The Christchurch Art Show

On the 7th March, my helpful assistant/hubby Al and I packed up the ute, hooked up the caravan and headed off to the Christchurch Art Show. I’d been working hard to get work prepared for this so great to finally get there!

Friday was the setup day before the opening night, we found the load in area and got to work setting up.

Overconfident and full of unrealistic optimism as usual I said to Al ‘It’ll only take an hour and we’ll be off” Famous last words….

Three hours later I’m sweating, having a tantrum trying to peel off a piece of label that won’t separate from its backing and violently throwing it to the ground while my helpful assistant was staying at a safe distance of approximately three meters away and opting for a tactful silence.

Well, it’s most unsatisfying to throw a piece of paper, after watching it flutter gently to the ground, I realized I needed it and had to pick it up again anyway.

Busy at setup, almost done.

We then rushed back to the van, tidied up put on my show hat and went off to the opening, mood much improved.

The organization of the show was fantastic, it was very well planned and had a lovely friendly feel to it. It’s run by Art Shows Across Aotearoa.

The comradery was great, I caught up with some artist friends and art-lovers and made some new ones, chatting, supporting each other and sharing ideas.

All set to go on opening night.

There are tips and tricks to be discovered and it was great to be with such a wonderful bunch of people who have centered their lives around their art.

Talking to other artists and art-lovers was great.

Talking to visitors about my art was great too, it was well worth spending time clarifying my ideas (I have a diary/sketchbook so am constantly refining what I am doing, why I am doing it and my process).

I love sharing information with people, I always think if it helps with someone else’s creativity that can only be a good thing.

I enjoyed watching the reactions, how the humorous birds put a smile on people’s faces as they joked with each other ‘Looks like you in the morning”, or when a visitor steps in for a closer look and something in the piece connects with them.

A huge thanks to the visitors who stopped to look, chat and those who took a piece home with them. Your support and encouragement are fantastic and contributed to a brilliant weekend. I look forward to seeing you all again!

Busy Busy Busy

Busy is the word for the next couple of months. I’ve got a lot coming up. A couple of tramps exploring the amazing landscape of the South Island mountains, the Christchurch art show, a Featured artist stint at the Otago Art Society and the Wellington art show!

I was off tramping out of Glenorchy last week, home this week then off for another walk the following week. I find the tramping inspires and invigorates me.

I’ve never been and never will be a landscape painter, though I admire and appreciate many skilled landscape painters., its more for me, just admiring the beauty and magnificence of our amazing country.

Stunning vistas, even the pesky ragwort looks pretty as a sea of yellow in places.

I find it inspiring and invigorating to be out in nature.

As I knew I would not be getting too much artwork done during these couple of months I have had to be super organized in advance, making sure I will have enough artworks for the shows. Fortunately, the creativity gods were working in my favor and supplying me with heaps of inspiration and new ideas.

Busy putting together a couple of bird frames.

A few chairs drying on the left with a larger piece and some ‘floof’ bodies drying on the right.

Of course, there’s always a few extra opportunities to make something fun. I had a divert to make a few dragons and a piece for the Otago Art Society’s circus-themed show coming up in March, so it’s been good to have allowed enough time to comfortably get involved in things that perk my interest.

A piece in progress for a circus-themed show (propped up with a drill and containers until it dries) with a couple of dragons in progress in the background.

I now have my Christchurch Art Show stuff organized and packed up, carefully recording all the names and prices. I’m big on lists, so happily ticking everything off.

Some dragonish fun

I was asked if I would like to create a few hanging pieces for a space at the Otago Art Society gallery to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Right up my alley! Previously I have made dragons from papier Mache, wire, cloth and glue. I wondered if the more flexible air-dry clay I’m working with currently would be up to the task. Nothing like a good wondering to get inspired!

I made the wings separate then joined them to the body

With the first dragon, I made the wings separately and joined them to the body, a bit of work thinking around how to allow for the wingspan and what thickness of wire to allow for the weight. The clay has a fair bit of flex but I figured there would be a bit of pressure where the wings join to the body.

