{ kass } an artistic journey

canvas remix

my lovely friend Alisa Burke's new book, CANVAS REMIX is now available on Amazon and I thoroughly recommend you check it out! Alisa is uber-talented and I know the book will be a huge success! Congratulations Alisa!!

its the little things

that make me smile...

like these arriving in the mail for me today...

The full 72 set of Derwent Inktense - I have been coveting these for months and they are still very new release, so much so that in Australia they are backordered for MONTHS. I got them very cheaply from Dick Blick (even cheaper than the mega cheap price my friend Luise was able to source) and I was so happy I could have squealed! They are just the best pencils and I am so happy to own them!!

I know small things amuse small minds but let me revel in the happiness for just a moment OK!

you cannot understand how much

I want to attend THIS....

Art Fiber Fest

*praying to the Tattslotto gods*

the time went where?

Don't ask me where I have been, for I know not how to answer! When did the 7th March roll around?

I have a busy weekend coming up this long weekend, with Nic and Trent's wedding tomorrow and then a visitor for a couple of nights - Lee and her husband Andrew are coming to stay!! I am looking forward to having her here and absorbing some of her energy!!

Things are really busy right now. I wrote a story (on the encouragement of my tutor Catherine Bell) which I am entering into the Victorian Cancer Council Art Awards. It's also being substituted for an assessment I was meant to do - she wanted me to write the story instead. Wish me luck - the winner gets $1000 and I would love to win that money and put it toward an external flash for my camera or something else fun.

My fabrics are coming along OK. I have made quite a few small sample type things. Some of which I like, some of which I don't but I have learned quite a bit about my process this week so they haven't been a waste of time.

Things I've learned is that the canvas I got from Spotlight will be my external fabric for what I make - strong yet pliable enough for wearable art. I've also been reading a lot of graphic design/street culture magazines which has brought me back to my favourite colour palette - red, black, white and paper-bag brown. I know I should be experimenting more! I know! But I also think I really love this palette and it's ME so what the hey.... So I am also experimenting with an urban, industrial look for this project - I think when cut and sewn into bags/clothes etc it would be so cool. Let's hope so anyway!!!!

I hope everyone has a great long weekend (if you have one) - I will try to update more often but I've really never been so busy in all my life!

commitment

for me, the year ahead at Uni is going to require many things, including creative thinking, focus and hard work. But most of all, it is going to require commitment, because I have decided to take on a project which will extend into second semester.

Flowing on from my thoughts on colour and pattern, I started thinking about things I really love doing, and the things I really would love to try.

Thing I love: drawing and painting, making things with fabric, anything to do with colour, books, shopping, handbags, cheap clothes, vintage findings, mixing my media to create something new, one of a kind items.

Things I would love to try: costume design (there's nothing better than seeing exquisite costumes on the stage and screen), interior design/homewares (don't let me loose in IKEA or Freedom.... it's dangerous).

So I started researching... I looked at Gustav Klimt's incredible use of colour. The homewares/wallpapers designed by William Morris and the Australian artist, Florence Broadhurst. I looked online at places like Etsy.com and madeit.com.au. And I came to thinking - there is so much gorgeous, handmade stuff out there. There is no need for me to simply join that market and do what so many others do (and do WELL). But what DID strike me is that there isn't a lot of that type of one of a kind items - like handbags, even clothes - which are made from hand-painted fabric. I don't mean silk dyed, I mean actual one of a kind paintings on fabric, then turned into things - accessories, clothes, furnishings...

So this semester the focus is on the fabric - hand painted, one of a kind paintings. And the beginning of making items with them - absolute, one off things.

Then next semester I hope to keep producing these things, with a view to exhibiting them in a salon-like style at my graduating exhibition.

So the hard work begins now has begun. And I hope to share the process and the journey with you.

sunday fun

Following on from the last post....... I don't know if anyone else would think this is fun, but for me it was both fun and a great way to get my Uni year started. I have a visual diary in which I have been putting samples of all my art materials, as well as tests of techniques.

Today I spent most of the day painting and drawing in colour samples.

This is not just a great reminder of what I have and what it can do, but an awesome resource to have at my fingertips when I am working and don't have time to test run things.

I am taking photos which I will add but here's a peak:

a little about how I choose colours

I got some ink pencils yesterday. Made by Derwent, the Inktense™ pencils are watersoluble and give an ink-like look when wet.

When dry, you can work over them and the ink is permanent.

I hope you can see what I have done - I've made a space for each colour (I still have some colours to collect) and then put water on half of the colour patch so as to show the difference with and without the water.

I've also shown how any Faber-Castell Watercolour pencils I have - mostly from the artist grade Albrecht-Durer range which are sensational.

As you can see what I do is colour into my visual diary each colour and the put water on the right half so I can see how the pencil will look in both forms. It also helps me to choose colours when I am drawing.

I do this with all my paints and inks too - it' an invaluable resource when I am needing to find a colour for something and also lets me play with products to test out what they can do. In this diary I also have tests of photo transfers, oil sticks and other experiments, and with those I write down what I did to achieve the result - even when I bugger something up, I write exactly what I did then try again and then write how I got it right, so I can learn from mistakes but also see what happy mistakes can happen. As it is only a cheapo visual diary, I sometimes experiment on watercolour paper and stick that into the diary so I get the best results.

how will I wait 4 months?

for this book?

