Opening celebrations for Impress Printmakers's new home

Moreton Island camping trip (or just another excuse to make art!)

I'm back today from a week's camping at Moreton Island, a beautiful sand island 1.5 hours barge ride from Brisbane.  The weather was perfect, the waters blue-green, and the campground deserted.  Can't ask for more than that!

And of course, what's a holiday that doesn't involve some art ??......

Craig and our 4WD on the Eastern Beach of Moreton Is.

View across Honeymoon Bay

Shadows on the sand

The North Point beach was showing wear and tear
from high tides and storm action.
Lots of plant debris and pumice.

The rangers had chopped down at lot of the old
Banksia trees in the North Point Campground,
for 'litigation' reasons.  What a shame, they
were beautiful shady trees.

We kayaked around the North-Eastern end of the island.
 It was fun exploring the little coves and beaches.

We can see you!  A cute but large stick insect
on a rusty pipe at the Lighthouse area.

Kangaroo grass on the Lighthouse headland,
swaying in the wind.  Great for printing with too!

My 'Studio' at our camp.

Prints fluttering in the breeze.

My favourite, Bracken Fern, prints beautifully.

Print in progress...

My permanent gelli plate with ghost image, ready to print.
I also took a homemade gelatin plate but that didn't
even last one print, it suffered badly in the heat and
with rough handling in the 4WD.

The resulting print (from photo above), and the plant -
its a weed I plucked out of the ground just a
few steps from my camp studio.



 

Papermaking Exhibition you might be interested in....

Fellow papermaker Kym Frame is holding an exhibition 'Women Afoot' at Graydon Gallery from 4-9 March.  The exhibition will be opened on Friday 7 March 6pm by Janet De Boer.

Kym says "Women Afoot presents the work of local artist Kym Frame and the contribution of over 100 outstanding Queensland women from all walks of life.

The exhibition features more than 200 individual pieces of sculpture made from handmade paper. The sculptures and the voices of the women themselves, share their experiences and messages for each other. Together, they enable women to stand together both literally and metaphorically in support of one another.

All proceeds from the exhibition go to the Second Chance Programme Fundraising group, placing women beyond homelessness."

 

This is a great opportunity to see Kym's work and the diversity of the medium of handmade paper.

 

I'll be at the opening, might see you there!

 

Graydon Gallery

29 Merthyr Road New Farm

10am - 6pm dialy

4 - 9 March

 

Kym Frame 0406 748 476

 

 

Monoprinting Demonstrations

At the end of this month I'll be demonstrating monoprinting at 2 locations around Brisbane.  My focus is on how monoprinting can be done at home with everyday objects, leaves and paint.

Lately I've been experimenting with making gelatin plates again.  I gave up on gelatin plates after some disasters I attributed to our hot and humid weather, it just wasn't a practical way of working for me, having to keep refrigerating my plate, problems with condensation etc.  In recent years I've been monoprinting with my etching press Thumper and also using my permanent Gelli Plate.  And I've been more than happy with the results.

But recently I came across some discussion on the internet where people were adding other ingredients into their gelatin plates - like alcohol, sugar and glycerine.  All of these products are supposed to improve the quality of the plate.  So I've been testing out a new recipe for a plate with gelatin and glycerine.  So far, so good.  I used the plate quite extensively yesterday in over 30degree celcius heat, no problems.  The plate's been sitting on my bench all day today with just some plastic wrap over it.  I'll give it another run or two over the next week without refrigeration and see how it goes.

I'll be using this new plate at both my upcoming demonstrations, producing a heap of wonderful prints using everyday objects, leaves and paint.

Details of the demonstrations:

Location:  Caboolture Hub, 4 Hasking Street, Caboolture
Date:  Thursday 30 January 2014
Time:  10am
Cost: FREE
Bookings: 07 5433 3710

Location:  Level 2 BCC Brisbane Square Library, Brisbane CBD
Date:  Sunday 2 February 2014
Time: 10.30am
Cost: FREE
Bookings: not required

Sculpting with Books

This week my Mum Jan and I flew to Sydney to attend a 2 day 'Sculptural Books' workshop with Lizzie Buckmaster-Dove. The workshop was held at Art Est Art School in Leichhardt.

