A few more drawing exercises and a canvas

It's been a busy week/weekend and

 I had hoped to get more photos up before now

but life just kept on getting in the way!

 I think it was Friday that I worked on these..

This one was done using charcoal

showing tones with just black or white.

I've used a mid-tone as well 

as it didn't look right to me!

Time: 1 hour (22 Feb)

It was my daughter's 17 th birthday on Sunday. Sarah had asked me if I could take her and some of her friends out to the beach on the Saturday while the weather was still warm enough for swimming. Though I knew I probably wouldn't get time for any art, it was lovely to get out of  "suburbia" for a few hours. I was a bit annoyed with myself as I forgot to take my camera...duh! *slaps forehead* 

Sunday was spent doing food prep and cake making.
We had family and friends over for dinner.
Sarah said it was a really nice birthday
and she had had a lovely weekend.

With all that going on though, it didn't stop me "thinking" about my canvas project. It's kind of my Project X...or another one, as I'd thought about doing this canvas project back when I had finished the Travelling Egg. I wanted to use some or all of the materials I'd used for my TEP on a canvas with a focus on New Life/New Beginnings. So all weekend I had the canvas sitting there on my desk and I came up with the idea of including a koru which I ended up cutting from this painted back-ground I did in August, last year. Every time I walked passed, I dream up a little more and by the time Monday came I was rearing to go LOL!

First, I applied a coat of Gesso.

(The paint and background paper 

had been adhered before Christmas)

I purposely left some of the paper show

through as the words represent my thoughts,

many of them...constantly "talking"..

I try to block them out, 

just like I have here with the gesso.

Blocking out the messages I received

and believed as a child...

Then I draw and cut out the koru 

from the green painted background

I just LOVE my koru...

I love the texture, colour 

and design...very happy with it!

....and I like the fabric heart

with the shell button.

But some time after this things 

started to "go wrong"

For some reason I choose black paint 

for the wording HEAL THY HEART

with ART! Then I did the stamped border,

arrows and small text to the left of the heart. 

PLUS I decided to ink the sides of the canvas.

...and SPRAY it with hairspray to seal it.

BAD MOVE...

I watched with HORROR as the ink bled! 

My heart sunk..and I just wanted to cry!

I think it's all that black that doesn't work for me.

 I wanted the colours to represent my 

emotions but I think it's over-powered 

by the wording. I don't know. 

I ended up ripping the paper off the canvas

and will repaint it and start over...

I'll be interested to hear what Rachel, 

my TLC mentor has to say.

We are going to be having a catch-up 

by phone early next week.

Time: 6 hours (25 Feb) 

(includes photo editing/uploading to blog)

My Travelling Egg Project - An Update and feedback

Sadly, my egg didn't make it to my mentor in Takaka, Nelson in one piece. It arrived scrambled... oh well. I'm glad I took lots of photos. It did have to travel a loooong way and probably had something really heavy sitting on it. Rachel phoned yesterday to give me a bit of feedback. At first I was a little worried about what she might say...but her comments were really encouraging and positive...that I'm progressing well, and did a great job on the colour analogues and my TEP...even though it broke.

These a few pages from my visual art diary that I worked on last week

 Kaeli's feet...getting a bit better

..I've enjoyed drawing her features much more than my attempts at drawing humans so think I'll will stick to animals for the time being. 

One of the things I've always wanted to draw are plants/flowers/trees etc....so maybe that is something I can work towards doing.

The Warehouse Stationery had a sale on canvases..60% off ...so I've picked up several of the smaller ones to have a play with for my next project. I'm very excited about it too....

Off to watch Resource #2 DVD now...

My Art Womb

My Art Womb is finished! It has been an amazing journey...but one I haven't been able to rush. Like birth itself, I feel I have been labouring over it's delivery as I consider the aspects of the EGG, what it signifies and what it mean to me.

It has been a journey of discovery and acceptance and I hope it is the NEW BEGINNING I desire and need (artistically speaking)

I hope my Travelling Egg gets to Rachel, my Mentor safely!

RESOURCE #1: The Travelling Egg Project

This has been a FUN and thought-provoking exercise. I've really enjoyed the brain-storming (I didn't sleep well the first couple of nights I was so excited hehe) Here's with I wrote in my Visual Diary on the 6th June....

above: images from the internet

I googled the word WOMB and was especially inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci'd Study of the Womb, and it was from this, that I  birthed the idea of shaping a womb "shell" with paper mache over a balloon that was blown up enough to fit in my hand. 

 Very messy...lots of fun!

 ...hanging outside to dry....

 I had thoughts of using chicken wire and Plaster of Paris to strengthen and reinforce my "womb" but I wasn't 100% sure about it.... so did a bit more googling. I got the idea of using hessian strips with the POP and knew I had some so went in search in my resource cupboard for some scraps...Once the ballon was removed and my womb cut in half. I needed to somehow keep paper-mached shape when I plastered it so I stuffed the inside halves with some balled-up newspaper

 ...and this is what they looked like once plastered with the hessian strips dipped in the POP....

Once dry, I painted it (...several times until I got the colour I liked!)

 ..the inside...

I have been VERY PROUDLY showing off my "womb" to all my friends LOL! They are excited for me and love my idea. 

Next is to "line" my womb to protect the egg....

 Cutting out the fabric...

 add the wadding to line the inside of my "womb"

yes.. it fits!

(excuse the weird colours in the photo above)
The stamped wording expresses my thoughts about the egg,
new life, new beginnings..
"Going back to the beginning"as not only is an egg the beginning of life,
TLC is also the new beginning of my art journey
"Encase, Keep safe, Precious" - what the "womb" does and provides. It's also what I feel has happened to me, artistically-speaking.
The butterflies signify transition and transformation.

This is the cover for the egg...it opens at the bottom 

..and the other side..
It reads "The layers (pun) of protection, hiding the egg". We all hide parts of ourself...things we are ashamed of or aren't confident in. This is how I feel with my artistic abilities...like it's hidden in the layers of what I've been told when I was at school (that I was "wasting time" decorating my work artistically) and that I'm "No Good" at things....

 My egg nesting inside my "womb"...protected by the layers

 ...slipped inside the centre lining layer...

  ..and held safely inside with velcro.

My Tag, naming my Travelling Egg Project. The Bible says that "children are a Gift from God" ...hence why my womb is "gift-wrapped"

..and explaining what it is to me

...a symbolic place of New Beginnings!

 My Art Womb is a place within me...I look forward to it growing!

 The front view

 Side View

 Other side

The Back...untie here (pink ribbon) to open

Thanks for looking..... I'm really pleased with how it turned out!