Biblio Art Prize

Accepted! Both!

Hi there! A few weeks ago I told you about the Biblio Art Prize to be held in Port Fairy during December and showed you one of my entries here. After showing Jo from Blarney Books both works she encouraged me to enter the two, and much to my surprize both have been accepted.
I can now show you the main entry work, 'The Battle'.

This work was created in ink on 250gsm Bristol board and exhibits the main participants in the final battle scene of the book 'The Wolf in the Whale' by Jordanna Max Brodske. Each element of the drawing flows and merges into the next forming a moving frieze of combatants facing the Viking warship as it breaks free of the pack ice. There are narwhales and inuksuk, a seal, bear, wolk, raven/odin, blue whale, sturgeon and the main character Omat - can you find them all? As well as the prow of the viking ship trapped in the pack ice.

If you are visiting the area around Port Fairy this summer drop into Blarney Books and view the exhibition - I will be there on opening night December 7.

Dates: December 7 to January 27

Blarney Books and Art

37 James St., Port Fairy, Vic 3284

Draw with Mike!

Don't miss Mike Sibley's new website and forum!

You may know of, or heard me speak in class about my friend and wonderful graphite artist, Mike Sibley. Well, Mike has just launched his new website and forum 'Draw with Mike', and I encourage you to have a look at it and seriously consider joining.

Membership gives you the opportunity to watch custom made videos of Mike at work - videos that actually TEACH you something! You can also ask Mike questions at his regular Q & A sessions - even requesting he do a video of a particular technique you want to see. There is an online drawing class/workshop you can join.

As well, the members forum gives you the chance to show your work (finished or in progress) and ask for help from Mike and the other forum members. Unlike a Pintrest or Instagram page where you will receive accolades but no helpful critique, the forum offers constructive, friendly advice and assistance from Mike and other forum members.

This is a great time to join as Mike has included a special 'Christmas' link you can send to your special other as a helpful gift hint! And this comes at a convenient time for us in Australia as we enter summer holidays - I visit the site weekly, and would be more than happy to offer you any help there on your summer artwork. You can PM me on the site to give me a heads up (as I will be travelling/workshopping* in January) although I plan to check into the forum regularly.

Interested? I hope so! Why not click on the link and join today!

https://SibleyFineArt.com/join-Draw-With-Mike/

see you there -

Image courtsey of Mike Sibley Fine Art

*Places still available at Bathurst Mitchell School of Art! Enrollments close Nov. 29, don't miss out!

AAEA Award

Runner up to the Australian Art Excellence Awards

I was very suprised and pleased to accept the Runner-up Terry Collins Award yesterday at AGRA's annual Australian Art Excellence Awards. It is a huge honour and a real buzz to win this award - especially as the the works I submitted were not 'tradtional' but from my mechanical pencil series; 'Rat Race', 'Lead Balloon', and 'Springtime'. Check these out on my gallery page on my website.

And the prize goodies:

A fabulous selection from Art Spectrum, thank you Anna for choosing so well. Additionally a voucher for framing from Studio Craft, and a joint exhibition at AGRA next year. Fun!

Thank you AGRA!

Road Trip sketches

 Driving Hwy 101

Just back from my fantastic roadtrip along Hwy 101, San Francisco to L.A. with my sister. Did so much, visited family and friends, shopped, dined, walked, hiked, watched whales/otters/birds (condor!), saw Hearst Castle, Missions, The Getty Center, flew starships at Disneyland and drove for miles and miles and miles. Sister drove as it is on the other side there and a bit confronting for me. So not much time for drawing, but here are a few I did manage to squeeze in:

Monterey Aquarium

These are done from 'life'. I had only brought a black Adel fineliner pen, so a licked finger was needed to wash and blend the ink

Asilomar/Monterey area

Again with the Adel pen, only I had an Aquash brush handy. This tree and view from the room at Asilomar resort. A pair of Coopers Hawks came and sat in the tree for awhile, keening and whistling to each other.

 Big Sur

Hike out to Parkington Cove and back in Big Sur - about 2.5 mile round trip down, the UP a very steep zigzag track. But worth the walk. Also spotted Anna's and Rufous Hummingbirds on the way down. Plus a very bright green hummer I cannot identify. Aquash brush, Windsor Newton Watercolour travel set, Adel sepia and black pens

Mission Santa Barbara

The Queen of the Missions on 101. Adel Sepia and Black pens, Aquash brush.

