Felt mobiles, knitting, and printing photos on to fabric.

I  finished off the mobiles I was making using felt, embroidery and beads and think they look rather Christmasy.  Each side has a different pattern so they are very individual. The kittens think that I made them especially for them to tear apart, so I am keeping them safely hidden from them.

 

I have been rocketing away at the jumper I have been knitting.  I am on to the sleeves now, and feeling very motivated to finish it with the cool weather setting in.

As well as that, I have been sorting my eco-dyed fabrics into colour groups and printing some of my photos onto fabric using the home printer. As I go, I am learning more about printing on fabric adhered to paper that I showed you in a previous post.  It is important to adjust the settings when you print to  "best quality" and a heavy paper (eg photo paper) when you print, otherwise the colours appear washed out and may have lines on them, like these ones.

I can still use the pictures for a quilt, because I often cut them up, and I can add paint or embroidery to them, but if you want to embroider on a picture, it is best to go for a better quality, like this one.

 I am trying decide whether to make a quilt, a runner, some embroidered pictures or all of the above, when I have amassed all the fabric.  I guess it depends on my mood when I actually start.

As well as working on my art at home, I have been exploring the aquarium with some of my family, and finding inspiration from some of the wonderful displays there.

I also visited wthe zoo with the family, and discovered the wonderful weaving done by Wendy Golden, the consultant working with Snowdon Architects for the lemur exhibit. I had already seen the monkey baskets woven by the Basketmakers of Victoria  on a previous visit, but this was amazing.  I am so jealous of those lemurs!

 

Even walking the dogs has brought little pockets of art into my life.  I discovered this amazing garden in Surrey Hills.

 

 

What fun!

Top Arts and Kids' Arts

We went to see Top Arts 2014 at the National Gallery last weekend.  It was, as usual, interesting to see the techniques and the art favoured by the teachers and examiners, and the artworks produced by the students. 

All three adults voted Claire Kopietz's "Oxheart" the standout piece in the exhibition, which is amazing since none of us are usually terribly keen on DVDs as art.  However, this piece was a beautifully done exploration of the influence of two deceased grandfathers on the artist.  The cartoon-like sequences conveyed the emotions, memories and influences of the two men in a very artistic manner and had us totally transfixed.  Bravo!

Miss Three preferred the interactive nature of Kelly Bull's "midnightRUN", a graphic novel, done in black and white, and Christina Garvie's "Liquid form", a DVD exploring the property of pink paint in water.

Other outstanding pieces included Osgar Teague Murphy's colour laser prints using maps and photographs, "The Dublin mariner: 45816", Madeleine McDonough "Swarms", which was a circle of cicadas and made of bamboo, nails, synthetic polymer paint, glass and wood, Georgia Mein's exploration of gender in her photograph series, "Agenda", and Taylah Ransome's intricate lino cuts.

Adelle Elksnis' "Botanical Anatomy 1" was pretty incredible and meticulous. The flowers in these digital inkjet prints were made up of human bodies. 

Danielle Schmidt's "Untitled" were also pretty arresting.  Pastels on grey paper.

I also liked Jordan Hall's resin sculptures

Bonnie Koopman's graphite works, "Convergence"

Mollie Wilkins' colour inkjet print, "Tea time at the edge of madness"

 

 Cassandra Min's synthetic polymer paint on four canvases, "Symphony series"

Paris Triantis's synthetic polymer paint on canvas on plywood triptych, "Malice"

Tommaso Nervegna-Reed's synthetic polymer paint and coloured ink on composition board "4D7", which was very reminiscent of street art

and Kiri-Una Brito Meumann's vertical blinds using photographs of aged skin, "Untitled".  And, before you ask, I am not going to make curtains from photos of my skin!

 

All this art was contagious.  Miss Three had fun making kites from paper, stickers glue and string.

 

Miss Nine drew on cotton with alcohol based pens

 

then  watched the results which developed by pouring alcohol on the  drawing.

 

The drawings ran and she swirled the inks around.  When they dried, we ironed the fabric to set the ink.

 

Now she can use the fabric for sewing.

A visit to Christchurch, New Zealand

I have just returned from my first visit to Christchurch, in the south island of New Zealand, and am still stunned by the devastation that still remains in the CBD after the major earthquake after 3 1/2 years. 

 

 

 

It is hard to see that Christchurch can fully recover given the problems that face it, emotionally, financially and socially.   There is just so much to do and so many obstacles facing the inhabitants of the city that one can understand why so much of the current development is taking place in the suburbs, rather than in the CBD.

 

When we arrived at our hotel, I assumed that we were on the outskirts of the CBD, in a new development zone, because of all the rubble and the  security fences.     

 

 

However, a stroll around the block informed me that we were actually in the centre of the CBD, overlooking the partially destroyed cathedral.  Other tourists walked around the city too, looking as shell-shocked as we were as they took in the destruction. There is very little to do for tourists since so many of the shops, restaurants and entertainment have completely disappeared, but the locals must be suffering far more over the loss of their beautiful old buildings and their history, the steep decline in tourist dollars, the destruction of workplaces and jobs, and the disappearance of a symbolic heart to the city.

 

 

The art gallery has been severely damaged, but, as part of the ReStart program, the city has tried to inject some hope, creativity, life and  beauty through artistic additions to the rubble. 

 

These stencils are part of The Stencil Art Project, where students from Years 8 to 13 were asked to create a self-portrait stencil,and they are displayed in Cashel Street.

 

The Chalice still stands in front in Cathedral Square

 

 but, the security fences around the Cathedral  and other construction sites are decorated

 

There are also quite a few pieces of street art adorning the bare walls of various of the building walls which still remain

 

 

And, some buildings and images of beauty still remain.  The old museum has recoverd fairly well

and contains some interesting pieces of New Zealand's past

 

 as well as some rather fine examples of Asian art, including some lovely examples of snuff bottles.

Some of the old houses are very photogenic

and the one used by the dyslexia foundation has some lovely little sculptures in the front garden:

And, there are still craft markets in the city, with examples of woodwork, jewellery featuring paua shell and the New Zealand greenstone/ pounamu for sale.

Back home, I have decided to focus on my own work.  Here are the flat discs that I have been working on for some upcoming mobiles.