Daley St Preston

A day in Carole's Monsalvat Studio

Spent a lovely day in Carole's studio at Monsalvat. This is Carole working on her oil painting of plums in a bowl. The light in the studio is wonderful as can be seen below in these images.

Lovely prospect of being invited to spend more days in this lovely setting

still life

I have been painting these jugs every day and am beginning to get to know them very well.

Daley St Preston (3)

Daley St Preston (2)

Daley St., Preston

Satyagraha - the Opera

Visual experiences that linger.... two weeks ago I went to see the Metropolitan Opera performance of the Philip Glass Opera. It was conveniently staged at the Nova Cinema in Melbourne. It was of course a HD film of the performance. I am very grateful to Julie and John Ross; friends who suggested the outing.

The libretto was in Sanskrit, was not really related to the story, and there were minimal subtitles - intentionally. So the opera was really about the music and the visual. I really like Philip Glass.
And the visual impact was stunning. The opera tells the story of Gandhi - his time in South Africa and the Salt marches. There is a reference to the people who inspired him - Tolstoy and Tagore, and the people who took their inspiration from Gandhi - notably Martin Luther King. There is more to the story, but that is the essence of it.
The staging was so arresting - wonderful puppets and glorious colours and effects. Here are some images.

and a link to the promotion for the opera here.
It was so inpiring I have booked to see several of the other operas in the season at the Nova.
The people who do the staging for the Met are among the best  in the world so the visual experience is going to be inspiring.

Robyn Stacey

A wonderful interview on  the ABC show Art Nation with Robyn Stacey.  A photographer who creates still life images using items from historic homes.
The images are very beautiful - and superbly executed - with no interference post production.

This is one of my favourites - there are more on the ABC blog here

http://www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s3361614.htm

I am going to really miss the Art Nation program next year.

Duality: 2011 Banyule Award for works on paper

Since TAFE has finished I have had time to go to some galleries and take some new inspiration from established artists.

I went to the exhibition Duality: 2011 Banyule Award for works on paper.

One of the great things about these kinds of exhibitions is being reminded that there are so many different approaches and ways of making beautiful work using the same support material.

It is a pity the artist statements are not included in the catalogue and that the Banyule web site does not seem to have images for those who could not attend to get a taste of some of the interesting works on display.

I loved the imagination and enigmatic message of Adam Simmons in his work Answering Machine -  Maze byc (2009).  Beautifully constructed and so intriguing.

Emma Hensler's Nesting (2011) (below) took my interest because it was a drypoint, and this method of printmaking is so old, yet still so capable of evoking a visceral response. Her mark making and mastery of the medium was lovely to see. I am inspired!

 I grappled with monotypes this year sp when I saw Graham Brindley's Liminal Drift (2011) I was intrigued. A large work 240 x 42cm on hosho paper. Graceful, elegant ethereal. I think that often monotypes are messy and a bit crowded, but this was floating and understated. The title for the work was perfect.

I also particularly liked Lee Bethel's work Avenue of Trees (2011). It was freestanding cut paper cleverly cut and displayed with the shadows emphasising the delicate patterns of the trees.

And Michelle Watson's gouache on paper Ascension (2010) was was so beautifully executed. 

It was indeed intriguing to see such diverse approaches to 'work on paper'. There were other interesting works - artist books and Liane Gough's Cerulean Blooms - a bowl of hydrangeas fashioned from the insides of envelopes was gorgeous.

All in all an excellent exhibition.

Blue Moon Tides - artist book

This year for second year printmaking at NMIT our major task was to create an artist book.
I chose the theme of the moon and tides. I made 2 books - collographs mounted in  concertina books on Dutch etch 200 gsm paper.
This blue book cover is Indian hand made paper. The red moon tides cover is buckram.
I was fortunate to win  a generous prize donated by Magnani Papers Australia for which I am very grateful.

On the back of the pages are tide charts

Red Moon Tides

Landscape paintings for Contemporary Artist Society

These are close to completion ready for dropping off to the CAS exhibition at Burnley harbour  next weekend.  Details here
I have to put some finishing touches on them. Photographed them before glazing - otherwise it is too hard to avoid reflections.
The three works are 50 x 40 cm.

Recipe @ 69 Smith St Gallery

I have just completed my entry for the end of year member's show at 69 Smith St Gallery.
The theme was "Recipe' and I was struggling to find a thread that appealed... then it came to me. Alchemy of Love. Here is the image I had printed today. It has evolved several weeks - with many iterations. So many of the classic alchemy symbols could be applied to love.
It is a digital print, 50cm x 70 cm framed.

The show will be open on Wednesday 30th November for three weeks. The opening is on Dec 3rd from 4pm - 6pm.

Contemporary Artist Society Show

I have completed 2 works for the Contemporary Artists Society show at Burnley Harbour.

The details for the show which is on from Dec 2 to Dec Dec 4 are here.

These 2 paintings are larger than my usual ones. They are 120 cm x 120 cm.

Quite large.

I am very pleased with them - though they have taken an age to complete.

Now I have to get moving to complete 3 smaller works.

Lorne - it rained

Went to Lorne for the day - it rained on and off. But managed to get to the beach for a stroll between showers. Even the seagulls looked a bit hesitant.

 Children always seem to enjoy the beach despite the cold.......

Anglsea - it rained

Went to Anglsea for the weekend. Saturday it rained pretty much all day. Spent a great deal of time looking out of the windows ... at the rain.

Painting again

After an intensive year of photography and printmaking I have been immersed in the studio this week, painting. I am getting works ready for the Contemporary Artist Society exhibition at Burnley Underpass.
More details later.
Here are 2 images of the under painting from the first work. It is a large work  for me - 120 cm x 120 cm.
So I had to photograph it in the back yard - and I liked the shadows that fell across it - and the stray leaves from a rogue spinach plant.

The final image is quite different......

Great document on street photography

Enjoyed reading this article from
http://www.85mm.ch/Content/StreetPhotography.pdf

 and looking at his website is inspirational
http://500px.com/85mm

Hand coloured Holga images

These images were taken in black and white with a Holga film camera.
Negatives were scanned and hand coloured in photoshop.