A Fantastic Trip!

(by the way, have you signed up for my Bathurst workshop yet? Deadline is the end of November!)

Teatime

Drawing and painting with teas

I recently purchased a copy of  'The Organic Painter' by Carn Griffiths. He does some fabulous works using tea, coffee or wine stains, mixing with inks, stamps and splatters. His book is quite inspiring and I and my Thursday nighters have been playing around with the techniques.

Preparing paper with tea stains, for the one on the left I used English Breakfast tea and a tea made with saffron threads. The right side is saffron tea and the cranberry rosehip tea. The photo also shows some of the stamps I have made using white PVC (eraser or block), and Sennilier inks in Turquise and Sepia.

Here are some test sheets. Click to enlarge and read the method. Note that the yellow used was a tea made from Tumeric.

Three 'finished' works. Teas, inks, spatter, stencils, stamps - lots of fun.

All paper used in these tests was 300gsm Waterford cold press.

I am travelling for the next few weeks - but hope to have some things to show you when I return. Until then, Happy Drawing and don't forget to sign on for the January workshop in Bathurst!

Summer Workshop

Art Scene School of Arts (Bathurst)

19-25 January, 2020

Come join me in Bathurst for a week of drawing!

Take your drawings even further and expore the world of colour and graphite pencil! Colour pencils have often been associated with childhood, but since the early 20th century artist-quality colour pencils have been produced that turned a child’s toy into a serious medium for artists. Learn to master layering colours over and on top of one another to create colour pencil paintings of a rich and luminous depth. Texture, reflection, form and composition and all your colour pencil questions will be answered in this workshop as well as basic colour theory. Discover the difference between wax/oil pencils and watercolour pencils, how to layer, blend, create texture, wash or not, how to include graphite, which paper to use when, as well as all the basic techniques you need to get the most out of your graphite or colour pencil. You will enjoy step-by-step guidance, and the best part is that these techniques can be learned by anyone – no matter your current skill level!

Subjects this year will include: ‘Glass’ in waxed/standard colour pencil or graphite pencil, ‘Botanical’ in Aquarelle colour pencils, ‘Landscape’ in graphitint and graphite pencil, and an animal subject using colour pencils on coloured paper. All levels of experience welcome.

Sign up today at: The Artscene

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'Tree'
Watersoluble Graphite and Graphite

Spoon Collection - Anna's jam spoon

Anna's Spoon - German .800 silver

Anna’s Jam Spoon* – Unknown German maker, approx. 1886

 When Anna was betrothed to Max in 1887, he presented to her a 12-piece, .800 silver dinner service as betrothal/wedding gift. Max had each piece monogrammed with her new married name initials of A + L. The silver set held pride-of-place in her dining room and was lovingly polished and set out for use every holiday and special occasion. Anna was a great cook and she would spend days in the kitchen stirring jams and jellies in a big iron pot. One spoon from the set was used as her ‘special’ stirring spoon. All through the war years Anna would glean berries from the hedgerows and strawberries from her garden plot to make her jam. If she was lucky, she would have a little bit of ration sugar, if not, she would barter ‘jam on a promise’ with the Schmidt’s for some of the honey from their hives. Anna’s renown as a jam maker meant she seldom had trouble making a trade. After the war, the silver travelled with her granddaughter to the USA, and that spoon was put into many more years of jam service. One day, this spoon with five of it's siblings, left for Australia with Anna’s great-granddaughter – who doesn’t make jam but will stir the occasional custard with this special spoon. Worn down on the edge of the bowl to a point, bent and slightly battered, this treasured spoon has given the women in my family over 130 years of faithful service. And someday the spoon will be handed down to Anna’s Great, great, granddaughter.

*Note: I have drawn this spoon previously (with raspberries) but it is worth drawing again!

Spoon Collection - Georgian

Fiddle back Georgian Spoon

Found in the op-shop cutlery box!  I looked at photos of old coins of the period and included these in the work - tuppence and sixpence.

