Epic fail!

3D - POTTERY/SCULPTURE

This pottery seahorse belongs to my Mum.

I had this grand idea of making a replica just like it.

I made up some "play-dough" so I could press the

seahorse in to it to get the shape/mold of it.

 Then I made up a batch of plaster of paris...

...and poured the plaster in to the mold.

 When it had set I removed it from the mold..

..and was happy with the outcome.

Next I completely covered the seahorse with 

vaseline, placed it a lined box face up

 The idea I had, was to remove the plaster cast 

(I think that's what the seahorse is called??)

so I was left with a plaster mold to press 

a rolled of piece of clay in to.

Sadly, IT DIDN'T WORK! :o(

So not sure what to do now....

 ..and just to round off the epic fail was my

 disappointment with the kauri leaf dye. 

such a rich colour in the pot but sadly,

it didn't "stick" to the alpaca.

3D/Sculpture: 4 hours

Print-Making

At the beginning of June I started attending an 8 week Print-Making Workshop at the Te Kowhai Print Trust on a Tuesday from 9:30 am to 2 pm. My enthusiasm quickly gave way to anxiety on the first day though and I almost left before the session began! After a bit of a chat (and cry) with Jasmine, who works at Te Kowhai, I managed to persuade myself to stay...and I'm so glad I did. I've learnt a lot in the 3 weeks it's been running. Here's some photos of what I've been doing. The first session was on Dry Point Print Making. I've never done it before so was very unsure of what I was doing. I did enjoy the process of scratching on the piece of  clear plastic (perspex??) though and look forward to having another go at this technique in the future. I chose to take a dry point print of an image I'd drawn of my cat's eye....

 My first print was very "clean" (I was quite particular lol!)

 ...but then I risked dirtying it up a bit...

 ...then adding some more cross hatching but at this point I wasn't liking it anymore

 The tutor, Hamish suggested adding a colour which I like but I didn't use a fat enough roller, so there's a variation in ink in the second rotation.

The second and third week was focusing on Woodcuts. I felt a bit more confident doing these though had to stop comparing myself with some of the other people who were doing really intricate images.

 I really pleased to say that I've finally understand how to do a two-colour image!

 Some prints pulled from my first woodcut. 

The following week we were shown how to register our prints so after cutting out the second block (which would give colour to the background around the leaves) I printed the block but unfortunately my registration wasn't very good. 

What I'm really proud of, was my acceptance of the

 outcome and my enjoyment of the process.

 Playing around with some different coloured printing inks. 

Now that I understand how to do a two-colour print I'm going

 to work on a second woodcut of the my "fingerprint"

 My next challenge will be doing a multi-coloured print.

Looking forward to next weeks workshop..we're 

going to do screen-printing.

Printmaking; 15 hours

May 2015 update

May was a a little bit challenging in that even though I'd finished radiotherapy treatment, it still keeps on working. The side effects I noticed were the fatigue and intense tissue irritation/inflammation.  I found it very hard to stay focused as my concentration (which is not the best normally!) seemed to be more of an issue too. I was pleased to get a couple of things completed and have made a list of Briefs.

~PAINTING~

This art journalling page happened as a result of the ever-changing emotional journey I was on before/during and after cancer treatment.

 In keeping with the Whangarei Loves Hundertwasser theme that is currently hot topic here in Whangarei I worked a painted rendition of a wall-hanging I designed/made last year.

 I decided against the orange windows so added a coat of gold over the top to give a bit more "warmth and light" then added varying patterns over the top of the other colours, using stamps and bubblewrap for effect.

 I went round with a vivid marker to define each shape and lastly, added the fun black and white border to finish it off. I'm really pleased with how it turned out too.

~PAPERMAKING/DYEING~

I've been steadily selling my soap over the autumn and managed to, before radiation make a big batch to tide me over until after treatment finished. As a result, I've almost run out of paper so fired the BBQ up on sunny late autumn day in May and cooked up a pot of flax. While that was cooking, my neighbour called over the fence asking if I would like some of their kauri branches as they were doing a bit of pruning. I said, yes please and once the flax was done I cooked up the kauri leaves.

I was in love with the amazing rich colour of the water!

I grabbed a piece of cotton, swirled a bit of glue as a resist, dried it

then "painted on" some of the dye from the leaves.

I also grabbed some carded alpaca and dunked that in an ice-cream container full of dye. I'm sure I'll need to use a mordant but not sure which or what. Must find a book I have on dyeing with plant materials.

I really want to make some felted book covers (one of my planned briefs) and would love if this rich dye could be incorporated some how into something..I'm not sure what yet!

~WORKING & WEAVING~

Work stopped on the Tapestry Project after Beverly's passing and until Naoko returned from Japan After discussion at the monthly Tapestry Committee Meeting (which I'm part of) it was decided that Naoko, as Beverly's Assistant would take up the role of Tapestry Master. The following day Naoko and I met up to work on the tapestry. As I ran my hands the wefts I felt a closeness to Beverly but still had such a deep sadness in her absence.

 I worked on either side the the Letter H

and did some hatching on the mountain.

I returned to working at The BACH Art Gallery in mid-May, starting with just a few hours and building up to full days. As we are in to Winter now, things are quite slow/quiet at the gallery sales-wise. We have just finished hosting the first Hundertwasser Schools Art Competition and had quite a bit of foot-traffic through as a result. It was so lovely seeing all the kids art work and I found myself getting really enthusiastic creatively-speaking. Here's some of their work :-)

There was enteries from kindergartens..

 

This one was one of my favourites!

Up to Year's 7 & 8. Lots of amazing work!

The BACH plans to run an annual art competition

each year to encourage children to be creative.
Next year I hope to be able to be more involved.