A New Sort of Inspiration!

As part of  drawing class,  we went to view the 'Now Contemporary Exhibition'  at the Shoalhaven Art Gallery a couple of weeks ago .... our task was to pick one of the artworks and write a review. The challenge was then to develop an art work.  The brief was to .....

 "Consider the formal aspects of the art work, how elements and principles were used to make the work, in your own response, make a work that has been guided in some significant way by the study you have undertaken.   The work you make can be any subject, size, material, technique and approach you choose"

So I've been working on this project for the last couple of weeks ....  I chose an abstract painting 'Untitled' by Sivan Agam in blues and greens which has a wonderful sense of depth .. made me think of mangroves ...  so I decided to make a work inspired by the value placement  to see if I could achieve a similar sense of depth.

 I also wanted to try out using some silk in this project ....

Here's a photo of the original inspiration painting  and where I'm up to with my piece .... just the first stage ...  more work and stitching to do yet!! 

It certainly is a challenging exercise ... I'll post a photo when finished!!  

Thanks for reading ....CC

Art Date with "The You Beaut Country"

Had the opportunity this week to spend a couple of hours at the Art Gallery of NSW to see the John Olsen Exhibition "The You Beaut Country" an experience I can totally recommend!!

This exhibition provides a wonderful survey of John Olsen's career from his first exhibition in 1955 to his recent works and includes commissioned ceiling paintings, tapestries and decorated ceramics.

John Olsen's work has a very distinctive and personal style that definitely captures the uniqueness and energy of the Australian landscape.

I came away delighted with joyous use of yellow,  the expressive connecting lines and the way he combines a wide overview of the  landscape  with the minute detail of it's components like  fish, plants, insects ......

I love the yellows  in works such as 'Sydney Sun'  and 'Summer in the You Beaut Country'  and  'Seafood Paella'  below ... on the cover of the catalogue ... another terrific exhibition publication which I have added to my collection.

The use of expressive line is another outstanding feature of his work that is captivating.. it is sometimes bold and exuberant ... sometimes fine and delicate  .... sometimes dominating the work .... sometimes providing intricate detail at the edges of the work.    It seems to me that this is in  part how he captures the vastness of the Australian terrain as well as the character of the specific environment.  There is so much to discover and enjoy  in these paintings.

The exhibition also includes tapestries, decorated ceramics and some of the many journals he maintained over 5 decades.  These include his writings, sketches, photographs and ephemera - tickets, postcards, bird feathers! and provide a glimpse into the artists world.

The exhibition runs until June 12 at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Have you seen the exhibition?  What was your reaction?

Thanks for dropping by .....CC

'Green' Collection ....

The 'Green'  Exhibition opened this week at Jing Jo Cafe in Kangaroo Valley and I was thrilled that a number of my pieces were included ......

Here is my 'Green' collection............

.... a set of 4 Stepping Stones pieces - 'Winding Way' , 'Peaches & Cream' - Grevillea 3 and 'Down by the Bay' - Mangroves 2.

 Even more exciting,  my grevillea piece was chosen as the image for the show ..... Thank you Belinda for all your hard work bring this exhibition together!

If you are in the vicinity of Kangaroo Valley I highly recommend the exhibition. ... there is an excellent variety of work on show .... and the coffee and food at Jing Jo's is excellent.  Here is the link to their site if you need their address and opening times ....  http://www.jingjo.com.au

If you visit,   I'd love to know what you think???  CC

Stitch First Applique Later!

With my new Grevillea piece I reversed my usual construction process by stitching the background before the applique!  Now this is not a new idea but one I've avoided because I like the flexibility that finalising the composition first allows.  Stitching first requires a bit of a leap of faith!  

Step one was stitching the background.  Doing the stitching first makes the process very easy, no shapes to navigate around so the stitching is very fluid and it's easy to achieve a good result.  It also helps to integrate any additions/variations in the background design.

With this piece I added the applique shapes in two steps.  Firstly the main structure of the flower and the leaves and secondly the overlapping flower shapes, stitching them down as I built up the design.

If you have followed previous posts you will know that I have had quite some issues with skipped stitches.  These skipped stitches occur because of movement in the layers as the needle  passes through multiple layers and are very frustrating!!!  By stitching the background first this issue is not longer of concern!!   So making this piece has been a much more enjoyable experience .......

                   'Peaches & Cream' - Grevillea 3   © Carolyn Collins 2017   16" x 16"  

Have you tried stitching first and what did you think about the process???

Thanks for dropping by .....  CC

New Year, New Work and Exciting News for AW5!!

Happy New Year everyone   .... I hope 2017 is full of creative inspiration and lots of good things!!!

To start the year as I mean to continue ......

I have finished a new piece in the Stepping Stones series.   I have been experimenting with new backgrounds for my stepping stones designs.   In this piece I have used  painted fusible as the background  for the open road design .....

                                    'Misty Morning'  © Carolyn Collins 2017   12" x 12"  

I have painted the fusible with diluted acrylic paint.  I have tried to suggest a landscape ..  I tried various  strengths of paint  ....  the addition of some water helps to create an interesting patterning on the fusible and  gives the end result a painterly quality.  I fused the painted surface to a pale green hand dyed fabric.   For the next in the series I'm going to try a seascape!

The good news this week is that the Australia Wide Five Exhibition (including my Forest Pansy piece)  which is touring Australia will also tour in the US this year to the AQS Quilt Week shows in Grand Rapids, Mi chigan;  Fall Paducah, Kentucky and Des Moines, Iowa!!!  Congratulations to the OzQuilt Network organisers .... amazing to have our exhibition showcased in the US!!!