'Colours of Nature' workshops at Percolator Gallery

I'm still getting used to this new blogger post set up...I must have been pretty preoccupied of late... it crept up on me .... didn't see it coming at all!
Busy time... I even forgot an appointment this morning with a lovely person who forgave me ...thats the down side of getting too busy... mistakes like that. On the other hand I'm finding great people to connect with at the moment ...I guess this is the time of year here when a lot of things happen... winter is not tough on us here ... summer can be... so everyone really gets busy in the cooler months!

The recent workshops are a perfect example... there's been great interest ... and two sessions down have been very stimulating and a lot of fun! They're providing a great opportunity to reflect on the ideas I wish to share and place value on ... then afterwards to take in all that has occurred in the space of a day with a new group of people.  Its interesting to have the opportunity to engage in a way that allows one to offer and receive in return ideas and enthusiasm.

I have posted on my studio blog more at length about the grid works
and the value of doing these kinds of exercises to get started.

plenty of material that was collected and brought into use as subjects.

this magnifying light works really well ... even more so if your eyesight is challenged at all...
those of us getting on know all about this. I found it recently at the Australian Geographic
Store and have been delighted with how useful it is.

a lot of the work was experimental... pushing the boundaries... trying new ideas. 

loved this combination of a mono-printed ground with an ink drawing over it.
Can you see the pomegranate form? And the red juice like inky lines!

These images above were from the June 25th session ...read much more at this post.

The images below are from the July 9th workshop last weekend which you can read more on here at this post.

We started with music in this session and drawing with the non-dominant hand...  you can see those pics at the blog post here. Its a great strategy for getting people relaxed and there's ben plenty of times when it some in useful in my studio if I wanted to stop thinking and just  chill out a bit. 

I could write pages about how I've seen it work for many people actually. I used to use this process when teaching music and I wanted to get students really listening... thats a whole other story!

In the afternoon session we got onto painting... first the grounds and then the natural objects... paying particular attention to the subtleties of colour.  These are a few of those works.

This one has the most fascinating ground ... the white ink drawing just started
works into this ground beautifully and then the black seaweed skeleton
lying on the left is perfectly placed

these leaves have a really interesting ground of paint and oil pastel

something quite magical in this one... the layers... the colours and that loosely worked drawing

Workshops have a way of ending just when you're really getting started. Still... as long as participants experience some new possibilities for their work ... see how they feel about trying different things... and have the pleasure of working alongside others... then I guess its been a productive time.

I can certainly say that it worked brilliantly for me to be discussing ideas with others ... experiencing that pleasure of shared time creating... a few laughs ... stories being exchanged. And of course that wonderful surprise from seeing the magic that others make with often the simplest of tools and media!!
Fertile ground!

sown...

'Sown' is borrowed from the title of a post written by Leanne at Homemade Rainbows - a Brisbane blogger who came to visit at the Randall Studio at Mt Coot-tha yesterday. Her blog is a delightful tale of living well and productively in sync with the natural world and finding beauty in the everyday world that is around.

an image from Leanne's blog

Her young children are growing up in this wonderful ambience of mud pies, camping trips and home made dinners. The kind of childhood you wish for all children essentially.
Leanne came along with son and her sister in tow and we had a wonderful time exchanging notes whilst drinking lemon myrtle tea.... made from leaves straight from the tree (and yum... it is good!)

She delivered these gorgeous postcards which I did photograph last night along with a series of other new arrivals from lovely bloggers (sorry everyone...I am burning the candle at both ends at the moment and am slow to download then post!) I will add more photos of these cards soon...maybe closer up...the top one is so detailed! Its stitched and on the right has layers of fabric sewn on the card... and a doily with seeds made of black cotton stitching. The quotes on both are memorable and I was so delighted to become custodian of these cards and meet their maker!

Leanne also took this photo of the Studio entrance .... if you go back to her blog's name up the top you can read the whole post if you wish! I was so touched by it and I'm reminded of the powerful gesture that can be made by one to another when the the small things are noted and appreciated. In the same gracious way Leanne gives ordinary things their true value at her blog she has cast also this appreciative eye on all that has been assembled in homage to the seed.  Much appreciated Leeane.

