sketchy

As it’s Mother’s day, I started thinking about this...

Sun, 12 May 2013 11:02:42 -0400

As it’s Mother’s day, I started thinking about this small piece that I made a few years ago in memory of my Mum. She was a needlework teacher, and taught me how to sew at a very young age. I can still remember the excitement of choosing the fabric that would then become a piece of clothing. We grew up in an age without internet, an age of waiting for letters, a lot of freedom and a different pace of life.

I used a piece of an old wooden letterbox as the frame for this assemblage, and then added other found objects and handmade paper.

Spring!

Sun, 05 May 2013 16:37:52 -0400

Spring!

nprradiopictures: Todd McLellan must have a lot of fun at his...

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:28:13 -0400

nprradiopictures:

Todd McLellan must have a lot of fun at his job.

How else to explain someone who meticulously dismantles, then painstakingly rearranges hundreds of tiny parts of machinery. And that’s before he throws everything into the air.

The Toronto-based commercial photographer was the kind of kid who always took things apart, including an entire 1985 Hyundai Pony in secondary school. He said that if an object interested him, it would soon be in pieces.

“I’ve always had a technical grounding trying to figure out how things work,” he said in a phone interview.

That fascination followed him into adulthood, when he decided to disassemble 50 design classics for his book Things Come Apart: A Teardown Manual for Modern Living. The objects range from modern “smart” technology to older things that he collected on the street and at thrift shops. He looked for objects that were outdated but still functioned.

“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, all this technology still works,’ ” he said.

To photograph the objects, he first tried conventional portraits but found the results “boring and stuffy.” Eventually he decided to take the objects completely apart and lay out all of the pieces on a white backdrop.

Things Come (Very, Very) Apart

Photo Credit: Todd McLellan/Courtesy of Thames & Hudson

I usually focus on painting and drawing, but I love the photographs of the disassembled bike! Very interesting!

Close up of components of “Just Passing Through”, -...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:57:40 -0400

Close up of components of “Just Passing Through”, - “Gum Blossoms”, “In the Distance”, “Wattle”, and “Leaf”

“Just Passing Through”, Acrylic on Board and...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:28:14 -0400

“Just Passing Through”, Acrylic on Board and charcoal on Paper.

Painting On: To paint or not to paint

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:45:44 -0400

Painting On: To paint or not to paint:

I am finishing up my latest group of paintings, and am deciding whether to paint the sides black as I normally do, or a color that I have used in the painting, probably a red oxide color. This is an interesting article discussing the options.

I’m still not sure what I’m going to do!

Portraiture - is it about a realistic likeness?

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:26:27 -0400

Portraiture - is it about a realistic likeness?:

I follow the Archibald Prize every year. This year’s winner is Artist Del Kathryn Barton, whose portrait of Hugo Weaving (who i loved in the Matrix, the Priscilla movie, and of course the Lord of the Rings to name a few) is a reflection of her style, which includes line drawing, and adds other aspects of Hugo’s character and interests.

There is a great 3 minute video clip of her acceptance of the Award, where she talks about how her discussions with Hugo changed her ideas for the content of this painting.

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/channel/clip/456/

The Archibald is an annual competition open to Australian residents, for portraiture, preferably of a public figure. It always generates a diversity of work, often controversial, around the nature of portraiture.

Is a good portrait a realistic likeness of a person, or should it reflect their character and personality? Does a portrait need to physically resemble the person at all?

I am excited to be starting on a new series of paintings based...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:56:17 -0400

I am excited to be starting on a new series of paintings based on a trip with my friend Sue to the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens in Melbourne last year. Here are a couple of sketches I have drawn to form the basis for the design and colors of my paintings.

Here is the link to the gardens website -

http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/rbg-cranbourne

We had a lovely day walking the gardens- great diversity in plants, modern sculptures, and water views. We finished the day with scones, jam and cream at their cafe! They were about to open a new section - will have to go back again this year.

