some thoughts on workshops ...

Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.


~ Mary Oliver



Yesterday I started a series of workshops at Percolator Gallery .... I'll return with some images of that soon. One of the participants, Katrina Stirling,  has already posted at her blog on the workshop which was wonderful to discover.

"Colours of nature" is a workshop I put together as a way to combine my love of both .... and to offer others a chance to think much more about what is the relationship they have with color... and also perhaps nature.

This small drawing below is one of Katrina's from the class which she had posted on the blog... click on her name above to read that post!

Katrina Stirling

The small poem above by Mary Oliver perhaps best describes the essence for me of what it means to  respond to the natural world. If one looks closely enough there is much to be astonished about and tell of! And it does require we pay attention.

That is something that I like to think workshops provide a wonderful opportunity for... not only does the facilitator bring things forward for others to pay attention to ... but each participant is likely also to present some insight and a certain quality of thinking and feeling that might also resonate with others and prove invaluable...

NEW WORK - PAINTINGS AND SMALL COLOUR EXERCISES

"perennial symbols from the botanic realm"

This is the not quite finished, not perfectly photographed work from a couple of months ago that today I updated onto my website. I retitled it from the working title... so now it will be known as ...
  "perennial symbols from the botanic realm" A diptych it's 150 cm x 150 cm and is acrylic and canvas on linen.

The website I've been using is a free website ... Weebly ... and I put it together last year in something of a hurry ... thinking perhaps it might need to be replaced at a later date. I have found it surprisingly workable...  with improvements being made by the provider frequently... or more likely my grasp of what's possible improves as I go along.

I found a new slideshow facility today at the website that wasn't on offer last year .... so if you click here you can go see for yourself the new work I've posted up... some paintings and a series of small exercises on canvas boards.

I was delighted to have wonderful blogger friend Mary Zeran post this work above titled "nature patterning" and other works on Tumblr this week which happily brought a little traffic my way... 
Thanks Mary!


Then I discovered South African Robyn Gordon of Art Propelled renown had posted this on tumblr below... thanks Robyn!!!

close-up

artpropelled:

Painting by Sophie Munns
“I really do prefer to give the ideas time to surface… and I need to work repetatively with impulses to make them part of my vocabulary or language… a way has to be found into the rhythm that works … quite simply.”  -  Sophie Munns

This was a lovely surprise as she quoted me with the image which is actually a close-up of this work titled "Contiuum II" below:

Contiuum II

You'll also notice a series of 8 works like this one below, each 20 x 20 cm, on canvas boards that were little exercises in colour really... Ive included them in the slideshow viewing as well.

"ovatus viii"

recent work from the studio: Colour Reverie

Last night  I downloaded images from my camera of recent work and wrote about it at my main blog which I update most frequently as a link to various other sites I have. Click here to read that post and see new work and visual exercises I've been playing with.

Im really valuing not feeling pressured in the studio so far this year... although .... there's been limited time for painting as other projects come to the fore. Just the same, its a crucial period of renewal and reflection on previous work and taking to live with some of the key imagery from last year to ponder where I am with it before things get too busy again. When one is not able to paint often it certainly then becomes a most enjoyable and deep pleasure.

In this image the blue/white under-layer contains seed pod forms floating in space rather like they do when being dispersed on wind or water. The over-laying curtain of white ink circular forms are cross-sections motifs of seed capsules ... representing the continuity and infinite cycles that is nature and seeds. Blue is a fresh departure - its been quote a while since I really worked with it... but often the sky is the backdrop to seedpods as they appear on trees and bushes silhouetted against the sky.

I'll post more images here soon..

Thinking a lot about colour at the moment... bookings are coming in for the "Colours of nature" workshops... see the previous post to read more on that! 

Or send me an email and I'll forward the details!

         e: sophiemunns @ iinet . net . au 

Book now for workshops - The Colours of Nature" at Percolator Gallery in June - July

       To read all about these workshops I'm conducting at          

++++++++++++++ Percolator   Gallery +++++++++    

           Saturdays... June 25,  July 9 & 23  10 - 3 pm                    

 click on the flyer below so it can be viewed in the proper size 

Percolator Gallery is in the heart of Brisbane's Paddington Gallery Precinct.From August 2010 to January 2011 I was beneficiary of a Studio Residency here whilst conducting the Homage to the Seed Residency at nearby Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens.  Percolator Gallery has space available to hire for exhibitions and I'm very grateful to Helena Lloyd for creating this possibility for me to return to the Gallery to present this series of classes.

If you click on the flyer you can see all the necessary contact details there and do sen me a note if you'd like to know more.
Its worth noting that this class is designed to appeal to people of all different skills levels and backgrounds.  My particular approach is to encourage taking the time to become sensitised to the variations of colours to be found in the natural world... using mixed media and also magnifiying glasses to observe things more closely... then to work on finding how to create those colour relationships you observe up close... perhaps avoiding habitual ways of working with colour and expanding your sense of possibilities in so doing.

3 dates are available ... if you attend more then one class you'll be encouraged to set up to paint on canvas the next lesson. Further dates will become available so let me know if you think you'd like to  participate and we'll find dates to suit... or if you actually wish to do ongoing classes... even in another location.

Hope to hear from you if you live in this region and would like to know more ... I'm also happy to do retreats in other locations too!

NB: click flyer for all details.