Blogs and Blogging

There have been several occasions recently when I've paused and pondered how good blogs are! I've been thinking why I enjoy them as a medium or form of expression and ended up with heaps of little ideas, most of which ended up grouping into the three that follow. I am mostly talking about artistic and craftistic blogs (the type I tend to read or follow) here.

1. Blogs are personal -  they operate in the first person, not the third person. In French, it would also be like they are more the familiar 'tu'  form than the more formal 'vous' form. In my mind websites are both more formal and more third person presentations. It seems to me that blogs allow expression of works in progress not just the finished piece (like websites do), again allowing insights into the personal rather than only the professional presentation of an artist's work. You can hear the voice of the artist.
2. Blogs connect - I love the way so many artists' and craftists' blogs have heaps of links and try to connect people to other people and promote other people's work. I can't recall going to too many websites and being sent onto other fabulous people's places. Many artist and craftist bloggers also post about about other people's exhibitions; including links and/or show photos of other people's work which introduces it to whole new audiences.  I have discovered so many new people whose work I admire by linking on from other people's blogs. Most artist/craftist bloggers also seem to give credit to others, get permission first and/or link or reference to the original artist which is good.
3. Blogs are interactive -  they are not static like a website is. They get updated more regularly it seems to me, and they allow for a conversation rather than a presentation. The artist/craftist gets to ask questions or invite comments. The reader gets to ask questions or leave comments. Little conversations begin that often end up continuing in private, behind the scenes. 

And so, what do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Are there other good things about blogs I've missed?

To soften all that text, here are some bird's nests we have found (on the ground, not in trees) that sit in my studio.

And the winner...

Thanks to everybody who joined in and wrote some words on rain and rainbows.  I had thought that given we had been covered in rain of late that there might have been more rain ones; but it was wonderful to read so many beautiful rainbow thoughts.

Here are the names in a Tibetan singing bowl.  You run the wooden handle around the rim and it creates the most beautiful tone.  You can modulate it by going faster or harder, and it resonates for a long time.

The almost-rainbow journal will soon be winging its way to..............Kym in Biloela!

Kym wrote:

Rainbows paint the sky with uniqueness

Congratulations and thanks again!

"Place" at our place

I have hung the three 'pages' outside, wrapped around our macadamia nut tree.  They contrast beautifully with the lush greenness that surrounds us after all the recent rain.

I have no idea what will happen to them as they 'weather' outside but will take a few progress shots along the way. Here they are on Easter Saturday - from a distance and a nice close up of the shadows playing on a piece.

A nice surprise has been that I get to glance at them out a window I pass several times a day so that makes me smile.

A Letter a Week (ALaW)13

Halfway- the  letter 'M' means we are at the halfway point through the first alphabet for A Letter a Week 2010!

I had been reading some jewellery making books and been fascinated by the etching onto metal they use for decorative purposes; rather than for printmaking purposes.  So I pulled out  a ratty old piece of copper we had - totally patina-ed green on top, and thought I'll pop it in the acid bath and see what happens.  I first wrote the letter onto the metal with Hiro's fabulous 'writing on metal wax pencils'; then I wrote over it with stop out bitumen. I also 'stopped out' the back of the plate a bit, and then let it dry over night.

Today I made an acid bath and popped the letter in. At 1:3 (acid:water) it was very slow going; so I pumped it up to 2:3 and it started moving.  It was hard work for the acid to get thru all the patina sitting on top of the plate but after about 20 minutes I liked the result.

I am learning so much through these little challenges!

Here it is in the different phases...and a little bit of textured surface from the side.

"Place"

I am fortunate to be involved in a sculptural exhibition to be held at Lucas Parklands in Montville in June.  We have been given the opportunity to place sculptures within the rainforest walk of the Parklands during their open garden.

I have first of all been working on a piece titled "Place" that has three components called ''connecting', 'belonging', and 'meaning'. They are three rusted fabric 'pages' that will be wrapped around three trees at different points along the walk. They involve calligraphy, lots of hand stitching, fabric (and leather) I rusted, plain calico and rusty bits and pieces we have around the place.

I plan to hang them outside at our place for a while to let them weather a bit before displaying them. Here they are hanging in my studio and a bit of detail from each of them, before their time outside.

Milestone giveaway

Well, I've just snuck in to my 100th post - which amazes me somewhat - and I'd like to celebrate by giving away one of my handmade journals.

I chose this one because it kind of has a rainbow thing going as well - in so much as it has nice colours scattered here and there throughout. It uses Somerset watercolour paper and is hand-stitched with purple waxed linen thread.

The perfect gift for artists and writers, it can also be used to hold favourite recipes; book group book comments; dreams; dinner party reminders - who came what you ate and drank; gardening notes - what you planted and when; or as a guest or visitors book.

To be part of the giveaway, describe what you like about rain or rainbows in exactly six words in the comment box below this post. If you can't do comments - send me an email and I'll make sure you're in the mix.

'Entries' close Tuesday 6 April and I'll post the winner on Wednesday 7 April.

One of my rainbow thoughts goes like this: Rainbows make me smile. Happy heart.

Thanks for playing and reading!

Rainbows in the valley

We've had quite the time of it of late with lots of rain; but happily after the worst of it (when it was wall to wall rain and living in the clouds for days) we get to share rain with sunshine.