For the wing covering I used thinly rolled out clay, allowing holes to develop.

All painted up

Made a row of spikes and ‘flowers’ down the back.

The first dragon had quite a big wingspan and they drooped a bit much. I fixed this by adding another point to hang from further along the wings.

The wings drooped a bit low, so I need to make another hanging point further out.

I thought I’d make another couple of different sizes, loved how the wings had a really leathery look to them. One thing I did discover was that it’s really hard to get a good photograph as they’re all odd angles and quite thin and long.

Dragon foot

Drangon 2, hard to get a good shot, lots of awkward angles.

I loved the leathery wing effect.

It was an overcast day, so they made quite a dramatic silhouette against the sky.

A new year

Well, 2023 was a difficult year for me, a year filled with grief, heartache and loss leaving me rather battered and bruised as I enter 2024. It was a year also filled with support, love and laughter from the people I love best and the arrival of a wonderful new baby.

I feel I’ve covered the whole range of human emotions in a very intense year indeed. I have discovered a vulnerability I didn’t know I had and also the strength to be found in close relationships.

I have been frozen and struggled to make art at times, and also frantically creative at other times. Interestingly my work, which tends to lean towards dark and creepy has been tending towards lighter and dare I say it….pretty at times. Wierd…. but who am I to question the creativity gods.

I made a lot of humorous birds.

I made some dragonflies and spent some time exploring the qualities and capabilities of air-dry clays. I love the shadow play with these wall-hung pieces.

I took the wall hung ideas further with some dragonish, lizard-like pieces.

There was a lot I wanted to achieve, get better at photography, up my computer skills and promote my work more, I made a half-hearted effort but now that’s been added to this year’s list.

There’s a comfort in the process of creating and I suppose it’s what I have turned to, the familiarity of planning and the physical process of making art. I’ve always thought of it as an almost meditative process, there is no room for thoughts and the outside work to intrude and the focus is on one thing.

I’ve made quite a few of fun little floofs..

I’ve made a lot of masks, refining ideas and techniques.

I’ve got a couple of art shows coming up this year, so I have been working towards them, and I’ve a few new ideas to explore as well so it’s feeling like a busy year coming up. No doubt the studio will need another tidy (I managed to make some floor space by shoving everything haphazardly in the cupboards so now still can’t find anything.) Oh, and I’ll be whipping off for a few tramps and a trip or two in the caravan too.

Camera play

I headed up to Naseby last week and thought I would take up some works and practice my photo taking skills in the surrounding forest. I know in my head the sort of photos I want, however getting them is a different story.

Because the camera can’t respond telepathically to what I want, (telepathic camera- love the idea!) I have to rely on learning how to do it and practice, practice, practice. Lots of things to consider, contrast, light, dark, in focus, fuzzy background or not.

Great fun experimenting and trying different moods and looks.

A few pieces lined up ready to go.

I love the idea of taking works into the natural environment. I’d like to talk someone in to being a model for my masks once I work up a look suitable and in sync with the environment. I love the works of ‘Mothmeister”, eerie, Victorian and otherworldly, and some others I’m following on social media. I’m not sure what exactly I want, but it’s an idea that’s fermenting away and I’ll refine at some stage.

After trying the masks hanging from branches, I tried them against a tree trunk with the textured bark. Quite a different look. The more elaborate one looked almost camouflaged.

This one looked almost camouflaged.

The birds, well, they’re a bit of fun, no serious art stuff with them, could be a little unnerving to see one hopping towards you though. I think they enjoyed the outing; I could tell by their expressions.

Dragonfly

Well, I decided to make a dragonfly. Associated with change, transformation, adaptability and self-realisation, these insects are some of the fastest insects on earth reaching speeds of 50km. Fierce predators, they can hover, fly sideways, upside down, backwards and spin 360 degrees on axis. Awesome critters!

