studio visits make for a studio bath .....

Like all of us who have played a part in both the Regional Marks exhibition and the other opportunities built around the Opening last Thursday, our heads are still spinning and grinning. The outcomes from the exhibition and supporting activities have been marvellous and are ongoing with printmakers meeting or contacting one another, wanting to meet up and share ideas, emails of congratulations arriving unexpectedly and so forth.  Such a buzz.

The exhibition was a great success and you can see some of the happenings on both the Regional Print blog and Fiona's blog.  

My role in all this was a quiet one, working on the catalogue, attending meetings and being part of the committee and though I couldn't be actively involved in some of the events, one which I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in was the studio visit day.

It was a simply glorious day up here on The Range so for the visitors to our studios, an absolute treat with coffee and a wander in Steph's garden before heading over here to my studio which is under the house but as it on the escarpment, offers lovely views up and down the coast.  After lunch we are wandered along to Fiona and Barry's home and studio which looks over the Glass House Mountains so it felt like a pretty special tour - and not just for our visitors!

Not the highlight, but something of great joy for me was that in order for me to host the studio visit, I had to tidy my studio and bring out some work to be seen.  And the studio is still tidy - probably because there won't be any time for actual work before I head overseas.  It is just waiting for me to come home and make a mess.  So, a little tour of my tidy studio with work placed around for people to examine.  I actually have many etchings in those drawers you see at the back and I forgot to tell anyone to go and have a look!

 Some old favourites open on the table and work standing around on the floor as I don't have walls large enough to hang the work.

And why the nests you may wonder .... just because I love them and they are waiting ever so patiently for me to make their perspex boxes.

Bits of Fiona and Barry all around my studio, and also a work by Adele Outerbridge peeping out and and part of an artist's book by Noela Mills.

It was fun to hang 'wandering' again. Mostly to cover all the mess on the back wall of the studio which is my 'working wall' when images are too large to be accommodated on my tables.

busy bits .....

It has been a crazy few weeks in the studio with nothing really exciting to post about other than the completion of my bird book - or at least my part of it and now it is with Fiona who is adding some text ready for the 'Two Books Meet' on World Book Day on April 23rd.

This doesn't mean that is all that has been done but the rest is not new work but the editioning of etchings for up coming and recent events.  We have Maleny Printmakers exhibition over Easter and I needed to have work ready for that - printed a number of etchings from the 'sand drawings' plates and finally, after many years sitting as proofs, I printed and editioned some of my door knobs.  I am happy with how they turned out and in fact have framed three of them together as part of the Easter Exhibition.

I spent days printing some of my "In Between Dreams Series' and dug out the etching plates of a series of four flower etchings I had done a few years ago ..... all for a studio visit day.  A group of women were coming up from Brisbane and further afield to visit gardens here between Flaxton and Maleny and my friend and neighbour, whose garden was the venue for morning tea, asked if they could come and see my studio.  There were going to be about 40 of them and we thought that would work if half of them were dropped here first, and then the other half came after their morning tea and wander around her garden.  As it worked out, there were 63 lovely ladies and they all arrived here simultaneously!  It was impossible to move and I ended up by talking a little about etching processes, a little about the bird book with which I was struggling as it was evident on the desk in front of me.  It was impossible to really see all the work I had on walls or displayed on cabinets as the crush was huge.  A few determined and interested women squeezed their way around looking and weaving their way to me for questions and expressing intent to re visit when there was not such a crush.

For all that, it was good exposure and it forced me to get quite an amount of work done - which is now ready for my Open Studio days in October.  Many of them left their emails and asked to be invited so that was good. A couple of sales were also sweet.

a glimpse of the completed book ready for the reveal next week

details of sand drawings

three of the Italian Door Knob series

watercoloured etchings

and some experiments for the book heading to Belgium which will never see the light of day!