{studio archive}

whats been keeping me busy of late?

2012-01-28T00:24:00.000+10:00

In January I could no longer ignore the obvious... if I wanted to feel focused this year the studio required complete reorganisation of all available space. Here are some images from after the clearn-up... no 'before' shots... far too hectic then indeed!

My new scrubbed up table with a basket of macadamia nuts and carved seed pod all the way from Central Australia thanks to the wonderful Candy Herne who lives in the rainforest near Montville, north of Brisbane.

Low res photos... can see the floor and the table top... pop the cork ... I am celebrating at this point.

Its as if the space has expanded...

A new vista for when working at the desk top computer in the room next to my studio. I'm loving that separation between studio and computer!

I got this already in a hurry last weekend in time for Sundays first workshop here. The walls needed something so I found various pieces that were ideal to place here.

Every book, art material whatever it was found a home... shelves were repacked and anything possible to get rid of was sent elsewhere!

Love these filing shelves

The tall shelf is where the desk top used to be... but in the end it was just too crammed in and this is neater... so I am very pleased with the new arrangement.

Cup of tea in the studio anyone?

The nearby kitchen is always handy!

... and a table on the back veranda next to the studio for those times one wanted to sit or ponder or work somewhere more open.

Loved having a small all day workshop here last Sunday... worth cleaning up the studio for! Messy work was conducted out the back on the grass by industrious participants Sue, Lorraine and Wendy.

This was the day before the heaviest rain we've had in ages... I was glad for the excellent weather... we had a great day!

From outside back into the studio

Two of the class members were continuing ideas stated last year in the Colour workshops. Sunday we worked on calico rather than paper... it will later be collaged onto canvas. This is a technique Ive been using over the past five years and it worked really well here. I shot a couple of pics... missed out on getting all the work.... must have been side-tracked!

some work was done in journals...

The rest of the time calico was the perfect canvas... lots of experimentation was the order of the day... finding what worked on fabric and how that was different than paper.

Great to see the range of approaches. We looked at diverse artists for inspiration. Brice Marsden's work led to collecting twigs and trying them out as painting tools instead of brushes.

Geometry in various forms of art was another tangent.

This was a fascinating botanical item we had trouble identifying ... any ideas!

Great rethinking colour and surface...

after the workshop... the table top has disappeared.

The room was well and truly christened for the year's work to take place in. It feels so much better than the highly packed space it was before. I spent the week working on concertina books ...picking up where the class left off.

Photos of that to come next!

the emerging motif

2012-01-23T09:06:00.002+10:00

In 2004 I was working virtually full-time teaching, but carried a journal with me religiously and would get it out in any meeting I was stuck in and begin putting things down. Simple forms and lines... not thinking consciously for the most part. I let the pen be moved by my hand as if the hand was doing the thinking and meanwhile I dipped in and out of the talk from the meetings.

somewhere in that time I put down the lines that became eventually this form...

and later was put into hundreds of compositions small and large it was such a persistent motif

After a couple of years I was so uncomfortable with this compelling motif which felt like an incomprehensible interloper that I tried to pack it away ... but it would NOT leave!

By 2008 I realised it was here to stay so I no longer fought it and gave it space to emerge in my

work whenever. It evolved into the fully fledged 'homage to the seed' project the following year seemingly as if the motif had been heralding it all the long... seeds within a pod!

I found other drawings from around the time of the ones above in 2004 that demonstrate this clearly. This is why I have so much respect for journals as a way to track the emergent ideas.

Last night I worked in another concertina book and the form that wanted to live in there was once again this ovoid pod form. The feeling I get as I work on this abstracted form is that of something living in me that has to be put out into the light of day... its feels like a story that needs to be told... I actually get that sense of urgency when I work with this motif...even now... in 2012... that's 8 years on from when it first emerged.

This really feels like such a mysterious element in my work... reminding one that compelling forces are at work within us all and we do have to pay attention!

working in transit... the mobile studio

2012-01-20T12:03:00.000+10:00

Last night I returned from time out up the coast and put together a post on that at my visual eclectica blog this morning.

I packed up some ink, watercolours and various journals and found some space to work sitting in cafes as well as at the holiday apartment. Hers a few mages from a cafe setting.

This is cotton rag paper ...a khaki journal i've been using lately... figuring out the best ways to enhance the qualities inherent in both paper and materials.

This concertina book is a really engaging surface to paint on...

If i tire of a section i rework it or introduce other colours etc

that can mean adding or subtracting in a way that one regrets at times

but in order to give life to something that is par for the course!

In a way there are a lot of ideas stored in one small series of works in this concertina book.

Back to the cloth journal ... simple mono-prints

and these are a few images of the other side of the concertina book...

I started this journal at the Kew Mlllennium Seed Bank and have added to it now over several work sessions in the past few months. Ive got 4 more concertina books to use at some point and am looking forward to seeing what is generated by using this format.

mono-printed page in the cloth book

mono-printed pages

working with textured marks

More work from Journals: 2008

2011

and November 2011

I could post pages of journal images. Much to do... I'd best get moving now.

ideas emerging...

2012-01-13T01:07:00.001+10:00

Yesterday I went along to GoMA for the afternoon to see Matisse: Drawing Life. I just found this bloggger's impression of viewing the show.... I never thought of bringing my camera! I was simply keen to see his work!

Sometimes I am put off the big block-buster nature of these shows, but on my mind was the thought it would be foolish indeed to miss out seeing an artist whose work I have long considered of major importance to my own thinking on art, quite apart from his international stature!

My enthusiasm to think about this artist revives periodically... always there is a freshness of seeing that astounds me... the other thing I enjoy is the fact of his dilligent long career and continual effort at drawing and painting. Hilary Spurling's thick and extremely well-done Biography is two parts has forever planted many an image in my mind. They gave rise to a great deal of thinking and add greatly to why his story as well as his work has resonance for me. Something about the nature of time especially is all the more vivid for this reading.

The exhibition did not disappoint.... I will likely to return for such a treat it was to cast my eyes over each work and drink in the lines, the nuances of each. His boldness was immense... the readiness to lose control in the effort to make an image that was animated struck me. Frequently drawings were un-beautiful... and then they were astonishing beautiful like this one below.

Far more so in life. When I later looked at a reproduction after having viewed the work I was stunned at the difference...at my memory of the glow from the paper. Such purity of line and perfection of composition... economy of line.

The fact that there were numbers of Matisse's books featured made the exhibition all the more intense and rewarding. As I am currently thinking about the next book I will be working on I looked keenly to see what I might learn.

Matisse in the James C Sourris, AM, Collection of Rare Books - via here.

On display in the exhibition ‘Henri Matisse: Drawing Life’ until 4 March 2012, are rare and important books, journals and exhibition catalogues from the James C Sourris, AM, Collection of Rare Books. Held in the Queensland Art Gallery Research Library, these publications dating from 1936 to 1956, offer contextual background and a glimpse into Matisse’s oeuvre of the time.

A highlight of the collection is Verve. In December 1937, Tériade (Efstratios Eleftheriades 1897—1983) established the journal Verve, which he would edit until 1960. A quarterly review of arts, letters and literature, Vervewas noted for its high production values and lavish design, having been ‘conceived as a work of art in its own right.’1 It brought together the art of diverse countries and eras and featured numerous texts by both artists and writers, including Henri Matisse, Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, James Joyce, Marc Chagall, Jean—Paul Sartre, Man Ray, Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, Henri Cartier—Bresson and Joan Miró.

Matisse designed the cover of the inaugural issue for his friend Tériade: a nude drawn in Indian ink within a composition that is effectively his first paper cut—out, with the journal’s title appearing along the edge in calligraphic script. Matisse also contributed linocuts and lithographic prints for the third and fourth issues, such as a green, red and black variation of La Danse 1909—10, framed with pieces of paper painted with blue, yellow and black gouache.

For the eighth issue (summer 1940), entitled ‘La Symphonie chromatique’ (Symphony of colour), Matisse composed a cover using 26 differently coloured papers, ‘at once realistic and symbolic; it conveys the impression of multicolored precious stones strewn across a black cloth’,2 necessitating 26 passages through the lithographic press — an extraordinary feat for a printed journal. Tériade edited three special issues of Verve on Matisse’s paintings of the 1940s and his final paper cut-outs.