The artist, Alisa Burke, was in Cloth Paper Scissors Issue 13 (Jul/Aug 07) and I am really looking forward to this book - but it's not due out til June! How will I manage?? You should also check out her blog. Good luck with this Alisa, you deserve it!

de Meng

On Sunday I had the absolute privilege of taking a class with Michael de Meng. I have been a huge fan of his work since I first saw it in Cloth Paper Scissors (Issue 7). I was so thrilled when it was announced that he would be teaching some classes in Melbourne, and on Sunday (although exhausted from the wedding the day before) I was very excited to be part of the class.

Some of the work produced by the other girls in the class was incredible - absolutely WORLD class. Michael taught me so much about paint, about glazes and about power tools. Let's just say that the power drill got off my Dad for Christmas and hasn't been opened has been claimed. I used a dremmel, Michael helped me with the torch thingy (you know the one I mean that blows blue flame), I used a soldering iron for the first time and clear liquid nails!! Was so much fun! I was concentrating so much - I think people actually thought I was quiet. I'm not showing you my final piece - it didn't come up the way I wanted it to but I like the idea behind it, so I am going to keep that in my mental file for later!

The big fun though was to come later, when Michael (hubby) and I went to Prahran and had dinner with the man himself and his gorgeous, Aussie girlfriend Judy Wilkenfeld. Judy is in the latest Cloth Paper Scissors for those interested - her work is absolutely incredible and she deserves every bit of praise she is receiving for it. Judy and I first met through Blue Bazaar a couple of years ago but it was our first time in person, and she is even more beautiful in person than her photo lets on!

So we shared a meal, chatted about all kinds of things and generally just had a really lovely meal. MdM is SO down to earth and intelligent, I was completely absorbed. AND, it is super rare for me to be able to sit and talk about the kind of art that I love with people, like MdM and Judy, who genuinely know and understand what I am into - it makes such a difference. So many of my friends are from the scrapbooking community or the fine arts community - but not many are from the mixed media/painting area that I love so much. Great food, great company - it really was a fantastic way to end a great weekend.

It's funny you know because I have met many celebrities - scrapbooking celebs, singers, actors, sporting stars....and in the end they are all just people the same as you and I. They don't make me giddy or anything (OK maybe Kylie Minogue made me so nervous I cried but I was only a kid!). And sitting with these two great artists felt like that too - having dinner with friends. But yesterday, I got a bit butterfly-ish - because it suddenly dawned on me that I was sitting there with two of my absolute favourite artists. No-one else there may have knew who they were but it was such a buzz - such a rare opportunity to share time with people who genuinely inspire me artistically. Given that my absolute fave artists ever are dead, this was a very pleasant change!!!

Me and MdM

Me with MdM and Judy

Thanks Judy and Michael for a really great night - we're on again for your next Melbourne visit.

drawing and thinking

so it's no secret that I have a healthy obsession with colour, as demonstrated (though not as much as I'd like) by my colour blog. I just bought another new colour book (when I buy new relevant books I upload the information on the blog) and I am getting quite a little collection happening. This one is heavy on theory rather than colour mixing etc but it's a really interesting book (if not heavy reading). Anyway yeah, the colour blog is still happening and will grow when I go back to Uni as I start working on my self-directed work this year.

I'm planning on doing colour studies in some way for uni this year. I have started drawing some patterns - jut basic greylead patterns that I hope to copy on to transparencies so I can further copy them onto different media. Then I want to experiment with colour combinations. What's to achieve? Well, I don't exactly know, but I know it will help me learn more practical skills in colour combinations and also the effect of different mediums. The artistic outcome will hopefully take care of itself but I guess we'll see where it all leads.

I'm thinking alot about what I want to achieve this year, as it's my final year if Uni. I kind of wish it wasn't, as I have enjoyed the course so much. I wish it was a 4 year course :) My job is going really well at Dean's Art and I know there can be opportunities there for me if I work hard and show and interest. I love being surrounded by like-minded arty types and all the awesome supplies. We stock some great stuff. The only thing we don't have is Golden products but given that St Luke's Art, just around the corner, do...well it's not like I have to go far.

Yesterday I bought more Faber-Castell watercolour pencils - which other than the varying shades of grey they offer, means I have every colour they sell. I think it's around 150 pencils. They are beautiful. I plan to utilise them a lot this year.

I know my blog is looking more simplistic than it did. I want to create a blog header but I don't have the right software right now and Adobe CS Suite is still over a month away. So it's plain-jane until then. I cant even get my scanner working right now which is rather frustrating!

Michael and I went to see Charlie Wilson's War on Sunday. It's a film starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was very interesting and very funny. The preview on TV actually had my favourite line:

Secretary: The New York Times wants to know if you've ever been to rehab?
Wilson: What did you tell them?
Secretary: I told them you wont go to rehab because they don't serve whiskey there.

Now, if that isn't the best reason not to go to rehab ever, I don't know what is. Hilarious.

I also need help with Skype too. In that, I don't have a flipping clue how to use it! Also does anyone know much about iChat? Any help is appreciated!! I'm still a Mac L-plater!!