Graffiti pages...finally!

I am really pleased with the way this series turned out! It didn't quite go to plan, I missed a deadline for the first time ever and I only created 8 instead of the intended 11. Once the deadline had passed there didn't seem to be a lot of point in creating the projects required 11 but I really wanted to see the project through. I see this series as a bit of a turning point in my artistic journey and even though the series is complete the journey  isn't. It's exciting to have a new path to explore and I will be taking inspiration from these pages and the Rena disaster for my next ICE series.

There are a lot of photos to follow so I am going to do it in two parts.

Part 1

Page 1.

Personally, I'm not actually a huge fan of this page! It showed enough potential though for me to keep working on it and as you will see from the other photos posted they contain similar elements but the style is cleaner.

Page 2.

Jackpot!  Home-made walnut and eucyalyptus dyes, pencil, map pieces and stitching. I love the bigger blocks of paper and most of the pages that followed adopted that look.

Page 3

The first page with an anatomically incorrect heart-nest! (Linocut)

Page 4

Page 5

The stitched text piece is my favorite part on this page, along with the note paper my kids used and left laying about.

It took me so long to 'get around' to finishing the series. Emotionally and physically I was really zapped by the effect of my daughters surgery and my mojo left me. It wasn't really a time thing, I had plenty of time sitting around in the ward and it seems logical to take my supplies and to pass time that way. Unfortuantely my logic and my motivation wern't in tune with each other! When I decided to detox one of the first things I did was to sit down and stitch and it only took a short while to finish these.

School goes back tomorrow for us, I have 2 at home full time doing correspondence and I hope that this term I will do better at balancing school and art. I really struggle with it and even now as I type I am aware that I should be planning the first weeks work instead.

On that note...see you soon:)

Some pix, a box and a book!

Ponga Frond (NZ native tree fern)

Succulent.

The top two photos were taken in my garden. I love the ponga frond photo especially! We don't have a big section, one tree and only a few plant varieties. Yuccas, succulents, ferns, ponga and a few potted natives! It's surprising how much even a few plants can enhance the visual appeal of a house and make it feel more like a home. The photos were taken only a few days ago and already the ponga is a full fern. I've posted a black and white version on my Tumbler page if you would like to take a look. Seth Apter and Robyn Gordon also have Tumbler pages and you will find links to them on my page.

The collage box #1 has arrived and been posted on! The top pic is a photo of the stuff I took from the box. Unfortunately I don't have ready access to the photo I took of my contributions as it's on the old computer! I was able to take this one just before making the book below...

Collage book cover. Bingo card, ex libris scrap, fibre. My own circle/coffee paper was added to supplement my selection.

One of the books pages. I used a 'collage box paper' on every second page or used it as the actual page. The yellow mesh fabric was used to bind the two covers together.

I was last in line for box #1 and Lawendula has since received the box from me and she's done a fabulous post on her blog about it. Please check it out here to see how the journey went!

This will be my last post for a few days. We're off camping (not the real rugged variety...just the sleeping in a tent under trees variety!) in a few days and I can't wait! Fun with the kids, roasted marshmallows, nature art, board games, badminton, cricket, waterfalls and photography...wahoo!

McLaren's Falls. This is a photo I took when we camped there last year.  If you enjoyed my nature sculpture post (previous post) then please see this link to a fabulously inspiring Muse Me nature art event that I went too a few years ago at McLaren's falls. You won't be disappointed! Thank you to everyone who share their delight and memories triggered by my last post. I really appreciate it!

*See you soon*

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!

Labyrinth AB- Finished!

I'm all done! I've completed the last few things I wanted to do in my book and now it's in a box waiting to be posted later today (to Kim of Merlin's Musings in Australia.) It's quite exciting on one hand to look at this formerly unloved book and to see what it is now but on the other hand I feel a little sad to see it go! It's been a big part of my thinking time and art time lately! However, this books journey has only just begun and not only will 4 other fabulous books make there way into my home over the next 7 months or so I will also have the excitment of it coming home again! I am very sure it is in good hands!

