Actually I was incredibly productive yesterday as I also started to trim back my patchwork in prep for the backing and packing to go in and on, so I can eventually call it a full blown quilt - this needlework marathon has sofar taken two or is it three years to get this far. Gawd actually I think it's more like four - talk about waiting - but I'm pretty sure I can still count on one hand how many years it's been since we were unceremoniously dumped from the Quilt'n Club, Clovelly chapter. This in itself is quite a feat and I can't say I'm not a teency bit chuffed to at least have one expulsion on my record having been a hopelessly boring wall-flower at school.
And quite frankly it's a wonder those green stiched swatches haven't grown matching lichens in the mean time, stuck up in the cupboard in a brown paper bag for so long it assumed an adour reminicent of something pulled from an octagenarian cat lady's house.
But yes, to get to the point, yesterday I finally sat down and as the gesso'd bowls dried out by the window and carefully snipped myself a carpet of cotton confetti out of the dag ends and daggy fibres of the(roughly) queen size patchwork - I have metres and days to go yet, but it's a start.
Monday, 13 August 2007
Waiting Waiting Waiting
Waiting seems to take up a lot of my time lately, while I'm waiting though - that's waiting for Optus to connect me to the internet at home so I can access this site more frequently and under less time constraints and waiting for my bank account to heal itself while it waits for the Tax Office to deliver relief in the form of a substanial refund cheque, and pay for my next 6 weeks of art lessons, I have been keeping my fingers busy dabbling in things creative. I even took some photos over the weekend to prove this but have yet to upload, download and transfer them to this site - it will happen of course - you just have to wait.
I've tried another coat of oils in the meantime and now my burgandy canvas has a little more colour on it - namely yellows and reds, and the rutted surface I made has meant the blended colours are quite interesting, though I'm not a hundred percent sure I like the effect, I mean it's okay but can I work with it? - Well until something more inspiring fires my right brain I think I am going to practise painting clouds on it just to see if I can - again we will have to wait and see .
The paper mache bowls have had another two coats of gesso all up - carpet survived this time which is a plus, though my shirt did not and I'm currently trying to sand one back to a totally smooth surface but not having a lot of luck here. I think I need something with batteries, 'orbital' in the title and 'dental' in the small print.
I've tried another coat of oils in the meantime and now my burgandy canvas has a little more colour on it - namely yellows and reds, and the rutted surface I made has meant the blended colours are quite interesting, though I'm not a hundred percent sure I like the effect, I mean it's okay but can I work with it? - Well until something more inspiring fires my right brain I think I am going to practise painting clouds on it just to see if I can - again we will have to wait and see .
The paper mache bowls have had another two coats of gesso all up - carpet survived this time which is a plus, though my shirt did not and I'm currently trying to sand one back to a totally smooth surface but not having a lot of luck here. I think I need something with batteries, 'orbital' in the title and 'dental' in the small print.
Monday, 30 July 2007
Inspiration
Went to the Guggenheim Exhibition on Saturday, definitely the better way to spend an afternoon –
Exceptional exhibition and I loved it, thought there was the occasional “Well F*ck Me?” moments of serious indecision – Not so much a case ‘I don’t like the colour’ or ‘not quite sure what the artist is saying here’, more along the lines of ‘I think the janitor left his equipment out last night and some gave it a name’.
I heard someone pass comment that a friend had briefly left her child unattended in its pram at a similar exhibition some years ago, to more closely inspect brushwork or something of a technical nature and had turned back to find a small crowd gathered around the pram and commenting on the composition.
Anyway, I think the favourites (hope I can get the pics up too). – which meant I stood there with my lower jaw around my neckline was Morris Louis’, Saraband, - (Acrylic resin on canvas ) The colour was so quietly luminescent; you could almost feel the faintest of breezes drifting from beneath it.
The other that caught my eye was a Sol LeWitt , (photo is not a Pic of the one I saw on Saturday but it is very similar) grid of pencil hatching so simple in design and so pale compared to the hyperactivity of its neighbours - many people seemed to miss it entirely. It was beautiful, and tragically I think temporary also – the wall it was drawn on being a structural fixture of the exhibition. If I wasn’t renting, I would attempt my own sad comparative on the lounge room wall at home.
