Cyclone!!!!!!!!!!! Cor Blimey

We have battened our hatches, got out the candles and made sure we have laid by a good supply of wine and beer. And now we wait for the storm front to hit. You think you are safe from tropical cyclones this far south but every now and then one comes down to give you a good slap. And we listen to the rain which gets so loud you can't hear yourself think. The perils of a tin roof!!!!!!!!! Luckily we will be safe and warm tucked up in bed.

Learning

Monk

At the moment I am into the second week of an online course called 'The Way of the Monk Path of the Artist' found here. And in the interest of putting myself more out there I thought I would share some of it with you. These 3 images are collages I did without knowing which particular title they belong to. Any imput is welcome.

Artist

Both Monk and Artist

There is also poetry.

Perhaps coming under the category of more information than you actually wished for, but none the less, with a deep breath here we go.

In this moment I am going to begin living like a monk

Calmness will be my watchword

Peace my mantra

I will wander the world

With a simple pack of things

Things which will help me create

Seeds to scatter

Little starting points

Of hope

Of joy

Of love

To help a blossoming

A coming forth of what is within

I will foster gentleness

Yet firmness and resolve

In this moment I am going to start living like an artist

I won’t listen when they say there is no money here

You must be commercial

You must sell your soul

Your integrity

Your sense of what should be

Because we must live in this world

This world

Where stuff

Where security

Is much more important

Than what you feel inside

Than what you feel is trapped inside

Beating helpless crying

For release

For a way of being in the world

For dignity

For a voice

For permission to even exist

In this moment I am going to start living like a mystic

I will listen to the voice

The still quiet one inside

I will know the choice to make

There will be no hesitation

On what is the best path for me to take

Someone else loves me

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d427aa9b5536d914ba539db/fabric-cuddle?ref=pr_treasury

It is very exciting when people choose your stuff as the specialest.

Look at me

Look at me

look at me

somebody loves me

enough

to put me in their

Etsy Treasury

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d3f4a4998438eef5fd809ef/journaling-saves

You see it here first

Just about to put these 3 cuties on the Etsy shop. And seeing as one of the others has sold already!!!!!!!!! And to someone simply wonderful. Maybe you all best be quick!!!!!!!!!

Etsy Update

These two babies currently being added to my Etsy Shop.

Some of me Art

Just a couple of small pieces to be going on with.

This is a small automatic drawing working with traditional gesso and charcoal on watercolour paper with just a touch of xanthorrea resin for colour. Then covered with a layer of hot beeswax.

Again working on watercolour paper, but this piece is a little more planned. Firstly the whole piece is covered in a soy and earth pigment paint which I scratched into once dry I painted half with traditional gesso, while it was still wet I dripped in the xanthorrea which causes the gesso to disperse I then scratched into it. The whole piece was finally coated with cold wax.

The Books!!!

Finally the camera is back in action, so hold onto your hats as we are about to go into picture overload.

These are the finished books that I showed some pages from a little while ago.

 

 

Journal No 1

The cover

Unwrapped

The pages, these are recycled cotton paint rags to which I have applied traditional gesso, so they are all ready to draw on.

 Journal no 2

The Cover

Silk hand stitched onto wool, all natural dyes, smoke fired ceramic buttons and handmade silk string

More pages

Opened, here you can see the inside which is silk noil.

I have a market stall on Sunday where these will be onsale, but in the unlikely event that they don't sell I will put them in my Etsy Shop.

I also have a whole heap of art photos, should I add them now? Or wait till tomorrow? Maybe just a sneak Peak for now.  No blogger has decided that is your ration for this post.



Missouri Bend Studio

Part of post from one of my favourite blogs to visit. http://missouribendstudio.blogspot.com/
You should really go spend some time there.

You have a duty to perform.


Do anything else, do any number

Of things, occupy your time fully.

And yet if you do not do this task,

All your time will have been wasted.


--Rumi

This quote appeared in the book I'm reading and it really struck me. We each have our life's work....maybe you know what it is, maybe you don't. But if you know, as I do, what I'm called to do, you'd better be about the business of doing it. I've always said that for me, art is a calling, not a career. You can certainly just make it a career, but for me it's a calling, not just a career. I'll leave you with another winter meditation, from a time earlier in the week when I was most definitely in the flow.

Button Glorification

Here's what Anita Fluckiger did with one of the buttons she bought from me. Is'nt it purty.

in the studio

Thought some of you might be interested in what I am up to in the studio. Above are the pages for a book I am working on. It is made from old paint rags which have had a coat of traditional gesso once thorougly dry i will bind them and give them a nice naturally dyed hand stitched wool and silk cover. I am also hoping to do a book with an additional coating of beeswax brushed over the gesso which creates a different but equally yummy surface to work on with dry media.

These are two little panels ready to sell. They are masonite covered in fabric which has then been painted with milk paints, then coated in several layers of traditional gesso which was sanded to reveal little spots of colour, thye have then had a layer of hot beeswax before being finished with little chinese ink and little zap with the blow torch.

Here are some encaustic pieces in progress, working on paper mache layered with fabric, up in the left corner is a small piece of paper that I brushed with hot wax and then pushed on a mint leaf to create a lovely impression which I will fill with paint, next to that is a small piece of hand stitched naturally dyed silk which I have coated with wax and last but not least is a piece of watercolour paper which I covered in gesso and while it was still wet dropped in xanthorrea  resin dissolved in meths it really got things moving around,( I have a journal full of samples now!!!) this has now been coated in wax so I can work back into it.

and here are some panels that have been painted and are now going through the gesso layering stage. They have had about 4 coats so far and will need about 4 more.

I love my job!!!

Celebrity Sale

Peter Rowsthorn

This man who only the Aussies might recognise dropped into my market stall and purchased buttons. I know he saw the recognition on my face but I refrained from saying anything. I left the pointing and whispering to everyone else.

And here is what my lovely stall looked like, albeit somewhat late in the day after a few key unphotograhed pieces were sold. I added an extra table this time which meant the buttons could spread them selves out a bit more and everything was a little less crowded. And it meant the buttons were almost costantly being fondled which undoubtedly helped with sales.

Moving in a little closer you can see one of the stitched pictures the other two had already sold also one of the bowls was sold and one of the encaustic boards seen lying down on the table. And I sold quite a few cards which people constantly tell me they are going to frame. Might be something in this art lark.

The lovely buttons in bowls

And this beauty, a lovely encautic triptych called'Confluence' which will be for sale again next market. Might have to write up a little story for it. Would be ubber fantastic to sell it.

Beauty Amid the Chaos

2 lovely bowls finished and ready to sell.

Denmark Markets

These are pictures from the Market I did in Denmark on December 11 and it was a great market. I will be there again this coming Saturday for the 1st Market of 2011. I am hoping it will be just as fabulous.

 There will be silks

Buttons

Stitched Art

Art Cards

Earrings

And of course Dolly Button Girls.

I am also currently working on some encaustic pieces which I hope to have ready, some of which will be similar to the bowls in which I display my buttons. And yes everything is for sale. I am not taking it back to Tassie with me.