Above: The sign in pages on the left were created using vintage photo album pages and the the collage I kept from the series shown last post. This pic helps to put the size of them into perspective and helps me to see how they tie in with the rest of my book, the colours etc are very me! The right hand side of the top photo shows a partially bound signtaure and my note to the other artists. The copper piece is actually a plant name tag on a wire 'stake' of sorts. I picked up a packet of 6  in the supermarket for only $3.00! I love finds like that!

Above:  My visual diary pages for this book. I've just realised that I have completely missed photographing one page...opps! I  like this page because it really shows the difference my h.a.t print makes to the final look.( The h.a.t print is almost a Ghost print but not quite! thanks Mick for the info!) The actual cut is quite plain and not all that clever, it's the transformation that it undergoes with the h.a.t proceess that makes all the difference. Most of the library issue cards have poetry in the background. The words of the one shown here are in a pic below which you can enlarge to read if you wish!

I was never quite happy with the blank area above the nest on this page but a few lines of simple writing took care of that! I'm happy now:)

The company was gathered, and Life the auctioneer, stands up before the bidders, his hammer lying near.

"Lot One" he cries 'I offer is Time that's passing on, an Time my friends remember, is going, going- gone!

Two bidders fight to buy it, but not with Gold Accurst, they offer all their effort, their hunger and their thirst.

One means to use it  nobly, the other for his boast. The hammer falls, he had it, who longed to get it most.

Click the photo if you want to read the rest of the poem, it's a a lovely poem I found in a child's encyclopedia and didn't want to cut up!

So that's it...I hope to put a slide show of my section together when I have a little more time (ironically) and ofcourse you can always see more of this book and the others on the Pulp Redux site. Check out our new banner too...created by the clever Alicia of Altered Bits!

Labyrinth Cover.

I am always hesitant to use the word "finished" because it almost challenges me to find something else to add or find something that could be improved. That said it takes a real tuning in with your artwork to know when it is actually finished! I think this cover is, although I will listen a little longer just incase!

The some-what wonky photography is due to the fact that I was trying to hold my big Nikkon with one hand and not take my eye off the hot wax at the same time!

Photo one shows the niche before wax

Photo two shows the just poured wax (which I did in 3 batches)

Photo three shows the circuit board set into the cooling wax

Photo four shows the' finished' cover.

I scored the little plate thing for free because no-one at the 2nd hand shop knew what it was! It's a labyrinth thinge-me-jig of course! I thought about several options for setting the circuit board into the niche for several days. Not sure what to use I thought about plaster of paris or silcone. In the end the remnants of our homemade candles (which are on there 3rd cycle of recycling now!) was chosen because I wanted something that would set quickly, firmly and not be too heavy at the end of it. Just before I poured it into the niche (and with just lunch paper protecting that woven page if it all went wrong!) I realised this was one of those situations that would either go really well, or really wrong! Thankfully the latter didn't happen. Wheeeew! The whole cover is constructed out of the original cover, foam board and various wet mediums to create the look I wanted. I am pretty pleased with the results! Speaking of results, if you havn't been to the Pulp Redx blog recently then your missing on some great covers! There's even been one person doing a little book burning...

Pulp Redux

I am so excited to be able to share this project with you all...Pulp Redux...is an Altered book, round robin collaboration between myself, Deb's of Debrina's diary, Andrea from The Artful Eye, Alicia from Altered Bits and Kim from Merlin's Musings. We are at the 'just begining stage' but I hope you will be able to come along for the journey via our new blog "Pulp Redux"

Redux means "Brought back; returned. Used postpositively" and it was Andrea who came up with the name. The best I could think of was "a rockin round robin" so it's a good thing Andrea was able to do better! lol

There's a sneaky peek of my book above. As yet there's only half a spread and no cover...but it's a start! My theme is Labyrinth....not David Bowie labyrinth but Labyrinth as in something that is 'intricate or tangled, windings, entangled.." sounds like fun to me (and just a little nest like....) Watch this space for more!

The Black and White Zine's online!

The wonderful Alicia from Altered Bits deserves a medal for putting together another wonderful Zine. You may remember the sneak peak of my entry that I posted about a month ago. The Black and White Zine is now on Yudu and on Alicia's blog. Please go and check out the zine and the art from artists who wer!e lucky enough to be able to take part. Alicia has done a great job

This is the front and back of my submission. Created using 2 old book signtatures as the base I am not quite sure if it is a pile or a collage! I went back to my original nest concept...of society being a nest, which you can read about in the zine if you wish!