From the Gallery I went on to the State Library where I found refuge in the Asia Pacific Design Library with its wonderful adjacent reading space.... not shown here.

With the temperature outside 37 degrees I was glad to stay till 8pm closing. I browsed the collection of books and magazines and will get back there soon to read other publications of interest.

I also picked up copies of Art Forum Magazine from 2011, musing over various artist's work ... particularly that of Philip Taaffe whom I posted on at my other blog last night.

Something was triggered seeing the Matisse show that I picked up on afterwards reading about Taaffe. A number of elements... the most obvious was the decorative theme of both, which in both cases has far deeper significance than is sometimes acknowledged. I will need to come back to this as its late and its worthy of more focus.

It is certainly timely to be reconsidering what came up yesterday as I am getting ready to embark on the next phase of painting, having reorganised my studio from top to bottom. A few days to chew over what to push ahead with in the next series of artworks is helpful ... also thinking about the book which is on the agenda for this year. I want to work visually for awhile before getting bogged down in words and ideas.

a fresh start... a new year

2012-01-01T09:35:00.001+10:00

Happy New Year everyone!

Ive not had my camera out of its case much in the last month... first it was the catch up on all kinds of tasks after a huge year and OS travel... then it was writing the E-newsletter. After all that it was the need to get stuck into the paints in the studio again.

I have so many photos from the trip Ive not posted...so I might work on that next. It was fun creating a new header for this blog a few days ago. The image is from the greenhouse at the Millennium Seedbank.

I turned my attention to creating a new header for this blog (below)... not sure how long this one will last here... but the good thing about the casual nature of thus studio archive blog is that it is a place where I am happy to plant around. Its not a website... theres no formality here. I like that I can try things out and write down odd thoughts....much like one does in a journal!

The image below was on the header till recently ... this is where I was mid-year!

And before that was this header... the residency year.... seeds everywhere...and the oval paintings!

This one below reflects 2009.... its actually a painting turned on its side that I did with collaged fabric. I remember enjoying the colours in this one...it was called "coastal reverie" and does capture the moods for me of this region at the coast.

Well.... lets see what 2012 brings ... may your year be filled with enriching journeys of whatever kind you find yourself taking!

PS:

I wrote about my trip to St Ives in Cornwall in October at this blog... and the lovely Carolyn, the blogger I introduced in that post, wrote a little also about that visit here in her wonderful blog.

Carolyn Saxby has a thing for colour that many admire... this reflects her way of working. She walks daily if possible in her wonderful hometown of St Ives in Cornwall ... collecting things as she goes... perhaps making a drawing ... definitely takes shots... and later she works at bringing the colours to life!

Thanks Carolyn for sharing your wonderful stories and showing me around. My visit to St Ives was brief but the memories are long!

getting ready for the new year...

2011-12-30T08:43:00.001+10:00

A quick post today before I get into the interior painting I have taken on... see visual eclectica blog for that story! Its the time of the year that, given I am home on holidays, there is a chance to rethink and remake... starting with the new header here. Not sure how long it will be kept... but change as they say... you know the rest!

I have so many ideas, projects and studio/painting plans that I decided could wait whilst I freshened up my home and created some all important order in my domestic scenario. The beauty of that is you find things that will ultimately be used in the work... and you clear your head in a way that allows for more calm and order ... a very good thing!

Ive added these photos from my UK residency at the Millennium Seed bank in West Sussex. I wrote extensively about the UK Research trip in my latest E-Newsletter available from mid December. You'll find an overview and extensive notes on the places I visited with plenty of photos along the way!

E-newsletter header

Home over a month now I am still realising how many photos I took that I haven't yet looked at properly. Around xmas day I worked on journal and postcards I started over there... but I've not been getting round to taking photos at the moment. Something I must amend as there are a number of things I wish to capture.

This was my desk workspace in my room at the MSB. It was set in the midst of a huge estate and Botanic Garden at Wakehurst Place. You can read all about that in my latest E-Newsletter.

The journal I managed to work on extensively in my stage... here opened at a watercolour drawing of a fossil seed cupule.

Pages from the journal...

painting in my mind!

2011-12-11T00:25:00.001+10:00

I've had a huge couple of weeks writing... so the painting is on hold at present!

Tonight ... after yet another long day writing about my UK trip for a report... and also completing the E-newslteer about to go out anyday now.... I started viewing images on my tumblr site Seed Capsules.
I changed the template I use some months ago and now I really do have a site that has images tumbling out of the screen. You can scroll on and on and the view is of two columns with just a narrow band between images. I was sitting at my large desk top screen remembering each image I've reblogged there and marvelling at the density of visual stimulation and intellectual property in the collection of images which rolls out.

Its really quite inspiring to receive this outpouring... OK...its only a smallish screen image, not necessarily good resolution in most... and yet the magic and potency of certain images does seem apparent. Some images have a kind of totemic power to them... they actually convey qualities that touch one. I do find that curious and surprising. Mac computers have that light behind the screen and a lovely clarity...is that all it is....
i don't think so.

Go see if you see what I mean.... visit Seed Capsules here.

WHat i found scrolling through these images was a certain lushness in some... wonderful painterly qualities, others its the compositions or shapes... whatever... what it did do is make me feel really keen to again get immersed in the paint. Haven't had a chance to paint since that short trip to the coast and before that at the Millennium Seed bank. I'm glad Xmas is coming up... i want to make the most of some free time!

I don't like to post anyone else's images here simply because it might create confusion... but these two images stood out tonight and reminded me of qualities I like in a work.

suchasensualdestroyer:

Aboriginal (unknown group, Kimberley, Western Australia), Pendant, pigment/pearl shell, c. mid-20th c.

(via huamao)

Martin Assig
Nur M. 1996
Enkaustik auf Leinwand.
160 x 100 cm.

MORE

This is by the same artist and was at the link above as well:

Martin Assig

Beide Fridas
1999. Enkaustik und Tempera auf Holz. 185 x 136 cm.

Interesting to take time to appreciate how someone uses their materials and works the surface ... colour...composition. Things to think about here.

well thats my experience tonight of 'painting in my mind'... as I slowly mused my way through all the images I found paintings being prompted from my own free flowing thoughts and associations.

so my task is to try and realise some of the promptings from my imagination....

stay tuned!

Taking time to reflect on the UK Research Trip

2011-11-25T09:51:00.001+10:00

The seventh day home and I'm starting to feel more alive. A friend called Monday with a wonderful offer to go down the coast for a few days. So early Tuesday morning I packed up drawing materials, computer and notes from my trip to get a little more focused on documenting the trip. Home last night I am now relishing the fact that was such a well-timed surprise.

I did in fact have an excellent opportunity to review the OS experience, do some watercolour painting whilst sitting in a cafe for four hours, in deep concentration, and of course engage in good conversation processing everything with my friend.

I also visited a local ceramic artist in Brunswick Heads who I have blogged about before. A late afternoon walk on the beach, paddling, mooching around, collecting small round stones, led to photos... as yet to be downloaded. The grey afternoon was trying to rain...

It was very peaceful and in a way the misty grey swallowing up the definition of horizon and all was just right for the mood I was in ... soothing and enveloping.

I will post photos soon of this short trip south.

This is a quick ink drawing done whilst at the Millennium Seedbank... all australian seeds.

Home again In Brisbane after Oct-Nov UK trip

2011-11-20T11:22:00.001+10:00

Back home in Brisbane as of yesterday and I now have the considerable task of getting documentation of the trip up-to-date, following up with contacts made whilst away and working with al the material I produced whilst away.

Challenging yes...but in a good way. It always seems to take time to absorb the impressions and experiences of a trip like this... nine days short of two months away.

Images from my time at the MSB... top left works were done on A4 paper recycled in the library... drawing straight over the scientific research notes. There was no end of stimulus for the studio...

Work on large paper ... simple pattern making ... on the right: cross sections of seed capsules and fruits.

