Walking in Darebin Parklands

Learning about my new camera

In town for a meeting - interesting reflections here.

Work in Progress for Linden

Buildings - so elegant

drawing - project - pen and ink

At last- after all the flurry settling back and tidying up, a day to draw.

I am determined to master pen and ink before I go away again, so spent today working on vegetables.....

NGV exhibition Andreas Gursky

Went to a talk by the Munich based curator for the Gursky show Thomas Weski at the NGV.

His talk traced the history of the altered/staged photograph in history from Walker Evans to Robert Shaw and William Eggleston.

The current exhibition at the gallery is extensive. It includes the famous 99 cent store which is 207 by 337cm.

Melbourne - love being back

Melbourne is such a beautful city, I took this photo even though the day was overcast

Green House at Fed Square

In town this week for various appointments. Called in for a coffee at the Greenhouse - a temporary structure at Fed Square which is meant to raise awareness of environmental issues.
The walls are frames with black planters containing strawberry plants. The furniture is made from recycled wood, and the coffee glassess were jars. The construction uses natural light and ventilation.

Last Painting Assignment

Completed the last 2 pictures for Painting 1 at NMIT.

They are after photographs I took at Cockatoo Island earlier this year.

Medium is oil.

Last Photography assignments

Final pieces for Photgraphy 1 at NMIT were submitted Thursday.
The one I finished this week was the reworking of a faint black and white digital image;
I used oil pastels.




The other work was a photo montage/collage.

Working to complete photography assignment

Assembling this was complex. It involved using the jig saw to cut the MDF backing. It is around 900cm x 600cm. Made up of my own photos with mixed media to modify.

Back to Melbourne

Had to go into town to the City Library to get some books for an assignment. But the train was not running. Everybody was cross.
This young boy was on the station was bored and was playing with a string and a can - a kind of circus equipment. He expressed the frustration we all felt.
I thought the colour of his shirt matched the signals - as did the shape of the cylinder he was spinning.

Off to Greece and the US

Sue and I will be traveling to Greece and the US (New York) for 5 weeks.
While we are away we will try to maintain a travel blog with our activities.
The URL is
http://sueberntravelog.blogspot.com/
Cheers until October 27th

Completed Oil Painting assignment

A movie, a book title, a found object.

Watercolours and Pastels

Experiments over the last few weeks with these mediums in preparation for the trip.

Finished third artist book

Finally and at last I printed and assembled the book.

The images were based on photos from Cockatoo Island. The image was embedded in a second image of a stucco wall. I intend to use the image in my final oil paintings.

Boris Zabaorov

Greg Neville showed us the work of Boris Zaborov yesterday. An interesting approach- painting in oils from a vintage portrait photo.

Jasper Johns - an inspiration at present

I find these images from the Seasons by Jasper Johns absolutely intriguing.
I love the colour and the ethereal quality.

Mixed Media work

Monday - worked on mixed media - watercolour and pastel.

Themes are water and time.

Printmaking workshop with Marieke Dench

Spent Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th at a workshop learning how to use aquatint.
Two days - two prints.
Very labour intensive and demanding.

Interesting lecture

Thursday Art History lecture covered the work of Paul Rand and compared it with Matisse.

Rand's mission was to introduce the art of the Paris school to the USA.

I found this connection really interesting.

I was not really familiar with this way that fine art concepts infiltrated the popular market in the 1950's till I saw this clear connection.

http://www.paul-rand.com/

Artichoke drawing

Had a spare few minutes - whipped out the pencils and was pleased with the result.