Life on a boat is easy

I went on a ship from Sydney to New Zealand and back again.
It was lovely not being able to see land, and just experience the vastness of the blue desert.
The sun was warm, and the wind was cold. It was an amazing experience, and I kept imagining myself on the titanic. It was nice to finally land myself in my bed at home. Safely back from the endless ocean.

Just when....

Just when you think you've climbed the mountain, a bigger one suddenly appears on the otherside. I had a last minute interview today. Just when I thought I'd faced all I could for a uni year, they bring on my favourite form of punishment... career deciding, important, 'interveiw'.
Argh, thankfully, I have a lovely boned creature to help me through.
And yes, now I am done.

Yellow light

Brighton sea,
crisp small winds,
spots and hidden colours.
Camembert and crackers,
blue picnics, and purple hills,
stolen bags, and warm embraces.

I've come a long way to just fall back into line.

,










I've FINISHED, yes you didn't believe I'd make it did you?
Today I have placed the paint brush down for a moment.
Handed in my finals, ( took a mighty effort of transport) ...I traversed across 8 lanes of traffic, up 4 flights of stairs, trollied down coles carparks, up lifts, and many falls and spills. And now I am finally back in my little room, with piles of paintings and faces stacked beside me. I'm out of breath and out of myself. All this effort all this time and soul for just 3 hours of today. I'm so glad I got to the end, I created so much work, I was drowning myself in it. I hope it was recieved well. Fingers crossed. The pictures are of the work I installed, the rest were put in piles to be veiwed as back up work, ( i hope they bothered to go through it all)
Until next time, until then.

There's nothing like the smell of Turps in the morning

This is the body of work thus far. With everything due tomorrow, i've spent the last few hours wishing the paint to dry. As I always work with oils, it can take up to 5 days for the paint to fully dry, as I have until tomorrow at 8.15 am, this could be a big problem.
Most of these are works in progress, and I have a massive bit of green canvas with a face in the middle of my room. I have to tip toe around it to get to my closet, and i've got palettes and paint and brushes and bottles and paper all over the place. Yes my room as turned into a little art cave, where nothing is quite safe from the smell of TURPS, oil, paint, and tuna or mangoes. (my two main food groups at the moment)
I really must get onto cleaning up this joint, once I have placed everything I am in the hands of the markers.
wish me luck

Sneek Peak

Madonna's Floating head.
My progression in my painting series. I'm really happy with how my experiments and research are turning out. I really hope it all joins together to create a strong body of work.

Come with me, to the sea

Flesh, movement and water

My newest developments on wood.
I think there is something vulnerable and raw about the skin and water.
Not sure how I feel about the outcome?
I think that I shall explore this concept. It almost presents a underlying theme of fear. Of being exposed and stripped down to our bareness.

Keeping Face

So I have this love (obesession rather) with faces. I can stop painting them. There is just something about the face that gets me excited with the paintbrush. Essentially that is all. When i approach the artwork, i just can't wait to get in there and map out the face. I leave the eyes last, for they are my favourite. I work from life, I get my friends ( lovely creatures that they are) to sit for me. I usually let them sit for 20 min intervals, lasting between an hour and 40 minutes. I go in strong, blocking out shadow, then work up the tones to capture the depth. I work alla prima ( which is wet oil paint on wet.) in other words i don't wait for layers to dry. I'm just too impatient that way. So really I capture a brief snippet or glimpse of the moment of the person in front, I try to capture their essence... knowing all the while the connection we both share. The gaze, of me objectively looking and them holding my gaze or knowing it's there.
I just thought I'd share that with you. Now to figure out a series that will be ok for my endof semester showing... (wish me luck)

Deitreich

My lino print in Print media.
My concept was the battle within.
The inner conscious, or voice that we keep hidden or silent,
The thoughts that shape our foundations and yeild our strength.
I'm so messy, I was amazed I managed to keep the border clear and white in class.
lino prints (through presses) come out clear and sharp. I am really enjoying my printmedia classes, I'm often the last to leave and stay behind to clean up.

Weekends that last 5 seconds

Eggs Florentine,
Thick, soft sunshine.
French Fairs,
Fruit salad,
Words written in the sky,
Paintings by the seaside,
Dinner with friends,
nightmares, ghost stories.
Driving home,
Sleeping till midday,
Lunch breakfeasts
Beach travels,
curved bays, coloured sea shacks,
gelati,
candy,
the ends :(