2015!

New year......new page turned........365 pristine pages waiting to be written upon. I hope the story you write for 2015 is full of all you wish for. Me, I'm planning a year full of exhibitions, teaching and art-making. And music.

"Rift"

"Weeping Forest"

Season's Greetings

Only a few more sleeps!

To all the followers and readers of my blog, thank you for your support and interest throughout this year.........have a safe and wonderful Christmas and all good things in 2015!

See you on the other side of the festivities!

A Change.

Over the last few months I have been rather intensively concentrating on making sculpture (with the odd doll thrown in, because sometimes I just NEED to make one). And then last week I got what is a rather large order for some finished "Zozie" dolls. After getting back from setting up my Hobart exhibition, I got stuck right in, because I want to get them done and sent off before Christmas. Work is well underway and I should have the order ready to go out at the weekend.  Although these are quicker to make than most of the dolls I make, this is still fairly labour intensive. But I don't really mind that. And I like to make each one a little different, even though their little faces come out of the same mould and their bodies are made to the same pattern.

Tiny Old Masters

I've been having a lot of fun re-interpreting famous portraits of women as miniatures in high relief. Each one is framed in a small glass-fronted shadow box and painted as closely as I can get to the original, notwithstanding that I am working from reproductions and very small. I'm calling this ongoing project "La Femme Encadree" (the woman in the frame) and the joyful thing about it is that I will never run out of material - there are so many wonderful portraits out there!

These are the first three of hopefully many.......I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed making them! (Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Modigliani)

On A Roll..........

I'm getting to the pointy end......I am participating in a group exhibition in Hobart opening next month (more about that in a day or two) and I set myself a goal to make fifteen new pieces. With just two weeks left, I have a little way to go, but I think I'm going to make it. I certainly won't be stressing if I only get to thirteen or fourteen......Needless to say, I'm not doing very much of anything else!

While I am enjoying the work, I'm looking forward to a slightly less frenetic pace over summer. Who knows? I might even get to work on some projects that are sheer indulgence!

Cloth like stone........

For this new piece, I needed to paint the cloth body to resemble some kind of stone - granite - and with a combination of underpainting, spattering and controlled brushwork, I managed to achieve the kind of look I was aiming for. Almost.

This is "Cor Lapideum".

Saved!

I was about halfway through making this wall doll (hangs on the wall) when I decided I didn't like it one little bit......it just wasn't working how I envisioned it. I was about to bin it and use the head on something else, but something stayed my hand and I decided to give it one more chance, probably because I'd already spent quite a few hours on it and it would have been such a waste of time. So I persevered and painted. Added a wild wig and a twiggy finial at the bottom. A moment came when I discovered that the piece was redeemed! It had been worth saving.........

So here is "Spiritus Loci"......back from the brink!