Fellow residents on the last night of my residency... in the staff room where I spent the weekend painting.

Marco left from Sardinia, Giangelo from Brazil, Shahid from Pakistan, Efisio form Sardinia and Gisele from Brazil. They were all doing Seed Research projects... so interesting conversations were had learn ng about their respective countries and projects.

This image above and below is of the artwork produced at the end of the Kew MSB Residency ... on the final weekend I worked on a large linen cloth with acrylic paint and pigmented ink... about a metre square. It was presented to the Director Paul Smith for the Millennium Seedbank Project as a gift in appreciation of my time at Wakefield Place.

With my three weeks given over to a long list of tasks ... time to paint a specific work was limited to the last weekend... so I was somewhat under pressure to produce something fitting the gift I wished to leave in that time frame.

The other challenge was to crete a work that could be hung easily despite my not having access to my usual materials. This work was put together as a wall hanging to save the trouble and expense of framing. It was a bus tip and train trip to get to Brighton to buy some of the necessary materials as it was... so this was an ideal format given the circumstances.

I took the title "Counting the Inheritance' I had used before for this work as it seem so fitting given the critical role the MSB plays in working with the planet's Seed Inheritance.

After leaving the MSB I headed for two weeks in London. These drawings are from an afternoon spent at the Natural History Museum where I visited the Darwin Centre and went behind the scenes to view the fossil collections and make notes and drawings on fossil seeds.

I will be back offer the coming weeks with more installments from the trip. Do visit the Homage to the Seed blog and particularly my main blog where I have been adding posts on this trip.

new work: this week at Wakehurst Place

2011-10-23T01:07:00.001+10:00

This is a very quick post ... rushing to get this done whilst sitting at my laptop in the Apple Store in Brighton which is half an hour from the Millennium Seed Bank inWest Sussex.

I posted also last night at the Homage blog...so you can read a little more over there.

I have many images to share...will catch up soon with posting.

Things are proceeding well. So much to take in here... three weeks is not long .. buts its very memorable nevertheless!

a new journal... and an ode to St Ives!

2011-10-05T05:12:00.001+10:00

Since my last post I have packed my bags, put the 'gone fishing' sign on my studio door and travelled to the UK via Korea ... arriving last thursday into a heat wave in London... or should I say Indian Summer... a more poetic term.

I took a train from Paddington to St Ives on Saturday which was spectacularly good timing .. a blissful place to be in the heat. Sunday was well spent visiting the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Gardens first up... then meeting lovely blogger Carolyn Saxby whom I found thoroughly delightful and good company as we made our way around her home town. Three or so hours went very quickly and I was much the wiser about this south-western spot afterwards.

It was a genuine treat to meet someone so ensconced in their environment and nourished in her artistic process by a genuine love of this place.

I have borrowed these photos from Carolyn's blog to pad out my story. If you pop over and visit her you will soon find various other sites she keeps.. Flickr, her other blog, and online shops and more!

I had to put in these images by Carolyn... especially the one's of her beachcombing finds... we didn't have much time but I saw her in action ...she has a keen eye I must say!

one of Carolyn's books full of things that inspire her.

close up

a knitting project

Unfortunately it was far too brief a visit to warrant getting all my art materials out ...as much as the place lends itself to interpretation. I bought a small book on artist Elaine Pamphilon at the Tate Gallery bookshop.

Early Morning Blush with Beach River, mixed media on canvas 120x 150 cm £5250
by Elaine Pamphilon

The Red Lion
Medium: Mixed media on canvas
Size: 100 x 120 cm

Whilst in the Tate St Ives Bookshop I spotted the work of Rachel Nicholson, daughter of Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. There was a comprehensive book and postcards available... after walking the narrow alleyways and drinking in the subdued colours of this place I was quite taken with this artist's work.

The book

Read Carolyn's post on this artist from 2010.

Ben Nicholsen

Read about Ben Nicholson and other artists from St Ives.

Ben Nicholson

I found the colours that were prevalent in much of the work from this area very appealing. Walking the narrow streets, observing the houses and colours was very much in keeping with the works I was viewing.

Ben Nicholson

I spent a wonderful morning at Barbara Hepworth's Garden...

It struck me how much her love of form had resonance for my work... the love of the ovoid shape and cut-out hole. I've long admired her work and hankered to see it in life... but never conciously saw what was felt rather obvious when viewing her work on Sunday.

View the photos of this wonderful Sculpture Garden at my Visual Arts Blog.

the book

Visiting the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden is a unique experience, offering a remarkable insight into the work and outlook of one of Britain's most important twentieth century artists. Sculptures in bronze, stone and wood are on display in the Museum and Garden, along with paintings, drawings and archive material.

Barbara Hepworth first came to live in Cornwall with her husband Ben Nicholson and their young family at the outbreak of war in 1939. She lived and worked in Trewyn studios, now the Hepworth Museum, from 1949 until her death in 1975. Following her wish to establish her home and studio as a museum of her work, Trewyn Studio and much of the artist's work remaining there was given to the nation and placed in the care of the Tate Gallery in 1980.

'Finding Trewyn Studio was a sort of magic', wrote Barbara Hepworth; 'here was a studio, a yard and garden where I could work in open air and space'. When she first arrived at Trewyn Studio, Hepworth was still largely preoccupied with stone and wood carving, but during the 1950s she increasingly made sculpture in bronze as well. This led her to create works on a more monumental scale, for which she used the garden as a viewing area. The bronzes now in the garden are seen in the environment for which they were created, and most are in the positions in which the artist herself placed them. The garden itself was laid out by Barbara Hepworth with help from a friend, the composer Priaulx Rainier.

Explore Barbara's Garden online.

Text from the Tate Website.

Visit the website for Barbara Hepworth here.

Read text from her writings here.

the museum

As for my artistic process... I'm spending the week at the Eden Project and Ive taken loads of photos but not yet found time to sit and draw... except for this moment yesterday.

I joined in an activity where colours had been made from common plants ... it was an enjoyable moment in a rather busy day where I certainly wore in my new shoes.

Beetroot, chili, tumeric, spirulina, coffee and more.

Hop over to the Homage blog to read much more about the Eden Project visit... I took quite a lot of photos. I look forward to getting more into the art process over the coming weeks... but photos will capture some of the things I want to return to at my leisure.
Thanks to all of you who have been leaving messages whilst I'm on the move and not very communicative!

keeping records of time passing in the studio....

2011-09-25T01:08:00.003+10:00

Studio archive is such a useful name to describe that which ends up lurking around one's studio. Notebooks, journals, art materials and surfaces, works completed or not, large and small, one's better works and the others... the old nd new..it all informs us ... oneself and others who may pass through the space.

Then theres the tell-tale signs of exhibitions, posters, promo material... all of it belongs here... I like the freedom of have a place to note the goings on when there's time... here at this blog and also at the visual tumbr blog... as shown below!

Its all too easy to get to the end of the year and think 'oh i mean to get this done or pull that together' ... sometimes you just have to be glad for what did get done and what things did materialise... and looking back through 'archival material' its all too evident... time has to be put into small details at times to ensure things come together... so its a good idea to be realistic about what it takes to move forward and cherish the experience as its unfolding!

The other thing I did recently which is great for recognising what's been unfolding was put together the third edition of the Studio and Project 'Homage the seed' E-newsletter.

Click on that and go see whats been happening since June... I surprised myself when remembering it all... it really was an amazing few months. The OS trip starting this week I am so ready for... the time will go fast but I relish the thought of being able to gaze from train windows and have those moments of pure reverie... at present that's what I am focused on!

Time to observe and muse on things!
In new surroundings...

what's hiding in the archives?

