Toddler art and graffiti

The BIA exhibition is over, and I am about to have my pieces collected for me.  Later, I will find out if I sold anything.  Even if I didn't, the opening was fantastic if the size of the audience was anything to go by, and, as usual, I found a print I liked and bought it.

I have taken a break from creating on paper and am alternating between knitting a multicoloured blanket and knitting my shrug during a quick trip to catch up with family down south.

In Melbourne, I am having fun of a different kind with two year olds.  Knowing I am babysitting, I raced over to Riot Art and bought one of their craft bags.  My two year old friends had lots of fun covering masks, paper, themselves, their clothes, the house, the sink, me, the dogs.......and more, with textas, glitter and glue:

I was also lucky enough to be given a day tour of Melbourne by a fellow craftie, who knows all the little lanes and arcades in the CBD.

I bought  gifts in Monster Threads, and tried on clothes in all the fantastic little boutiques around the city, like Alphaville in Flinders lane, with its wonderful shoes and clothes.

We took photos of graffiti in  Hosier Lane and other locations around the city.

My friend  introduced me to the Tessuti Fabric store in Flinders lane and was tempted to learn how to sew my own clothes properly once again.  Time is all I need........ And a guide.  Meanwhile, I liked the room divider curtain they had created from tape measures.

I also became acquainted with L'Uccello where I only succumbed to buying Karin Neushutz' "Sew Soft Toys" because I loved the animals in it, and my son had been reminiscing about a little felt donkey he used to love as a child.   Naturally, I had to buy some hand- dyed felt too.  And, then I saw some cute fabric I needed too.  There were so many yummy things in the shop, and the lady there was so nice that it was hard exhibiting restraint.  Still, I didn't feel too bad since since my companion also invested in wool fabric for a new quilt.

Then, it was off to Kimono House, where some blue and white Japanese fabric beckoned.

I fell in love with the buttons in Buttonmania, though I didn't succumb.  It's on my "to return to" list though! Great retro and modern buttons!

And I took photos of a lot of the city corners.  I especially liked this little flower shop

But I found lots of different  types of inspiration everywhere!

It  is exhausting being a tourist, but artistically invigorating.  And I haven't even been to an art gallery!

The Brisbane Institute of Art student exhibition

The BIA exhibition of students' work, "Spectacle", opens on Friday 21 June at 6pm, and will continue until Wednesday 26 June.  As a result, I have been frantically finishing off pieces so that I have a choice on what I hang.

I finished making my book of Incredible Insects, which is made using monoprinted, ink and watercolour papers which have been machine embroidered.

I also added colour to  some of my prints:

This piece, called "Beetle Juice", uses ink and pen.

And, this mixed media piece uses ink, monoprints, pen and pastel.

This quilt uses photocopies onto cotton of my watercolours

 

I had a preview of the exhibition today as I was hanging  my pieces with the others in Mia Clarke's group of Expressive Watercolour artists.  We were pretty chuffed with our work,

but, looking around, I found lots of  artists I am also keen on following

Do yourselves a favour and  pop along to admire the variety and pick up an original piece of art at a reasonable price!

Coloured prints and a trip up the coast

 

 

Next week is the opening of the BIA student exhibition, "Spectacle" so I have been finishing off pieces of work in preparation. 

 

These are two more of my ink rock series:

 

This is one of my monoprints on inked watercolour paper, with pastel highlights:

And this one is a portrait I did long ago, monoprinted onto watercolour paper with ink, embellished with pastels.

I dedicated this one to the home renovators of my acquaintance:

 

while this one is dedicated to Brisbane's "feathered rats", the ibis:

But, this is my current favourite, an ode to the robin:

 As well as painting, I have been knitting - especially during a very wet family trip up the coast.  We stayed in Noosa, which featured the sort of rain we usually get during the summer rainy season.  However, we were lucky enough to strike a break in the cloud to visit the beach and for some of us to get in some swimming and sand-castle making.

And, inspired by my son-in-law taking photographs of the sea with his waterproof camera, I started a new obsession with water:

We also took a day trip up to Tin Can Bay, hoping to see some tame wild dolphins.

 

Unfortunately, by the time we got there, they had all eaten and gone.  However, we did get to paddle among the mangroves.

 

Back in Noosa, I got some inspiration for future works from the pandanus palms:

and some bromeliads:

All too soon, we were back home in Brisbane.  Ah well, I still have a lot to do before the exhibition!

This week I print portraits of my grandchildren.

This week, I had the greatest fun rediscovering printing in the printing studio.

 I finally used some of those leaves I have been collecting and pressing and used them for monographs.

 

Some of the leaf prints will be further embellished with colour:

 

 

I also experimented with some more abstract prints.  These used string, surgical gauze and cut-outs.

 

 

In addition, I  did a bit of printing by drawing onto crushed up foil that had been coated on one side with printing ink.  These is a portrait of my granddaughter using this method onto a pre-prepared sheet of watercolour paper, with highlights added with conte.

 

 

 

I  tried the method described in a previous blog, rubbing the back of a photocopy of a drawing with eucalyptus oil to transfer an image.  This time, I transferred them onto sheets of paper pre-treated with acrylic paints or ink.

 

 

 

Then, I got adventurous, first using the eucalyptus method and later adding a monograph using the foil method.  I used watercolour pencils to add highights. These are all portraits of my grandchildren and an adopted niece:

 

 

 

I've really enjoyed these methods of portraitmaking and intend to do more later.  Such good fun.

 

And, I have been knitting madly with my lovely Noro yarn.  If I had realised how much knitting this shrug involved, I don't think I would have started, but I am finding the process quite relaxing now I am into it.