Smash and Grab Show at Tinning Street

I was lucky to get to participate with many wonderful artists in this super fun show at Tinning Street tonight, all work was created on playing cards and at 7pm sharp, each playing card could be taken off the wall and exchanged for a $20 note. Unfortunately my friends and I arrived too late to see the action unfold, and by the time we arrived my lil oil paintings had gone.

I never do little paintings, so it was fun to participate in a show with physical size constraints to get me out of my comfort zone. Creating work on playing cards tied in well with an ongoing tarot project I've been working on too, which focusses on re-imagining the symbols within the traditional Rider-Waite tarot deck and creating my own set of cards that contain symbols from my personal vocabulary of fears, memories, nightmares and desires.

Another lil' quick cell phone snap of my work in progress. Working away at this peice today, its A1 in size so quite a lot of work. It is coming together as a collage of different dream images, memories and fragments.

Cabinet of Natural Curiosities

 Above: Seba comissioned illustrations of his unrivaled natural speciman collection for his published book, The Cabinet of Natural Curiosities, published in 1731.


I have a long love of scientific and botanical illustration. I recently acquired a copy of Albertus Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities published by Taschen. It is a beyond beautiful book, full of incredible engravings cataloging the zoologist's observations of the natural world. Being an illustrator on an expedition to discover new fauna and flora would have been my dream job, if only I was born about 500 years earlier.

The composition of each page is beautiful and clear and harmonious, I am inspired by it. The detail in each illustration is so clean, and the depictions are not overly representational and naturalistic, which totally ignites my imagination.

Quick cell phone snap of my new little Venus Fly Trap drawing. I had a few pet venus fly traps as a young person and was constantly fascinated by them, but I could never keep them alive.

They always seemed so much more sentient, monstorous and forboding than regular houseplants! I was always too scared to touch their trigger fangs and make them close too, such an irrational Little Shop of Horrors induced fear.

 I once killed one by feeding it flys I had pre-killed with Mortein.

Another pencil drawing work in progress- carnivorous plants are fascinating and strange.

Work in progress again! Now the image has got too big to work on my desk so its up on the wall, this composition is becoming really complex. I start off with an idea and a mood I want to convey and then try to work out all the imagery on the surface. probably I should do developmental sketches but I kind of like it when things are not over thought out, so there's still possibility for exciting unexpected things to happen.  I hope it works itself out.

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

- J.R.R Tolkien

Work in Progress! Two Headed Lamb...

Art History References

Above:
Albrecht Durer's Walrus
Albrecht Durer's Rhinoceros
Head of Christ
Melancoliah
The Revelation of St John

Sorry I only have included titles, but all these drawings/engravings were completed in the 1500s.
I am currently looking back to the great masters of drawing and line, their focus on the beauty and perfection of the natural world has something to do with it. Maybe for Durer, showing that natural beauty was a religious thing. I don't know yet, I have to read more. But I love the technical mastery of line that Durer employed to create chaos and grotesque forms within the beauty and harmony of his compositions.

Science, Pencil on Paper, 30 x 21 cm

Finished this set of 2 drawings. My practice is becoming a lot quieter than it was when I was doing my bright oil paintings. I'm studying different material than I was when I was painting my Crystal Visions series. I'm just not feeling compelled to create work that is as visually agressive at this point. I watched a documentary in which Bjork and David Attenborough discussed art, music and the natural world and how these subjects relate and converge. They discussed how science and natural processes create forms which are beautiful and sublime in their subtle symmetry and the understated ways in which they present themselves. This delicate beauty can be seen in the process of crystallisation, in rock formations, and the perfect arrangment of pollen in the centre of a flower, and a million more processes occuring naturally around us all the time. 

Dream 02/06/2013:  Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3

 

Posin' with my art in my sweet new twentysevennames SPCA socks, a gift from my pal Candice

I recently had the exciting opportunity to exhibit my work in a show curated by Laura Rose Main at Footscray Community Arts Centre. I exhibited 3 of my new drawings, entitled Dream 02/06/2013: Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3. I was delighted that all three sold on opening night. The show runs 18 Oct - 2 Nov. I loved checking it out over the weekend, it was beautifully put together and contained beautiful work by Melbourne artists such as Auf Weidersehen and Baby Guerilla.

So I decided to start a proper grown up blog and say goodbye to my old Tumblr one, which has been a faithful companion for several years now. Hopefully I will use this space to post new work and ideas and things.

I have been living and working in Melbourne for the past few months, and doing a lot of creating. My final six months in Wellington were very quiet on the art front, I didn't do a lot of creating due to space constraints and general low spirits. While I was working as a Gallery host I would carry my notebook and scrawl a million ideas and drawings, some of which are coming to life now in resolved drawings and paintings.

I have a cute little alcove of my bedroom in which I make my work, smaller than my studio was but it is warm and full of light. There are definite perks of working from home, i.e proximiy to snacks and cats, but it is also more difficult to switch off at the end of the day because your work is always right there staring at you. (I might add that proximity to internet distractions is also detrimental).

Despite these limiting factors, work is happening! Image below is a triptych drawing, Dream: 26/06/13, Pencil on Printmaking Stock.