of glad wrap 

and gently smear with hands.

Take care not to rip it!

 Keep doing it until get the desired effect.

 I also had painted a second B/G

A pale purple one that I used the glad wrap

used on the pink page so I blended the pinks 

and purples and white and got this...

 I used this for wings

which I free-handed

and painted a heart which I then 

free-hand drew in black pen

Cut out the heart...

and then get distracted...

 ..and go back to the pink/white background!

Gesso a stamp...I got this set cheap of Trade Me

 Cut out letters from the newspaper.

I want to remind myself to Hope,

Dream, Believe..and Don't Give Up.

Very happy with this page.

I makes me feel peaceful

 Start on a new background.

This time blue...

 add some white to the blue paint and brush 

over the bubble side of bubble wrap

 add more white paint

and cover with Glad Wrap

 Finish of with the bubble wrap 

to get desired texture

Get distracted and paint 

some new back-grounds..

this time a purple with white swirls

 and a mint green...I'm on a roll!

Time: 7 hours

painting/drawing