today is a day for surprises

Today was one of those quiet blissful days where the rain we needed was softly drizzling down, a cool breeze was blowing and things were getting attended to slowly but surely. I suddenly found myself thinking of two different friends from when I lived in London 21 years ago! I'd never managed to get back to London and lost touch ages ago! Why had I never googled them I wondered? No time like the present. 

Sabrina I found had studied Textiles at Goldsmiths in London in the mid 90's. That was exciting...but then I could not find more! Much disappointment! maybe she moved back to Italy?

My friend Joy however has been a busy, busy person (which does not surprise me!) - she was a very talented and wonderful person when we met in a queue in Venice in 87 looking for somewhere to stay. I seem to remember we ended up taking the offer of accomodation at a Nunnery(as you do in Venice over summer!) and of we course got talking in the process.

Joy lived in London and I ended up there for another winter working till I returned to OZ in 88, so we used to meet up and I got to know a few people in her life and she in mine. I even spent some time doing photography at a place where Joy worked at the time. She was a brilliant photographer and I decided best to stick to my coloured pencils! I think Joy met half my family who drifted over to London over the next few years. So...really it is sad to have lost touch. 

BUT just awhile ago tonight... she answered my email...and was so happy as she HAD thought to google at different times and could never find any one of us! It was her birthday Saturday...so Joy, even though we have not been in touch for 21 years  

H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y   F O R  S A T U R D A Y !

Now for an important aside. if you're wondering where I found this amazing layer cake that i took the liberty of adding the greeting to for this post it was made by architect Debi Van Zyl who lives in Los Angeles, is multi-talented. and happens to have a wonderful blog. Below is an image of the cake in the stage prior to its ultimate architectural realisation. Frankly I'm in awe...I had a terrible difficult time with a 3 layer chocolate cake a few years ago that was saved from a severe crash to the floor by a clever guest with quick reflexes - much to the delight of grateful onlookers keen to try a piece. NB the sophisticated palette!

Another reason to mention Debi is that she found the wonderful string gardens below that i posted on a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway, back to the story of Joy. She has a website I would like to share and I love this photo below too. This is a lovely way for this mellow, rainy old day to come to a close! It was so wonderful to have that email message returned. When Joy said it was her birthday 2 days ago so that made it seem extra special...I had to post something here...now...to mark this occasion! 21 years... amazing!

from undercover painter to

'Untitled'  oil on board  30 x 30 cm

Morning Table 2  Oil on canvas  25 x 25 cm

Undercover Painter is the name of a wonderful blog I have been following for months. There had been hints that the mysterious person behind this cover might share their own work and I was hoping...as I was so enjoying reading the posts and finding much to be inspired by in the writing and selection of various artist's work. 
SO it was a joyous occasion to find this weekend undercover painter had indeed set up a website, still in the process of being created at the moment, but most importantly announcing to us all who she is and showing some luscious paintings. I started raiding my socks draw to see if I could find some loose $$'s floating around as a down-payment on "untitled" which I was irrevocably drawn to. Inga Dalrymple will no doubt have more to delight us with in the future and I wish her well and look forward to seeing what comes!

COLOR::INFORMAL

color::informal

a) not according to prescribed or fixed customs, rules, ceremonies, etc

b) casual, easy, unceremonious, or relaxed

c) designs for use on everyday occasions

d) not requiring formal dress

e) colloquial

This is the text (above) accompanying the blog named COLOR INFORMAL which hails from Florida in the US. Virginia, the creative mind behind this blog is one of those people who gets you looking outside the conventional and the same old. Her inventiveness is not of the common variety, nor is it loud and obvious. A curious turn of phrase and an image that you have to look twice at is the way she bewitches one's attention. Here poetry is found in unexpected places indeed. 