Also online is the TLC Xpress Newsletter for which I have written an article about blogging...it's called To blog or Not to blog so please go and check it out here. My article also features the work of John Mora and Mick Mather....thanks to both of them for allowing me to borrow their images!

Found Treasure

In response to Seth's call for 'Buried Treasure" I have some "found treasure." I went to my oldest post to see where all this blogging business had begun for me and I found this post not to far from the start... ART is NOT for Respectable Woman... this was posted 2 years ago, back when I was just stepping out into the world of blogs and very new to my art journey. It was before I discovered NESTS and even before collage! Alas, it was only 2007 and even I am surprised at how much I have learnt and grown. This search for BURIED TREASURE really has been like looking through an old photo album. I chose this post to re post because I think it is important to go to a place of thankfulness now and then. Women these days are allowed to do and be pretty much whatever we want to do and be but it hasn't always been this way. This post (ok, the original post) was my response to a documentary I saw about a lady who became a nurse because being an ARTIST was not encouraged or a socially acceptable when she was a young lass... I for one am glad to be able to explore my artist self. I am glad that I don't have to express my creative self in practical ways (quilting, embroidery...) just for it to be acceptable. I am glad that I can see the world through the eyes of an artist and that my voice is allowed to express that...I can't even imagine the person I would be if I wasn't able to find my grounding in nature and in art...while on the topic of thankfulness and gladness I will take a moment to express my thanks to all of you who have visited and commented over the nearly 2 years I've been blogging- you guys are the gas in my tank! Thank you:)

Buried Treasure

Seth Apter of the ALTERED PAGE and Dis-co project (and many others...) is, like many of us a self-confessed BLOG JUNKIE. Now, any self-respecting, self-confessed blog junkie knows that there are many wonderful, inspiring, thought-provoking blog posts in blogesphere and that we have absolutely no hope of ever reading all of them...there's never going to be enough time even if we gave up sleeping and eating! So, in a nut shell Seth has put out a call for us to repost some of our best stuff, a blog that marked a special discovery or a an artwork we are particularly fond of. The call is called "BURIED TREASURE" and this is your excuse to spend some time digging through your own archives like you would a yearbook or photo-album and to post your FOUND TREASURE on your blog, on or around THURSDAY the 16th of July. Pop on over to Seth's blog to find out more....check back here tomorrow to see my FOUND TREASURE and Seth's blog for a list of participating artists, 73 when I last checked!

Disintegration Collaboration- The unveiling

Well today's the day when we finally unwrapped our bundles that we left out in the elements for mother nature to play with and disintegrate, distort and transform at her will. You can see my original bundle here which I hung on my clothes line on Feb 21 and the results after 9 weeks outside are shown here. This great project has been organised by Seth from the Altered Page. Please check out his blog to see his project plus the 'before and afters 'of some of the 120+ artists who took part! You can see a video recording here that my blogging friend Mick Mather made of his project out in the elements. Please go and take a look!

Below: Drying out in the sun! Today's was the first fine, non-windy day in ages and perfect to dry my pile out in!

I think my bundle has survived pretty well! Somethings have changed their texture (like the full magazine page with the wood pigeon) but not really disintegrated and other things like the birds nest photo have had a surprise change- the mullberry paper leaked its dye onto the photo changing the colour. I like this new version better than the original! I didn't expect any thing to survive as well as it did and we've had quite a lot of rain in the last few weeks. I always intended to make a collage with these papers once they'd finished there time out side but looking at them now I think there will be a 'step 2' for some of these items. Watch this space! I am pretty sure Seth has something else up his sleeve too so if your interested in finding out what it is don't forget to bookmark his page while your there!

The Four (elements) AB project.