Today also brought its fair share of wonderful people... really...so much to share of the week to date. Kind support from friends, meeting with new people... and at 1pm today a special event that was very well attended with a great audience and question time. Jason Halford is Principal Seed Collector and Technologist with the local Seeds for Life project running in conjunction with the Millennium Seed Bank Project and he presented "stories form the field and lab" over a couple of hours. 

During time spent at the Lab which is on the grounds here where I am conducting the residency I have been present for a great many stories and discussions ...so I was keen to have this event take place for several reasons... most importantly for the profile it gives to seeds and the project and the issues that are raised from that. I have taken photos ... but will supply them later. I have found myself nodding off a number of times attempting to complete this post... so I will excuse myself for now - cant wait to get back with the promised photos!

Go to the 'Homage to the Seed' blog for more of what's on!

future bios - hypothetically speaking

Its the end of 2009 with fond farewells to 3 delightful students who've come to classes at my studio this year. The girls are starting high school after the summer holidays, so we took loads of photos in front of the Mac recently - all 3 playing with the visual effects and striking poses ...generally having a great laugh. Later I went back through the images and started creating stories for each girl - seeing them in 10, 15 plus years time. Mostly in jest, adding to jokes from the year and topical conversations these bios emerged. No doubt they will gravitate to things not yet thought of, not yet dreamed of... 

friday afternoon in the studio

Last week I bought 10 small pots of herbs to plant in my tiny herb garden that need replenishing. On friday the boys arrived after school for class and they worked on drawings of several herb pots. They are keen 7 year olds...and I got too distracted to photograph their wonderful drawings...maybe next week! 
However, we got talking about portraits and I remembered I had photo-booth on my Mac which i hardly ever use ...so we had a bit of fun with them posing for some images and then setting up shots as if i had turned my studio into a greenhouse.
Tom and Elliot are the most amusing, curious and enthusiastic individuals who ask fascinating questions and amaze me with their capacity to engage. Elliot is already asking all kinds of questions about how he can be an artist when he finishes school - how long I spent a Uni studying, what it was like and so on. Tom was very excited the day we looked at Hundertwasser as he liked the idea of art combined with architecture. "I'd like to do that when i grow up" he declared! Life's an adventure with these two young art students. It certainly brings out the playful side in my approach. No matter what I organise before hand they always help push the envelope in some new inventive way. A lot of singing and laughing escapes from my studio on friday afternoons ... 2 boys with big personalities and loads of charm!


Another thought... having taught mostly teens and adults for many years I am freshly reminded each week about how strong an interest this age group has in the natural world. We have returned again and again to drawing what we find in the garden outside as their connection is SO strong to this world. We are lucky around here to have plenty of green space and verdant vegetation. The girls I teach who are 5 years older enjoy the garden, but they have a more detached approach. For these 2 boys nothing beats a run around the garden finding things to draw, and every week, without fail, picking a nasturtium flower to eat!

when an artist's studio is in her house...

A wave of nostalgia last night after showing friends photos from my previous home I sold and left in April last year prompted me to post them here now. My studio was in the centre of my home just off the living room, with a view through to the outdoor living space which was much used as it had good rain-proof roofing over it. My whole home was my studio really - classes also took place in the living room, studio or outdoors depending on what was happening at the time. Dinners and gatherings were very fluid and common. There was barely a thing growing in te garden when I arrived...a lilly pilly tree and some palms. I planted front and back and in the 5 years I was there it grew to look quite prolific and lived in.

The house had been built as residence for the adjoining school room...Newcastle's first Girl's Finishing School my 93 yr old Neighbour told me. He recounted endless fascinating tales through the century that his family had owned the house opposite.

