Bazola pendants

 

 

 

 



Christmas aftermath and Bazola

We have had SO much rain in this neck of the woods - luckily where I live is in the hills and I am high up, so no flooding here, but I feel for all the people on river flats throughout the country. The snow in the Nth hemisphere has also left me grateful for living in a moderate climate with all the necessary amenities and conveniences still in working order.

Nevertheless it has been a bit of a dreary couple of weeks - family away camping on the beach in the rain for Christmas, daughter in Haslemere, UK, slipping and sliding on the ice, and I am feeling rather sad after my elderly Mum's death a few weeks ago. Friends have kept me motivated and feeling loved - several dinners, coffee catch ups, and a lovely Christmas dinner with a very dear friend and her family.

I also managed to get back into the 'Bazola' jewellery - so another batch is ready to go to the gallery.

 

 

 

 

 

I will do 2 posts - one on the earrings, the other on pendants. I am approaching 100 posts so I am cheating a bit to get there faster. Stay tuned for a give away!!

Happy Christmas to you all

I hope you all have a fun filled and especially loving day tomorrow, no matter what your beliefs and celebrations involve.

"ANCIENT RECORDS"

We have a FABULOUS local bookshop, 'Rosettas', which has just expanded and moved into a refurbished, 'wabi sabi', cosy location in the centre of town. The owner, Ann, has kindly offerred to take some artist's books so Barry, Fiona and I have delivered some of our special pieces for display in a prime location just behind the front desk, and hopefully we may sell to the Christmas shoppers.

I made some lovely little Japanese style 'Ancient Records' cut and reassembled from old Japanese texts. I had fun making them - whimsical little things with a bit of a mysterious history - they are mostly made from Noh theatre scripts.  



MAIN STREET GALLERY, MONTVILLE

The Christmas show is up and running at the fabulous Main Street Gallery in Montville, situated underneath the Poet's Cafe in the centre of town. Thank you Mark for supporting us so enthusiastically.

 

...my 'Small Gestures' paintings and Fiona's rusted metal books,

...some Bazola Jewellery,

and some of Barry's beaten metal bowls,

...some of my 'Forest' paintings, with Chris Pantano glass,

...Fiona's 'Dreamboats',

and Barry's light catchers.

There are lots of other great works in there as well. Check out the web site for more good stuff.

more SMALL GESTURES

I am now doing some small triptyches with bold, free flowing brush strokes on a simple background, then adding some detailed line and texture to a 'centre of interest'. I think they could be sold as a set or individually. I am happy with the way they are evolving.

 

 

 

 

This set is titled 'Fly Away 1,2,3' [with details].

SMALL GESTURES [cont. 2]

 'Strength'

'Trust'

SMALL GESTURES [cont. 1]

I have completed some more of my paintings for the upcoming Christmas exhibition in Main Street Gallery, Montville.

'Nobility'

 

'Pride'

 

...details.

BAZOLA UPDATE

Yesterday I delivered another 12 Bazola pieces to the Main Street Gallery in Montville. Yes, we have sold 7 pieces in just a couple of weeks.

Barry suggested that I do a post on the 'before and after' stages of production -from his beaten metals to my final designs - so here goes.

If you'd like a more comprehensive look at the beaten metals and the joy of the process, click on  Barry's blog, 'rustnstuff', and if you'd like to see the finished jewelley pieces, click on my link on the right which says 'Gallery - Bazola - Art to Wear' - this will take you to a slide show of the finished pieces - Oh, by the way, if you like anything you see, Mark at the Main Street Gallery is happy to sell off the web site and send overseas.

SMALL GESTURES

Yes, I am back to producing what I know and love - the flowing, linear, mark making with enhancements here and there. I'm building up a stock of small canvases for the 'Small Pleasures and Treasures' Christmas exhibition at  Main Street Gallery, Montville. Coincidently, I am calling these 'Small Gestures'. These are 300 x 300 mm - mixed media on canvas.

...below are some pics of the developmental process [there are 6 paintings in this series] - I used rusted steel wool mixed with PVA to get these lovely rusty details.

I gave up on the encaustic - didn't get the results I wanted and as it is a messy and intrusive medium, I have put it away for the time being. However, I WILL get back to it when I don't have a deadline to meet.

On another Main Street Gallery note, our Bazola range is selling well - 7 pieces to date, so Baz has forged up a storm for me over the past few days. This is what he delivered yesterday [photo courtesy of Baz's 'Rustnstuff' blogsite].

No rest for the wicked!!

ENCAUSTIC WAX MADE

Firstly, thanks to all of you in the blogger sphere who are keeping track of my encaustic progress and thanks for the advice and hints. It has made it easier for me to confidently go ahead and make my encaustic medium this afternoon. Isn't it silly that even after 40 years as an artist, playing with all sorts of media, that I feel a bit nervous about a new medium? Maybe it's the threat of health hazards, or working with heat, or maybe it's just because other people see it as difficult or dangerous - don't know.

Because I am concerned about the wax melting in the Queensland heat, I have gone with a slightly higher percentage of damar than most 'recipes' recommend. Hope it works.

100 grams damar to 400 grams beeswax.

So here we go with the pics.

 ...raw damar crystals [it is resin from a tree found in India and East Asia and is commonly used as a glaze in foods as well as in art materials],

...I used a 'Bamix' hand held blender to grind the crystals - worked really well,

...sifted the damar outside - a bit powdery,

 ...actually not all that powdery - lots of bug bits in the mix - oh well, I like wabi sabi,

...found my block of beeswax I've been carrying around from Caulfield Tech days in the 1960's [hi Jan, I'll bet you have some in the back of the cupboard as well!!],

...scraped the worst of the gunk off the wax,

...melted chunks of beeswax in a 'double boiler', actually my equally old electric frypan with a cake tin inside - just as well I'm over baking cakes these days,

...added the damar gradually and mixed well,

...topped up with the rest of the beeswax and after an hour of melting and mixing, it was done,

...used a small metal ladel to pour the wax into little cup cake papers [that's all I had on hand],

...this is not the true colour of the wax - it is not as yellow. I even mixed a bit of black shoe polish into a couple - seemed to work well,

...and fortunately the paper will come away from the wax reasonably easily,

...voila!!! upturned little wax tablet. Delicious. This is more like the true colour of the wax.

...not worried about the impurities.

I plan to use the wax as a surface medium to create a subtle, diffused, mysterious sort of finish. I won't be using strong colours - maybe a bit of brown/black/blue created with shoe polish. I have given away all my oil paints.

I'll post more once I try them out over the weekend, so....watch this space.

Thanks for taking an interest :)