2011-09-20T12:20:00.002+10:00

I am putting these up here for a friend to look at who is interested in seeing these works on their own.. she hard picked then out of studio photo. Makes me wonder why i never put work up here like that .... and price tag. The works are for sale...only a few I can't bear to part ewith... I'm getting better... maybe I will do that before my trip as I have a few people coming by ... viewing and purchasing work at the moment after the huge Art Weekend recently held here.

parallel universe I 45 x 45 cm acrylic and ink on canvas

Qld rainforest seed capsules- cross sections

exhibition last June of these works ... all rainforest fruits seed capsules

Mmm..seriously needs to be rephotographed...this has the most wonderful iron oxide pigment
from Western Australia and is very rich and sensual smaller work .... the close top below is
also not accurate... and that colour in the background is not blue! Must do something
about this.... its painted on a good wooden surface too...rather appealing!

confounding times with tech stuff!

2011-09-12T00:00:00.003+10:00

Getting used to the new laptop is confounding at times. Luckily I'm making the most of the year-long offer of classes at the Apple store! Even so it's not always the case that I get in there with the questions i need to ask at the right time!

I have a three year old desk top which I have come to know my way around OK and now I find that some functions on the new up-to-date-you-beaut-machine are far too clever for me to know whats going on!

I guess if I just persist things will reveal themselves to me... but I do get that sinking feeling when putting images up on i-photo and suddenly old processes no longer translate into action. Given that I am even more at sixes and sevens with my new supposedly simple camera and its downloading functions I find it a little unnerving that just as I'm about to go off on a research trip I'm still fiddling with the basics of these tools i like to rely on.

small work on an uneven block of cedar wood - acrylic and ink

I did this little work a couple of years ago when I found some interesting blocks of cedar to paint on. I always meant to keep my eye out for more of this fabulous material to work on as it was easy to gesso and work with, had the most wonderful scent and I loved the texture of the wood that was coming through... and in this one the fact of two odd sizes of cedar being glued together in a way that added something pleasing to the composition.

Friday I had a wonderful search for art material through online art suppliers in the UK! I posted here on that... and found these inks which i would love to puddle around with.

Abraxas Inks

Made in Switzerland. Enviromentally friendly inks, made to the highest standard from natural ingredients. Handcrafted using traditional methods, each bottle is filled individually, corked and labelled with a hand coloured label. Information on the different ingredients used available on request.

This got me really thinking about all the possible mediums I could work with ....and surfaces... Go see that post to read where these inks are found!

Well ...its been a very busy week tying up loose ends after last week's huge event. The trip is coming closer and much still to organise.

I get by with a little help...

2011-09-06T00:49:00.003+10:00

... from my friends and family that is!

Really need to make a comment here at my studio blog about the sensational layers of support I've received of late to make the past weekend's big event at my home studio such a memorable and successful occasion. I just wrote up about the weekend over at my main blog ... but there is so much more that could be said.

Ever supportive family members... Russell and Olivia early sunday morning before visitors!

When I gave a talk on Sunday afternoon I was pleased to focus on this element of the artist's life. All the solo hours have to give way to moments of community and very often there is pressure ... various preparations ... that require calling on others for a hand, ideas, aid with promotion ... ultimately this means one cannot be a solo traveller and dismiss all important community connections.

I've been completely overwhelmed with fine support of late... and I wish to make some more fitting gesture of thanks than this mere mention here. So... to be updated soon!

musing on blue and brown...

2011-08-31T23:49:00.003+10:00

'the perennial conversation', 45 cm x 45 cm sq,

acrylic and ink on paper, fabric and canvas

Posting quickly tonight... its was so satisfying to complete a series of works this past week that had been on my mind for some time. Loading this here just now I found myself thinking about the colours blue and brown and how important they've been in my work for a while. Bit of an earth and sky thing. A few times this year I've heard people speak very eloquently about soil ... the imagery really caught my imagination. Sky and blue for me refer to space and time... a perennial interest is the ancient and what lingers today from down the centuries.

My favourite Sennelier inks come in a box of 4 ... or five? Must be five... two blues. two browns and a black have resulted in many a work that lingers on my mind....

close up using sennelier inks on ink

Love what these inks have allowed me to achieve... they are so rich, really have depth yet are very fluid... even when they dry there's that liquid quality!

image from 4 years ago... on paper ... looking at the colours

I was toying with in this quirky composition

a section of a work on paper ... from 4 years ago... using

sennelier inks... interesting how I prefer the other blue now

... a more prussian blue... earthier.

counting the inheritance

2011-08-30T18:08:00.002+10:00

downloading some images today I found this painting done in 2002 and it feels like the harbinger of much more recent works... seeds and pod like... also suggesting the infinity symbol...

I've named it 'counting the inheritance I'

One of the rainforest seed capsule works... cross-section of pod.

more soon... creating some order in the studio at last after a huge week. Only a few days to go to the WEEKEND ART EVENT here at my home studio.

the studio is bursting at the seams!

2011-08-26T19:48:00.000+10:00

With the Spring Art Sale on next weekend things are getting very busy in my studio as I seek things out that have been pushed aside and forgotten about. Someone rang this morning about some works on my website and I realised afterwards where some of the miniatures works were... on the wall in a bedroom.

I have been taking photos of works as I complete them ... or discover them .... but haven't as yet downloaded them. Trying madly to keep up with emails coming in and things to do... very busy time but enjoyable too! Thinking about painting is always stimulating.

I shall be back soon with photos...
cheerio,
Sophie

Visit this website events page for more on this:

Afterthought: Today I found a number of these small 10 cm square canvas boards. I've painted these at times figuring out ideas and colours and such. Love the discipline of doing small work ... the challenge of making something work ... instill it with energy. Its harder than it can at first seem! And its a great thing to do when restricted with time and space.

speaking about one's art practice and current project

2011-08-17T01:20:00.003+10:00

Since early June I've been telling the story of my art practice and current project in varied venues and contexts. After the velocity of last year's residency schedule the most welcome change of pace early this year meant time to reflect, process and plan anew. So... in late May ... when I conducted the Colours of Nature workshop at Caloundra for the Queensland Colour Society things started to take off again... plans rolling out... then a host of other opportunities sparking into life all at the same time.

the colours of nature: the nature of colours

All I can say is that it was crucial to have had those nourishing few months of quiet time...not that I wasn't busy in my studio. Years spent writing and documenting in a visual journal have made reflection a critical part of my Art Practice. I'd be lost without it. And, for me, the way I find a project matures is to have such stretches of time for 'burrowing in'... to hold still with what has formed to date and consider it more fully.

This school setting was an excellent community hub for a brilliant program of events, presentations and speakers on Sustainability - nothing had been forgotten in the planning and because of that I was able to link with all kinds of initiatives and people throughout this event.

It was also an opportunity to rethink the focus for the public talk and presentation stand. Photocopying pages of my journals and adding quotes ...all in black and white (very inexpensive at the copy shop)... I soon had a great wallpaper of ideas and images for the backdrop to the stand.

Preparing for this helped find the central things I wanted to communicate + earmark things to develop further. There's so much synthesising with this project...gathering endless info is pointless without the necessary sifting and distilling as I go.

The children I've taught in the last few years after school, when time permitted, have reminded me constantly of how they see the world. Very often this 'seeing' is dismissed... the value of observing how they navigate, learn and arrive at their conclusions not considered... yet... they can surprise one constantly with their perceptions and what it is they hold close to their hearts.

if we are very honest with ourselves... certain traits and passions may reveal themselves quite early on in our own lives and no matter what influences bear down over the years there's an underlying truth for each of us that can very often be spotted in the early stages of our individual journeys ...and may well be of perrennial resonance.

Last year was an immersion in ideas and experiences at a great rate of learning. The Seed Lab, the Botanic Gardens as a whole...and the web of connections they inhabit or orbit around. Thinking was a veritable banquet of possibilities.

This year has been about extracting essential components of the bigger picture....seeing the paradox in things... the more time to see and drill down the more complex and layered everything becomes.

And yet... the desire to speak to things of importance... to give shape and meaning to ideas.

Format: 20 slides, 20 seconds each, 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame. Pecha Kucha Brisbane is an event where any designer, artist, architect, interactive media or alike, are given the soapbox to present their designs, thoughts and ideas. Founded by Klein Dytham Architects (KDA) in Tokyo in 2003, Pecha Kucha (Japanese for 'the sound of conversation') has tapped into a demand for a forum in which creative work can be easily and informally shown. It has spread internationally to over 170 cities.

