Habitattered Two and some horn tooting :)

Last year I was very excited to find out that my pastel Nicky Road Farm had won the Agricultural Award at Kondinin Artists Group exhibition, this prize meant that I qualified to exhibit this piece at the Perth Royal Show in the Agricultural section. On Thursday night my husband and I attended the opening and I was sooo excited to pick up an award - I had no idea! It was the JJ Award for Commendation and Encouragement, and a lovely surprise :) In the same week I also received a Highly Commended award from Wongan Hills which was also exciting as it is the first time I have ever won a prize for a Mixed Media work, so hopefully that means that they are going in the right direction :) Anyway, I thought I might share some of the process with you guys - I started this one yesterday - I will share this all the way along, warts and all, even if it doesn't turn out! The first shots are of a beautiful piece of 300 wc paper with moulding paste added, if you look closely you can see the textures I have added into it. The next shots are after I have added Quink (fountain pen Ink) and splashes of alcohol. I love the way Quink bleeds into the paper and the pigments change from black to Dark Blue and even Ochre shades...stay tuned - I need to buy a new canvas to continue this one :)

little things

Every year in October, my art society host its annual exhibition and sale, it is my fav. event of the year. As a fundraiser, Catalogues are sold - each one includes a handpainted 13cm x 15cm original artwork on the cover, everyone contributes at least 5 covers. As you might know I dont work small! But I always try to do my bit. This year I made these little pieces with wc paper, ink, collage and some real leaves and bark. They were actually quite good fun to do - gave me some food for thought about doing Artist Trading Cards :)

Microcosmic

'Microcosmic'
1m x 1m Mixed Media

Real leaves, snakeskin, metal leaf, butterflies and of course - this is where my portrait of Erik ended up!

Organised chaos

The brief was - a photo of your work desk in its original untidy state. Well - pretty much any surface in my studio at the moment is getting used - it has been in  a state of chaos since I found out the roof leaks (about 3 months ago at the start of winter). Strangely enough, I only have trouble findin what I need when I clean up :) The second image is the piece I am currently working on. Check out Seth Apters blog The Altered Page for more dissarray!

Soft Morning

Ok I know that after this long I should remember to take photos before I frame...not sure where my head was at but anyway - last one for exhibition, starting in 2 days! The feathers were a last minute idea, cut from my duster :)

Mippidi Creek

'Sidekick'
1m x 70cm colourfix sandpaper

Another in my outback dog series - Mippidi is a combination of the first parts of each of my three dogs names. In sheep and cattle farming areas of Australia you can find these huge stations (ranches) and many have strange names - some come from local Aboriginal names, some are combined family names...for those who wonder what the bag in the background is, this is a wool bale. These are stamped with the name of the sheep station, the shearer's initials, a silouette of Australia and the type and class of wool, in this case it is AAA class with the M standing for Merino. All my previous paintings in this series have been sold so I thought maybe I need one for my front room - having said that, this one is going to be for sale at my upcoming pastel only exhibition shared with 7 other lovely artists) beginning on Monday and running for a week. Thanks everyone for looking :) cheers!