Today as we were working away; we looked out across the valley and saw a rainbow IN the valley - we were looking down on it!  It seemed quite wondrous to me.  There was also the hint of a double rainbow.

One thing that still fascinates me is that if you see a double rainbow, the presentation of the colours is reversed or mirrored. That is, the outer edge colour of one is the inner edge colour of the other. You can kind of see it here...

A Letter a Week (ALaW) 12

We are nearly halfway through the first alphabet for A Letter a Week 2010; my how time flies! When we visited our friend Pam in Canberra, she showed us some pieces she had done with this technique and I thought for sure I should try it.

I first painted Arches Velin paper with black acrylic paint.  After drying, I painted over that with some gold acrylic which had some 'retardant" added to slow down the drying time so you could 'work' it.

I then used the sided of a bonefolder to make some sweeping gestures and lines, allowing some of the underneath black to show through, and then used the point of the bonefolder to outline the "L". It was fun and I think there will be other ways of using it too. Maybe next time I'll try for a stronger contrast with the black.

Maleny Library 'Exhibition'

The Maleny Library supports local artists by providing display/exhibition space for free.  There are two glass cabinets in the foyer and a good sized wall inside.  Artists simply book whichever space they prefer for 2-3 weeks, leave their contact details, and folk can buy direct from the artist without any commission.

I currently have  a series of journals on display in the foyer cabinets.  They are surrounded by some 'pebble scrabble' rocks I wrote on years ago; and some cut out letters from a piece where the negative space of the letters was used over another gorgeous background.  The pebbles and letters were simply decorative and not for sale.

Her are a few shots of the display - some have even sold!

Barry's 100th post - its' a giveaway!

My husband Barry and I started blogging about the same time, but he has reached a milestone just ahead of me - he did his 100th post last week.  Mine is coming up soon so stay tuned for another giveaway; but in the meantime, why don't you head on over to his blog and leave a comment about quietness or stillness and you never know you might win his beautiful bowl! Gotta love a bit of cross-promotion!

Abstract calligraphic art - Denise Lach

I mentioned how this book inspired me to write my letter 'J' recently and promised to write some more. There is so much to look at and think about with this book that it will have to happen in small chunks.

I have chosen here three of the page spreads from Denise Lach's book that astounded me and made me buy it without even really looking at it in too much detail.  I love taking photographs of texture; often close-up and showing the detail of something that might otherwise be missed.

I had never in my mind made the link between my texture photos and their potential to inspire abstract calligraphic art. Now of course, I wonder how one earth I missed it and can see so many fabulous opportunities opening up.

I am totally inspired by this mark making and the inspiration for it. What do you think?

Paper play and painting

It's been a funny old week in the studio - bits and pieces of this and that all on the go at once.  I've been doing my letter, preparing some pages, sketching designs for some sculptures, preparing a workshop on bookmaking, preparing some fabric and pondering a piece to make for an art auction.  I've also discovered I kind of love having all these things going - always something to do; not stuck waiting for one stage to dry before being able to do something else. All good fun!

I have been very happily just sitting and painting pages for books.  Doing all the backgrounds in preparation for...something! Here are a few from the week's play.

A Letter a Week (ALaW) 11

Another week, another experiment. When visiting our friend Noela a few weeks ago, she gave me some of the gold foil that is used for hot tooling letters and designs onto leather books etc.  She quickly showed me how to use a hot iron to transfer it onto a surface - especially PVA glue that has dried. It looked great on her mixed media work - dashes of gold; hints and traces here and there.

So I thought - I'd better try this out for one of my letters. The 'K' was drawn onto some card with a pencil, filled in with PVA glue, left to dry overnight and then the gold was transferred using a hot iron.

Not a brilliant result, but I think in the spirit of experimentation and learning that it's quite OK to retain the less than perfect ones - because they act as reminders of the trickiness of the technique or the potential for the technique.  I think because I was after a solid application it didn't work as well - the traces and hints seem to be better, and I'm not convinced that going over and over with the iron doesn't actually melt the glue somewhat!  All in all, good fun and I now know how I can use it on other things.

The bottom shot is the gold foil, front and back

Abstract calligraphic art - glyphs

Back when we were building our house we had a rubbish 'skip' in place to gather all the remnant building materials. I fell in love with the rusted marks on its side, and then began a series of handmade books called Urban Glyphs. These books used fragments of photographs of the marks made in urban settings - metal, concrete, plaster all showed me marks.

I termed them glyphs because they could be interpreted as some form of language or writing that we couldn't understand - but they spoke to me of language nonetheless.

Here is the first and my favourite. The book now resides in a friend's collection.

A Letter a Week (ALaW) 10

This week's letter has been a bit more like calligraphic doodling and playing rather than attempting to explore unfamiliar mediums. I got this simple idea from a book I bought recently "Calligraphy A Book of Contemporary Inspiration by Denise Lach (of Switzerland).

I will post more about the book and her work another time...but for now I used what I have always called a music pen - but not everybody does.  It is a pen with five mini - nibs which produces five parallel lines (hence my thoughts re music). I chose to write the letter "O" with this nib over and over again - about 6 rows of 5 "O"s; then turned my square 90 degrees and did the same again - so the "O"s overlapped and produced the background pattern for my "J". I love patterns.

I am thinking I will mount my experimental alphabet so it looks something like a sampler and expect that this little red number might provide a little focal point.