The Pecha Kucha evening was a grand example of this. On July 7th I joined 8 other speakers at Pecha Kucha ... 20 slides and 20 seconds each slide was certainly a gripping challenge. I wrote about it in my blogs in July... if the year was about this defining of the central story this night was it!

I became involved in July in "Homegrown - life in the Slow Lane" a project established by the Design Institute of Australia - Qld for the Southbank Corporation's 'Flavours of the Region' festival. I found myself on a team with 4 others creating an installation called 'back to basics'. It was actually an interesting collaboration. I got to really like the 4 on my team even though I was easily old enough to be Mother to them all. Our work was awarded second in the competition.

However I must say I was distracted by the ideas getting time and space through this project... like minds and curious minds...

This was the lectern for the empty shop come pop-up hub of the project. Vegetable boxes made a great stand. And below are the table settings which gave each of the teams a place to focus their theme.

This is the place setting for my team - team 8..... note the seeds of course!

Natalie Wright who was at the centre of this entire project... an amazing Tour de force!

Team 9: Seek, and you shall dine

Bunya nuts... looking at the indigneous food plants of this region.

Araucaria bidwilli - bunya pine

Team 5: Green Digital, Homegrown Variety.

The ordinary kitchen herb is the hero in this project...

I brought this herb home and planted it in this cup below.

I soon realised this was not such a good place to plant this herb and shifted it to the wheelbarrow garden outside. No photos of that yet!

In the last month or two I have presented about my project easily 10 times... and also run a whole series of workshops 'the colours of nature : the nature of colours'... for all ages and levels of experience. Each time though I was fascinated to see how the interactions with others and changing contexts shifted the focus considerably and the exploration of the topic.

I felt like I came away with far richer perspectives many times. Its been a densely satisfying and informing period.

And so many of those moments have led me to reflect significantly on the paintings I've done and wish to do. Interesting how the world comes to meet one as much as one goes to meet the world!

ANNOUNCING THE AUSTRALIAN CULTURAL FUND ...

2011-08-08T01:55:00.003+10:00

I do have an announcement to make ....

This flyer below (click the flyer to read a larger version) introduces the exciting research trip to the UK for the homage to the Seed project I started in February last year . I've mentioned this trip on various blog posts since it looked like becoming a possible reality.

At the Abaf or Australian Business Arts Foundation's AUSTRALIA CULTURAL FUND page you can read all about the project fund which I launched a week ago. The departure date is 28th of September with the 6 weeks to be spent in the UK.

If you visit this Australia Cultural Fund site you can read more fully about the project and residency I'll undertake in the UK.

Part of my news is that I have had some timely and very significant support come to me from

my community.

I had the great good fortune to get to know my local Artisan baker Richard Cotton and his delightful wife Caroline when I first spotted their bakery-cafe 3 years ago not far from where I live. Brewbakers, on Sandgate Rd, Albion,

recently become a most significant Donor through the Australian Cultural Fund in support of this Reasearch trip in October November.

They constantly get wonderful write ups... the most recent I found was in the Weekend Australian Magazine in May. I have a number of times mentioned them on my visual arts blog ... in no small

part for the quality of what they offer but also for the hub that it is ... and for many!

Many a grand idea has been hatched from a table in this cafe.. people meet here who come to play a greater role in one's life.... you discover something you really needed to know. Thats a god cafe as far as I am concerned.

Here are images from a recent visit on a busy morning!

What a wonderful place... when I discovered it a few years ago I had no idea that this place and the dedicated people behind it would play such an amazing role in my community life and now in serious art career pursuits.

I have long wanted to create a story about this venture...

Its been a source of inspiration for a number of reasons ...for me its the most lively (and delicious) example of a sustainable business that does far more than put a loaf of good quality bread on the table. Its does that superbly.. but over my morning coffees these past few years I watched the quality of interactions, and noted the way Richard would respond to customer queries about the bread... the fact he and all who work their can proudly list their ingredients and tell you of some engaging process in the making of the bread.

For now I must simply say what a great privilege it is to have been selected by this much-loved artisanal business to be the recipient of this level of great and generous support for my next endeavours.

Huge thanks Caroline, Richard, and of course Phoebe!!!

To visit the Australia Cultural Find website to read my profile click here.

Lines - Part II: conversations in paint...

2011-07-20T15:15:00.004+10:00

On Saturday three of us came together for a conversation with paint and crayons...

Imbi Davidson, Lara Nobel and myself.

We had a grand time ...what's better than virtually 8 hours of immersion in colour and talk when it's so central to what you are thinking about ... and each of the three people present bring their own world of ideas and orbit of movement and activity.

We started by drawing with the non-dominant hand to music...

ideal for getting to that space of responding through the senses and feeling self rather than the brain in overload! We drew for a while then a large piece of paper was found for us to try drawing together...as if conversing .... 3 hands moving all over the paper .. confusion about the space and whose marks were where. It didn't matter... it set the mood for the explorations to follow!

large work by Imbi, Lara and Sophie ... oil pastel on paper

Lara Nobel - 5th year architecture student at UQ

Lara and Imbi

Imbi

Imbi's work from the afternoon - paint is her middle name!

imbi davidson

lara nobel

some of the material we were looking at through the day...

Scribbly gum bark that Imbi brought from her land south of the border.

string paintings I was working on

lara nobel

Lara's first works in colour in ages... Uni demands mean its very rare for her to get near a box of oil pastels let alone paint. Her drawings for her work are architectural and in black and white ... certainly not free and explorative like these she explained.

It was great to se what she was doing ... a few more sessions and her former passion for art-making would be fully revived no doubt.

lara nobel

worked on this canvas in the later afternoon. Id pre-prepared the
underlayer so I kept working with string as I had for a couple of hours.

Hopefully I might be able to get some images of Lara's fantastic work for her 5th year of Architecture at UQ... not sure that I can access mages for her online... so back later with that. A little more on Imbi now before I close this post. When she exchanged emails last week and said

"happy you are in stripe land...i think my stripe phase is permanent...oh dear! "

I was so looking forward to collaborating with a fellow lover of the stripes ... and the conversations certainly flowed ... from her current masters on stripes... no... actually on botany and much more .. which was excellent to hear all about and pull apart. The places she has lived and all the stories that flow from that. It was also fascinating for us to reflect on the differences between how we think about painting and such and what it is for Lara to consider some the themes we discussed from her work in architecture.

Work found at Imbi's blog - links to her shows. Read a great story from The Australian about her work.

recent work

Imbi Davidson

southern cross
2009 Oil paint on canvas mail bag 121x144cm

Imbi Davidson

Blanket
2009 NZ woolen blanket dyed with galvanised fencing wire & Allosyncarpia 142x140cm

Well.. I hope to spend more time like that ...talk about fired up and productive ... yet it was so relaxing and such a chance to unwind!

Lines - part I: the elegant string theory...11 years on!

2011-07-20T14:52:00.004+10:00

Take a piece of string, dip it in paint and away...

On Saturday I worked for 8 hours with two other engaging and inspiring people ... see the next post Lines -Part II. When it was all over I took out the camera and went through what I'd done that day,

Then I grabbed the concertina book I'd created during the painting course I was doing at Victoria Uni in 2,000 when still living in Melbourne and in a really stressful phase of trying to balance things so I could continue painting. In that way that life sometimes does... when you cant work out a solution to a dilemma with your mind then enter a drama that gets you moving.. for me a housefire saw me pack up and move interstate. So... what was going on in the pages of this concertina book that was quiet exciting and felt it could be pushed in lot of directions was quickly abandoned and only one or twice since have I worked with this material and ideas to any degree of application as on this saturday.

Things Imbi talked about re relocation shifting your work was very relevant for me in 2,000. The house fire left me with a huge need to put domestic needs before art for a time... and I stopped working in this loose style as below for the next years on the whole.

I guess I could try and photograph the whole book.. it needs a long room to open out fully.

the materials used were paint and mixed media,

fabric, string and collage of various papers and fabric

I recently realised I realy liked some of the pages and it got me thinking about why i had I continued to leave these ideas untouched. I guess things surfaced and I have not completely failed to reference this work... it was great to really get into it on Saturday.