Glued and folded pages from my book (above) and the other half of the double page spread (below) not yet glued. The spread is made up of 8 pages (4 each side) glued together to make 2 pages. The center (which is sort of diamond shaped) will have the letter by Chief Seattle written onto it. More to come on that later, the words are more than beautiful!I've been making progress on my book although it is now at a stage where most of the construction side has come to an end. I think. I am tempted to take it a step further and physically divide the book up into 8 segments (there are 8 artists playing including myself) who will work in the book repeating the four elements as we go.I have the book home for another few weeks before it starts its 7 month journey around NZ so I may yet give into the temptation!

This is the other side of the niche page (with the seeds in it) and it acts as the 'lid' for it. A sort of treasure chest if you think like I do!

Off the topic from my book but still on the topic of altered books I really want to encourage you all to go and look at the "Reversing Vandalism' exhibition that is permanently online (although previously at the San Fransisco Library.) The exhibition came about after staff discovered that books on Gay lifestyles, Aids/HIV, transgenderism and woman's issues were being systematically vandalised and left behind. Over 600 books were eventually discovered and they were the outward symptom of what was obviously a hate crime. The vandal was dealt with by the law but that left 600+ books destined for the rubbish pile. Thankfully this wasn't allowed and the library united with artists and the results are stunning, moving and impressive. Ironically the book that the vandal was finally caught with was called "Becoming Visible." Check it out here and here.

Happy Birthday Van Gogh!

I mentioned a while ago that I was not- so- patiently waiting for my Van Gogh tin to arrive in my mail box...well here it is! I was going to post this earlier but then I realised that Van Gogh's birthday was this month and I thought it would be nice to hold of till now. I am really pleased with my tin (which is litterally over-flowing) and I hope that there will be another swap of this type in the future.

My thanks have to go to the groups hostess Beth and all the artists who contributed from the Off the Page Yahoo group.

The Four (elements) AB project.

My hand sewn book cover (murphy's law is I've just noticed that it's not resting evenly here! It is actually straight!) I don't like sewing believe it or not...it's a labour of love because I enjoy the effect it creates and I don't have a sewing machine! (Yet!) I am really happy with the cover over all.

The black and gold ribbon ties secure the inside cover flap to the outside and the rest of the fabric wraps around the book and is weighted down by the stick. I've done this to allow the book room to 'grow' as it goes around the other artists.

The image above shows off the brass plague that my husband removed from some 'past it' furniture. It says "Zealandia" and is quite unique. I've been saving it for a special project and I believe this is it! The stick was picked up from the footpath when I dropped the kids off at school. I guess not all the mothers swoop on pieces of dry mossy branches when dropping the kids off but mine are well used to it! I have a very special gift to post a photo of here sometime, a pair of very rusted and old scissors my youngest found and school and bought home for me! My kids know me so well:) Anyway, back to the stick! I didn't have to do anything to it except attach it to the book..it was already the perfect length .

The four elements- New AB project.

This is the original book...fittingly it features one of the four elements!
The ribbons I purchased for the book...probably the most I have ever gotten new for a project but not all things can be reliably sourced 2nd hand! That said I certainly didn't mind pouring over piles of nice new ribbons in lots of yummy colours and textures!
My op-shop scored fabric! I felt divinely provided for when I found this perfect fabric off cut! I spent last night hand sewing a cover for the book...watch this space!

I am a bit ahead of myself here:) This new altered book is for a Round Robin due to start at the end of April. I am starting now because I have so many ideas in my head and I know if I don't let some of them out I will become quite restless. I find even the words...the four elements...inspiring! I really want this book to focus on the actual elements...its' a NZ only book so we can include real wood and mossy bits custom wouldn't allow...and I really want to explore the emotional connections to the four elements- Earth, Air, Fire and Water. This book is definitely in it's baby stages still and even when it has left me it will be most of the year before it returns home again. The Van Gogh tin sent out many months ago is due home any day now so right now it's a bit like waiting for Christmas!


My sign in page... yes it has been a long time since I used that brown lace! This is the last piece of it so I was saving it, apparently brown lace is hard to source! The little niches were hand cut with a craft knife and roughly painted (too look slightly weathered) then sealed with PVA. The idea is that each artist will add a little token (piece of clay...glass bead etc) to the niche that represents the element they worked in. I added a Kowhai seed pod to my niche but the close-up photo I took to show it came out blurry!I will take it again and post it later.