pinch and a punch...

... first day of the month!

This morning I booked tickets for a trip to Sydney leaving tomorrow before everything begins in earnest. I was to go on this holiday at Xmas but you know how it goes when the year's been too fast and too full.... given the chance to change your mind sometimes home can seem like simply the best place to be.

Now I feel so much more ready for a week and a half of walking here and there, catching up with friends whilst staying with family, and viewing some interesting shows. With that studio overhaul I've really gotten back into painting (and using my camera) so the return home will be to an organised living space and studio with  plans well under way for the months to come.

First I wanted to share some shots taken of that special painting job referred to last month here. A Xmas gesture to my mother was this room makeover! I possibly should have taken these in less of a rush... the light is not good and low res images don't help ... but you can get a sense of the finished room I hope.

the corner next to the door with the stained glass circle window

looks like someone is now proud owner of a new painting!

a cosy corner for writing and reading...
light filmy curtains are a must in the sub-tropics!

a place for momentos

I don't seem to have managed to get much colour consistency in my shots to show the particular grey I used. What I will say is that it works beautifully... the new colour is both soothing and pleasing.

Best of all it was greatly appreciated and well worth all the days of effort to see the smiles and pleasure it has brought. Just a few tasks remain to cross off the list... a couple of pictures to hang, whilst the door needs to be painted carefully as layers of paint were revealed after a washing down with sugar soap. The rest was far less complicated.

On another note altogether, last night I gave a slide presentation for a local environmental community group's monthly meeting in a library close by the Botanic Gardens at Mt Coot-tha. It was great to meet people again I'd met before and have interesting conversations with new people.... a delightful crowd indeed.

This was the perfect chance to review aspects of my work from recent and earlier times through the process of putting this together. I like to put ideas into context so there was imagery representing the span of time, right back to fossil seeds all the way through to recent past and present. Ive selected a few images here from what was a diverse coverage of the topic.

2009 - homage to the seed dinner in 2009

postcards sent by lovely bloggers for the Mail Art Show
in homage to the seed 2010

introducing the ideas behind the oval painting below

discussing the KEW MSB residency late last Year in the UK

drawings of a Lebanese seed pod that was quite fascinating

Wolfgang Stuppy contact person for my residency... below
seeds he's photographed in his work as a Seed Morphologist

talking about my projects for 2012... one of which is to
produce a book that expands on the previous one from 2010

my work from the last few weeks... concertina books

There were 168 images on the slideshow, some content heavy, others simply offering visual variations on a theme... stimulus that prompts questions and so on. They were such a wonderful group... very engaged and open. The entire process... first assembling the focus and thread of ideas in the slides yesterday, and later presenting, was a fantastic experience. I learn so much from  recapping and formulating the overview that speaks to the central themes in the work and project, close up and at large.

If you visit my studio blog you can see images at my (newish) flickr site of this latest work on concertina books and here read the latest post on this most recent artwork.

Have a excellent week or two won't you! Back before long,

Sophie x

tumblring on a monday morning...

When I found this tumblr:

at  THE LONE ARRANGER

interior design with a twist.....and sometimes an olive.

www.thelonearranger.biz

I. I liked the images

2. I liked the format

so...

i tested it on my tumblr: seed capsules and i decided to experiment.

If you click on those large titles you will go to the tumblr sites i have set up...the first back in January... the other one on the weekend simply as a place to archive the images of my work that find their way on to tumblr here and there.






SEED CAPSULES

keeping place for visual and other ideas for visual artist

ARTWORKS
:    S O P H  I E M U NNS

view work from the studio of sophie munns.
click on each image to see larger version.

about the Lone Arranger... this is what was on their website:

story

erin ellwoood

The creation of The Lone Arranger was born out of the realization that I’d been happily doing this service free of charge for my friends most of my life. I would rearrange a room at their request (well, usually at their request), help them choose paint colors and furniture, rugs and fabrics, and kindly inform them of what they needed to get rid of. (I’ve been known to take a couch or two out to the curb.)

Then I met the fabulously gifted artist and designer René Norman. Turns out, she had been doing the same thing for most of her life too. She lives in Austin, Texas. I live in Ojai, California. So, we decided to do the same thing in different states (both physically and consciously).

Our desire is to appeal to the demographic of people who might never have the courage or the finances to call an “Interior Designer”… the title alone can be intimidating. One thinks of retainer fees, and thousands and thousands of dollars flying out of freshly painted windows.

We want to be more approachable and fun. We consider ourselves “Spatial Therapists” more than “Interior Designers”. Due to our many combined years of art and design experience, we can usually turn a room around (for the better) in a couple of hours with the help of the client.

The Lone Arranger offers spatial therapy for everything from a “Quick Fix Space-Lift”  to an “Uber Space-Lift”. No job is too big or too small for us. We have worked together and separately on many small, medium and large scale remodels and projects.

Your turn René…

rené norman

Ditto……I’ll have what she’s having.

timelessness...

There's not been a lot happening here of late ... except for the change of background wallpaper and header that come from my 'fluidity' phase of a few years ago when summer meant swimming in old, timeworn  ocean baths... and the ocean, luxuriating in the spaciousness of that realm. I maybe I was missing that the other day... whatever prompted it... the flowing watercolour ribbons of green, blue and brown do soothe a certain longing. So much water has fallen here in these past 2 months and yet so little of it reminiscent of the languidness of summer.