The following post gives a glimpse of picking up with some early string ideas as do the works at the top of this post from saturday. Why the elegant string theory?

I saw a show on this concept from New Science around 2003 and it just spoke to me... intuitively I guess there is some link between my string drawings and the idea of multiple dimensions of reality. Certainly at the time I was working with string my life was a series of clashing realities and something had to be resolved.... and quick!

Far better when one is able to ride the waves of change with some sense of rhythm.

More to think on here!

'Colours of Nature' Workshop at Percolator Gallery - 9th July

2011-07-14T00:51:00.004+10:00

On Saturday, July 9th, this group came along for the second workshop at the gallery. Another wonderful group - we started with drawing to music ... bit not just any music... it requires something quite atmospheric, perhaps ambient or classical music works well... something distinctive but with varying moods and dynamics ideally.

Drawing with one's non-dominant hand is the task... and standing up works better. By the third piece of music we had moved around and paired people off to converse on paper. It night have been chilly but the mood was far from it.

getting used to drawing with the left hand and sharing the paper is quite a task...

music pulls one into a very particular space...and then when that space is shared
its a whole other thing!

an interesting ways to be with someone you've not met before....

working with a grid to explore colours that are usually ignored

this participant was a very fine drawer usually working in black and white exclsively ... so this was quite a departure!

once gain... exploring the unloved colours to see what could come of it!

In the afternoon we worked to prepare grounds that were quickly painted using a variety of processes and sticking heavily with colours outside each person's usual range. The idea was to completely avoid white... but to stay away from safe or known colours.

When those grounds were dry the class worked with the various natural objects at hand ... allowing some of the accidental effects of the paint surface to play apart in the drawings.

pomegranate as the starting point for this work ... really liked what was happening here with the colours.

the black seaweed skeleton on the left is actaully the real item ... we were quite fascinated at how the composition in the background made such a fabulous base foe the drawing in white ink... had to leave the black seaweed juxtaposed like this for the photo.

A wonderful background for these delicate leaves

what a pleasure to see these colours underlying the drawing of the pods.

something quite haunting about this one... love that the colours have shifted into another realm ...
the nuances of colours in nature can invite us to think more about the particularity of things...

everyone was so busy in the afternoon... more and more work seeemed to be flowing from this table.

participants took such joy for their experiments with colours, the layering and transforming of ideas.

Add caption

a small macadamia seed in it half open pod ... this one went through various stages with it colour rendering
exciting to see it grow into something strong and rich with colours layered over one another.

interesting layers and things happening in this one

the visual diary tracing the origins of the found natural objects.

working with layering of white ink over thick oil pastel

There was a lot of energy in this class ... considerable work started, ideas to take home and continue on with!

'Colours of Nature' Workshop at Percolator Gallery - June 25th

2011-07-13T23:54:00.000+10:00

The 'Colours of Nature' workshops I've been doing of late in Paddington at Percolator Gallery have been most stimulating and enjoyable ... these images are of the first group on June 25th. We started with simple colour exercises that pushed partipants to work with all the colours they normally avoid, re-appraising colours they find uncomfortable or distasteful to work with.

This led to lengthy discussion while we worked on why we develop habitual responses to colours ... what it all means to us... why there can be such strong feeling experiences attached to working with colours... and whether that stops us seeing ... or not. These exercises were the ideal opportunity to rethink much that we take for granted about colour... and the role it plays in our lives ... how we can perhaps create a more dynamic experience of colour ... extending our palette to include more nuanced and complex colours ... at the same time potentially broadening the vocabulary of feeling response in a work.

Everyone was shocked when the class came to an end... the mood was so concentrated and time had flown! In the afternoon we prepared grounds for working onto and layering over the ideas inspired by natural things we gathered to draw and paint. Each person managed to get a good start on these... with plenty to take home and continue with.

oil pastels ... merging and blending colours

pushing the colour combinations in new directions

taking something that started simply into a whole new space

water colour pencils on the left...
oil pastels on the right ... interesting colour combining!

working with colours not usually employed

around the table

magnifying lamp for close observation of
colour and form of the natural objects

textural impresssions

colours not generally used

afternoon... working with paint ...abstracting natural forms

working onto coloured grounds and then
adding white colour pencil onto background

pod patterns - ink on coloured grounds

the end of the day...

three pomegranates .... mono-print surface with ink drawing over top
... imagining the juice bleeding onto the paper ... ink allowed to run

one persons working idea

composition with small seeds

some thoughts on workshops ...

2011-06-27T00:38:00.001+10:00

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

2011-06-16T23:02:00.000+10:00

"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

2011-06-11T17:44:00.003+10:00

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

2011-06-10T16:11:00.004+10:00

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.

Homage to the Seed at Sustainability Day, Brisbane June 4, 2011

2011-05-31T10:39:00.001+10:00

This week I'm flat out preparing for my presentation ... a public talk and a stall. There is a brilliant program available ...... go to the Hillbrook Website to read more on the program, speakers, stalls, entertainment and recycling initiatives.
So many organisations I've either connected with or wished to will be present on this day... biodiversity themes abound! If you are in this region and can make it along...do come and say hello!

May 28th Workshop... plus dates for June and July!

2011-05-27T01:49:00.002+10:00

Images from the May 28th Workshop:

Saturday, 28th of May I'm conducting a workshop for the Colour Society of Queensland that is a taster for further workshops. Its curious how an opportunity can get your thinking all over again about what it is that one wants to teach. That has been the case with this workshop... I've ended up with a really reanimated sense of what I wish to get particiants thinking about. Perhaps in some ways not entirely new at all... but something about the moment and the ideas that have been developing in my own work provide fresh stimulus I'm sure. Try clicking n this flyer to read an enlarged copy.

NB: Dates need to be confirmed for July ... but after talks with Helena Lloyd of Percolator Gallery who has kindly made this space available for these sessions this should go ahead as is!

I will post here soon on the event coming up on June 4 that I'm showing work at and doing a public talk. If you click on my website newsletter page you can read about it there. Soon you''ll be able to subscribe to my newsletter at this site.

planning and organisation in the studio...

2011-05-21T02:12:00.005+10:00

Gavid Sade at Lumia: State Library of Qld

The last month in the studio has been an intense one - not one large deadline as such... but many low key ones all critical for planning purposes! Teaching classes... figuring out new technology... venturing further into social media and applying it more productively... and in the process one taps into a universe of extraordinary complexity, talent and inspiration along the way... and certainly in multiple directions.

Defining this year by the title Art, Seeds and Biodiversity has set the agenda to further engage on the work pursued in 2010. Considerable reflection on last year's project aims and progress prompted the sense of necessity and desire to continue the research, communications, communal undertakings and, of course, my art practice on this theme.
The quote posted above was found at an engaging exhibition at the State Library in April... still on I think. It resonates with concerns central to my thinking and art practice... a reason I'm not content to focus purely on paint and canvas at this time. Its a choice not lightly made ... but since 2005 the need to address broad concerns has been tugging at my heart and mind ... and certainly in my 30's a considerable number of years were given to addressing some of the things that have re-emerged as essentials in my art practice.
For much of the first decade of the new Millennium I primarily focused on the paint, the form, the content, the sensuality and language of paint ... artworks ... artists... the artist's 'blueprint' for 'the' career. Those years were critically important for deepening my respect for the craft, the skills and knowledge, formal concerns and philosophical. But all that now needs to sit alongside a compelling need to participate in crucial dialogue and ideas for a world in change that I seem to be deeply sensitised to ... far more than I wish to be in actual fact. Life experiences have pushed me out of my comfort zone over and over... the very best that arises from that is one learns to see others in their vulnerability ... there might be a missing layer of skin... but there's no indifference to humanity's breadth and depth. The years teach one to protect self from too-muchness of experience... but to stay open and notice... to be receptive and to find ways to be with "the stuff" ... not necessarily the sanctioned ways either. Being with is not always being in the midst.

And so to the studio. the painting and such....

