Indigo Moon in nature....

It's been a chilly week down here.....it must be snowing somewhere close by!    I popped outside the other night to get some wood for the fire and noticed this beautiful indigo moon...what gorgeous deep black/blue sky colours and that softly, glowing moon. 

I love seeing the trees all naked,  seeing their intricate branch patterns.  The picture below is a view of the farm in winter,  through the crazy willow.

Meg is back from her trip to Greece (and feeling the cold back home after three months of warmth).  It is lovely to have her home and to be back in her studio with the other girls drawing/painting/chatting/sipping tea/eating lemonade scones.  I have missed those Friday mornings while Meg has been away.

Today we did some little pen drawings (15cm x 15cm) using pattern as our background.  This is my little work in progress.  I love drawing with pen and ink...very relaxing.  I really enjoy making all the little patterns and designs ....filling the page with dots and dashes. click for a closer look.

While I was in Thailand I bought this beautiful silk runner / wrap.  Click on the photo to see all of the beautiful kantha stitch and the lovely little fringe.  This piece is approximately 2m long x 75cm wide and double sided. Imagine all of that stitching!!!!   I am going to use this piece as a table runner for special occasions. 

This is the reverse of the cloth.... they use quite contrasting (and vibrant) colours on each piece.  I loved the beautiful muted colours on the front of the cloth...and I am getting used to the brighter turquoise/purple on the back.
I got this cloth out this week to inspire me as I have been thinking of stitching and fabric quite a lot as I am taking part in the Magic Diaries with Jude Hill.  I have been getting pieces of fabric together,  threads, fragments from older work.  I have been writing down, and drawing up,  lots of ideas.  I am enjoying the process.
This workshop takes place over the next six months.  I love the longer class format, the feeling that there is no rush,  just letting things happen as they will.

BE STILL

AND LET THE BEAUTY COME

-SARK-

Jacky xox

Winter wattle .......

It's one of my favourite times of year....the wattle is starting to bloom down here in Australia.....brightening up some dreary winter days.  Once the wattle begins to come out,  I know that the days are getting longer, the weather is beginning to become milder....spring is on it's way.



bunch of winter wattle to brighten the lounge room


Our exhibition has been and gone....such a wonderful time.  It was amazing to see you art hanging, to have such positive comments.  It was so lovely to be part of this exhibition with these four lovely (and talented) women.  L to R  Julia Dean, Patsy Worledge, Dot Christian, myself and Ro Bruhn.  The photo's below are thank you to Ro's lovely husband Steve who took photos for us all over the weekend.  I have borrowed these from Ro's blog....pop over to visit her and see more.



Julia, Patsy, Dot, me and Ro.



view of the room  with our art hanging.

Melbourne turned on a beautiful, clear winters weekend for us.  Below are some photos taken on our walk to and from the exhibition over the weekend.




Flinders Street Railway Station and one of Melbournes iconic trams.




Dot in Hosiers Lane.  We loved to walk through the lane on the way to St. Michaels and take in the street art.




Part of the "Forum" building.  What gorgeous architecture!




Melbourne in Winter.

And what have I been up to since the exhibition????  Art wise,  not much at all.  I seem to have needed a little break.  A bit of journalling,  but not much else.   I have had visitors though.  My MIL Norma came down for the opening of the exhibition and stayed for a while afterwards.  Today my some arrived home from the USA for a weeks holiday with us....love having my boys at home!

I am taking part in Jude Hills latest online workshop.... The Magic Diaries.....so there will be some fabric being stitched soon.  I am also going to do a bit more linocut printmaking.  I love that process and want to do more of it.
My friend Meg, whom I paint with most Fridays is still away on her holiday in Greece (3 months....lucky girl).  But,  she will be back soon and I will get back into my painting again.

OUR LIVES ARE FILLED WITH GORGEOUS MOMENTS
THE SMELL OF CLOTHES DRIED IN THE SUN
 IS ONE OF THOSE.RELAX, AND LET MOMENTS LIKE THESE SEEP INTO YOUR SOUL.


-SARK-

Have a wonderful week.

Jacky xox



Embroideries and Exhibitions......

