my creative space

Was in the ceramic studio again today (I'm having soooooo much fun with all this clay!)a group shot (see post below for more individual pots!)

The actual space itself; full of ceramic underglazes, paintbrushes, clay tools (mainly the oh-so-useful needle), and my wallet to pay the coffee lady!

Find more creative folk here.

more paint, please!

And we continued painting for most of today (yay!)

This is my new favourite technique - relief work.

That base colour is actually purple, it looks very blue in this photo.

More relief work.


This is an old design of mine that I rekindled...looks kinda cute I reckon.

coloured pots

Yesterday, after turning them to neaten them up we started PAINTING! My all-time favourite!

A spot of banding.

And some scaffito.

pots, glorious pots!

we had our very first go on the potter's wheel last week, and with a lot of mess and even more help, I mananged to make these little dishes! Sadly some of them got a tad smushed in our effort to prevent them drying out too quickly.But I did get a few good ones (or maybe they're the ones the teacher did...hmm)This one's my favourite. It accidentily almost became a cup instead of a bowl....

a late edition

I just watched this mind blowing video of Kat Macleod working like lightning (yeah I know its speeded up...) over at Hello Sandwich, who's blog I found via Pip of Meet Me At Mikes!

my creative space

is the pottery studio at college today! I started the pottery unit just yesterday and oh my goodness I LOVE it! Can't wait to fire and paint these lovelies...

Thanks to Kirsty for hosting!

my creative space

this week my creative space is my camera - I'm in melbourne admiring the street art :)

union lane, cbd

union lane, cbd

brunswick st, fitzroy

more interesting folk over at Kootoyoo

my creative space

thought it was about time I joined in on Kootoyoo's weekly peek into our creative spaces :)

playing around with watercolours in my concepts unit

marvy colour chart tutorials on www.watercolorpainting.com

the (small) big one

final piece, watercolour paint on watercolour paper, with metallic acrylic details
detail of sky background

watery experiments

Del Kathryn Barton-inspired eyes
a nice watery blue background swish

first sketch of the prince

watercolour paint glaze chart - that phthalo blue is pesky!

inspiration: the door in the air

"...his face was dappled with silver stars, and it seemed that the stars were held together by a web of golden threads."

"...her head was full of pictures of the kingdom of the air, held by a net of gold, while the stars sang to one another in golden voices. She thought she saw suns touching fingers of light, and comets passing like rare visitors, their hair blowing out behind them by the power of sunlight behind it. Some stars clustered like swarming bees, and when the suns eclipsed, huge shadows rushed past."

Sources of Artists' Inspiration

Inspiration refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in an artistic, musical, or other intellectual endeavour. Literally, the word means “breathed upon” and has its origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism. In many religions, inspiration is believed to be a gift from the gods. Sigmund Freud and other later psychologists located inspiration in the inner psyche of the artist. The artist’s inspiration came out of the unresolved psychological conflict or childhood trauma. Further, inspiration could come directly from the subconscious. As Freud situated inspiration in the subconscious mind, Surrealist artists sought out this form of inspiration by turning to dream diaries and automatic writing, the use of Ouija boards and found poetry to try to tap into what they saw as the true source of art. In this research assignment, I will examine 2 artists’ work and how they find/found their inspiration; Del Kathryn Barton and Gustav Klimt.

Sydney artist Del Kathryn Barton creates obsessively detailed drawings of young women. Adorned and embellished with flourishes, tiny dots and patterns, these images display a compulsive beauty in their infinite detail. With technical dexterity, Barton’s labour of markings in pencil, acrylic, watercolour and gouache derive from a foundation in drawing.

The most striking feature of her characters must be their eyes; puddle-sized, liquid, shiny, deer-like eyes that are dizzying and saddened, swimming amongst the wash of watercolour cheeks. When asked about this aspect of her work, Barton says it was all to do with the birth of her first child and her obsession with her new born son’s eyes.
Sexuality also enters upon her work frequently. Her intention is not to shock, as these sexual images are not always the most startling part of her paintings and are often painted in such a delicate, beautiful way, it can take a few minutes of study to actually see them. Barton uses the sexual content as a means to push her personal comfort levels.

Gustav Klimt was an Austrian painter, who was one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Art Nouveau movement. His major works include paintings, murals and sketches. His primary materials would have been canvas, charcoal and oil paint. Many of Klimt’s paintings feature gold leaf, the most prominent of which are ‘The Kiss’ and ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’.Although Klimt did little travel in his lifetime, he did visit Venice and Ravenna, both famous for their beautiful mosaics which most likely inspired his gold technique and his Byzantine imagery, as well as his meticulous designs.
Klimt’s primary subject was the female body – more specifically the femme fatale - and his works are marked by a frank eroticism which is most apparent in his numerous drawings in pencil. He used mythology to thinly disguise his highly erotic nature, however, his drawings and sketches however display an explicit desire for the opposite sex and often reveal a purely sexual interest in women as objects.

Inspiration is an elusive thing. I know this is true for me, and I am sure for other artists too. Although there are many stimuli available in the world for artists; books, dreams, personal interests, television, people, films, magazines, nature, relationships, other artists, having that “light bulb” moment is so very rare. After investigating the artists Del Kathryn Barton and Gustav Klimt, I feel the best way to overcome an artistic block is to examine those things in life which are closest to you, and express that in your work.

(from my research assignment)

(images via http://www.kwgallery.com/downloads/essays/EssayBartonKing2005.pdf, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt, and · http://www.globalgallery.com/artist.bio.php?nm=gustav+klimt)

concept unit: sculpture

"Originate concept for own work and conduct a critical discourse"

(don't laugh, I had to do it!)

squares of fabric twisted and bound with string, and plaited with natural rope.

stitchy stitch

Hand stitched design on cotton...many many many hours of work!