stencils and sneaky view of show

 

the show opens tonight. i thought i would give you a sneaky preview, maybe to convince you to get on down to see it and share in some vino blanco. also here is some pictures of the studio. i made a little box from an old book to house some bits and bobs, i found some great old post cards in some books that mum's friend gave me. the bull and the eyes are from one of the books. the huevos rancheros is a purely over indulgent photo to show off my new spanish dishes bought at chef's hat in south melbourne. i was trying to recreate a dish that i had with jess on the weekend at innocent bystander. yum.

the stencil is done now and so is the cycling man. i now need to go and buy some laquer thinners to apply them. i am putting it off because i hate stinky messy chemicals. i should have bought the orange film... too late, it's all cut now!

exhibition

heavy rain pit pat sleeping house

the final show was last night and went really well. i am exhausted today and feel like i could sleep for an eternity! it's strange though how you finish and your mind becomes a blank canvas and then you start to fill up your head with new ideas for new images.

i look at my work up on the wall and i wonder why i ended up on this really different road and it feels good, but so different to what i thought i would have done. i want to get back to paper again and oil paint (when i get back to australia).

i think my next project will be a series of prints and collages based on my experiences here. these little windows made from the hand-dyed silks will be the basis for the project. the colours and shapes. i want to do some lovely fine hard ground etchings and incorporate lots of details and moments. i also want to work on the cycling cloud book. i am going to sit down with a sketchbook next week and just play.

begin end

blake helped me hang my work this morning for the final show. it is looking good. after a few hitches i think we got it to look pretty nice.

antonia (who is over from home at the moment) and i did some eco-printing and dyeing last night. we used onion skins that i had collected and leaves from a red leaved tree. (i can't remember the name), rose leaves, some yellow flowers etc. the finished results are amazing. deep golden oranges and purple with subtle yellows and greens. i think i will use them to make some new embroidery work, but now i can feel myself getting precious about them and i don't want to cut them up. i can always make more though!

now i will update my website... at least try to!

p r o g r e s s

so it's been a big week and although things look calm on the outside, i am feeling a little freaked out on the inside. i just wrote a list of all the things i have to do and my heart has dropped. so much to do and so little time. it will get done... somehow. i have three days coming up of uninterrupted work time so i have shut myself away from the world except a little coffee here and there to keep me sane and catch up with friends who visit from back home.

i have been working on the printed book of illustrations 'in search of invisible cities'. here are some pictures of aine helping me cut the large printed sheet down to long strips which i then folded for the book. i then decided to make individual covers for the books to make them like an artwork and also to make them original and special. i think special things are very important and i want to take the time to make the work more special.

and a little shot of my studio table with beautiful flowers that only cost 99p and make my studio days so much brighter!

travelling along the seas of something

a bit more re working of the book and i think i am almost there. thank goodness for photoshop! such a brilliant and versatile tool. so i think the book is getting closer to the end.

you can see the progression of the right side of this section from my last post to now. it was just too heavy before and especially when it was printed... no good. what do you think of this section now?