Paper Wasps, and Term 2 news

Hard to believe it is almost April, and Term 1 is winding down - only another week of classes. We have been doing some fun projects over the past 8 weeks, ranging from hand studies, to working on toned paper and imaginative insect drawings in color pencil. It has been quite varied and a lot of fun.

Term 2 will be returning to color pencil again. I have a few different projects in mind. Using subjects relating to creatures, still life (including botanicals) and imaginative creations students will learn and explore color pencil techniques through workshopped demonstrations and exercises. Some photographic references will be supplied or else still life materials required by the student, but other exercises will be purely imaginative. Although this class is based in realism, students are encouraged to develop and explore their own particular style and subjects through the medium of drawing.

The first project will be looking at combining water soluble color pencil washes with waxed pencil overdrawing in a nature study work. We will look at the ever-popular Blue Wren - I will supply images to work from.

If you are interested in coming to Term 1, please contact the Mentone Mordialloc Art Group MMAG - sessions run on Thursdays, 1.30 to 3.30, and 7.30 to 9.30pm. Or the Victorian Artist Society VAS, Monday evenings 4 to 6.30pm.

'Paper Wasps' by Linda Weil, 2023.
In class project, Term 1 - Imaginative Insects.
The Brief: Using reference material sourced by the student, create a drawing with related background using insects as the theme in an imaginative way.
My work, 'Paper Wasps' turns the insects into mechanical beasties, with a cut-paper background. The paper beneath the stencil cut out is Stonehenge, beige tone.
Lana Bristol paper 250gsm, Staedtler karat color pencils and Staedtler graphite pencils.

Further Exhibition Information

After a busy few days finalizing and prepping, I took the 4.5 hour drive up to Port Fairy, delivered the works, stayed the night and then drove home the next day. Jo from Blarney has hung all the works in a double hang format, and it looks good! The masks are in a glass case, but I don't have an image to show... you will have to go see them in person.

And what better time than the next few weeks - the Port Fairy Folk Festival happens this long weekend, then we have school hols and Easter and finally ANZAC weekend. So much to see and do along the Great Ocean Road, and in Port Fairy. 

Inspired by Alan Garner

I am delighted to announce that my exhibition 'Inspired by Garner' will be opening early, on March 10 and extending until late April. It is exciting to have this long show that will run during the International Folk Festival and over Easter, School Holidays and the ANZAC weekend. I hope some of you can come visit the works during the exhibition.

I was introduced late in life to the wonderfully imaginative works of Alan Garner OBE, FRSL. Although as a child I read every fantasy, fable, myth and folklore book to be found in my local library, Garner's works never made it to the shelves in Campbell, California. In 2022, Keith Lawrence from Tacit Gallery in Collingwood recommended the latest Garner work to me, Treacle Walker.

This book began a deep dive into the writings of Alan Garner and since then I have been immersed in these creative, quixotic and magical worlds. His beautiful prose brought to me visions that were begging to be drawn, and Blarney Books and Art in Port Fairy encouraged me to create an exhibition based on some of my best loved of these stories.

Each drawing in this exhibition is my reaction to a scene or a line from one of his books. Using primarily graphite pencil with touches of wash or color pencil, I have tried to put on paper something of the characters and scenes my mind's eye envisioned while reading these tales. Just for fun, I have also created a few 3D masks of some of the remarkable critters I discovered in these writings.

Please come and enjoy the exhibition - I hope it brings back some memories of reading these stories when you were young, or else introduces you to Alan Garner and encourages you to seek out his works Trust me, you will enjoy!