Whilst away in Thailand I drew up some little images,  inspired by art and nature that we saw.  I had taken a little travel pack with odds and sods of fabric and threads.  These raggedy little pieces of fabric were small samples from a dyeing class I took last year...waste not want not....I knew they would come in handy one day and they were perfect for sketching up these little stitcheries.  I have been busy stitching them this week and I will put them into a cloth soon.

AND,  great excitment.  My art group are holding our first exhibition of our work in Melbourne later this month.  Of course....YOU'RE  ALL  INVITED!   It would be lovely to see you there...we girls always have such fun when we get together,  so come along and join us if you are in Melbourne that weekend.

I will leave you with the beautiful of photo of lotus flowers that I took in Jim Thomspons  garden in Bangkok.  The home and gardens of Jim Thompson are sooooo beautiful,  make sure if you are ever in Bangkok you take a visit...some quiet time to feed your creative soul.  Lee and I were there for hours.

I hope these photos have worked OK this time.  This is the second time I have uploaded.....last time part of each photo was missing....fingers and toes crossed.

LEAPS  OF  FAITH

PUT  US IN

ASTOUNDING

NEW  PLACES

-SARK-

Have a happy week.

Jacky xox

Beautiful Thailand.....

You might have noticed....I've been away from my blog for a while....I meant to find time before I left on my holiday to Thailand to do a quick post.  But, time just flew before my holiday.  Extra work to do at home,  painting and stitching to do in readiness for my art groups upcoming exhibition...I just ran out of time.

My lovely sister Lee took me to Thailand for a ten day holiday to celebrate our birthdays this year (our birthdays are only two days apart).  I had never really holidayed in Asian before, and I was in for a treat!

First we visited Bangkok for a few days.  We took in so much art, visited many markets and malls (will have to cover them in another post).  But, for me,  the best part was our week in Chiang Mai.  A beautiful city, still having very much a country feel compared with Bangkok ....and very friendly and beautiful people.

We stayed at the Chedi in Chiang Mai and I would recommend it to anyone.  Below is the first view I had of our hotel as we arrived in our taxi...hopefully you can click on the photo to enlarge.  Wonderful architecture and decor.  So many things I would have loved to pop in my suitcase and take home.

Entrance to Chedi Hotel

Each morning we wandered down to the restaurant to have a lazy breakfast down by the river.  Considering we were right in the midst of Chiang Mai,  it was so lovely and peaceful....and of course the food was yumbo.

Breakfast area under the tree by the river.

We found many nooks and crannies where we sat and sketched,  read our books,  just lazed around.  It felt good to slow down and relax...nothing like going away with your sister!

Me relaxing in one of the areas on the upper verandah of the old Govenors residence (restaurant at hotel)

This was another favourite spot to sit and sketch,  and we did have a few cocktails.  Lee told me that Gin and Tonic wards off Malaria...so of course we had to have one of those most days (purely medicinal).  Our favourite drinks though were the Virgin Mojita's....we refreshed ourselves with quite a few of those during our stay.

Yet another spot to sit and relax alongside the floating lotus pool.

Whilst we were away,  it was Mothers Day in Australia.  So we promised our families that we would have High Tea and the Govenors Residence....another yumbo experience.  The little chocolate pots were unbelievably good!!!

Chocolate pots served with our High Tea.

Quite a few afternoons were spent under the fans under the verandah partaking in tea or light refreshments.  We took along our sketch books and sat sometimes for hours just talking and sketching.  I just loved the green, green grass and the lovely black bark of the trees.

View from restaurant across to our room (behind the pots and big tree).

And this is my gorgeous sister Lee.  We were having an early dinner before we headed off to the night markets later (of course had to buy goodies for our family and friends at home).

Lee under verandah.

We were blessed with beautiful weather.  Lee and I visited many galleries,  saw some wonderful art (I cant tell you how many cards  I bought so I would remember the artists and galleries!!!!).  I have tried to upload some photos into a mosaic to share with you,  but not able to do that yet,  but thought you might like a glimpse of what I've been up to since my last post.  I will try and upload some photos of the art and architecture soon.

No art to show this post,  but I have been busy since I arrived home.  Will take a few photos soon.  Lovely to be back and I will be catching up on blogs soon.

TREASURE  TIME  BY  MUGS  OF  TEA

-SARK-

Sending much love....

Jacky xox

Sunny weekend.....

