Ch.. Ch.. Ch.. Changes!

Turns out I wasn't successful in getting the $5000 Emerging Artist grant that I applied for just recently. 26 applied and only 5 received the grant. So, that threw me of my tracks for a few days and I have done very little work in the studio.

Sometimes it is hard to be self motivated when you loose a little bit of belief in yourself. Can't mope around for too long though as my next joint exhibition is in August when our artist studios are open to the public, so I'll be preparing for that.

What has kept me going these last few days is contemplating another arty passion in my life, and that is 'art therapy.'For about 20 years I have been drawn to Expressive art and Transpersonal Therapies. I have been involved with Spiritual Direction, Mental Health and Creativity Coaching, Touch Drawing and InterPlay, which all relate in some way to Art Therapy.
In the past there have always been road blocks. The university has required a degree in the Arts prior to doing Masters or the college has been in another state etc. This time the opportunity is knocking again and it seems to be quite possible to achieve a 2 year advanced diploma in Art Therapy at the IKON Institute in Perth.  I am excited about the subject matter, but I don't know whether or not IKON diplomas carry any weight out in the working world. This is one of the things I need to look into as it is a very expensive course, but I am still quite excited to be considering this.

Even though I want to keep my artwork developing alongside my possible study schedule, I am considering scaling back down, maybe finding out if Artsource have any smaller studios closer to home and all that sort of thing. At least I have till the end of the year to think about it all. Currently I am seeing if I could fit my study and art studio in together at home so there is lots of measuring of furniture and deciding what would have to go.

Changes are so disruptive aren't they?

Learning from Playful Discoveries

Experimenting with mixed media is so much fun. In particular I love to create texture on the canvas. Not sure about the matchsticks?? I was inspired by what I saw in the driveway to my studio. Someone had dropped a box of matches and they had been flattened into the soil in a very artistic way. I wanted mine to look like they were falling into a lake. Not quite there yet. I could do a whole series of fallen matchsticks. At the moment I am painting all the red tips all different colours. One because it looks good and two because the red dye melted into my painting and didn't look good!

     "Pick up sticks" 30 x30 cm   

30 x 30 cm

Test piece: Black and white gesso with removed plastic wrap

Test piece: Tissue and acrylic mediums

Test piece: Tin foil/gel medium/salt 30 x 30 cm

Test - Plastic wrap and fluid acrylics 30x 30 cm

Test - Blk and White gesso/plastic wrap/fluid acrylics

Test: Acrylic paint applied with a window cleaning tool

Test: Acrylic paints applied with window cleaning tool

"In My Father's House There Are Many Rooms"

This canvas requires a lot more work but I'm waiting till I get some direction from my muse on what I need to do next. As you can see I'm undecided about the walls or background being white or black or maybe something else. So this one is waiting in the corner to be summoned back to my easel when I am inspired. I am learning not to rush to the finish but hold back and see what comes. This can sometimes take months.

I'm going to have some lunch now before I post the rest of my work in the next blog. I should try and stay up to date with blogging and it wouldn't take so long. I'm like that with the housecleaning too. I leave it and leave it and then have to spend a whole exhausting day getting everything back in order. In fact I think I am like that with everything including friends and family. Don't have any contact, then all of a sudden we are together again kicking up our heels or getting into D & M's. Gee, I'm glad I didn't hit the S instead of the D...now I'm wasting time...lunch!

 "In My Father's House"  Acrylic and Mixed Media on canvas 121 x 50 cm $650

Close up view

Close up view

Poured Gel Medium Fashion Garments

I am not sure where I am going with these dresses that kind of evolved out of poured gel medium skins that I was originally making to add to my mixed media work. I like them as a stand alone fashion garment and I have about six others, each one unique but I am not sure yet how to display them or present them. Any ideas are welcome.

8 x 5 cm acrylic paint/gel on wood

8 x 5 cm acrylic paint/gel on wood

Do I add figures to the or not?

June 2013 In Studio One - Part 1

Back peddling here to some of last months art work.
This is my very first Encaustic artwork using melted bees wax on a wooden panel. It was so exciting for me because there is so much you can add to the wax while it is still warm. You can layer it and score into it and even reheat and rework the layers. Thank you to Sharon, manager at Jacksons Art Supplies for the free introduction. I can't wait to experiment more with this versatile medium.
Sorry most of the photo's are blurred but I am so behind with all my editing!

20 x 20cm Wax on wood

This little set of three will soon be added to my updated ETSY on-line shop, along with about 30 other finished works. Still working on getting clear images for this AND setting up my new web page. Takes so long!

10 x 10cm mixed media on canvas

10 x 10 cm mixed media on canvas

10 x 10 cm mixed media on canvas

My Messy Studio

This is the lovely view outside the big windows of my studio on a sunny winter's day. But inside the studio is quite a different sight. There are art projects everywhere that are in process or just experiments with new media. Some are successful and some are definitely not! This intense time of exploration has left my studio in a somewhat chaotic muddle and I have no surface space left to work on anything else. I'll take you through some of the pieces I am working on in my next blog which will follow immediately after this one...I promise!