more wabi sabi jewellery

New Wabi Sabi Jewellery

Not sure if I am coming or going at the moment - so many little projects to finish. Time to prioritise - I need to make a body of new work for Art on Cairncross - 'wabi sabi jewellery'. I am really loving getting back into this work - allows me to use my individual sense of design and to play around with all sorts of unusual materials. This is what I have come up with so far:

...the stainless steel wire ones are bunched up on the left.

These are my favourites:

...silver bits at the top, and twisty stainless steel fanned out,

...an old favourite design - love this - I will make some more of these,

...fun new design with crystals from an old chandelier [courtesy of Christine, her mum, via Barry]

New work

What is this you may ask?
I am thrilled with this little curly scribble of stainless steel wire. It is the start of my new range of 'wabisabi jewellery' -time to get a body of work together for my local gallery 'Art on Caircross' in time for the Christmas rush [ positive thinking].
I have heaps of s.s. wire offcuts [10 - 15cm] from when I had my deck rails upgraded a few weeks ago. Not being one to throw anything out, I kept these shiny linear treasures, and have unwound the wire, and curled the ends to create a fabulous feature for jewellery.
A neck piece and earrings are just awaiting the findings to finish them off.

I have been 'working' on a commission for a few months now - a client wanted me to make a piece of jewellery from two old Chinese brass medallion segments - one a pendant, one part of a bracelet. They have sentimental value for her.

I have been really struggling - the arched pendant piece obviously needed to go on top, but the visual weight was wrong. Everything I tried was too 'kitch' for my liking, and if I went 'way over the top' with the design, the client may not have liked it. I settled for this compromise - still too conservative for my tastes, but hopefully it will fit the bill,

... and remember the commissioned red teabag tissue earrings I did many months ago?  - I thought they were too OTT so I did 2 more pairs, a little less 'out there,' - well the client liked the OTT ones - here they are again.

...and if you are hanging out to see more of Morocco, I am posting heaps of pics on my facebook page, for public viewing. Make a coffee before you go to the albums!!  

'Drift Away'

These paintings were made after my Mum died last November - a bit of Art Therapy, but I have recently reworked them, adding the blocks of brown rust paint - I love the bold contrasts and of course the serendipity of the rust.

'Drift Away' 1 and detail,

'Drift Away 2' and detail

'Drift Away 3' and detail

These paintings are only 300 x 300mm each, and are for sale through me or through Maleny Arts Retreat
They work as a triptych or individually.

Another Still Life

I am really enjoying getting back to painting.
Another Still Life - this one has had a couple of previous lives - great textures appear when I start to sand back. I am using a builder's filler for the texture medium - easily available, cheaper and in larger quantities than the artist's equivalent.

Open studios weekend

It has been a busy weekend on the Range - open studios for about 30 artists and community activities in the park as part of the 'Festival of Walks'.

As part of our art4place activities, I helped make 'cairns' from collected sticks in Pecan Park. Children and adults wrote wishes, hopes and dreams onto leaf shapes and placed them in the cairns for the wish fairies :)

 

 This park is a hang out for the local rebel teenagers, and overnight they must have found the temptation to have a bonfire too much - I took this photo the next afternoon.

...rather a nice 'circle of fire'.

Open Studios:

I was one of the very few local artists not open to the public for various reasons, so I enjoyed a bit of time visiting some of the studios.

Fiona Dempster:

 Barry Smith:

Ken Munsie:

Kim Schoenberger demonstrating at Main Street Gallery, Montville:

..a busy weekend and it all happens again next weekend. All feedback has been very positive - lots of interest and sales and good promotion for the Arts on the range.

Well done, gang.

I hope to get to a few more of the 30 Open Studios next weekend.

Paintings

10 days since my last post - OMG !!! Apologies for not keeping up with others' blogs - will get back to it soon.
I have been in the studio every spare moment - playing with my 'texture medium', and trying to get someway towards what I feel is a satisfactory result.
I am presently putting oxides in the medium to try to get colour, but I really want a strong colour - not just pastels.

Here is the yummy texture I achieved some weeks ago,

 

Here is the finished painting - I managed to keep the best of the texture after much layering and scrubbing back,

 

Here is the next finished painting,

 ...and details of the texture.

 I absolutely love the serendipity that is happening and am at last enjoying the journey.

Bazola in the Library

12 pairs or earrings ready to go into boxes,

display system sorted,

A4 promo sheets laminated,

...then this morning, Barry and I set up our 'Bazola' display in the library showcases,

...with my tools at the bottom of this case,

...and Barry's tools in this case.

Some pics of earrings in boxes, reflected in the glass shelving.

While we were doing this, Fiona was hanging a 'mini show' of hers and Barry's work to help promote the Open Studios. Check out her flash new app. on her phone - it's a 'builder's level' - yeah - must get me one of those...

...and then the mandatory coffee afterwards at the 'Green Kitchen' - ahhh - wouldn't be dead for quids!

Just one last thing - I am having terribly frustrating times trying to comment on lots of peoples' blogs - Google keeps asking me to sign in every time I comment, type the verification code, etc, etc. I ask my computer to 'stay signed in' but it won't cooperate. Any ideas?