I just visited this Tumblr blog OLD CHUM and found a few images that caught my eye... if you click under the image it will take you to each tumblr page. 

Its one of those lovely mellow days here... light rain ... a peaceful atmosphere. After a particulary trying period of humidity and all the strange, and for many, harrowing times weve had in this part of the world of late... something about today said... its OK... take it easy... just breathe out ... recoup and set off again!

And why these images? ... well ... they suit that mood of mellowness... well worn, relaxing, well-loved ... timeless - look at that wood - and Matisse... always textiles ... so warm and inviting ...and the globes...have always loved them!

And if one really must stray from home then why not a stay in this hotel down below?

Have a good week wont you!

Sx

from Old Chum

Old chum

 

Old Chum

Old chum

Old Chum

Old chum

Ill finish with this intriguing image from tumblr site: come and see inside my bones - Hotel La Montaña Mágica. Huilo-Huilo, Chile

Ive been busy at the Homage blog of late ... do pop over if you want to see a work from the amazing photographer Chris Jordan on seeds!

Spectacular and ... well ... just read more here to find out!

its a "lets see what's been filed away" day

The good thing about losing things is when you find them again.... when you can find them again...if you can fin them again! Some things today are still lost but some good finds ...  and tonight going through my emails...looking at what I saved to look at later... here's a few of those things - a bit random... but what the heck...

 Instillations by Judy Ledgerwood

Visit the gallery site where the artist was recently showing work to read more on this artist.

From OWI images of an intriguing hotel...  HOTEL AP in Luxembourg:

Photos Sarah Blee

Also from OWI

The house of DROOG founder Rebnny Ramaker: photos Muller Fien 

- do I like all these shelves and the thought of all those books! 

OWI

ARDLP : photos by De Baerdemaeker Kat

from Spain ... this is her home in Paris.

From OWI...

called MADE IN INDIA photos by Ocelli Laura.

The owner of this Apartment is a fashion designer who 

moved from New Delhi to New York 22 years ago.

OK...thats a bit of colour for the day!

The moral of the story: a good search for lost items is never wasted time...you always find some treasure you have forgotten about.

OH... talking colour and out there...click here!!! From But does it Float!!!

Pleasure Palaces

Saturday morning...

.

its a lovely morning here... slow... quiet ... its been wet but the sun is out. I'm relishing it as this time last week was far from slow and laid back! A little reading to wake  up to the day slowly followed by a quick  check of emails led me to the latest dispatch from www.theselby.com  so I went for a curious wander and found inspiration in the far from mainstream but delightfully eccentric and whimsical world of one artist which perfectly refreshed my notion of the many ways there are to be an artist and to exist in this world as a painter!

Just as I am given to exploring the biodiversity of our planet's seed heritage I'm also driven to appreciate this human impulse towards expression in diverse ways and means. Homogenisation is not something we do to our diary products alone ... endless pressures to conform exist in in all parts of our lives...and whilst that in part is life-preserving and useful... in other respects It is quite the opposite. In the world of art rules can be as prevalent and cloning as common as the supermarket shelves laden with products that are replicas of something original and authentic but that have travelled a long way from the source to become palatable (?) for consumers - or rather - make money for companies!
I think it can be just as confounding to find what is authentic in art  - for one's own practice or as a viewer - as it has become  to find a tomato with flavour and grown from good seed that can be saved and generated again. I'm all for the biodiversity of our extraordinary plant heritage but I would also argue that cultivating a broader appreciation of the diverse ways one can manifest one's vision as a painter is tremendously important too! Being able to step back from painting after an intense time and go see others work in galleries as I did yesterday was such a delight. It served to refresh and remind me of the diverse ways we can make art and view art...!
And so to my artist for today ... someone who has clearly made it his lifelong passion to manifest his own personal vision ... trust the selby to honour this artist with a fabulous photo-shoot that peers into the artist's  world. The selby is all about finding creatives from various realms of the visual who present a broad ranging idea of authentic and lively creative diversity.

From the world of Hunt Slonem - images by the selby. Click on the artist's name for a much more thorough view of this rich and exotic world!

The title of this post comes from the book "Pleasure Palaces: The Art and Homes of Hunt Slonem". In the past particularly I have often taken time for enlivening the interior world in a way that is an extension of my artwork... and am very drawn to seeing into the worlds of others. I have personal preferences of course but must say if the art work and interior / home / garden reflect the character of the person living there in an intoxicating and complete way I will often be quite deeply inspired even if it would not be a space I could imagine living in. In the same way it can be spell-binding to enter a pocket of rainforest, explore rock pools, or a coral reef by immersion in this wondrous space some people and cultures are able to bring that sense of wonder into a space they create - even with the most humble of means - and effectively generate an kind of energy field that is quite special.
Yhat is something I am always on the look out for and would happily dedicate a blog too. Here are  a few posts I have saved under interiors.

Enjoy your weekend...I'm off out soon to explore this lovely autumn day!

PS  huge thankyou to all the lovely well-wishers and commenters in recent weeks  re the show on this month. Its wonderful to participate in this encouraging and inspiring  blogosphere and I wish everyone of you much joy and fulfillment through your own projects and undertakings! S xo