It was a bright and sunny autumn weekend in Melbourne.....after the rain of recent weeks,  the sunshine was glorious.  We all wanted to get out and about in it!
Below is another version of the sunshine owl lino cut I have been working on.   A few additional handcarved stamps placed after masking and printing and a touch of colour applied to the tree and sun before printing.  It's fun playing around with this owl.

Sunshine owl

 On Sunday I met up with Dot, Patsy, Ro and Julia.  Our outing into the city was to check out the venue where we are having our art group exhibition.  We always love a chance to get together and this weekend was very special as we celebrated Ro's birthday...see her goody bag and flowers.

 After visiting then venue and making plans we wandered around the streets of inner Melbourne, deciding where to eat.  In the end we went into Chinatown......very BUSY little street, lots of wonderful eateries and shops.  Lovely place to visit and eat on a sunny Sunday.

 We all just loved the window adornment in the little eatery where we lunched.  The food was absolutely YUMBO,  lovely and spicy.  After our lunch we strolled around Chinatown and of course found a little shop with some Japanese art goodies......we were very happy.

 I have been stitching a little boro cloth.  Wonky bits of fabrics scraps stitched together in the Japanese way.

Japan has been on all of our minds lately and we have all wanted to help.  I found this lovely blog where Maki has been making and selling these beautiful little birds to help her family and friends in Japan....what a lovely way to donate and support an artist.  I bought six little fellows to share with my art friends.

 

 

 

Busy, busy, busy.....

I've been busy lately....lots of things on the go!
Last weekend I had my get together with Nat to do some of our shibori class homework.  We are both doing the workshop with the lovely Glennis Dolce and loving the results of our samples.  Great online class.  These are some of the samples I made with Nat last weekend.  This time I have used the indigo dye rather than a few colours like my last effort.  I would like to include these pieces in a boro cloth I plan to start later this year.

 I have also been painting....my art group are putting on a little exhibition at the end of June,  so I need to get into some painting and get things happening.  The work below is using artists gouache....still a WIP,  needs some finer detailing,  but close to being finished.  As you may be able to tell,  I love still life and a quite naive style.

Lillies and chinese ginger jar

I've also been doing some linocut......Below is a piece called 'Sunshine Owl' (of course I had to do an owl, my favourite).    Sunshine Owl is approx. 12" x 13".  I have plans for this owl.... I will add more detail to the background maybe....and later .........more plans for him.  You never know where he'll end up.

"Sunshine Owl"

 I want to hand colour my final prints so I have played around with different colours and colour variations on the sample below,  just to get an idea of what will or wont work together....lots of fun!

I've also had fabric out,  playing around with different options.  Will play around a bit more and maybe have something to show you next week.

Meanwhile I hope you are all busy creating.

LET MIRACLES FIND YOU

- SARK-

Jacky xox

Shibori moments ......

As I said last week,  I am participating in a shibori workshop with the lovely Glennis Dolce....it is such FUN!
Last Sunday I met up with my fellow classmate Nat to do a few class projects.  I know I'm starting from the wrong end...but couldnt resist showing you my shibori pieces drying on the line.  They look like prayer flags I thought,  so I've decided I will use a few of my class samples to make myself a set of shibori prayer flags to remember this workshop.

Shibori samples drying on the clothes line.

Getting organised.....we made up our dye bottles,  had our instructions/recipes at the ready and collected a myriad of shapes to use for our shibori dyeing.  Then the fun began.

Here we have our little dye baths with our fabrics all folded, clamped and soaking.  It's so exciting...you just dont know what to expect.

And these are some of the results...very colourful and I was very happy with some of the designs we achieved using mosaic tile,  cut up CD's etc. (some may need a little overydying next time the dyes are out,  I'm not sure if I can work with the turquoise....but you never know!). 

The top piece is one that Nat had eco dyed (using either gum leaves or bark...sorry cant exactly remember which),  but they had not coloured very well.  Thus we thought we'd do a bit of over dying and see what happened.  This was the result of being dyed in a leaf green dye bath...very happy with the results and the different colour.

 

Nat and I plan to get together again in a couple of weeks and do more dyeing,  its so much fun doing the class with a friend....nutting through things together,  sharing ideas and bit and pieces of fabric etc.

EACH DAY IS A SUCCULENT NEW BEGINNING

BE STILL AND LET THE BEAUTY COME.

- SARK - 

Not long now until the weekend.....

Jacky xox