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

Home today...

I'm so excited to have a HOME day today.

Working outside the home is good but for me 

there's nothing more satisfying than being at home 

and getting things done there. My plans are to do

 some printmaking.I worked on a woodblock 

Thursday evening at the Quarry Art Centre's 

"Inky Fingers" Workshop

 and try some reduction printmaking.

I have this self-seeded fern growing next to my back 

door steps. While taking the woodcut photo I noticed 

some little fronds so took some photos of them too.

This one looks like a baby hanging
upside down (like an unborn fetus)

Oh and I was looking through a Mindfood magazine
I loaned from Jane Cunningham (the art journalling coach)
and came across an article about the inner artist.

 As I read I spotted a name I recognised...

 

I feel sort of special belonging to a group of like-
minded people. It's like being part of a family....
The "Learning Connexion Family"

I'm excited to announce that I have 

a new responsibility at work! I'm going

to be taking photos and uploading them on 

The Bach's FaceBook page and promoting

new and existing artists work. I think this will 

be really good for me and I hope to increase 

my confidence in approaching advertising 

outlets to promote creative people and artists 

(like myself!) as a vocation in life but also beneficial 

for the general well-being as a human being.

Over the weekend I made a start on the 

beach tapestry I'm doing for The Bach.

I've decided I'm a Visual learner/worker

and need a coloured picture to work

from so have being adding colour to the 

outline guide the artist has drawn up.

I'm thinking I'm also going to simplify it 

slightly as I believe there is too much detail. 

I also need to make some fabric "ketes" for 

my soap kits in preparation for sending to the 

Riversdale Art Exhibition. I feeling a little stressed

but trying to look at this as an opportunity to

 market myself a little more and trust that it'll all 

come together by next week!

Monday (yesterday) was Art Journalling

 in the morning and we looked at a rather 

controversial topic - sex/ love making!

I can't say I was terribly comfortable but 

permitted myself to work with whatever came

 up for me and go-with-the-flow so to speak.

This morning while checking my emails etc 

I stumbled across an article by Colossal and was

fascinated by these embroidered landscapes 

and plants by Ana-Teresa Barboza

I love the textures, colours and how realistic this looks!

Oh well...keep forging ahead Julia.

You don't know what's around the corner...

4 hours - printmaking

3 hours - art journalling

2 hours - tapestry

4 hours - photography/photo-editing

and webdesign

Update - what I've been doing!

ART JOURNALLING:

I'm really enjoying the Art Journalling Workshops at 

The Quarry each monday from 9.30am to 12.30pm

 

 

 

I'm starting to feel  a lot more comfortable with
 my style and plan to continue the workshops
each Monday as and when I can. I'm finding it
"good therapy" in more ways than one.

PAPER-MAKING:

I was driving to work last weekend and spotted a 

broken (torn) branch on a pohutukawa tree. I'm 

really keen to experiment papermaking with other 

plant materials (especially NZ Natives) so on my way 

back home I stopped to remove some of the leaves.

  After stripping the leaves from the branches

I "cooked" it for several hours on my BBQ.

 It's now "rinsing" ...that is, the leaves are balled up like 

a plum pudding in a bucket of clean water. Every time I 

go outside I change the water until it relatively clearish.

Now for a fine day to make it into sheets of paper!

TAPESTRY:

 I've almost finished this but sadly have run 

out of (pale blue) wool. I'm not sure what to do now.

 I probably should take it along to work and ask Beverley

The Whangarei Community Tapestry Master. I've still 

got the flower stamens to do (in red) and sew in between

the warps where I've used a different coloured yarn.

I'll be glad when this is finished and plan to use it to

 make some cards to sell at The BACH.

Also, I have been commissioned to complete this 

tapestry, designed by Jackie Addenbrook the artist

 that designed the Whangarei Community Tapestry.

 I hope I do Jackie's design justice...

On completion I get to keep the loom!

I've already got ideas floating around in

 my head of what I'll do :o)

The wool...lots of lovely colours!
I've enlarged and printed off sections of the image
which I will colour using pencils or paint to match
 the yarns I've been given use. Here's a closeup
of what been done so far...

I'm going to work on it over the winter months
when I am at work at THE BACH.

TEXTILES:

I have been wanting to make something for the 

my entranceway for some time now. The wall space

 is long and narrow and I wanted it to hang from 

the wooden plaque I'd designed with the wording 

"Home Is Where The Heart Is" hand-written on it. 

 I drew a rough design and decided which

fabrics from my stash I wanted to use.

 Sadly, my house ended up crooked but 

didn't "chuck it away" ...just trimmed the back-

ground fabric to accommodate the annoyingly

frustrating (but once sewn on, stays on) lean-to effect!