I also had a fear of turning out something that looks tacky like butterflies on houses in the 70’s, along with flamingos on the front lawn. (Apparently kitsch is cool but tacky is not so if you love this look clearly, you’re into kitsch and not tacky art). I also did not want to make ‘pretty art’, so a bit of a challenge to get a feel I was satisfied with.

Why am I not soldering?

As I was putting the frame together, twisting wire for the body, legs and more delicate wings, the wire kept slipping and moving. I suddenly realised I should be soldering to tack this into place! I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before when making some of my more delicate pieces.

I decided a more fantasy style would be better, freeing me up from needing to follow anatomical rules of shape and proportion.

Ready for painting.

When using the clay, I flattened it out really thin over the wire in the wings so hopefully when the light catches it just right the translucency of the clay will show through. As I was making it I was also thinking about some interference paint for a bit of a shimmer.

Trying out blue interference paint.

I got to use some of my favorite colors, deep Prussian blue and rich turquoise.

A scaley effect on the body.

I went for a scale-like effect on the body to add a little bit of a prehistoric look, painted with dark colors underneath and brushed over with lighter color and the interference paint, which came out quite dramatic on the darker colors. When the wings are backlit there is some translucency as I had hoped.

I love the shadows patterns on the wall.

Love the shadows on the wall, might have to make another!

Learning tech stuff

So, I decided to add a newsletter block to my website so people can sign up for a regular newsletter. Great idea! Squarespace offers a lot of help with all aspects of the website, video tutorials and in depth instructions.

But I have discovered my learning style with anything computer related seems to be…..watch 6 videos…read instructions 6 times…follow the promts….wander off course and get hopelessly confused…believe I have it right…..doesn’t work….delete everything I’ve done and start again.

Give me some wire to twist, a structural issue with a sculpture, finding the right glue or figuring out the right materials for a job and I’m all over it.

Give me a technical problem to solve with my sculpture, I’m all over it.

Well, apparently, it’s best practice to have an email attached to my website. Breaking into a cold sweat at the thought of going into ‘Settings’ I worked my way through it….what are MX records? what is my server?…do I really want to complete this action? After some time, feeling sightly dehydrated after so much concentrating and with a sore brain, I successfully created an email and signed up to google workspace.

Which apparently was not what I was supposed to do.

Well, that’s a day of my life I’ll never get back. Feeling confused and discouraged I went off and made something which made me feel happier.

So today is working out much better. I successfully deleted everything I had done and ready to attempt newsletter signup number two. Not today though….I have some procrastination to do first.

Might go and make something.

Working through it

I’ve been through a bit of a rough time recently. Something happened that absolutely floored me, and my usual resilience and natural optimism deserted me.

Now, I’ve always imagined the inside of my head like a massive storage room/factory with workers shoveling stuff from boxes into giant furnaces (bit like the Titanic but hopefully with better decisions being made) The foreman for some reason is a burly whiskered man with an English accent. (wait- I think borrowed him from the movie!) “Send down some more nostalgia - she’s looking at old photos” - “she’s going in for another glass of wine…she’ll be dancing next….noooo…. dial back the fine motor skill so she knocks it over” - that sort of thing.

These wee guys usually have my back, but this time they kept shoveling on the negative thoughts and feelings.

To stop myself thinking, I started to make and make and make. I completely immersed myself in my work and my creativity absolutely flourished.

I totally immersed myself in my work.

Only problem was the negative thoughts were still there. I thought- right- I’ll listen to uplifting podcasts while I’m working, improve myself and who knows maybe even grow a super brain while I’m getting work done!

Well, what I discovered was to make sure self-improvement stuff is all of a similar theme. One morning I listened to “The subtle art of not giving a f*ck’ and followed it up with something that seemed to encourage you to get up every morning thinking “what great thing will happen today'?” So now I don’t know if I’m supposed to give a f*ck if something great happens today.

But I did some really good work on a dragon.

Got some great work done while listening to podcasts.

I listened to one about heart chakras, visualizing my heart chakra expanding filling me with love enveloping negativity. I lay back, closed my eyes and visualized my heart chakra as an expanding whirlpool of love…….