Purchasing a new camera 6 weeks ago led to a frustrating period with photos refusing to download. Finally tonight ... some success on that front! Without a camera its been impossible to show signs of life in the studio despite the past month being quite satisfying and productive... momentum and seriousness of intent picking after again after slowing for a bit to catch up from last year.

The website has been rejigged this week, a subscription newsletter is being prepared whilst a simple news page was added to the website in the meantime. With 2 events coming up in the next couple of weeks and interesting plans forming for later this year there will be more to report on here and there.

Stay tuned for further news and photos of artwork to be added soon!

The Brisbane River by night...

Recently I attended a lecture at GoMA in the city and travelled on the river by public transport (the Rivercat) ... catching the afternoon sun and returning home in the evening with these night views of the city and the Story Bridge.
The January floods affected the river traffic enormously ... and a great many people and business! This river excursion the same day I saw the Lumia exhibition (quote at top of post) was somehow quite poignant ... being back on the river after the deluge... a sense of things forever in cycle! Contemplation of the fact nature does not wait for us ...we drag ourselves kicking and screaming towards a reckoning with the ways of nature... in having to accept we cant ultimately have the kind of relationship with it we want... instead WE have to sit up and take notice... in advance! Now there' a challenge!

revisiting work from 2007 - rethinking process!

2011-04-10T01:49:00.001+10:00

A couple of days ago I opened a box in my studio and found a pile of postcard size artworks from 2007 ... some were originally A4-size works cropped and worked on in further stages. This inspired me to puddle around this weekend on some new stuff.

I hope to have images up soon of what Im doing at this time ... till then... these ones from 2007 are a good reminder of how one can work on something, perhaps return to it... adding another layer ... or not!

All works here are in acrylic and pigmented ink... including the white which I love for its milky-ness and semi transparent covering ability.

8 works (postcard size)

two postcards

use of a syringe filled with paint resulted in some of the works being extremely
animated... hard to control ... but capable of creating a lot of energy in the lines!

pod forms meeting the fluidity theme.

the infinity symbol was another preoccupation

Sennelier inks are rich and dense ... when using the stopper the bubbles remain in the ink and dry o create this texture.

layers of surfaces.

sennelier inks with art spectrum white

blue and brown sennellier ink

texture of the paper coming through.

further thoughts on an art practice and the year that was.

2011-04-06T01:18:00.002+10:00

painting based on a work by Paul Klee form his Vol 2 Notebook.

Years ago I heard a fascinating lecture (notes are stashed somewhere) and a thought that travelled with me from that was a discussion on the concept 'to coagulate'. The speaker's lively imagery kept my imagination dwelling on this idea around things needing to coagulate before they become fully embedded in one's psyche.

She argued our oft acquisitive approach life, to work and ideas... compelled as we are to consume more and more as we go along... leaves us periodically needing to stop the flow and 'close in' so as to address the necessity of coherence! By giving time to chew things over... work out what to reject ... how to re-incorporate the rest she suggested we could move forward ... strengthened, deepened, reinvigorated by this interlude.

Musing on how energy collects around a strong idea the first step seems to demand of us that we become clear re what is of central importance. Taking time for things to 'coagulate' it could be said is what precisely what allows one to arrive at what really matters.

From the Mirriam-Webster dictionary:

co·ag·u·lat·edco·ag·u·lat·ing

Definition of COAGULATE

transitive verb

: to cause to become viscous or thickened into a coherent mass : curdle, clot

: to gather together or form into a mass or group

intransitive verb

: to become coagulated

— co·ag·u·la·bil·i·ty noun

— co·ag·u·la·ble adjective

— co·ag·u·la·tion noun

See coagulate defined for English-language learners »

Examples of COAGULATE

The eggs coagulate when heated.
The medicine helps coagulate blood.

Origin of COAGULATE

Latin coagulatus, past participle of coagulare to curdle, from coagulum curdling agent, from cogere to drive together — more at cogent

First Known Use: 15th century

section of a painting completed after hospitalisation
for 15 days in Feb, 2008 ...I'd needed constant blood
tranfusions over two days till I was stabilised...!

So why consider this now?

... words work slowly, over time.... offer me a potent source for contemplation.

For each person who commits to 'Practice' their art there's endless deliberations ...over years... on how best to approach development of ideas and execution of one's work (lets not even start on the rest). To insist there is one way... a right way... when we are now, more than ever, aware of individual differences and at the same time celebrating enormous global diversity of cultural forms and practices, would certainly be a blighted view!

A Tumblr site seed capsules I recently began reveals, for me anyway, the particularities of how people 'see'... especially evident in those who pursue their vision with verve. Tumblr's visual archive means one's own postings or reblogged writings, poetry, quotes, artworks, photos etc are easily accessed. I'd not expected it to be so useful or engaging a process... for tracking ideas - visual and textual... and thinking! Curiously it has spurred on feeling more at home with my own idiosyncratic artistic impulses and mark-making ...not out of self-regard for what I do... rather ... in finding a quieter middle ground between that familiar love/hate see-saw re the work! Simply by 'getting' more into the essential truth of what interests and concerns me.

'to coagulate' ... describes quite well this much needed 'slowed-down time' I've had over the first few months of 2011. Ive been pondering thoughts on "the art of interpretation" in a similarly slow way.

interpretation

noun

a statement that makes something clear interpretation of that cryptic remark>

Synonyms clarification, construction, elucidation,exegesis, explication, exposition, illumination, illustration,interpretation, road map

a presentation of an artistic work (as a piece of music) from a particular point of view interpretation of a piece that is a touchstone for violinists>

Synonyms interpretation, performance, reading,rendition, version

Related Words adaptation, reworking, variation

a distinct treatment of something (as a story or a play) interpretation of The Nutcracker>

Synonyms interpretation, take, variation

Related Words version; adaptation, translation

Basically... last year felt like the running shoes were on from February till December during the residency ... and for someone who actually enjoys a lot of quiet studio time without dead-lines, is not afraid of working really long hours, with not so much as a date on the horizon for a show ( I know - not the done thing) last year was quite shocking in some respects.

On the other hand it was the perfect timing for moving things on and throwing together ideas that had been brewing for years.

This past few months have been essential for catching one's breathe.... and despite other undertakings keeping things busy, this precious opportunity to go over certain ideas and themes... observe ideas coalgulating or "thickening into a coherent mass" ... well that has been invaluable!

journal page included in 'homage to the seed' book

When commencing the residency in February, 2010 the first weeks were bewildering despite the well-defined focus and plans, familiarity with the location and such. The journal was a life-saving device whilst playing with possibilities. The page above, from the beginning of the journal, arrived out of a conscious effort to not be waylaid emulating the work of botanical illustrators. I was after a development of my own visual language around seed forms... building on what I'd already been working with.

This page from the book can be clicked to enlarge for reading ... it brings the process of drawing cross-sections of seed capsules together with the creation of motifs which were then employed in paintings like on the oval below.

This seemed the most pertinent way to refer to Biodiversity in its multiplicity ... in a manner that was simultaneously based in realism whilst being abstracted to translate as a symbol.

Queensland Rainforest Fruits : Seed capsules - cross sections
representing the biodiversity of species to be found in this state.

I kicked off this post today after revisiting this quote below from NY based artist Philip Taafe in conversations with American Poet Robert Creely. Taafe's work resonates with me - his interest in forms, in symbolic languages and forms that survive the archaic world ... and yet he is very contemporary and engaging on different levels. Click to enlarge for reading. Written 11 years ago the ideas are certainly relevant to me now...

From Homage to the Seed book

Something I'm appreciating increasingly as I work on seeds and all that they represent ... culturally, politically, scientifically... is that seeds and plants were of enormous significance to the ancients...their lives depended greatly on foraging, hunting, harvesting a crop, on knowledge of what they could eat, what would kill them, what might be medicinal and so on.

When images of these forms found their way into engravings, wall frescoes, mosaics and textiles ... these motifs weren't simply decorative but held great spiritual, symbolic or cultural value.