Lizzie works with paper and found objects to create assemblages and 3-dimensional works.

This workshop was to learn about creating sculptural and 3-dimensional objects using old books, exploring techniques of cutting and folding.

I went home with plenty of ideas on how I could incorporate the techniques into my existing art practice, though I'm certain my short attention span and lack of accuracy could be a problem!

I'm busy cutting, cutting, cutting, cutting,
and cutting some more.
The days went quick though!

Yes I've still got 5 fingers,
luckily no band-aids required this time.
The tool is a surgical blade, VERY sharp but
necessary for this type of work.
 

Lizzie (right) and I with our 3D sculpted books

My completed book, "Honey, from flower to table",
hence the reason why I cut hexagons to
represent a bee hive.

Another book I completed, with
a moth motif cut from the pages.
Each page is cut by hand.
Great therapy.

The cut out moths make an artwork in themselves.
The possibilities......!

A close up of the cut out.

A book I folded on the plane on the way home.
Shame I couldn't do some more cutting, but
scalpels are definitely off the carry-on list!

Mum's book, the theme was 'Circles',
hence her choice of motif.

Mum's other work, cute little birds!
Simple but very effective.

Going Bananas with Printing

Woo hoo!  Christmas holidays, time for some creative play in the studio.....

Today's fun has been printing with the trunk of a banana tree.

Floss (my ever reliable garden fairy) has given me a wonderful Christmas present in the form of a banana tree trunk, which I have sliced up.  I use the cross sections of the trunk to do hand printing using a roller and block printing ink.  It has the most wonderful pattern that gives me goose-bumps every time, a beautiful natural design.

I'm going to create a solar etchng plate from one of the prints, so that I can reproduce the print multiple times for book covers and other goodies that I create. 

The slices of banana trunk

 

My roller and black Block Printing ink

One of the beautiful prints, its
like the inside of a shell

A close up of the banana trunk cross section,
fleshy and fibrous - no wonder it makes
great paper and material for baskets!

Creative Experiences in Japan

This week I've just returned from my 5th trip to Japan.  My partner Craig and I share a passion for all things Japanese, though after 2 weeks in a concrete jungle I'm very grateful for my beautiful house and garden!

This time we spent most of our holiday in Kyoto.  We first visited Kyoto for a couple of days back on our first trip in 2001.  This time I wanted to fully explore Kyoto's reputation as the creative centre of Japan.

I wasn't disappointed.  Prior to the trip, I had organised several guides to act as interpreters to help us to connect with the Japanese culture and arts.

With the assistance of  our guide Takano-san, we participated in a number of art 'experiences' - paper lantern making, woodblock printing, shibori dyeing and basket making. 

Mitsuhara took us to a popular temple area with beautiful autumn leaves. 

Chizuko took us through the Nishiki markets and gave us a cooking lesson in her apartment.

Such personal 'hands-on' experiences with English-speaking guides enriched our holiday, although we still had plenty of time to indulge in our favourite activites in Japan - hot onsens, eating Japanese food, and filling my suitcase (and Craig's) with washi paper!

Autumn Leaf reflections

Fallen autumn leaves carpet the temple gardens

Saiundo Fujimoto's shop caters for traditional
Japanese brush painting

Basket making with Takano-san (our guide), and
Oike-san

The finshed basket made from bamboo
 

Shibori dyeing - the director of the Shibori museum
likes to personally help you reveal your dyed scarf!

Paper Lantern making

Finished lanterns at the Akari Design Workshop

Trying traditional woodblock printing
with artist Ichimura - awesome!

Ichimura is printing labels for sushi products.
Amazing that its done by hand, several blocks & colours
rather than printed by machine.

Getting refreshments at a vending machine
during one of our cycling adventures around Kyoto

Not too sure about these sandwiches - strawberry and banana!

My new favourite store - Bumpodo Art Supplies in Tokyo

Woodblock carving tools, only part of the range available

Etching Inks, Bumpodo's own brand.  Great value and
quality.  I bought some of these last year in Osaka and
am very happy with them, so I stocked up this time,
20% off as well!

2nd hand bookstore. 
I bought some vintage books with
beautiful papers and text.