Heart chakra turned into a suddenly expanding giant balloon angrily pinging off negative thoughts that took the shape of little stick figures while for some reason a medieval jester floated above laughing evilly.

But I got a great mask done.

So, for now, I have turned to the sage advice from world renowned philosopher Ozzy Osbourne.

Mask making

I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with masks. I remember as an art student wandering the cold Dunedin streets coming across a small gallery workshop in Moray place. Walking up the stairs to the gallery there were beautiful richly colored elaborate masks lining the walls. Made from paper mache, with feathers and fabric adorning them, I was stunned and amazed. I can’t remember who made them now, but I had quite a lengthy discussion and she kindly gave me a beautifully crafted mask base.

Thanks, you wonderful inspirational person!

The mask base that I use to shape my masks is underneath this one in progress.

I left the gallery with a sense of wonder, but my artistic direction wandered off into large abstract paintings for a while (Large abstract paintings seemed to be the thing to do in the 90’s)

Well, I had hung on to the mask and the seed of an idea, and fast forward 30 years I am using it to provide the shaping for the masks I am making now.

One of my Medusa inspired masks

I was making wall hung masks or ‘heads’ I suppose, not made to be worn, and made from paper mache. I liked the idea of a mask that looked good on a wall, but also could be worn, so made some from paper mache with flower clay adornments.

Made from paper mache with flower clay details.

I then decided to make them lighter and try flower clay for the whole thing. This is what I love about ideas and materials, they spark off each other. I also love that some inspiration from 30 years ago is impacting my decisions today!

They are still not a mask you would want to wear for a long time, but I like the idea that they could be worn for a bit. Have some great ideas about photos with then being worn. I have some inspiration from some artwork I have seen, might have to do it sooner than 30 years…..

Flower clay

Something exciting about working with mixed media and experimenting with materials is that something will grab you and open up other possibilities.

My current ‘love affair’ with flower clay came about because of my search for a material that would allow me to go finer and more delicate than paper mache. With paper mache I had created quite small and also people-sized pieces, refining techniques as I discovered more of its capeabilities and limitations.

I was using air dry and oven bake clays for teeth and toenails for some of my creations.

Nice set of chompers on this dragon.

I was introduced to ‘cold porcelain’ by a fellow artist and friend. It was a homemade version using cornflour and PVA glue. When it dried it allowed me to make really fine points on teeth and claws without chipping as it remains flexible.

I started to make smaller birds and animals with the paper mache, then wanted to get finer with more detail, so I started playing….

I was using wire for strength in the paper mache works but then figured I could bulk out the shape where I wanted with foil and layer the clay fairly thinly over to get the fine look I was after.

I wanted quite slim legs, going for a kind of ‘creepy elegance’ I suppose.

I also found I can go really thin with it and make fine petals, leaves and twisty bits suggestive of forests and moss.

The body of this one was made from air dry clay, the finer parts flower clay.

This just the start of my adventures with the medium, I have found out that I have to use it with confidence and know exactly what I want to do, as it starts to be unworkable in about 5 minutes, so I’m taking little pieces out at a time and keeping the rest covered. No time for playing with it.

Flower clay. dries quickly and remains flexible great for fine and thin work. Adheres well to itself while still soft. The disadvantage is also that it dries really quickly so there is not a lot of time for playing around with it.

Demonstration days

Otago Arts Society demonstration days. A fantastic time to connect with other artists and visitors and also get a bit of work done. I find it very insightful looking at how other artists work, some plan out very carefully, some more casual in their approach. Although our approaches and mediums may differ, we still can learn so much from each other and also from the conversation with visitors.

Some conversations lead to new ideas and approaches, new friends and during the weekend there is a real feeling of support and community.

All packed up and ready to go

As I’m not taking any of my large pieces, it was a much easier trip and setup this time. The gallery was wonderful and warm as were the conversations on a cold frosty Dunedin weekend.