Sadly the Jackson Pollack’s left me cold, which is a pity as I usually don’t mind his stuff – but the only one I remember from the exhibition was just too flat and too grey and just too like a badly copied print really – which is no doubt how the artist intended it to be because the man is very competent but I think he could have easily gotten the same effect using a cheap colour photocopier.
Many of the extreme moderns don’t do it for me either, flat geometric colour. Can’t see the point really, with no tones, or hues or depth and once you’ve covered all the basic geometric shapes and colours well I can’t see the point of continuing really. You feel like saying move on or move up or out, maybe follow Picasso and expand on the idea.– okay so may the first person to think of this as art was making a point, and that’s fair, much like the person who invented disco however some thing only really need to be discovered once don’t they?
There was also this rather unoriginal, by Felix Gonzalez--Torres, Untitled (Public Opinion), 1991. Black rod licorice candy, individually wrapped in cellophane (endless supply).
These lollies were spilled casually into a small corner of the exhibition (can’t believe I found a Pic of it but I did) and lit artistically from above by a wall light. Unoriginal cos I’ve seen the same thing done with pebbles and tin cans and you name it if it can be piled in can be lit from above – Only difference with this one was it was being consumed as it was being viewed – I don’t know if this was indeed kosher but security seemed to have given up policing the edibles and the sign to the left did say ‘unlimited supply”. I heard objections from one woman while her partner was filling his pockets, pointing out the bullet point clearly stated this exhibit was first produced in 1991 and she was sure the sweets were well passed their use-by date. - Is there a use-by date as far as sugar is concerned?
There was a lot to take in and I did neglect to purchase the brochure which would have been sensible for future recollection but I was inspired to go home and on Sunday I gessod up all my flat canvas surfaces and coated all my paper mache bowls in preparation for creation and colour.
I spent six hours I think glued to the coffee table, almost literally cos that stuff dries like plaster, and also applied fresh layers of colour and dots and ink to previous unfinished numbers and I’ve started 50x50cm piece and so far I have the most beautiful burgundy scratched through to a deep brown. A work in progress - I don’t know whether to go for the warmer companion tones of oranges and pinks or hit it with something to make it vibrate – although this approach in the past has given me headaches.
In the meantime I have my Bunbury Sunset to go on with next Thursday at class – Am feeling truly motivated and can’t wait to get back to it . I do have one small issue though and that’s how do I Gesso out of the carpet?
Exceptional exhibition and I loved it, thought there was the occasional “Well F*ck Me?” moments of serious indecision – Not so much a case ‘I don’t like the colour’ or ‘not quite sure what the artist is saying here’, more along the lines of ‘I think the janitor left his equipment out last night and some gave it a name’.
I heard someone pass comment that a friend had briefly left her child unattended in its pram at a similar exhibition some years ago, to more closely inspect brushwork or something of a technical nature and had turned back to find a small crowd gathered around the pram and commenting on the composition.
Anyway, I think the favourites (hope I can get the pics up too). – which meant I stood there with my lower jaw around my neckline was Morris Louis’, Saraband, - (Acrylic resin on canvas ) The colour was so quietly luminescent; you could almost feel the faintest of breezes drifting from beneath it.
The other that caught my eye was a Sol LeWitt , (photo is not a Pic of the one I saw on Saturday but it is very similar) grid of pencil hatching so simple in design and so pale compared to the hyperactivity of its neighbours - many people seemed to miss it entirely. It was beautiful, and tragically I think temporary also – the wall it was drawn on being a structural fixture of the exhibition. If I wasn’t renting, I would attempt my own sad comparative on the lounge room wall at home.
Sadly the Jackson Pollack’s left me cold, which is a pity as I usually don’t mind his stuff – but the only one I remember from the exhibition was just too flat and too grey and just too like a badly copied print really – which is no doubt how the artist intended it to be because the man is very competent but I think he could have easily gotten the same effect using a cheap colour photocopier.
