part of the class artwork I am co-ordinating for Rose' class.
Sort of a 3-D shadow box-like sculptural thingy.
All clear on that?
Firstly the children will cover the box shapes made from recycled milk cartons) with paper mache and paint them white .They will then decorate the cubes with drawings, mono-prints and collage and I will build a shadow box to display all of the completed cubes.
Should look good.
(I hope.)
part of my journal entry in Olga's travelling journal 'Hedvig"
While I was searching for a photo I came across this one of Rose, age 4. It shows not only how much she has grown and changed, but illustrates as well the dangers of standing still for too long in our sticky tape-addicted household...you have been warned!
I finally finished the artwork for my mini- zine...scanning and printing is all completed and its ready to be folded and stapled. I used the instructions from this book to make an instant zine - fast, easy and light to mail.
So, if you asked for a copy, it should be on its way to you at the end of this week ( if you asked but haven't sent me your mailing address, please do!). It's not very big...a little bit of drawing, a little bit of collage and a very little bit of text! Shouldn't take more than a minute or so to read but hopefully a minute that you will enjoy!
the last custom collage to be finished before the baby arrives...for a little girl who loves bubbles, bears and hot pink boots!
I am now hoping to find the energy to work on a few new collage ideas that have been chasing around my head for a while. The alternative is to just retire to the couch and eat a few ( or perhaps many!) of these instead!
My favourite icecream treats from Pat and Stick's...I've heard that they are extremely nutritious and good for you (actually, I made that up but surely anything that tastes this good must be a little bit good for you,no?)
I have been long overdue in posting pictures of some wonderful artwork that came my way( Ok, the girls way!) just before Christmas. Tiel and I organised an artwork swap.....and here they are....
Actually ,my timing has worked out just right, because Tiel has just launched her new website - drop by and have a look!
You might recall my New Year's resolution....to be more like a peg. Basically to be simple, quiet and functional. Well, that resolution is being put to the test as this pregnancy progresses ever so quickly in some ways and so, so slowly in others.
With both the girls, I was still rushing around at a million miles an hour at this stage ( week 28 give or take a few days). Not this time around. Despite not being that big ( everyone else's opinion, not that of the author, mind you!) I am reduced to moving at a snails pace. A very sedate and slow snail. Any faster brings on quite numerous and rather uncomfortable ,distracting contractions, which is not much fun at all. So I've been told to take it easy and not do too much.
Put my feet up. Rest.
Not as easy as it sounds.
But I am trying.
Really.
Anyway, enough grouching about what I can't do and a bit about what I can and have been doing.
Finishing this hat for starters, just in time for Georgie's birthday next week.
She's a pom pom type of girl.
Adding the final touches to this project...all soon to be revealed....
And getting used to the fact that my small girl is now a big girl at preschool.
10 weeks or so and there will be another girl in the picture.
Oh
My
Goodness.
The first issue of cloth. paper .scissors for 2008 is on sale....and look! the smallpeople made the cover!
It was so thrilling to receive my copy in the mail- actually the generous people at Interweave Press sent me a few copies,so I have one to give away. Let me know if you are interested via the comments and I'll do the random draw thing mid next week.
I am busy cutting and pasting as I work on my new idea for a series of collages ...oh, and I finished my 'block' for the Paper quilt. Just need to let it dry before I can scan and post it.
Off to see 'Hi-5 circus' with the girls today...a belated Christmas gift for them!
One of the mother from Rose's class does some fundraising work for Australian Doctors International.
A little while back she asked if I would like to donate a piece of work for a fundraising auction in early November.
I finished my piece over the weekend...
a Gocco print and collage on a vintage botany text and music page.The birds are from some old Australian stamps.
All framed and ready to go....
( hope someone is willing to buy it to help a good cause - I'm a little nervous as it's my first ever time in an auction.Fingers crossed ,please.)
Oh and here is the recipe for the Chocolate wheaten biscuits as promised.
Source: the good old Women's weekly naturally!
Ingredients:
90g butter softened
1/2 cup(110g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup (20g) desiccated coconut
1/4 cup (25g) wheat germ
3/4 cup (120g) wholemeal plain flour
1/3 cup (50g) white self raising flour
150g dark eating chocolate, melted
Beat butter and sugar with electric beater until smooth;add egg , beat until combined.
Stir in flours, coconut and wheat germ.
Roll dough between sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Cover , refrigerate 30 minutes.
Preheat oven 180deg C. Grease oven trays/line with baking paper.
Cut dough into preferred shapes & place on oven trays 3cm apart.
Bake about 12 minutes until golden, cool on trays.
Spread tops ( or bases if you prefer) with melted chocolate, set at room temperature.
Eat and enjoy.
On day one of the workshop with Glen Skein, we spent the morning making a basic box with a flush fitting lid. I choose an off white crumple textured paper as I wanted it to have a worn , almost faded appearance.Later during the day I decided to "age" it a little with tea and coffee stains.
Once we had the box structure made, we spent a bit of time playing with the elements we wanted to use in the piece, adding and taking pieces away to try to create a sense of narrative.
I added, I took away, I moved things around.
And then I did it some more..oh, for about an hour or so and then it was time to go home!
The next day I began to add the dividers to contain elements and platforms to raise them where I felt it necessary. I also spent an extraordinary amount of time arranging and rearranging all of the pieces. This of course involved some more of the adding and removing exercise from yesterday.
By lunchtime, I had reached this point:
Glen was an excellent teacher, encouraging us to take our time and not rush to try complete our piece. He stressed the importance of being intuitive with our choices and using the elements that 'spoke 'to us.I had some trouble with this,as I had brought so many bits and pieces along that I was literally deafened by the roar of them all yelling "choose me, choose me!"
I didn't manage to finish my piece by the end of the workshop - not because I ran out of time, but because I really needed to leave it alone for a few days and then come back to it. This is how it looks at the moment..as you can see, still two sections that need to be worked on.The watch face has disappeared altogether as I decided that it was almost another separate 'story'.
The letter tiles are from an old word making game - they spell out the word 'disappearance' which is the tentative working title for this piece.
'Old Broken Doll's Head' just didn't have quite the same deep and meaningful ring to it.
I am almost definitely going to use the photo image below - I'm just not sure how I want to incorporate it into the whole piece.
The other section....hmmmm, let's just call it a work in progress....
I can sense a few of these boxes in the works- it feels like I'm at the start of a series.I definitely need to make at least one using the old watch faces.
My only issue is what on earth will I do with them when their done. Personally, I am really drawn to the broken faded dolls parts but some other people have described them as gruesome and a little bit sinister. See, I'm not all sweetness and light - I have a dark angsty,side- gruesome and sinister even!
the rest of the ATC's for the swap bot "tree" swap....
paper collage, watercolour and stamped text - the Hebrew text page that I used for the leaves came courtesy of the lovely Julie who also has a thing for trees....
and two ATC's for some private swaps I've organised....
hand drawn pigment pen , watercolour and silver foil on vintage text page.
Off to do a workshop in another form of paper craft tomorrow....I'll be learning to make a Coptic handstitched book with it's own box to keep it in...all going well , photos tomorrow night!
