slack blogger

There has been a LOT going on but very little inclination to blog about it - or to know where to start or if people were still interested in it. I seriously considered allowing this blog to die a natural death but can't quite walk away. 

I am playing a lot with drawing and painting - little skill but much enthusiasm.

I had a birthday which was just lovely.

 I made a decision not to do something I had really thought I would do.

And got very caught up in the election campaign and its awful culmination. The only good things is that our lovely local House of Reps member Adam Bandt was re-elected.  

 And now we're off to Europe for a family wedding and a holiday while we can.  So the blog has had a reprieve, for the moment.  

This week

has been cold and windy and very wintry. Cue cats in front of all available heaters - here's Miss Molly Moth - warming in comfort

 and close up

 Kind Dog and I went to see the Hollywood exhibition at ACMI - which was fascinating in a number of directions. The potent fantasy of Hollywood as an unattainable perfect life full of universally beloved iconic stars  - the hagiography of the presentation and music laid that on thickly. Secondly - and I found this quite shocking - was seeing the level of workmanship required to promote the illusion.  Not very much, as it turns out.  Many of the costumes were really shoddily made, really badly finished and made out of cheap-looking fabrics.  Jacket lapels without facings, raw edges left unhemmed, thin tawdry looking fabric and unpressed seams.  The exceptions were some of the costumes from the 30s and Marlene Dietrich's dinner suit which was beautifully tailored. 

Of course these garments are costumes designed to create an illusion under specific lighting and staging conditions - they are not couture garments or designed to be worn in real life.  But it was really interesting to see that it doesn't take that much to suggest a silhouette or a character - these are suggested by shape, colour, texture and line.  And the point is not to make a beautifully made dress or jacket but to project a persona.  No photographs were allowed in the exhibition but I did snap this gorgeously coloured and textured leaf in the carpark.

And news from the studio (not a lot this week as I have been doing research and writing). The sutured aubergine is ready for interment in the garden

and I'm still enjoying my expressive drawing play.

presents!

It's my Birthday this month and this morning the postman brought a huge, beautifully decorated parcel from my long-lost Canadian cousin in Florida - Devon Clark.  Devon is a jeweller and makes the most beautiful things.

And here's what was inside - and yes, that is the same sex marriage symbol - which I will wear with pride for all my Friends and Relations who are denied the fundamental right to marry the person they love.

much feasting

Today turned out to be a day of much food.  I had an urge to make banana pancakes this morning and they were excellent with cinnamon sugar.

Then it was C-Day. We had been planning to do some type of wintry pseudo-Christmas as we are not together for Christmas Day any more.  And of course winter is the best time for the more traditional Christmas food - the smallest immediately nominated turkey as the centrepiece.

So off we trotted to the market on Friday and came back bearing a 4 kg turkey.  It was accompanied by pumpkin and sweet potato cubed, steamed and fried in butter, garlic and sesame seeds; and by green beans in garlic butter. 

The smallest had also requested quail eggs and we started our Christmas dinner sitting around the table peeling quail eggs and dipping them into sesame salt.

Such beautiful shapes and colours

even the shell fragments are beautiful.

And for dessert we had fog -

whipped cream with vanilla, orange blossom water and Grand Marnier, layered with crushed meringues and passionfruit.

We got our the Good China and cutlery and had a lovely lovely time.

Merry non Christmas!

Etsy shop

Phew! We have just opened a shop on Etsy - look to your right and you should see the lovely unfolding array of photos that is the Counterweave shop.

At the moment we are selling one-off textile and mixed media art cards - small artworks mounted on cards that can be used as cards or framed. I'll be adding more of my bigger artworks over the next few days and future plans include Kind Dog's stunning photos as well as our poems, short stories and novels.

A little nerve-wracking, but also a long-felt want.

this evening's work

one shrouded and sutured eggplant

 and one automatic drawing

breaking the drawing barrier

One of my weakest skills is drawing. I have tried various approaches in the past but got easily discouraged.

Until now - I found Steven Aimone's book Expressive Drawing which approaches drawing quite differently. It's not about teaching realistic, representative drawing - this is about just playing, building a picture by making patterns, lines and shapes that please you. It's huge fun and suits my way of working very well.

Most importantly, I think, it gives you confidence in actually putting charcoal/pencil to paper because you're not trying to "do it right" - no one can look at this drawing, for example, and say "Well, that looks nothing like a cat with a gladiolus"

And even more fun is something I tried this afternoon - this 'automatic drawing' technique combined with music. I did this while listening to Blondie's "Union City Blues".

and this while listening to Philip Glass' Metamorphosis One.

I really want to be able to get to the stage where I can sit and sketch and capture the essence of something, whether it's the lines of a statue, details of seams or stitching of a garment or the patterns of bark. And now I'm not demonised by the blank page and the fear of imperfection I'm a step closer towards that.