I find it great talking about how I make things, it’s easier than talking about why I make things. I love the technical discussions about what wire thickness I use, properties of paper mache or the different qualities of air dry clays or glues.

The discussions of why I am drawn to certain ideas are a little trickier, (sometimes I’m really not sure) but good practice for writing about my work as it helps clarify my ideas and approach in my own mind.

All set up and ready to go.

In between the talk, I also got some work done.

I’ve been working on fantasy animal and bird figurines, using a wire frame bulked out with foil and a thin layer of air-dry clay over top. I get quite excited talking about properties of the different clays and sent many people off with photos of the wrapping, so much that I think I should have shares in the company!

Sharing information has always been an important part of my approach, I’m not worried that someone may take my ideas and start making what I do. If I can help someone with some technical aspects, even if some of my ideas are borrowed, that person will still be making their own art and if I can help them get there, that’s great!

Chickadees and Floofs

I’ve been making critters that, for me is quite a change. Frivolous, cheeky and cute! Not words previously associated with my work.

Made from air dry clays, I’ve added possum fur and marbles for eyes, these little guys fit beautifully into the palm of my hand and beg to be patted.

Most my critters have a kind of' ‘Just came up from the bowels of Hell and now shaking off the residue from an atomic blast’ sort of look. Sometimes I’ve tried to aim for odd yet elegent, I made a reindeer and someone commented “Oh I love it, you’ve made Satan’s reindeer”. (I laughed and laughed, and yes, it does look like Satan would be happy to hop on the back of it and travel around the world snatching souls.

Satan’s Reindeer

‘Alby” a little bit cute, still might give you a fright if you woke up to him staring down at you.

I do have a liking for long skinny limbs and sharp claws which adds to the ‘creepy’ element in a lot of my works.

Now, I was thinking of a little critter, simple, with no sharp claws or teeth and started making these “baby birds” that a friend called ‘Chickadees”. Now ‘Chickadees’ is about as frivolous and unscary name you could think of. I could hardly believe it! Here I am, making something that is wholesome and cute, with not a glimmer of darkness and despair!

Of course, once I’d made some of these chickadees I started to play with different ears and noses instead of beaks. I figure they can’t be Chickadees without beaks so had to think of another name as well.

“Floof”, according to the dictionary is an exceptionally furry or hairy animal, especially a cat or dog. Bat, cat, dog, possum, seems to be a good fit.

Well', until I think of attaching scary monster teeth!

Updating websites

Well, I’ve been really slack in one of the important parts of an artist’s life. The administration part of it!

There has been a lot happening art-wise for me this year and I need to now spend some time updating my website.

Here’s a quick recap of what’s been happening. A year condensed into 5 images.

I’ve been exploring different ideas with my figurines, adding riders.

I’ve been exploring painting faces, there’s a moody something I keep coming back to with this idea.

I’ve been playing around with paper Mache masks with extensions made with wire for branch-like effects. Designed for wall display and wearing, they then led me on a search for lighter materials

A lot of the inspiration for my works are driven by the qualities of the mediums I work in, in this case the need for something lighter and easier worn led me to flower clay and finer wire.

While all this was happening, inspired by this feel of twisting branches I have been recently working on paintings that reflect patterns and twisted branch shapes.

Video voice

After posting on social media a short video of my studio including me speaking, I had the immediate urge to apologize to any unfortunate person who watched it with the sound on.

Just call me “Monotone Mary”, I have discovered I have a “Video Voice”, a term I have just made up. It’s similar to the “Photo Face” that we are more familiar with. You may know the feeling…. the camera is on you and every muscle freezes into a strange mask, lips rigidly stuck in a “say Cheese” expression.

I have huge skill in this area and could have been a supermodel in earlier times, being able to hold this expression for at least the 15 minutes required to take a photo. Trying for a profile picture can take 50 attempts to get something that looks semi-natural.

my standard “cheese” smile

The “Video Voice” does not happen in casual conversation, it comes out when a speaking part in a video. Trying to inject different tones is useless, any attempt comes across as crazed.