This is the wooden plaque (excuse it's grubbiness!)

It was hanging a pre-printed hand-quilted picture

 panel previously.I'll take a photo of it once it is 

hanging up. Also I'm quite been on "having

 a go" making this into a painting.

EXHIBITIONS:

Lastly, I'm going to be exhibiting my soap in the

Riversdale Art Exhibition, Southland next month.

 I've yo-yo'ed back and forth whether or not to 

send stuff down but after talking with one of the 

BACH members, who does Hebel Sculpture

I've decided it's a great opportunity to show off 

my creative work. I plan to make some gift sets

 containing a soap, a handmade healing salve using 

local plant materials, a small piece of pumice stone 

and my handmade/hand-dyed cotton knitted flannels.

I need to trust that it'll be well reached and

 maybe provide a new outlet for sales for me!

NOW TO 

CALCULATE

 MY HOURS 

for my TLC mentor,

Keith Grinter .....

20 hours - art journaling/assemblage

30 hours - tapestry/textile

Art Journalling Workshop

This morning was week 2 for the Art Journalling Workshop with Jane Cunningham. We meet at 9.30 am each Monday for 12 weeks in the scallop Room at The Quarry Arts Centre.  Jane's workshop is based on the book "Women Who Run With Wolves" by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes. This weeks theme was EAT, which is a complex topic for most women....I've yet to met someone who is absolutely fine with their relationship to food/body image and emotions! This was a particularly painful subject for me (as I had an eating disorder in my teens/early 20's) and I shared a little about my love/hate relationship with eating/nourishing myself. It's something I'm still working through and probably will be until I die. I've yet to complete my page but will continue to work on it over the coming week. I'm not sure if I'll share it here. I might just show a "bit of it" ....

I work at The BACH this afternoon filling in for Briar as she had an appointment in Auckland. I tried to do a little sketching (as it was quite quiet) but it just wasn't "happening" for me so ended up working on the tapestry for the last 45 mins before shutting up shop.

Art Journalling/Mixed Media

4 hours

Casual Clay Class - The Quarry Arts Centre

Tuesday has become my Clay-Day.

I took a packed lunch with me and stayed 

until 2.30 pm before heading to the library 

to pick up some (clay technique) books,

then headed over to pick Cam up after school.

I was feeling pretty chuffedwith my paper-clay

(well....it LOOKED great!)

and rolled it out to a slab where I discovered,

much to my disappointment, it didn't cut cleanly!

Being fibrous in nature (with flax paper) meant it 

cut with fibres sticking out like whiskers! 

(no photos sorry)

So I reworked the clay into a large leaf with the

 intentions of fashioning a tall vase for some (wooden?)

flowers I purchased recently that need a tall vase.

So I'm still having FUN at this point.

I took a break for lunch and even

put up a Facebook status saying 

I was "having fun" playing with clay

at The Quarry Arts Centre!

My enthusiasm didn't last long though...

 A fern (NZ silver fern)

left a nice imprint

 as did the netting 

on the other side

(except it wasn't long enough) 

 but when I attempted to roll the 

clay in the "vase" shape it cracked 

and left finger indentations.

Using the sponge (that came with the clay-kit)

moistened with water, I was able to smooth

out the imperfections, which were, by this time

really bothering me! 

I almost packed in the vase idea but have 

seen pottery items that have been texturised

 by "scratching" with a toothpick...so did that.

 If I'm not liking it by next week, I'll 

just reconstitute it into something else. 

That's the great thing about clay!

Here's my pottery tiles from last week

I've textured the underside rolling them out on the 

nylon netting with the hope, they don't break.

Time: 3 hours

18 Feb 2014

Pottery

Quarry Arts Casual Clay Class

Clay leaves - I made these last week but didn't have my camera.

They are drying nicely

I love the shape of this one but (sadly) it's

 not the right size/shape for my soaps.

I'm trying so more slab tiles for my books.

..but this time I'm trying a bit of "texture" on the reverse.

This piece of netting (nylon?) came 

with my gas bottle replacement.

This is the pattern it leaves behind.

Hopefully it'll help reduce fracturing of the clay.

Using evergreen materials (again)
because I love the patterns

These tiles are half the size of those above 

they measure approx 3-4 inch square.

More leaf prints

Not sure if this'll work but going to
"give it a go"....just for fun!

PAPER CLAY

I'm pretty excited about my handmade paper clay!

There's a mix of ginger and flax paper 

scraps that I'm working in to the clay.

It was like playing with a cow pat LOL!!

It's been set aside to absorb or the moisture so I

 can work with it without it sticking to my hands.

Time: 4 hours

Causal Clay Class

Tuesday 11 Feb 2014