Open Studio in the month of Mad May!

This month has been and still is... insane! ! I will have to catch up with blogging next month. Have lots of news but no time to tell you!  Meanwhile getting studio ready for my first open day at Robertson Park. Would love to see you there!

Come along this Sunday 25th May and see what we get up to behind closed doors! You might like to buy some art, book a class, and have a cup of tea and a chat with the artists. Bring a friend or two. We are situated in a lovely park next to the tennis courts, where you can go for a Sunday afternoon stroll, if it isn't raining :)

                  

Following Sunday is the 'Ducks for Depression' auction at Houghton Winery so pop that in your diary also if you have a space. We want to raise all the money we can for mental health research, especially as there are so many suffering and needing support.

Home Again

Oh dear, you should see my table in my studio at Rob Park now that I have arrived back in Perth and emptied my car.... or rather, you should not see it! There is a mountain of art materials and tools in bags and boxes and baskets piled up to the roof!

I couldn't face unpacking it all today so I stayed home and finished off my Art Therapy homework and also some preparation for an InterPlay workshop I am leading for a Spiritual Directors Professional Development Day on 16th May. I am really looking forward to this opportunity. It will go from 9 - 3:30 pm and will include 4 x 45 min sessions. 

After my struggle in the Beverley studio the other day, I had to surrender to the fact that the polyptych is now back to a diptych with the focus being on the last two panels only. It took me a while to realise but the message came through loud and clear once I let go of what I thought was a great idea. I'll get back to work on these last two panels as soon as I can find my table again!

At the Rob Park studio's the four of us artists are preparing to open our studio's up to the public on the 25th May 2014. One of the artists, Sarah is organising the advertising. We will each do a letter box drop of a 100 odd invites, tidy up our spaces and make them 'public friendly', and get our current artworks and works in progress out on display and priced. Hopefully we will all sell some artwork or gain some students. It will be my first official open day with Rob Park and I am looking forward to it. 

One of those damn disappointing days...artistically speaking.

When you have an unsuccessful day, hop into bed at 6pm and write your blog!

I don't know what it was about today but everything I put my hand to didn't work the way I had hoped.

I just wasted materials and messed up my studio. One of those days where I would have been better off doing something practical like cleaning up the house,  washing or maybe some gardening but no...I was determined to make some progress on a project and the more I pushed the worse things got and the more depressed I felt.

It was a strange day all round. The Beverley bush band were playing country music on the Beverley Platform outside my kitchen window. It was pretty good, when they sang in tune. They must have arrived late morning to set up while I was in the studio playing a frustrating game with myself which I call 'paint on-paint off!' I hate this game because I always loose! Anyway I don't know where the time went. I thought I had better put the Open Gallery sign out on the road as it must have gone 11am. When I looked at the town clock it was 2.15!

I was out of sorts all day. Partly because I have to pack every thing up tomorrow. This is when it is not a good to be a mixed media artist. You have everything but the kitchen sink to pack up including all the extra bits of junk I've picked up while I have been here. This is a list that I made of everything I'm using right now.

So, although I was trying to put in a good days work before I packed everything up, it just didn't happen or maybe there was a lot happening, I just didn't see the results today. I know I spent way too long pondering artists work that I really admire. I have to admit I get so jealous! Linda Vachon is my latest favourite. The collages layers and mystery in her work mesmerizes me. Here are just a few. I'm making a collection of them on my Pinterest.

  

I'm also a little anxious about waiting to hear back from the PMH to see if my application has been successful. Supposed to have been selecting on May 2nd but I'm guessing it would take a few weeks for them to go through the applications and ring referees etc. It would have been good just to know if they have received it at least.

So, all round a damn disappointing day, but I have food clothing and shelter.....but....but....?

My First Cold Wax Artwork!

The worse thing about this residency is I have to leave:(  in a few days I'll be packing up all my art materials, more than I came with I suspect, and heading back home. I have been flat out on this residency and the time has flown by. I truly feel as though I have only been here 1 week. My head is spinning with ideas!

This afternoon I noticed I had bought from a jar of cold wax that I had made up myself from bees wax and 'zest' solvent, which is made with oranges rather than using turps which makes me feel sick when I smell it. Last time I attempted to work with cold wax I couldn't get used to working with large quantities of the oil paint, which is mixed with the cold wax. Not being able to wash up with soap and water was a pain too. So I steered clear of it and focused on the encaustic, which is hot wax that is painted on in layers and fused with a heat gun and dries instantly. Then you rub in oil paint colours.

                                                 

                                                  

                                                       'At the station'          JPfeiffer 

                                                     cold wax on ply wood 60 x 50 cm

Anyway, I didn't think I had bought the jar with me so I was surprised to see it sitting their on the shelf calling me! So I grabbed a board, mixed up blue oil paint into the wax 50/50 and started spreading a thin layer. It was rather gluggy and difficult to spread but I persevered. I decided my palette knives and scrapers were to small for the job so I went across the road to the hardware store and picked up some cement spreaders. I bought some special cleaning fluid ( orange based again ) to clean the coloured wax off my hands and tools so that I could apply the next colour. It's soooo messy! I went through a roll of paper towel too! After I'd added a few more colours I applied the white and some more mark making and I'm sort of happy with it. In fact I'm very happy with it considering I had limited choice of colors to use. I will probably tidy it up a bit in the morning but I definitely want to do some more cold wax work when I get back to Perth.