The Countdown Has Begun

The last few days here in the park!

In the last couple of days I’ve made more 15cm square collages.  I’ve made 24 altogether so far this residency.  Still time to make some more!

The next one isn’t really a collage.  It’s a gel plate print I made on wet strength tissue.  Currently I don’t want to add anything to it but you never know what will happen in the future.

I made another blizzard book using the left overs from image transfer prints.  The originals were on a really good quality paper and with the addition of the acrylic paint became quite leathery.  I have kept the outer cards from various ready meals I’ve eaten and used those to make tags which I covered in gel prints.  They all have a blue colour print on one side and yellow on the other.

10cms tall

This blizzard book has given me ideas for a textile piece when I get home - providing I can think of a way to stiffen the fabric for the spine.

I did some paper weaving with a couple of the b&w prints I brought with me.  One was the emblem on Andy’s Australian Citizenship Certificate and the other was a map of Bulimba where my Dad was born.

I also made 3 little boxes from gel prints. They fit inside each other. The largest is 6.7 cms square.

I have started some more sea washed pieces but I’ll leave that for Saturday’s post.  This one is already a bit too long.

Well done for getting to the end.  See you next time.

Bernice 

Week 3 in a nutshell

It's hard to believe that this is the end of week three - only one more week to go!

I tried a technique I’d seen on Instagram which is hard to do at home since I live so far from the sea.  It’s on my doorstep here.  I used Artgraf soluble graphite on a Khadi paper concertina book.  After each line was drawn - I only have 3 colours I let the sea wash over the paper.  The result isn’t bad for a first go.  I’ll have another go next week.

I made a new concertina book using the opener from a wet wipes packet.

I made 7 collages

I learned how to make a blizzard book.  I used a brown paper carrier bag from the supermarket.

The I made a tiny one which reminded me of a Banksia flower. It’s 8cms tall.

I stencilled and painted some paper green and red to make a representation of the Banksia. And made a container for the book to look like the ‘cone’ of the Banksia.  It isn’t a cone and it looks more like a nut.

10cms tall

The book hidden inside

The ‘flower’ is 7 cms tall

The tube cover isn’t completely finished.  I’m trying to find a better way of doing the ‘eyes’!

I think that’s enough for today.  Well done if you stuck with this blog post right to the end.

See you on Tuesday

Bernice

Out and About

I’m now into my third week of the residency.  Last week I tried out some ways of folding books from an online course.  This week I’m planning on trying out some of the books in the book I brought with me: The Art of the Fold.

I had a lovely weekend celebrating my son’s 40th birthday with the family.  When I got back to Hurstville I tried work with the pianola roll I bought.  I first looked through my Australian Connections workbook and the ideas from ArtHelper and then started.  I first wrote the four significant dates with a Posca pen and then used my Australian flora stencils.

Then I added some blue koh-I-nor paint.  It says it’s watercolour but it seems permanent.  It was far too bright and I wanted to knock it back.

I got some leaves from the garden and did some leaf rubbings using Neocolor 1 and wet strength tissue.  I used gel medium to glue the tissue to the pianola roll.

I love that you can see the holes of the pianola roll disrupting the image.  The dates indicate times of disruptions or changes in life’s direction.  1922 saw my grandparents emigrate to Australia.  My dad was born in 1924.  The family returned to England in 1931.  Andy emigrated to Australia in 2006.

And lastly I added a poem I had written some time ago about this history.

You do have to be up close to see the words.

I’ve also been to a textile exhibition at Gallery 76, the headquarters of NSW Embroiderers Guild.  It was an exhibition by 39 international textile artists.  Here are some of the pieces I liked.

Kathy Landvogt: Matrescence

Josephine Jakobi: Appropriation

Adeline Contreras: Untitled 

Eszter Bornemiszer: Interplay 

Jette Clover: Urban Poetry

Helen Macritchie: Gaseous Exchange 

Ruth Harries: Dwelling 

Next update on Saturday. Hope to see you then.

Bernice