I adored painting all the rooms in the house over time in different palettes according to mood. The kitchen took ages for me to decide... And it was a good choice for a kitchen I came to feel...I used to love cooking there. The living room area had a palette of greys although I left the section under the dado rail white, then painted a livable warm grey in the mid section, then finished the top with a blend or stormy greys that changed as one's eyed moved around the room. I also wrote the first stanza of the most wondeful poem by Pablo Neruda 'poesia' just above the picture rail...why I did not photograph this i dont know... perjhaps clicking on the photo with the table might reveal this writing. 

When i think back to the studio productivity of this time i am amazed. I was working as a casual teacher...so there was a lot of variation in available time for the studio - mind you - I was burning the candle at both ends (cant do that any more - it took its toll!). Still, its pleasing to look back and remember the cohesiveness of the life I had in this home and studio...it was very much an inside/outside lifestyle and the garden was ever-present!

afternoons spent drawing and talking...

1.

Working with adults and children in my studio brings all kinds of experiences my way. For many years the studio teaching I did was mostly with adults. For the past few months however I have had a very interesting diversion away from that when approached to work with children. Above I have included 10 images from recent afternoon sessions I have conducted with some wonderful 11/12 yr old girls once a week. The one exception is No: 5 from  6 yr old Elliot who interpreted the task of drawing a plate of marbles in a wonderfully unique way. There are 3 in his age group..all enthusiastic and capable of surprising me and engaging in the most curious and fascinating discussions. Image 1 and 2 are of Phoebe and Isabella working on botanical subjects. Image 3 Kirsty (pictured), Jamilla, Lizzie and Phoebe are drawing Cumquats  and in 4 we see Lizzie's finished work. 5 is Elliot's  marble drawing. 6 to 10 are the drawings the girls did of marbles using textas and paint for the background.

It must be mentioned some inspiration for working with textas came in part from the one and only Arlene Texta Queen pictured here below. The girls had met Arlene Texta Queen at the newish State-run GOMA : The Gallery of Modern Art here in Brisbane over summer when she was part of a large show called Optimism featuring works from contemporary Australian artists. 

below: Vahri- from Arlene Texta Queen's portraits on her website.

the latest phase...

Over many years I have conducted classes for all ages, done stints in Secondary School Education in different parts of East Coast Australia, solo-operated a very busy shopfront art studio in inner Melbourne for a number of years in the 1990's -where I ran courses for mostly adults that were memorable for many reasons, worked on retreats, camps, in  adult education facilities and Special Education  and alternative schools (even Nannied in England on a short working holiday!). Quite recently I decided to go quietly for the time being and do classes, mostly through word-of -mouth, from my home studio- in part due to a time of illness and recovery plus disruption resulting from relocation from interstate ...and also given the time it takes to establish oneself in a new place. But mostly the decision came from an experience early last year before I packed up and left Newcastle where I was asked to do a morning Art cclass for some friends that became one of those extraordinary experiences you never want to see end. At the same time I also had several other lovely people coming for individual studio time...also good memories!

 In the past I might have felt it best to make a point of doing larger classes with a very clockwork  schedule.  But since that particularly positive experience of this much more organic,intimate, conversational approach I have realised  tailoring classes to just a few students or even individuals can work brilliantly for all concerned. People of all ages are welcomed into my studio and for me to be surrounded by the materials, books and resources I love to refer to, plus have access to a garden and light and a verandah table depending on the weather, with cups of tea if we wish to indulge...its simply quite magical! The smaller the class the more likely I will sit cosily and work with participants on the same projects, discussing as we go all manner of concerns relating to the task or an artist, a medium and so on.  I find this such an incredibly stimulating way of working that seems to lead to all kinds of other projects and opportunities anyway...It is proving to be a truly wonderful new chapter for me in which to pursue the most stimulating kind of teaching/ learning process.

Below is a photo in my studio with a window to the left of my computer from where I  find myself occasionally distracted watching tennis being played on the next door court. The 2 other photos are of a wonderful group of 4 girls from the nearby school who come once a week to do a class in my studio. Their readiness to jump right in is always high and each session is full of discussion, experimentation and exuberance! This has led to other friends or family members lining up for classes which has been wonderful. Each person to come along really wants to be there... which is always a recipe for success and enjoyment.