more busy bits .....

I have been beavering away in the studio - largely because I haven't really been that well and it is a grand place in which to hibernate.  Being on steroids certainly helps keep up the drive too.  Of course when you are working in this state you are inclined to think things are going well, and then when you are more stabilised you can look back at works you thought were competent and wonder what on earth you are thinking.  I am fortunate in having had people drop in and offer opinion which is good.

I am trying to introduce blue into my work - as you can see from the first two images.  The first is soft and delicious and works quite well with these wood relief prints.  This is just a detail and I am only up to the point of doing all the over drawing now so not worth showing more.

This is one of three works inspired by 'Elephant Rocks' which is an area we found when travelling between Perth and Albany in Western Australia.  Huge big boulders and rocks and glorious ocean.  I am trying to be brave enough to introduce some bright blue into this work.  So far only two layers have been done so I still have about three more with watercolour, graphite and then drawing.  I have just seen Jennifer's post on her give away journals and she has managed very successfully, to bring the blue and black/grey together.  I will draw courage from her I think.  Will show and tell when it is done.

On every table in the studio work in various stages of completion is spreading.

I have to move things aside as I complete work and then it goes into a pile of works which are ready or awaiting framing.

Twenty little journals waiting for paper preparation and sewing.  Each one will have one of my artworks on the front.

The completed work pile is growing.

These next images I am happy with though they are impossible to photograph as they are quite dark and will certainly need just the right place to hang.  I have been trying to work out what to do with them since this time last year when I was busy making art for Anna and James to choose for their wedding.  I never managed to complete them (or 'Girl with the Plait') and have done so over the last couple of days.  The images change so much depending on the amount of light so I have included a number as no single image actually captures what I see here in the studio ....  I have had fun with graphite over previously manipulated paper.

Enough for now .... back to work.  I find I work so much more efficiently when I have pressure and deadlines to meet.  I imagine we are all the same.  And yet I currently have the overwhelming feeling of 'what the heck am I doing' as I prepare to open my studio.  I feel so exposed and almost transparent, as if people can really see what I am like inside - and they may not like what they see!  It is quite exciting simultaneously.

I only very recently learnt how to use magnets and drawing pins when sticking my work up for appraisal .... I always just used to stick pins through the corners of my work.  Now I put a drawing pin into the gyprock and hold the work in place using magnets.  No marks on the paper - yay.  Ingenious.  Apparently many art galleries and art spaces are now putting metal behind their walls and using magnets to hang work rather than hanging systems.  It was at the Brisbane Institute of Art Gallery Space this secret was revealed.

australian stories .....

I have been busy in the studio making little bits and pieces for my Open Studio days in October - works which are indicative of where my mind is these days, and reflecting the work I have been practicing or learning.

These 'Australian Stories' (actually I haven't definitely decided on that name though the bits of images are all suggestive of places I have seen around Australia) have been fun to work with - cutting up bits of etchings to fit in the spaces of my embossing.  They look a bit much all together, but individually, each one tells a different story.

The photographs are not grand ..... it is raining here (and so there is no natural light in which to photograph) which is sheer bliss as we have been in drought conditions.  You can virtually hear the trees smiling broadly - and I certainly am.

detail of story above

I have been working on a few images from my 'Magpie Tidings' book -  eventually I will edition the book but as each one will take a week to make, I just do not have that time available at the moment.  I have made of few of these two dimensional works and though the photo is a little poor in quality and a bit too blue, they have come up quite well I think.

And this ... well this is evidence of my stupidity.  Four efforts at sewing up my next book which goes to meet with Fiona on Wednesday.  Four Times!