painterly love and fishy prints

I have found myself wandering a new creative path this last few weeks, wherein I crave more colour in my work. Constantly dissatisfied with the pale hues and wooden textures of last year's works, I am finding joy in mixing and experimenting with new colour palettes and application techniques. When I stumbled upon my favourite painting Maya from my solo show at the start of the year I knew I had to make some changes to her. And so I did, adding a zingy background and inky contour to her shapely torso. I am really happy with the result, so happy in fact that I think I'll make a limited run print of it. As for my new creative direction, lets see what this week's camping trip inspires!

spontaneous arting

In the flurry of a creative spell, last night I created a most peculiar piece. I'm not sure what originally brought this thread of thought on, but the more I meditated on it the more I realized how much meaning there is in this piece. For me, it is inspired by the idea of energy being a visible force. Just think, if thoughts had colour, shape, sight, sound, smell - all these different sensory elements, then wouldn't we completely reconsider the way we life our lives? If beautiful, happy thoughts floated around us in the shape of pink and orange rosepetals, calling forth our most treasured memories and scents, would we not make the effort to think more positively throughout our day? .. well thats what I've been thinking about! And in this painting I represented this idea of positive thought as feathers floating through space. I think I will get a print made of this tomorrow. But I got excited and already put it up in my etsy shop under Birds of a Feather print.

new(s) this week

Yippie! I have finally finished my end of semester exams and major assignments + essays. I am so relieved and excited to have a little bit of time to relax. To celebrate I went to my favourite printing place in the city and got some more Chloe prints and Blue prints done on some beautiful enviro-linen stock. After this weekend I am also hoping to get some new prints made as well as show you some new original works I have been working on. Unfortunately, I killed my camera a few weeks ago (waterbottle in bag accident) and I have not yet found a replacement or purchased a new one. Instead, I've been shooting with my Diana F+. I will share some of those photos soon too.

a thing called geek weather

As a result of this strange, inconsistent, cold, whimsical, crazy weather I have been increasingly prevailed to stay home, drink copious amounts of ginger and lemon tea, and do nothing but paint and draw. This means I am making tremendous headway on commissions and secret projects (not to mention my art history essays.). On the downside it has given rise to anti-social/geeky behaviour on my part. But nevermind that for now! Let me show you a few exciting new things. Like my new print and my freshly made facebook art page.

red opus students' show

Due to the flurry of this past few weeks it is only now that the Red Opus Students' Show is finished, and I forgot to write about it. Either way it was lots of fun showing alongside some really great up and coming Adelaide artists like Jenny Allnut and Piyarat Mukura. The show was curated by a good friend of mine, the wonderful Anna Ficek, who I am not only glad to have had the pleasure of working with but also the pleasure of sharing a city with, as she is a globetrotter like none other!

All up I am really pleased with the experience and happy with the four pieces I put up. The two large woodpanels were (very ) last-minute, and I have to say they are possibly two of my most favourite pieces that I have created. Someone recently made a comment about Agnes (pictured just above) being a great design for a Tshirt. So that is something to think about. Perhaps I'll enter it on Design By Humans or Threadless? Anyone have an idea for me?

new print in store

Yippie! I am very excited to announce the arrival of a new print to my little etsy shop. The desire to add limited edition & open edition prints has been a long time coming. This is "Chloe", a little french maiden wrapped up in all her snuggliest scarves to keep warm in the bitter winter chill. I painted her last year, and she sold very quickly. I have since received messages from people hoping for a print or remake and finally finally here she is! I hope you all like it. The first print may be up for grabs soon in a little giveaway I'm planning, so stay tuned.

feature friday III - hope gangloff

It wasn't until a couple of days ago that I came across the work of the wonderful painter Hope Gangloff.
She refers to herself as an illustrator (not a painter), and most often draws inspiration from real life subjects, like her friends. Of all the works I saw on her website, my favourite is the second image above, that of the reclining woman. The combination of rich textures with the limited colour palette draws me right into Hope's work, as I search for the narrative which is present in all of her portraits. I knew her work would look absolutely amazing in person, but the final image is blowing me away. Gosh, I think I'm in love?

sneak preview of agnes

(Agnes, 2011 - watercolour, ink, electrical tape & graphite on wood )

Over the course of the last two days I created two large and two small watercolour and ink illustrations on wood. Having accepted a spot at short notice, this exhibition completely snuck up on me! So when Anna, the curator contacted me on monday about dropping off works by wednesday (!!) I began to paint furiously. I am really happy with the outcome, with my favourite being Agnes, (pictured above.) The opening is tomorrow night, so if you are an Adelaidean, come by Red Opus Gallery, 118 Payneham Road tomorrow night at 6. Official facebook even here.

lady portrait

Most of today was spent enjoying the sunshine, writing a publish-ready article for uni and painting some brand new lady portraits. Here is a sneak peak at a work in progress portrait of Mariella. More to come soon! x