Shades of Brown

Mclaren's falls. The islands are a haven for all sorts of ducks, especially paradise ducks and a family of black swans.

It's the time of year for all of us in the Southern Hemisphere when things are turning various shades of brown. The grass on my lawn is most definately brown and only the strongest pieces of green remain.It's a pitiful sight and the hills and fields around as are all various shades of brown too. Quite a difference from the many of you who are seeing most things in various shades of white! Tomorrow is the official start of a fire ban in our area, the land is just to dry and with no decent rain forecast it looks as if it will be that way for a while! Lucky for me, I like brown!

Drying thistles. I thought of Debi in Texas when I took these shots!

Grass seeds of some sort and Dock (the red plant bucking the brown trend.) Dock is poisionus but pretty. I contemplated cooking some up to make dye but decided that I probably shouldn't play with the poisionus ones! The spiders don't seem to mind though.

 Just for the record, these photos arn't the hardy bits of green from my lawn!

I think this plant is commonly known as biddy-bids. The little seed heads attach themselves to anything that brushes them, making them unpopular with most people and that probably contributes to their weed status. All of the plants I photographed are weeds, no surprises there!

Last but not least, here are the initial results of the nature experiements I've been doing.

Left to Right: Nest paper #1 which had nesty bits sprinkled into the pulp

Nest paper #2 had the nesty bits mixed into the pulp(by putting it through the blender)

Handmade paper dyed with onion skin dye and a very strong tea brew.

Top Right to Bottom Right corner:

Onion dye on watercolour card, Nest dye on w/c card and a wash made from dried Autumn leaves on w/c card. The colour change is very subtle with the last two!

Fabric dyed with coffee, tea (middle sample) and onion skins.

As you can see I've been having a play around and I have learnt quite a lot in the process. I hope to be doing something useful with my new found knowledge soon!

ICE # 8 Expired

International Collage ExchangeCollage #8

Title: Expired

Chain Reaction Series.

Found library issue slip, recycled flour bag (paper) recycled vintage bridge scoring sheet, coffee dyed serviette, photo copied book image, thread.

Number 8 in my series is titled 'Expired' due to the finch pictured and not due to the library slip. The bird was found in a book of extinct species, the book was around 100 pages long and featured many species on one page. Beautiful illustrations but sad facts- and it's not complete list of extinct species! For me each animal shown is a representation of bad decision making, the direct result of a chain reaction set in place by some one or something other than themselves. There are ineviatble costs involved in they way humans  of today live and for some creatures the price is high.Too high.   When will enough be enough?

This is most likely the last collage I will complete this year. I am quite pleased to be at number 8 out of 13 collages and I'm grateful the extended time frame is allowing be to produce much more thought out collages and the time to stitch them! It was a bit dificult at first getting back into the swing of things with paper but it was enjoyable once I finally got going! Fabric is a lot more forgiving! Atleast if you put a stitch in the wrong place with fabric you can take it out and start again. Paper leaves a tell-tale hole mark and there's no going back! That aside there's not to much of a difference and I look forward to combining fabric and paper into the same collage! Maybe number 9?

I hope you are all well and enjoying the festive season!

Pulp Redux Update

As you most likely know I have had the good fortune of recieving Lisa Jurist's FABULOUS altered book in the mail. Every time I see her book I can't believe this is her first AB! She's transfered her amazing fabric collage/sewing/wire work skills to the pages of this old photo album with such ease I am totally blown away! If you havn't already seen Lisa's work on her blog please drop by and take a look. I've been busy playing around with ideas for her book, the theme is' Root's -beneath the layers' and Lisa particularly likes using things that used to be other things. The cuckoo clock pieces that she has salvaged for the cover are a good example of that. This is recycling with style!

Here's what I have done so far...

This is the first part of my spread. It's unfinshed at the moment as the 'bodice' style lacing I had in mind for the front looked terrible when I did it so I need to rethink. Maybe I just need to change the thread I was using? I am not sure yet. This is a first for me, making a complete spread almost entirely in fabric. It's all hand sewn and I hope you are able to enlarge it to get a good look at it! The fabric is all scrap from the 2nd hand shop (someone's curtain off-cut) and the round discs are actually from roofing nails. I found them on the ground at the hospital (they're renovating) complete with the right coloured paint remains in places. What a find! The 'page' has thick cardboard inserted between the fabric layers.

Inside the page above I have started on one of my other ideas. I was inspired by this fantastic artwork to create a spread that allowed for lots of other things to be 'found' by the person enjoying the book.  The folded fabric piece opens up to reveal the piece shown below. This fabric was dyed with a strong brew of tea and is slightly more copper toned than the background fabric which was dyed with coffee. The circular embellishment was from a dolie I took apart and dyed with tea also. (There's a white one of the first page which you may have spotted.) The white fabric is where the other pieces will be attached too as soon as I know what they are!

Inside the little folded fabric book. Incase you missed the origins of the bird fabric you can see it here. I  I have to say I am pretty pleased with the way it came out! There's a close up of this page below so you don't have to try and do yoga to see it proparly :)

Detail of the back of the folded fabric book. It won't open this way in the book as it is stitched down into it's folded position so I thought I had better photograph it before it was stitched!  Below is the promised close up of the bird and nest printed fabric.

 Debrina has also been busy with the book she recieved so please drop by her blog to see what another 'reduxer' has been up too.

Hope your all well and happy and enjoying the start of the festive season!