I once wanted to put a light and breezy welcome on my answer phone. After 20 attempts I now have a welcome that sounds as if I’ve just climbed 50 sets of stairs and am now waiting for an ambulance.

I may have to practice a bit. I would like to post a few online tutorials and have discovered its not just the technical aspects I need to learn but also my own hang-ups around showing myself and speaking.

I could wear a mask to really hide behind my work.

Its much easier to hide behind the work, I’ve become used to putting my work in front of an audience, and not too bad at speaking in front of people, but speaking to a camera feels like I’m talking to nobody. I think it’s the lack of eye contact that changes the feel for me.

I hugely admire those people who can talk easily on camera, as if they’re having a conversation with you.

Or maybe I need to invent an imaginary friend to talk to.

Wonder

On my morning walk I was thinking about (you might say wondering) about Wonder. Kicked off I suppose by re- reading “Electric Universe” by David Bodanis. It’s a fascinating book about the complex subject of electricity but written as a story of discovery, scientific breakthroughs and the very human stories of the people involved.

It got me thinking about the word “Wonder” and how crucial it is to any sort of human endeavor. The words “I wonder….” are involved in both the very big discoveries and the very small.

I wonder what the link is between magnetism and electricity?

I wonder what tomato added to this recipe will taste like?

I wonder if this clay will hold together at this thickness?

Taking some photos on my lawn led me to wonder what setting my critters up in a forest location would look like.

Turns out forest locations are a great idea. I’ve also discovered better ideas for eyes, beaks and adornments through experimenting with materials.

Part of this “wondering” was what little riders would look like on my creatures, and what materials I could use so I could make them being smaller and finer than the steeds.

That feeling of wonder is central to my work, experimenting with ideas and materials is how new combinations come together. Some are discarded, many ideas and materials don’t work as well as I thought they might but its immensely satisfying when they do.

I wondered what it would look like to take photos of masks up at this location. It fueled some great ideas that I’ve stored up to revisit at a later stage.

It takes time to keep the sense of wonder and curiosity alive. Wondering about things takes time, time to put materials and colours together, time to play with my art, time to wonder about things other than art too.

What is the link between magnetism and electricity………? Best I keep reading.

Inspiration

Living in a country with spectacular natural beauty I’m surrounded by inspiration. Food for the soul! I love the big vistas, a spectacular sky and mountains but the small details draw me in. Mosses, twisted tree roots and fungi are the things that fire up my imagination.

Wow! hard not to be moved by this!

I find it intriguing how personal preferences shape not only how we see things, but also what we look at in the first place. A light pattern in a forest, a perfect grouping of toadstools, a fairly ordinary beach-washed tree are the things I will notice. Someone else will have completely different experience.

Nice little grouping on one of my walks

Moeraki has more than just boulders.

I find it a bit overwhelming the amount of images on social media, again its my preferences that lead me to certain artists, I have artists that I study because there’s a certain “flavour” to their art that I admire, and other artists who have completely different work from me, but an expertise in technical skill I would like to achieve.

At an exhibition I will be the person with their nose up close to the artwork trying to figure out how they did it.

One of my little forest creatures.

Its one of the things I love about the mystery of art making, the fact that their is no one source all my likings and leanings, an idea had today can be a slow burning idea from years ago, or something I saw yesterday.

One of my regular spots for taking photos of my creatures.

The Cat Burglar

I was thinking of an idea for a cat themed exhibition called “Meow”, a celebration of the feline kind. As I was itching to create another big piece, of course I was going to do a giant cat of some kind. Turns out a humanish cat person is just what was needed. For this one I had an idea behind it. Schrodinger’s Cat..

I came across this when I was reading about quantum mechanics (before discovering that at least for me, it was an unknowable quagmire of confusion)

Schrodinger proposed a thought experiment where a cat, a flask of poison, and a radioactive source are placed in a sealed box. If an internal monitor detects radioactivity (a single atom decaying) the flask is shattered and the cat dies. The idea being that until the box is opened and the cat is observed the cat is simultaneously alive and dead.