Lee-Nam Lee at Midland Center for the Arts

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 15:09:17 -0400

Lee-Nam Lee at Midland Center for the Arts:

I visited the MCFTA’s latest exhibition which closes April 14th, and the work that drew me most was the Video Art of Korean artist - Lee Nam Lee’s - in particular the piece where he has reproduced Van Gogh’s self portrait with bandaged ear, located in a museum, and as you watch the screen ants carry portions away from the museum and reassemble it somewhere else, presumably where more people can see it.

If you click on the title link you will find a vimeo interview of Lee-Nam Lee explaining his work. If you just want to see the piece I am talking about, start at minute 2.

This piece got me thinking that even though art is much more accessible today through on-line access to images and information, to actually see a painting, understand its texture and mood and to really feel it - you need to go to a museum or wherever it is physically located.

After I had finished sketching the hydrangeas, I looked down...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:44:00 -0400

After I had finished sketching the hydrangeas, I looked down at the placemat my iPad was sitting on, and enjoyed the color combination, so played with vertical lines of color, then splashed some abstract flowers over the top!

I started sketching again last week, some hydrangeas in a pot...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:42:00 -0400

I started sketching again last week, some hydrangeas in a pot caught my eye. The first sketch was more realistic, then the second more abstracted.

Endless Renaissance at Bass Museum in Miami

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 11:21:13 -0400

Endless Renaissance at Bass Museum in Miami:

I saw this show recently and found it to be thought provoking. It’s open until March 17th. The Bass Museum’s mission is to explore the connections between historical collections and contemporary art.

Hans-Peter Feldmann’s work challenges the pretentiousness of the art world, and in this show he does this by altering found formal, realistic portraits and over painting adjustments such as a clown’s nose or crossed eyes. The dark portraits, lit overhead looked a bit washed out in the bright contemporary space. The docent told me they looked more effective with the main lights out and lit only by the overhead picture lights, and promptly turned off the main lights to show me! ( it was a quiet day at the gallery)

Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook took a Manet to a Thai Village, and I watched an English sub-titled Video of farmers and villagers sitting in the middle of a rice paddy, looking at the work and talking about it. It was fascinating to watch them discuss the painting, trying to make sense of it in their context, trying to find things in common. At one stage they even talked about whether the painting could be of a rice field!

Wrapping a painting for transport

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 10:23:52 -0400

A couple of my paintings were damaged slightly when i brought them back from Australia. I just found a really good article on the Canadian Conservation Institute website that explains how to wrap a painting for transport - techniques for both framed and unframed paintings are covered.
http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/publications/notes/10-16-eng.aspx

View from window on flight from Michigan to Texas

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:10:28 -0500

View from window on flight from Michigan to Texas

I just discovered this photo - its a work in progress of a...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:50:13 -0500

I just discovered this photo - its a work in progress of a drooping sunflower - Acrylic on Board. I left it in Australia, so will have to wait to finish it when i get back there later this year. I like the layers, colors and loose brush strokes.

I love my IPad

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:41:45 -0500

I love my IPad

Working

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 12:01:27 -0500

Working

Waiting

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:01:38 -0500

Waiting

Sabbatical Weeks blur into months as I take online courses in...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:05:00 -0500

Sabbatical

Weeks blur into months

as I take online courses in poetry and literature,

read Ernest Hemingway’s account of feasts, infidelity

and his creative process, visit

Ikea countless times to buy artificial flowers, pot stands

and side tables that I assemble watching every episode of Mad Men.

Moving on to the first two seasons of Sons of Anarchy,

I buy new brushes and paints, reorganize

my IPhoto library, avoid lists of to dos and plans, (because they change)

knit head bands,hats and scarves, visit MOMA and FIA,

always flexing the ankle, as I wait

for the ligament to heal and spark to ignite.

Echidna at Healesville Sanctuary

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 23:45:04 -0400

Echidna at Healesville Sanctuary