Tonight I want to send a warm hello and thank you to Virginia for posting something from my archive blog on her blog today (7 NOV 09). It was fascinating to see what Virginia would choose to post. Each time someone comes along with a fresh perspective is an opportunity to see something a little differently. Its been delightful to have the opportunity for further conversation in the to and fro of exchange to share images, thus gaining a sense of how life might be for another on distant shores. Images from the region Virginia lives in frequent her blog, giving one some idea of this part of the world in that sense as well.

puddles in the pecan grove (New Mexico)

an affinity for green

Sharon Horvath is featured today on the excellent two coats of paint blog. I will not expand here on the artist or her work as the above blog does that so well. I will just say it was a great find and I was very pleased to read about this artist and view other works.

On a completely different note: personal studio reflections

Below I have posted a work I painted in my Newcastle studio some 4 - 5 years ago - at the time I was rather careless with the work - even though it is painted on a good hard surface in oil paints 2 corners are a little the worse for wear. The truth is I rather despised the painting till recently when it started to make sense to me. This is not the first time some work I have really been put off by and developed a bit of a loathing for becomes much later a work I see quite differently.

'Untitled'  35 x 45 cm, acrylic on canvas 

Below is a 40 x 40 cm acrylic on canvas work titled 'navigating the complex' which was painted in 2004 around the same time as the one above. Simultaneously I was working on very much freer organic shapes and the elliptical form which evolved over time into a more complex abstracted seedpod form. 

This work below has a curious tendency to appear larger than its 40 x 40 cm size. Paradoxically I worked on this canvas for an extensive period of time - despite its size - adjusting colour and composition till it just arrived at what suddenly felt right. 2 years work exploring similar compositions on a larger scale seemed to come together in this one much smaller canvas and this is where I effectively left off from pursuing this compositional approach in my painting.

'navigating the complex' - acrylic on canvas, 40 40 cm

Ovoid forms were curiously compelling and creeping into my work beyond my will it seemed. 

Below: This is a section of the top painting 'untitled' that demonstrates the merging of the organic ovoid forms with the geometry which had obsessed me since living in the inner-city of Melbourne previous to the year 2000 when i relocated north to Newcastle.

In conclusion, this fluid engagement with different qualities and types of forms seems less unexpected, uncommon or awkward that it once did.. However, going back to the year 2001 onwards it was disconcerting to be drawn to the two opposite ends of the spectrum as I painted. Polarities dominated - chaos and order, fluidity and stasis, organic naturalness and tightness. Perhaps now it appears to not be quite the polar opposites I thought it was.


What has been a constant in all my work, over 3 decades really, are the glimpses of something more going on behind the surface. No matter which way I come at the composition this has been something perrenial that has engaged me and characterised my work to a greater or lesser extent..

blueprint

I found this recently on designboom and it caught my attention immediately...the saturation of the blue with the fine white line detailing certain outlines and shapes and features of the location. The Taiwanese team from ou studio were part of DMY berlin design festival 09 and these images are of their installation called 'blueprint'. Read more here also. ou studio's website  contains some very fascinating projects - navigating it is tricky but rewarding. They concern themselves with spatial installation, furniture, interior, architecture, landscape and community development.
There's something so dynamic and forward thinking amongst increasing numbers of such studio enterprises globally that it enlivens the whole agenda of how things can be. This blurring of boundaries and collaborative push allows for optimum creativity and the realisation of projects in exciting new ways. There is something very potent in the idea of a blueprint - the fact something has been conceived to the stage of being put on paper and yet there is further to go and the thing is still in formation.

from letters of note

your girl frida - read about it here.

IHEARTU - read more here.

It's with regret, Mr Warhol...  read here.

Shaun Usher started the fascinating blog Letters of Note some months back and it is definitely worth a look if you are drawn to this kind of material. The correspondence covers a broad range of fields. I've chosen 3 from the Art category here - a close inspection of the bottom letter will amuse anyone who  has experienced the knock-backs that are part of the artist's vocation. Dont think Andy let this one hold him back too much!

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!