So the artwork is kind of a cat rescue situation, the cat burglar rescuing Schrodinger’s cat.

The frame leans slightly forward to get the best stability.

First I went to see my personal welder to get a frame made (thanks Dad!) Then I began building up the form with newspaper and paper mache.

I wanted to have the figure holding a cat cage, a wine box was the perfect size. I put a lot of wire and paper mache strengthening in the arms, particularly the one holding the cage as I didn’t want it to droop with the weight.

Max got covered in glue. Turns out he loves the flour and water mix. I had to redo the legs because he licked the glue off.

Once it was dry I covered it with cloth and PVA glue. A bit if fiddling to get the bars on the cage sitting straight and the little cat the right size to just fit the cage ( poor cat!)

All ready for the paint job.

Fortunately we had great drying weather, and dry enough to the painting outside. There was a lot of paint being splashed around!

The Cat Burglar installed at the exhibition.

She turned out a bit gentler looking than a lot of my creations.

Featured Artist 2021

Every summer the Otago Art Society runs a ‘featured artist ‘spot. One off the smaller galleries is available to set up a display and spend the week making art in the gallery.

Packing up ready to go

It’s a great experience for visitors and artists. For a mixed media artist it means a lot of traipsing up and down stairs with armfuls of critters and materials. I never realize just how much stuff I have until I’m climbing those stairs!

Set up ready for work!

Have had some amazing conversations with many interesting people, many of them artists themselves, a great sharing of tips and tricks, ideas and stories. I got a fair bit of work done too, so great for the discipline, no distracting dog enticing me off for a walk.

My work is a bit polarizing, people either love it or hate it. It’s all worth the trouble for the visitors that really get it, I love the expressions as people walk through the door!

All in all, a successful week, had some absolute gems of visitors, got a bit done, covered all the emotions from intense dislike (it’s ghastly!) to absolute delight (it’s amazing!) even whimpers of terror from a small child (sorry about that!)

I sensed some disappointment with some visitors that I’m quite an ordinary person dressed in a black T shirt and a pinny. I may have to develop into a more colourful character to match the works!

A Special Project

Following on from my little baker woman in the “Ingredients” exhibition, my father and I cooked up a wee idea for a couple of painting for two very special family members. I thought it might be a great idea to use a similar format but make the items in the cupboards personal.

My Baker lady from the “Ingredients” exhibition

So I put together a couple of odd little women with more personal items. The benchtop from the house, an old wallpaper pattern from a past house, a mosaic house number, a painting painted, quilting, handcrafted items, a view from a window….

It was a great experience and quite challenging getting the “flavor’ of the artworks right. I also found when a painting is for someone in particular, a lot of time is spent making it as good as it can be. Quite different from creating something and someone buying it. You know if they’re buying it they love it!

The discipline of working to a particular idea for someone is good though.

The first one created, who remembers the white lacy tablecloths?

The second painting. I enjoyed the details.

"Ingredients"

Sometimes ideas are very clear and happen with very little work.

Ryman Heathcare residents provided us with their favorite recipes for this themed exhibition. Flicking through the recipes looking for inspiration, I came across a reference to Butterfly cakes, delightful sounding cakes called “Miracles”, Gingerbread and an Orange Turkey. Instantly I had a picture in my head of flying Butterfly cakes, a fox with gingerbread man and well…an orange turkey.

I’m intrigued as to where such clear ideas come from and always a bit uneasy, Is it my idea? Have I seen it before? Am I imagining or remembering? I suspect most of my ideas are a mix of all this, much like a recipe.

Firstly the oil painting. Realizing I needed to get it underway to allow for drying time I started building it up. The cupcakes were to be the very last thing added.

Then began on a couple of foxes and a turkey. Had an idea to have a fox leaping up in the air with a gingerbread man on his nose and one with a gingerbread man in a saddle. The leaping fox turned out a little clumsy. Fortunately I only need two works (usually have an extra in the pipeline for these sort of issues) and the turkey almost complete.