Category Archives: Misc

These charcoal and pastel pieces remind me of reflections you can get on road surfaces at night when it is wet. I also scratched and errased the surface, taking the top layer of the paper off in some locations. I really like the effect.

I have not recovered from my weekend. Today I was such a zombie at work I left a noon and slept most of the afternoon. I’m tired again now, so I think my body is in major protest about the shinanigans on the weekend.

At least I’m in a better situation than Kate who flew back to the US on Sunday night and was back at work today. She’s a ski instructor in Utah. I think she is gonna do it tough for a few days.

The wedding was lovely. Chelsea’s fella is a really nice bloke and I think they will have a great time together. The effort she put into planning the event really paid off and it was a terrific day.

I was also pleased to spend some time with my sister Megan and her family, including my nephew Jacob 🙂 He has grown so much and is starting to say a few words, he is making eye contact much more now which is a credit to Megan and Brett and their patience and love. Continue reading →

I just spent an hour and a half producing a heap of shit. I ripped off the worst bit and present the rest to you as ClaArProMo No 22.

Melanie Testa linked to this amazing site yesterday, Tom Judd’s Everyday. I am totally in awe of what this bloke has accomplished in one year. Check it out.

I’m flying to Tasmania on Thursday. Just a weekend visit, but lots of preparation to be done, including getting my entrys ready for Traralgon Agricultural Show which is on this weekend. I’m going to the Royal Tasmanian Wine Show Tasting on Friday night, as well as Chelsea’s wedding and visiting my sister and nephew.

Tommorow I’m running for re-election to the Advisory Committee of our Regional Gallery. I’m not a good politician… I am used to the robust discussions in my workplace where, suprisingly, I happily speak my mind and throw in my opinions (and where I’m often the most junior by a long way and generally the only female). This method doesn’t seem to go down well in this committee and perhaps I’ll be voted off, like survivor LOL. Continue reading →

I’m posting this very quickly in my lunch hour. I did this monoprint the other night after I blogged the other ones. I think it is probably the best of all of them.

Last night I had to get my skein of wool spun for my entry into the Traralgon Show. It is soaking at the moment and I’ve got to hang it to dry before I head back to work.

I’ll blog some more tonight. Continue reading →

I also decided to try out the Hahnemuhle paper for relief printing. As mentioned before, it is a soft paper with a fair amount of texture.

This is an image taken from a magazine. I almost wouldn’t count it for ClaArProMo because it looks too much like a tracing, but desperate times call for desperate measures… besides, I added my own bit by including the torn edge as part of the image.

Then I wanted to try out my 300gsm Hahnemuhle Paper.

So the verdict on the Hahnemuhle is that it is good for the sort of monoprinting I am doing, both weights pick up the line very nicely. I can develop my technique further to really control the shading and experiment with differnt implements for making lines. I think I’ll always get a very texured effect because of the paper. I’m glad I tried the Arches Hot Pressed paper though as I know I can get a very fine image using it… I’ll have to save up though LOL

Whist working at the dining room table today I also half listened to the cricket. Australia is playing a test match against the West Indies at Belerive Oval in Hobart. I love watching cricket at that oval because it still has a grassed area for spectators to sit on. Much better than sitting in an uncomfortable grandstand all day.

Riscy threw all my junk into my work room on Friday so it is now a very uninviting place to work… It’s a fine line for me. I can’t work in clutter, but I hate to clean, a catch 22 which causes me to spread my stuff through out the house.

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Never linocut when tired or under the influence of a glass of wine because mistakes will be made and tears will be shed.

So, I decided to do some little paintings.

Riscy’s foot seems to be getting worse, it is still swollen and puffy and bruised down near the heel. He even used the crutches again this morning. It didn’t help that he cleaned the house and cooked for our little dinner party last night. I feel pretty bad now that I didn’t step in and take over. But the kitchen is his domain really and he was in charge. He needs to learn some delegation skills, something I have no trouble with LOL.

So to make up, I was in charge today. I even ground the coffee and percolated it for him (I’m a tea drinker and it has all been a mystery to me ’til now). I also did a bacon and egg breakfast and cooked a lamb curry for dinner 🙂 It was so tender, probably a combination of the good meat from the butcher and my simmering it all for an hour. I’m gonna have to eat some veges tomorrow LOL. Continue reading →

I am dead tired, but wanted to share today’s creative endeavour with you. I love looking at stylised vegetation in rug design etc, and I’ve been meaning to do some of my own for some time.

