Burnt Offerings Exhibition by Catherine Money

Yesterday I travelled up to the Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens to view my friend Catherine Money's solo exhibition 'Burnt Offerings'.

Her exhibition presents a fabulous array of printmaking, drawing, stitching, pyrography, metalwork and embossing, all linked by her theme of the disappearing wallum.

In her words "In 2013 a 'love lock' on the Pont des Arts in Paris became the inspiration for a new series of works exploring her love of the coastal heathlands and their need for protection.  Burnt Offerings celebrates the importance of fire in the wallum environment  for its regeneration.  The beauty of the native banksia and hakea are interpreted through a variety of print techniques..."

Many of her artworks are formed around the shape of a lock, with imagery of banksia and other heathland vegetation, overlaid with her recurring motifs of patchwork houses and hands.

I found that the variety of techniques and mediums gave me a 360degree viewpoint of her inspiration and helped me to connect to her passion for the wallum environment.

Her exhibition is on until Sunday 13 July, open Tuesday to Sunday 10-2.  Arts and Ecology Centre, Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens, Palm Creek Road, Tanawha. You can contact Catherine on 0402 117 074 if you have any queries regarding the exhibition.

Congratulations, Cathy.  Your hardwork and talent is inspirational, and your beautiful imagery allows the viewer to escape into another world.  

Highly recommended!



Catherine Money, 'Burnt Offerings' exhibition

a view of some of the works on paper,
 beautifully and simply hung

'Protect' - drypoint print, chine cole, gouache



'Protect' - 2 colour lino print

Old locks and keys, etched with imagery

'Forever' - pyrography, gouache, aluminium on wood

Nothing is ever wasted

Being a prolific monoprinter, I create lots of prints many of which don't quite 'hit the mark'.  And being a frugal artist, I never throw anything away.

The best monoprints get framed.  The not-so-best prints are trimmed for cards, bookmarks and book covers.  Those that I consider 'good backgrounds' get layered with other prints, such as my handmade stamps or etchings.  And the rest of the pile become pages in books to add a bit of colour and interest rather than just plain paper.

This afternoon, I sorted through my pile and found a few nice backgrounds created with my gelli plate. I printed over these using my handmade stamps.   These prints will become book covers, though some of them didn't quite work due to the stamp image not being strong enough on a busy background.  These less successful prints will become book pages or cards.

My mantra is "Don't throw it, stow it".   Of course, then you just need the space to store it, then some kind of system of organisation to find it again when you want it...... sigh...one day I'll perfect that.....

Inking up my dragonfly stamp

I use block ink and a rubber roller to print my stamps.
It has a good consistency for rolling evenly.

My favourite bee stamp makes quite an impression.

One of my new stamps, a honeyeater on banksia.
Stamp on the left, print on the right.
The background is a gelli plate print.

Another of my new stamps, a Scarlet Robin in flight.
I repeated the stamp to emphasise the action of flight.
The print on the right is of grass on a gelli plate.

Gelatine Monoprinting in Murrurundi

Last weekend I travelled down to Murrurundi in regional NSW to run a weekend workshop in Gelatine Monoprinting.

I experienced some wonderful country hospitality and friendship, with 7 willing participants joining me in some creative play with monoprinting on gelatine and gelli-arts plates.

The workshop was held in the railway station, a beautiful old building, though impossible to talk when the coal trains went by!

I was so busy with the workshop I forgot to take photos of it in progress, but have taken some photos of my demonstration prints instead.

The Railway building in which the workshop was run

 

An amusing entrance to Murrurundi,
though I saw more horses than sheep there!

Runnymeade Studio BnB where I stayed,
a quiet retreat

The view from my accomodation

Paula (one of the participants) has used some of her
prints to decorate her front door - its
just gorgeous!

Some of my demonstration prints (4 photos)

Eucalyptus Heaven

Last week I was in Canberra for a Ruth Hadlow workshop at the Strathnairn Arts Centre, 30 minutes from central Canberra, amongst rolling hills and gum trees.

The setting was beautiful, the majestic grey leaved gums hosting a variety of birdlife including many types of parrots, with kangaroos feeding on the meadow-like grasses.  Recent rain gave the feeling of lushness and growth, even though the autumn air was cool.

I love the landscape around Canberra, particularly the grey eucalypts.  So I made sure I stopped by the Australian National Botanic Gardens to see their collection of native plants.  My search revealed many different variety of grey gums, but I was most excited to find my first cinerea tree.  I've used a lot of Eucalyptus Cinerea in my eco-dyeing explorations, however I haven't found it growing near Brisbane so I always have to buy it from a florist.  It was lovely to finally see it in the landscape.

