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  • Gelli prints

    What’s the perfect thing to do on Good Friday? Make art of course! I got out my 6×6″ Gelli Plate, Golden Fluid Acrylic paints, a pile of stencils and got to work. I mainly printed on 120gsm white paper but a few telephone pages were harmed in the making of these prints…who needs to look up Stratford numbers anyway? I made dozens of prints, these are just a few favourites.

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    Tony came home as I was cleaning up and we had one of those conversations where I was reminded once again how lucky we are to have each other, and how respectful and careful we are of each other’s feelings. We even ended up commenting on that; that we choose to operate on a level of care and respect.

    Look, I say, holding up the two purple ones with red and white patterns underneath. They match. No they don’t, says Tony. Yeah, they do – they’re both purple with red and white underneath. Tony: that doesn’t mean they match! Me: well close enough… he shrugs and laughs.

    Round two. We’ve been talking about repainting the middle room, currently lime green, in a cream shade so I can display more art. He’s watching, amused, as I rifle through my pile of prints, considering my next step with them – a journal maybe? Suddenly he says – you could cut them into proper squares and display them in a grid on the middle room when the walls painted. I’m so excited I flap my hands at him 😉 He just laughs and says he regrets the suggestion already. Then he looks at me and utters his favorite line “So, what are they going to be?”

    And my reply: They’re not going to ‘be’ anything, they just are. Oh, he says, and smiles at me.

    Even the newsprint I cleaned my brayer off on each time has been put aside to do something with. Both pieces have such cool colors and this amazing texture. And for the record, I love my Gelli Plate!

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  • I don’t remember

    I don’t remember why these photos are so blurry, but I do remember why I married Tony 18 years ago today. He made me laugh back then, and he still makes me laugh. Most of the time he looks quite serious; this is the Tony relatively few people get to see (mind you, looking at these photos, how many would want to?).

    My wish? That we grow old together, still laughing. I know how fortunate we are to have each other.

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  • A theme emerges

    Mum’s funeral service, conducted by a local JP who had a lot to do with Mum, has made me think about what I do and don’t believe. Mum was an atheist, as was her dad. I spent some time in the church as a teenager but I suspect that was about belonging more than anything. I certainly don’t call myself a Christian. Thinking all that through seems to be a recurring theme in my journal, as does my changing relationship with my now-retired husband, and career/art time, now that Mum is gone. Here’s what I have been creating with all this in mind:

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  • Photo montages

    Plenty of art today, and time to play with photo montages. My wrist has had enough, it’s time to read my book … or something.

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  • An art day to soothe my soul

    There’s nothing like a day getting messy to soothe my soul. I have cut new leaf stencils and masks, cut a Heartagram stencil, inked and layered and glued and…  I am really enjoying this larger format landscape journal. The pages stand up well to the way I work and I like having more room to ‘do stuff’. I just wish my wrist was stronger, but it’s getting there.

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