Fiddle Back Georgian Spoon – John Blake Silversmith (1827)

Nearly 200 years ago, from the finest silver I was made and out of London I sailed. On a colony ship, in the King’s service, we came to tame this land. Round the Horn we laboured and blown by the roaring 40’s we finally landed at a dismal village by swamp named Melbourne. On the Captains table and Officer’s mess my silver had reflected in the candlelight. I came ashore and I passed into use on the sideboards of the elite of the colony. Oh! the sights I have seen and the people I met who admired my glow and used me well. But I was parted from my canteen mates, stolen and pawned, abused and neglected.  Finally, I languished, bashed, battered and dented in the reject jar at the Op Shop where you rescued me. A polish can restore my gleam, but not my youth. Would that I could speak and tell you a tale or two!

Spoon Collection - Queen Bess

More spoon drawings!

If you read my earlier posts, you know I have a collection of spoons I love to draw. I am a bit at a loss between 'big' projects, so am keeping busy by doing some little works. It would be nice to do a large collection of these of maybe 14 or 15 individual drawings.
 Each drawing is done in graphite and graphitint washes on 300 gsm Lana Bristol board, A4 size. All the spoons have a 'story' to go with them. 

Here is the first, titled 'Queen Bess'

Plan drawing with actual 'Queen Bess' teaspoon

WIP

Finished work

The Story of  the Queen Bess teaspoon:

Queen Bess EPNS teaspoon - Oneida USA 1946

At last the times were good and the New Deal had slowly turned the country around. Prosperity and growth grew out of the dark days.  Aunt had waited through all the long years of the war for her niece to return. And now Niece was soon to be married! Aunt saved every Betty Crocker coupon she could, collected together and sent them off. An offer too good to refuse, ‘Tudor’ plate silverware at a bargain price. How surprized and delighted was Niece to receive the velvet lined rosewood box filled with the 48 piece setting of ‘Queen Bess’ as a wedding gift! And the sweet little ‘Forget-me-not’ flowers would remind Niece of Aunt every time she used the silver.

Biblio Art Prize

 Illustrating 'The Wolf in the Whale'

Port Fairy Bookseller and Art Gallery, Blarney Books run the annual Biblio Art Prize. I entered last year with a graphite pencil work and have just completed this year's entry. 

Each entrant is given a book to base an artwork on, the more literary the better (it is a bookshop after all). I am afraid I am not very 'literary' in my artwork, but I have certainly enjoyed reading 'The Wolf in the Whale' by Jordanna Max Brodske. Creating an artwork for this exciting novel has been a bit of a head scratch. 

I wanted to show the Arctic environment, the drama of conflict and the relationship between the Inuit gods and Norse invading gods. I decided to work in inks as I felt that this medium was bolder and would strongly emulate the ice fields and cold landscape. 

So I created a work using the Raven as the theme and incorporated various other elements from the book - wolf prints and blood in the snow, lunar eclipse, Inuksuk (Inuit stone statues) and elements of Norse influence - a quote from the book transcribed into long branch Younger Futhark runes. Thank you Google and 'The Viking Rune' website! 

So this is what I did:

...and its a bit 'meh'. Or rather, I don't think it is all that great. Its okay, has all the elements, but leaves me cold (pun not intended). Just a bit too fussy, too literal and didn't really make me happy. It's going into the 'Nope' folio.

So I thought on it for awhile, and then started sketching and doodling about. I love the clean, simple lines of Inuit sculpture, and began to draw shapes and forms of the Arctic animal/gods to emulate that sort of pared back minimalist form. But my drawings had to be my own as I am very aware of the dangers of cultural borrowing and appropriation.

As I worked I started to have more and more fun, eventually incorporating all the elements into a frieze effect, each figure merging into the next and forming new shapes. Lots of cutting out shapes and positioning or flipping and redrawing to come to a final composition. All the Gods are there to defeat the approaching Ragnarok! Plus the ice floes and the trapped Norse ship... even the symbol for Loki makes and appearance.

The final work has been done in Art Spectrum Black acrylic ink which has a lovely matt black finish. Drawn and painted onto Lana 250gsm Bristol Board, the sharp contrast between the black and white works well to create the feel of the frozen north I wanted. I am a lot happier with this second work than the first.

But not to give away the entire thing just yet...  I am only showing here are a couple of details from the final work - I will post the entire piece closer to the final deadline of the competition. Here is hoping it gets accepted!