ICE 2010 #5 and Art Exchange Piece

ICE 2010 # 05

Series: Chain Reaction

Title: Co-dependant

In this collage I've explored the chain of dependancy that we have on the animals and plant life we co-exist with. I've chosen the stitched feathers to represent not just birds but the cycle of regeneration. Birds not only spread seeds directly but play a role in pollination and pest control. I am in total admiration of birds! The numbers represent both the gradual demise of many species of animals and the gradual destruction of land. It also symbolises time, that clock is ticking and if were not responsible with our resources I believe we will eventually find our planet as that X.  The brownish paper has a list of animal origin foods such as butter, milk, eggs and meat.

Every thing we do on has a effect on another part of the chain and we have the power to make decisions that will make the chain reaction a positive one.

              

                  Stitched feathers using second hand shop thread, recycled paper from school multiplication graphs, lead rubbings , handmade paper scrap.             

This is my artwork for the Art exchange which I have sent on it's way to Jill Zaheer. I called it "Weathered" and it's a nest lino print and a srap weave sewn onto coffee dyed watercolour card. It measures approx 8.5" x 6.5". I am quite pleased with the way this turned out although a little upset I didn't notice the slight fold on the nest! when I photographed it! It's not like that normally so try to picture it without it:)

If you'd like to play in the exchange I am still looking for 4 more people to sign up (so to speak!) It's an easy swap, make one piece of art and recieve many more back! Leave me a comment if you'd like to play!

ICE 2010 #4 On loan

International Collage Exchange 2010
Series: Chain Reaction
Title: On loan

Teasel lino cut on coffee dyed paper,teasel ofcut on painted paper, hand made paper, library issue pocket, paper clips, thread, brads.

'On loan' reflects my belief that this earth is not ours. We are a part of this earth and it is part of us, we do not own it, it is simply ours to enjoy while we are here. In keeping with my chain reaction theme I am making reference to the fact that what we do here set's in place a chain reaction that alters the environment that we leave for future generations.
I have enjoyed making this, I was challenging myself to create something that was different yet not to different from what I usually do. For now what I am doing is really working for me but I don't want to get to comfortable in it! Sometimes when I try to make a change from what I normally do I don't end up liking what I have done, it dosn't reflect me and I find it uncomfortable. Not so this time, I think there is enough of my regular elements and colours for me to still feel like this is...me and that is a good feeling!

A new lino cut nest.

I've been having fun with a new print! I cut it and did these first prints today to test it out. I like this print a lot more than the first nest print I did (which I still like...just not as much as this one!) I was trying to achieve finer lines and that weaved look because I don't like the 'colour book' look that some lino cuts have. This one does look at home here in my VD! If it looks a little familiar it's because I used my photo of a nest (that's been copied a lot of times for collages) as the base to draw from.

The yellow is paper is painted paper with indian ink wash, the brown splattered paper is patterned by string soak in coffee then left to dry on the paper. I enjoy these patterned papers more so than the straight black on white ones...however I think this b&w ones will look great photo-copied onto tracing paper. So many opportunities to explore!

I tried to make the most of the lines and ridges that appear in the background of a lino print. This is the first time I have really considered them while cutting the background away from the nest, I think the resulting cut is a little mini work of art in itself!

Today is my graduation day from my art course...I have officially finished 4 years of study and am now at a new point in my life. I will have my diploma soon and now I need to work out what to do with it! I have ideas of course but I must say I feel a bit like a little bird about to fly from the nest for the first time! It's a big wide world out there and this next journey is about finding my place in it and realising some of the dreams and aspirations that I have been holding onto for a while. Watch this space:)

My first hand bound book!

Front and back covers of my book. I plan on using this as a visual diary. I taught myself from tutorials on You Tube. You've gotta love You Tube!
I did 6 signatures, 4 A4 pages folded in half so that's 48 pages A2 in size. I was originally planning 4 signatures but as I discovered book making is addictive!

The back spine, a wee bit quirky because I ended up improvising but that's ok!

At the risk of sounding incredibly vain...I have to say I am feeling very pleased with myself today! Isn't it great when you create something that you even manage to 'wow' yourself with? lol. Ok, so I do sound a little vain now. Serioulsy though, I am incredibly chuffed at the way this book turned out. It has it's little quirks of course but for a first attempt I am, as I mentioned, feeling pretty good.

The painting below became the cover for my book. It was done on paper around the start of 2008. It's painted with acrylic, indian ink and coffee. The assignment I was doing at the time was about life drawing and the environment. You had to combine the two so that the person became part of the environment...so really what you are looking at is a nude on the beach!

Collage for Art Auction.

Title: Noble. 1 of 1 created specifically for the art auction.

I've made this for an art auction to raise funds to support scholarships for school leavers from low income families who wish to continue their education after leaving school. I was approached by an organiser who had seen my collages for the International Collage Exchange and liked them enough to ask if I would be willing to donate a piece. So here it is! I chose the title 'Noble' because I liked the meaning and it's appropriateness for the auctions cause. Other artists donating work include the likes of Dale Copeland so it's nice to know 'Noble' will be in very good company!

My usual collection of papers! Handmade, hand-painted, ink leaf prints, coffee dyed paper, nest photo, op-shop thread, dictionary definition, magazine scrap and the last piece of ledger paper from Debrina! I love the thread especially the piece that has come a bit loose and the fibres have twisted. I actually thought I would use my new print but hello! There's that nest again!

I love the loose layered look. I've dabbed the backs with glue in places to help secure it and allow me to use minimal stitching. It's not entirely decorative. The first 3 layers are mainly held together with the stitching. I hope the people bidding at the art auction love it just as much!

My daughters op date is nearly here again so I hope to spend some more time immersed in papery treasures before we leave for the hospital. I may even take a stash with me:)

Dropping by some blogs today so I will *see* you all soon!