What's in the bag

Guess where I went on Saturday. That's right, the Reverse garbage art truck. For twenty five Aussie dollars you get to fill a large garbage bag with whatever you can fit in it. I came away with heaps of fabric, foam blocks, circle shapes, carpet spools, wire mesh, tape and timber dowels. It's always interesting to go to these depots, there are two as far as I know. They have such an array of off cuts and waste products that are fabulous for art projects.

Below is a sample of what was in the bag, there was lots of fabric that's not visible.






After that we went to the beach at Mornington on the Peninsula and had a lovely lunch and wandered around the shops, they have some nice ones. The weather was perfect. I always take a journal with me wherever I go and usually do a quick sketch of the setting and then add their business card to the page, it brings back lovely memories when I peruse my journal at a later date.



Finally today I made an effort to clean up my jewellery table, I think this is about as good as it will get. I like to have my 'stuff' around as I work. The two white polystyrene boxes at the ends of the table are packaging from computer boxes. They have compartments in them that are great for holding my tools and all the other odds and ends that go with the trade.

The necklace I'm working on at the moment is just visible at the bottom of the photo and will go on my Etsy store when it's finished. I'm naming it 'The Sewer', it's comprised of lots of sewing related items including my fabric beads, a swatch 'book' of fabric held together with very old buttons, an attachment from a very old sewing machine, a bobbin and press studs and hooks.

Journal frenzy

I'm a bit sore and sorry at present, I had a tooth removed tonight and the injections wearing off, it hasn't stopped me from doing art though, they'd have to take my whole mouthful of teeth before that happens.

I've been so keen to start a new DJ journal using my colours and art. Last night I dyed a whole lot of fabrics and doilies in bright colours to use between signatures.




Decorated some papers using my stamps





Sketched some poppy seed heads, figs and flowers, then painted them with my Caran d'ache water colour crayons.
Cut them up and added them to my papers. I cut the daisy in half and used it on two pages.












I still have to make some more signature wraps and some more artwork for the pages, then assemble the journal. I really love all of the processes in these books, they're fun to make.

Fabulous lady, fabulous workshop

I had the great fortune to attend a journal workshop on Saturday with the wonderful DJ Pettit. What a fabulous person and teacher she is. So kind and generous sharing her techniques and offering so much encouragement along the way. If you ever get the chance to take one of DJ's workshops you won't regret it, she has so much to offer.

Below are some of the pages in my book that I made in class and finished at home. DJ gave us some postcards of her art, I also bought some too. I've dedicated this journal to her class, so it features lots of DJ's art and some of mine. I'm looking forward to making another one incorporating some more of my style inside.












I also met two more talented ladies in Stephanie Lee and Bernie Berlin I would have liked to have done their classes too but the ones I wanted to do clashed with DJ's and that's been on my list for years.

The retreat was organised by Bevlea Ross. Bevlea did a wonderful job, I was only there for one of the days, but from what I can gather it ran very smoothly, it was in a lovely venue with great views from all rooms.

I managed to catch up with some of my ABRR mates including Ursula, Megan and Jan. I got to meet the very talented and lovely lady Nic Hohn, she's such a kind and gentle soul, it's well worth a visit to her blog and web site to see her lovely work.. Dneese from grrl and dog was there too, as was Jen, Jacky, Dot, Julia, Julie H, Christina and Kelsy and some of my altered book regulars Anne, Joy and Sue, as well as lots of new talented people.

All in all a great time was had by all.

Tiny books and figs

I created these miniature books after being inspired by the ones Jo and Janette had when they demonstrated at their exhibition.
They are tiny collages made from scraps of my decorated papers and fabrics. These were given to four lovely ladies I had lunch with on Sunday.




Last Sunday we had breakfast at a lovely local cafe. They had this great display of figs in a vase. I love the shape and colour of figs in all their various stages. I came home and carved a stamp from my photos. The last picture is a pastel painting I did some years ago of very ripe figs with all of their wonderful purple hues.

Printing

I went again on Saturday to see Jo and her group of five very talented ladies' exhibition. They were demonstrating some of their techniques. It was wonderful to watch them work in totally different fields, producing some wonderful things in such different, limited surroundings to their usual studio spaces.

I was impressed with everything, but really had to have a go at print making. I started out using some of Jo's techniques, but not having the right inks, press or plates I adapted things I had to suit. I used acrylic paint mixed with a retarding agent and some very old paper that I've been using for experiments. I also used my stamps for added decoration, then sprayed with pigments and scribbled and added more colour with oil sticks. Below are some of the results.









This has to be my favourite piece, a painting done my my two and a half year old granddaughter for her RoRo. I love it.



Seth has a challenge happening on his blog called Disintegration Challenge, I decided to give it a go and see what happens. Mine are acrylic painted papers with eucalyptus leaves between the papers, all tied together with raffia. The idea is to leave them exposed to the elements then on May 1st check them out to see what has happened. We have another horrible day forecast for Tuesday, temperature of 36c and 150 kph winds, I hope they survive.