We've lost something very life-preserving in cutting ourselves off so dramatically from nature, from intimate knowing of life-cycles in nature, from the symbolic realm and cultural valuing of the earth and its abundant heritage.

I'm certainly not arguing for a govt-led reinstatement of belief systems and rituals... but I'm certainly keen to see more complex and penetrating ideas brought to the table for dialogue on how we think about our seed heritage, the biodiversity of this planet and the relationship between all things... and the cultural thinking that sustains the links between all things.

And in this light we have much to learn from those who've come before us and those around the planet whose cultural practice has not divorced them from honouring this profound symbiotic relationship.

symbiosis |ˌsimbēˈōsis; -bī-|noun ( pl. -ses | -ˌsēz|) Biologyinteraction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to theadvantage of both. Compare with antibiosis .• a mutually beneficial relationship between different people or groups : a perfect mother and daughter symbiosis.DERIVATIVESsymbiotic |-ˈätik| |ˈˈsɪmbaɪˈɑdɪk| |-ˈɒtɪk| adjectivesymbiotically |-ˈätik(ə)lē| |ˈˈsɪmbaɪˈɑdək(ə)li| |-ˈɒtɪk(ə)li| adverbORIGIN late 19th cent.: modern Latin, from Greek sumbiōsis ‘a living together,’ fromsumbioun ‘live together,’ from sumbios ‘companion.’

Unruly ecologies: Biodiversity and art

2011-04-05T20:19:00.002+10:00

Symposium: unruly ecologies

Unruly ecologies: Biodiversity and art
A SymbioticA Symposium
November 26 to 28 2010

A symposium exploring the possibilities and difficulties of the diversity of life through critical investigations in art, ecology and action.

If you visit this web page you can read my entry (below) and that of others in an interesting Online directory of artists working on Art, Biodiversity and Ecology themes that is still current and also informative.

Sophie Munns: Homage to the Seed

Homage to the Seed is the title of a year-long project conducted at Brisbane Botanic Gardens as 2010 Artist-in-Residence. This project was born of a collaboration with the on-site ‘Seeds for Life’ Seed Lab (set up by Kew Garden’s Millennium Seed Bank Project) with the underlying objective of spurring on public awareness of the critical [...]

Nov 11, 2010 | Comments » click on red title above to read more

About Adaptation

Adaptation is one of SymbioticA’s long term projects featuring a dynamic program of production based artist residencies and events. It explores a unique blend of organisms working together to create a community, ruptured by the chaos and dysfunction of the environmental threats we now face.

A major focus in 2010 was the unruly ecologies: biodiversity and art symposium Friday 26 to Sunday 28 November. As part of the symposium – we built a collection of artists working in the area of biodiversity/art and ecology through submissions by the artists.

April Fool's Day .... in the studio

2011-04-01T04:05:00.000+10:00

Up late tonight ... its been quite a day!

Found my camera was seriously not working any longer so went to buy a new camera and took along the old one... girl in store: "well yes... this camera has been dropped". To myself I pondered just how many times - I hate to think!

Home again and working on something that has been seemingly never-ending! Here's a close-up section of a large painting: 150 x 150 cm that I actually began just after Xmas. After the best part of a week painting I'd taken off south for a few days... and returned to discover the city of Brisbane was about to be deluged.

Im extremely fortunate to live in an area on a hill and consequently we were not personally affected. Given the floods in Queensland extended over December and January with a Cyclone late in january it was extraordinary to not have been caught up... so may were and it was harrowing seeing the plight of many. Its the first of April and many still don't have their homes to go to.

close up section of work

My lovely Paddington Studio I had to say good-bye to in February when the owner was made a very good offer from aspiring tenants seeking a large space to run their film business. Its was a fabulous space that had been an inspiring opportunity in which to spend the later half of 2010 completing the work of the Botanic Gardens Residency... which curiously did not come with a studio/work space.

A residency without a residence is hard to describe and not to be advised! So Helena ... you were a godsend, a true patron ... and Im grateful for that magical 6 months after you swept in with the most brilliant offer of space to go for it!

And being the Cancerian I am ... returning to my home studio ...while its definitely small ... is very homely ... there's no commuting, late nights are very doable, the computer and books are handy, garden... really... it was a chaotic changeover (who likes moving?)... but I always knew I would adore getting my late night painting sessions going again!

And the timing for getting things set up for the new year was perfect ... a huge clean up and unpacked heaps of books that have been packed away for 3 years.

One such book was a much loved version of an original work by Flinders Petrie titled 'Decorative Patterns of the Ancient World'. I've thought often of this book but didn't know which box is was stored in... so it took a quiet January to begin the search!

from Introduction

Petrie

Given the trivialising the 'decorative' and 'patterns' often draw in serious art realms - certainly a few decades back at Art School one did not admit to such interests - its worth noting the career of the Flinders Petrie and recognising the sites where he discoverd these "patterns" and such symbolic material. Huge treasure to be found pursuing this direction I can tell you!

trio of rabbits

three hares - pottery fragment egypt or syria.

2011 unfolds...

2011-02-04T00:27:00.000+10:00

January 2011 has come & gone with out a sign of life here at
   this studio archives blog!
   Not to worry ... things have been      happening!
The website has been added to ... a   Tumblr blog  (ok...thats the archives link..just click on any image to open ! )
was started ... paintings came along ... Homage to the Seed blog started to get busy again , and of course there is always the first blog which is

   coming up for its second birthday in a while......................................................................................
and for the speedy i finally sorted out   twitter ..... phew!
....
.. ..

Culture is reverence of Light. Culture is love of humanity. Culture is fragrance, the unity of light and beauty. Culture is a synthesis of uplifting, and sensitive attainment. Culture is the armour of Light. Culture is salvation. Culture is the motivating power. Culture is the Heart.

from Culture and Peace - Nicholas Roerich 1932

we've had so much weather of the extreme sort that I wrote a post here and called it "a most difficult summer in this part of the world"
The Residency at Mt Coot-tha has concluded but the Homage to the Seed blog will continue... so much happening around the globe impacting on our seed heritage... a story thats not diminishing Im sad to say! So watch the homage blog for updates.
Recently I found some lovely followers were watching this space... and I thought I'd better fly the flag for followers... thank you to anyone who comes by here ...love to hear from you... so if you wish ... do pop me a message...

A very wonderful year to all ... and as its Chinese New Year as I write ... double happiness and prosperity to all !
Sophie

Homage to the Seed residency show at Herbarium, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha

2010-12-08T22:20:00.001+10:00

The Herbarium at Mt Coot-tha was the setting for the December exhibition of the residency artwork in 'homage to the seed'.

book published for final residency show

The book contained material from across the year ... covering the role of the seed lab and the collaboration with Jason Halford from the lab.... as well as touching on various other aspects of public engagement carried out during the project. There was an overview on the ideas and passion behind the project going back many years and material was also included on the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity that 'homage to the seed' did in part respond to. Journal pages as well as artworks were included in this book along with an essay written by Kevin Wilson, director of Artworkers Alliance (see end of post for essay).

The following piece is an overview of painting in 2010 during the residency written for the book.

'fossil seeds' 70 x 80 cm acrylic and pigmented ink on canvas

fossil seeds 25 x 25 cm, pigmented ink on muslin on linen

'eucalyptus seed capsules' 40 x 40 cm - acrylic and ink on linen

seedpod of the Leopard tree - Caeslalpinia ferrea
40 x 40 cm - acrylic, pigmented ink and iron oxide on linen

'And the world became fruitful' 90 x 120 cm, pigmented ink and acrylic paint on linen

'And the world became bright' 90 x 120 cm - acrylic on linen

correction - 90 cm x 90 cm

'continuum' 90 x 90 cm - acrylic, iron oxide and pastel grounds

'infinite' 70 x 80 cm - acrylic, pigmented ink and iron oxide on linen

'archaic, yet reverberating still' 1 m sq, acrylic and pigmented ink on linen

archaic, yet reverberating still' 1m sq, acrylic and pigmented ink on linen

'from the nothing the abundance' 90 x 120 cm - acrylic and pigmented ink on canvas

Essay written by Kevin Wilson on the exhibition.