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