Now that I've seen lots of grey gums and cinerea, I feel like its time to do some more eco-dyeing.... the only problem is I'll have to give up one of the ten other things I'm working on at the moment!  SIGH



The Woolshed at Strathnairn where the workshop was held.
It had an old wood stove,
next to which was my favourite place to sit!
(yes I'm a Queenslander who feels the cold)

Strathnairn has lots of artists studios on site.
I loved this sign outside of Studio 2.

A dunny with a view.....

 

At the Botanic Gardens....
if only I could sneak a few branches
 into my suitcase....

It has such a beautiful structure and colour,
contrasts against the reddish trunk of the tree.

Eucalyptus cinerea -
I'm soooooo inspired to do some more eco-dyeing!

Margaret Olley Art Centre

On the weekend we made a quick trip down to the Tweed Regional Gallery at Murwillumbah, Northern NSW, to see the new Margaret Olley Art Centre.

This is a recreation of Margaret Olley's studio and some elements of her home.  Its a great experience, even if you're not a big fan of her work.

After Margaret Olley's passing in July 2011, an estimated 6,000-10,000 items were recorded, documented and removed from her house in Duxford Street in Sydney, and then installed into the Tweed Regional Gallery as a vision of how Margaret's house and studio looked.  But its not just how it looks, it also has a smell, a feeling, a light that makes you sense Margaret's presence.

Its a fascinating look into her world of art and collecting, how 'stuff' and belongings accumulated over a lifetime say something about a person.  A reflection on self. 

I just wish my 'stuff' in my studio would one day be appreciated like Margaret's is!

www.artgallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au

Margaret's Kitchen.  I loved how her art materials
spread into her kitchen, mingling with the spices
and oil bottles. 

Looking into her lounge, across her dining area, and
her painting chair. 
No purpose-built studio, her house was the studio.

My Craig looking through one of the 'windows'

They have doorways you can look through into her 'house',
so you feel like you are really in the space not an art gallery.

Where the gallery meets Margaret's house...

One of Margaret's painting palettes.  Oil paint in sculptural lumps,
one wonders how she painted so well!

Art retreat at Woodgate

This week I'm on an art retreat with 6 other ladies at Woodgate, on the coast near Childers, Queensland.

We've rented a large holiday house on the beach and are enjoying a week of working on our own projects as well as enjoying sharing our favourite books and ideas.

Of course, I've set up my temporary printmaking studio with Thumper (my etching press) and have been busy working on a few projects.  Photos below.

Its great to get away from the day-to-day and immerse myself in creativity, its a shame its so hard to do at home with the usual daily demands limiting my time.  A problem we all have!

The house at Woodgate, we stayed here in 2012

The girls working hard in the 'studio' in the garage,
with water views!

Monoprints on dressmakers paper patterns,
to be collaged into a book

Here I am working hard in the downstairs kitchen (my studio).
Yes the house is SO big it has 2 kitchens!

The view from my press, you can see the beach across the road

One of the turkey monoprints I've completed

My turkey plate with stencils, printing in progress

Pinterest - a really cool way to build inspiration

I've just discovered Pinterest.  I've known about it for a long time but tried to avoid it, as I felt it would just a another internet time-waster.

But after taking a second look, I've discovered the value of using Pinterest as an online visual diary.  I've always kept photos of things I like, other people's work, places I've been, arty-photos of plants etc. They are spread around my laptop in numerous folders.  But I have found I can store them on Pinterest, in the 'cloud', and I can access them anywhere in an orderly fashion.

I can store them into categories, known as 'pin boards'.  I can go to any website and directly pin photos to my boards.  I can upload photos from my computer too.

I can sort them into categories like technique, type, colour, shape, design, pattern etc.   I can share my boards or keep them private. I can copy anyone's pinned images to my pin boards, so other people's inspiration can be mine as well.

I'm heading off for a week's art retreat at Woodgate soon, so it will be ideal to use Pinterest to access my images for inspiration.

I've also added a PinIt button to my blog and website, so anyone can directly pin my photos to their own Pinterest boards.  

And because I never blog without some photos for you to look at, here's some of a recent book I made..... Enjoy!



Ginkgo Book - hard covers, sewing over ginkgo ribbon from Japan.
I love ginkgo leaves and fell in love instantly with the ribbon,
even though I didn't know what I wanted it for at the time.



Some of the pages.  Gelatin Plate Monoprints using 2 plants
and 2 colours.  Reptition and simple composition links the images.



I also used a plant from my garden as well as the ginkgo leaves.
Also I photocopied a drawing I made on top on some prints.
Added another dimension to the work, using repetition once again.

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.