Many of the extreme moderns don’t do it for me either, flat geometric colour. Can’t see the point really, with no tones, or hues or depth and once you’ve covered all the basic geometric shapes and colours well I can’t see the point of continuing really. You feel like saying move on or move up or out, maybe follow Picasso and expand on the idea.– okay so may the first person to think of this as art was making a point, and that’s fair, much like the person who invented disco however some thing only really need to be discovered once don’t they?
There was also this rather unoriginal, by Felix Gonzalez--Torres, Untitled (Public Opinion), 1991. Black rod licorice candy, individually wrapped in cellophane (endless supply).
These lollies were spilled casually into a small corner of the exhibition (can’t believe I found a Pic of it but I did) and lit artistically from above by a wall light. Unoriginal cos I’ve seen the same thing done with pebbles and tin cans and you name it if it can be piled in can be lit from above – Only difference with this one was it was being consumed as it was being viewed – I don’t know if this was indeed kosher but security seemed to have given up policing the edibles and the sign to the left did say ‘unlimited supply”. I heard objections from one woman while her partner was filling his pockets, pointing out the bullet point clearly stated this exhibit was first produced in 1991 and she was sure the sweets were well passed their use-by date. - Is there a use-by date as far as sugar is concerned?
There was a lot to take in and I did neglect to purchase the brochure which would have been sensible for future recollection but I was inspired to go home and on Sunday I gessod up all my flat canvas surfaces and coated all my paper mache bowls in preparation for creation and colour.
I spent six hours I think glued to the coffee table, almost literally cos that stuff dries like plaster, and also applied fresh layers of colour and dots and ink to previous unfinished numbers and I’ve started 50x50cm piece and so far I have the most beautiful burgundy scratched through to a deep brown. A work in progress - I don’t know whether to go for the warmer companion tones of oranges and pinks or hit it with something to make it vibrate – although this approach in the past has given me headaches.
In the meantime I have my Bunbury Sunset to go on with next Thursday at class – Am feeling truly motivated and can’t wait to get back to it . I do have one small issue though and that’s how do I Gesso out of the carpet?
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Needing Sleep
Last night I stayed up till 11:30pm watching a Doco I came across on SBS. I was channel surfing, foolish thing to do really particualrily when you're already in the jim jams and yawning but what can I say but curiosity got me and I stayed glued to the set untill the credits rolled. Irony of course was that is was all about a doco maker making a doco on the need for sleep and how his insomnia is driving him and his immediate family insane.
Truth is, it was a good little doco as docos go, but couldn't help thinking the SBS programming Department could have maybe put it to to air, ooo I don't know, maybe a bit earlier.
Result of course was that I missed my sleepwave and ended up staring at the ceiling until 3am - of course I spent most of this time worrying about the credit card bill which I think has actually swallowed my life whole.
Truth is, it was a good little doco as docos go, but couldn't help thinking the SBS programming Department could have maybe put it to to air, ooo I don't know, maybe a bit earlier.
Result of course was that I missed my sleepwave and ended up staring at the ceiling until 3am - of course I spent most of this time worrying about the credit card bill which I think has actually swallowed my life whole.
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Last Thing on a Tuesday Night
oh I hope this works, I really do. I've been trying for about an hour now and even gave up for a while there - have decided to try again though, you know give it one last hoorah! and it may 'touch wood' have actually been worth the damage to the keyboard. Note to self -Not a good idea to try and post them in your hardrive.
It's all rather exciting if it works of course, but ... if I get yet another error message when I do the final posting part. I'll simply fall apart completely, trudge off home through the dark, crawl into a box of cheap red wine and refuse to surface until someone refills the affirmentioned box.
Hmmmm
It's all rather exciting if it works of course, but ... if I get yet another error message when I do the final posting part. I'll simply fall apart completely, trudge off home through the dark, crawl into a box of cheap red wine and refuse to surface until someone refills the affirmentioned box.
Hmmmm
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