We finished watching The Tracker tonight. It is a film set in 1922 – it depicts a police party tracking a fugitive aboriginal. Using an aboriginal tracker, they weave their way through a raw, dry and breathtakingly beautiful landscape. A film of violence (although not depicting violence in the normal way), it is also about revenge, growth into manhood and, most importantly, it reminds us of a not so distant past in my country where aboriginal people were hunted and killed. Where aboriginal people were herded onto ‘missions’. Where children were ripped from their mums and dads and family groups.

On another note, if you sometimes struggle for a way to start being creative then you should check out Keri Smith’s blog Wish Jar Journal. She has posted a pdf of her 100 ideas to aid journal work. It could be a good way to kick start your creativity. I’m going to try it on days when my brain just isn’t in gear and I can’t think of anything worth creating.

nighty night. Continue reading →

As indicated above, the PAPER has arrived. As expected, there is HEAPS of it. As feared, the Dutch Etching Paper is not as smooth as I need to pick the detail on my monoprinting plates. I’m gonna try the Hahnemuhle when I next monoprint. It is such a soft paper and I think it might press nicely into the plate, even though it is rough textured.

The roll of drawing paper is monumental, almost as tall as me and 10m long! I have big plans for this baby, but after ClaArProMo I think. I want to do BIG charcoal drawings and I expect they will take me a considerable time to complete.

The new ink I bought (graphics brand?) is so much better than the Speedball brand I was previously using, it gives much better coverage of the plate because (I suspect) it has more pigment.

And check this out, 36 brushes for $10.

They are exactly the same brushes we used at school (although the last formal art education I encounted was in grade 7, so it is really no recommendation), they will be my ‘knockabout’ brushes, to be used and abused, but not for any sort of detailed work I imagine.

I may have difficulty producing art tommorow night, we are having friends over for dinner. The house is a mess. I’m too tired to clean tonight, so I’ll have to do it before work tommorow.
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In an effort to bring more colour to ClaArProMo I cracked open the watercolour for the first time in ages 🙂

And I think this brings me a third of the way there

We won our second game of touch footy last night. We thought we would struggle against the team we played, but we really have it together early on this season. It helps that most of us know the rules (unlike this time last year LOL). Riscy sprained his ankle though, so I spent my time last night packaging ice into little ziploc bags and keeping Riscy’s tootsies warm whilst we chilled his ankle.

The doctor was quite impressed this morning and could tell we had been vigilant with the ice 🙂 Riscy has the rest of the week off work since he is hobbling around on crutches.

Tonight was very exciting for Australians as we qualified for the World Cup. For the first time in 31 years. It went all the way to a very tense penalty shoot out. The graduate who works for me was at the game which is pretty cool as the tickets were enormously hard to get. Continue reading →

I don’t like the above piece, it was good to practice some techniques out, but it is about nothing, of nothing and doesn’t work for me at all. But, since I’m 7 pieces behind my goal, I can no longer throw the shit away, I either have to produce art that is acceptable to me… or face the pain of showing it publicly. 🙂 That’s me trying to be a self dicipinarian LOL

The neck is feeling a lot better today, I can move without pain, YAY!! It’s just a little stiff now. We have a bloke at work who is a passionate massage student and he came around this afternoon and gave my shoulder a good massage, he ‘tried a bit of reiki’ on me and tested out a few trigger points. I feel a little bit more free in my neck movements, but not totally right. I’ve got to play a game of touch football in 45mins so here goes nothing!

I was half expecting the delivery of some art supplies today. I have gone totally crazy with the paper sales which are happening at the moment (Neil Wallace Printmaking Supplies and Melbourne Etching Supplies) and spent a huge sum of money on paper. I even rang Neil Wallace’s in a panic yesterday so I could add some smooth printmaking paper onto my order.

I had originally ordered a heap of Hahnemule paper (150gsm for bookbinding and 300gsm for printing) which is a beautiful and soft, but quite rough textured paper, great for use on the etching press. But I need SMOOTH for monoprinting and relief printing which I do at home using a bamboo barren. The stuff I got was way cheaper than the other brands, it is called Dutch Etching…. I’m now very worried that I’ve made a $60 boo boo.

I sort of wish I’d just gone down to the shop instead of mail ordering, I have a feeling that I’ve way overdone the whole thing and I will have more paper than I could possibly use in a decade. I also bought a 10m roll of drawing paper! Yes, I think I went crazy. I’m going to take some down to my sister when I visit Hobart next week, I hope between the two of use we can use it. Continue reading →

My sister and I have an informal postcard swap happening and I owe her one:

I woke up this morning with a very sore neck and shoulder. I lasted half a day at work before I called it quits and came home to rest on the couch. I’m feeling slightly better now, which is good.
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