Saturday, August 29, 2009

Stitching and Painting ....

A couple of photos of what I've been working on lately.... Always a bit of stitching and lately some painting with gouache. Three pieces on the go. I intend to finish one of my paintings this week...Yayyyy I am having a week off work just to stay home and play (and of course I must do a bit of housework!!!!) I finished this Klimt doll and sent her off last week to a friend overseas. She's a little bit taller than my previous Klimt Dolls and I have squared off her bottom in an effort to make her more free standing...she still needs to "lean" against something though...perhaps it was all the champagne cocktails???
This funky little owl is scooting across to the USA in a package for a lovely lady.


Arent these paints yummy colours and I just love the names...Antique Seedling, Antique Jasper Green, Antique Green Oxide. I needed more green for my latest painting...these should do nicely. Mmmmm... I will show some painting soon. Lots of sketching, but nothing finished or worth photographing yet.


It was a miserable day last Friday. Dreadful winds, torrential rain and hail and it was bitterly cold. As I came up our driveway the weather had begun to clear and there was a beautiful rainbow which ended (or appeared to end) in our paddock....it was wonderful and light. I took this photo which really doesnt do the rainbow justice, but it made my day so I thought I would share it with you.
I hope you are all enjoying a lovely weekend with family and friends .....
Jacky xox



Monday, August 17, 2009

I Love this time of year...

This is one of my most favourite times of the year. The wattle is blooming..... We moved to Tonimbuk 21 years ago...July. The thing I remember the most was that all the roads were flanked in a gorgeous yellow. The wattle was in bloom. July/August of each year the wattle appears and reminds me of when we first moved to the farm. It also heralds the beginning of spring and longer, warmer days. I am still having lots of trouble uploading photos to blogger... sooooo frustrating, and the time it takes to upload is rather off putting (thus my posts have not been as frequent as I would like and not many photos). Hopefully I will get it sorted soon.

As you know, I recently did a workshop with Helen Timbury on Linocutting and printmaking. What a FUN workshop. Although I wasnt too pleased with my efforts for the day, Helen was a fabulour teacher and we all came home with a set of prints. I know that my next prints will be better with the knowledge that I learnt. Especially with colour.

Sketch for linocut and actual print from class.
I chose a William Morris design to *play* with in the class. I was quite happy with the sketch, but not having done Reduction Printing before I wasnt happy with colour placement (we didnt get a choice of colours...red, yellow and black it was for all of us). I am looking forward to playing with this technique more. Great for mixed medial art!


My fabric book has returned.
My wonderful fabric book has returned from its trip to the UK. Mmmmm..... the girls, Dot, Sesga and Linda have made some beautiful pages for my book as you can see below. Lots of fun...We made our own covers and also a page for the book itself. My theme was flowers and nature.


These are the pages the girls created for me. Starting from the left Dot has made one of her beautiful bird pages for me....lots of texture with gorgeous fabrics and laces and her trademark velvet ribbons.
The centre page was made by the lovely Sesga in Wales. As you know I love Klimt and Kaffe Fassett (the two go so well together). I love the Tree of Life (Klimt) that Sesga chose and the lovely selection of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.
The wonderful page on the right was by the talented Linda Vincent of the UK. A beautiful mermaid (whom I had admired recently on her blog) and the most beautiful embellishing. Tiny shells, sequins, stitching... lovely textural fabrics. A beautiful fabric book that I will treasure.

I have received some lovely gifts in the mail of late...but havent been able to upload any of the pics...thank you to my lovely friends who have sent them and hopefully when I sort out this blogger I can post some pictures easily.

Wishing you all much creativity!

Jacky xox

"The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts"

- Marcus Aurelius -