Try Something New

What does it say about your personality when you have an idea to try something you know bugger all about, and think "I can't do this, but I'm doing it anyway?" I don't know, either, but here are the results! For a long time, I have thought that adding a few videos of works unfolding and techniques in action might be fun for me, and interesting for you. I have a lot to learn, and will possibly need to relocate to an area where I can access a much bigger Internet data quota (apologies to the Aussie Government, but this NBN thing isn't working out so well for us out here), which isn't such a realistic idea. I think there is a lot of research and education in my immediate future if I'm to follow this notion any further. 

However... this was fun for me, and I hope you find the video a little bit interesting. It's a time lapse look at creating a background with tissue paper on canvas for a mixed media work. The background was done without any firm idea of what the focal point might be. That realisation came a little later.

Small Wonders 

©2015 Tracey Hewitt  Watercolour and mixed media on canvas

After the addition of some acrylic paints to introduce a little colour, it occurred to me that this would be the perfect background for another challenge I'd been hankering to take on. A photo of our Granddaughter, Payton, in a rare moment of stillness, had been whispering it's longing to be drawn or painted for a couple of months. For someone who, a few years ago, wouldn't even attempt to draw a face or human form, because "that's not my thing, I just can't do them"; I'm pretty excited to have captured a resemblance to a human being, much less enough of a resemblance to a particular human for her parents to know she was the model!

 Her features were sketched in, with Derwent Graphitint pencils. These babies might be my favourite art supply. (Even as I type that, a hundred other little special art supplies are clamouring in my mind to be named favourites, as well!) These pencils - as the name suggests - are much like a graphite pencil, with the added appeal of a range of beautiful, subtle colours, as well as being water soluble. They're not as intense as some of the other water soluble pencils out there, so the results are soft and delicious. A little watercolour for the pink in her dress and lips, a few touches of inky black for details, and she was done.

That little butterfly she's so intently looking at? That is a perfect example of the glorious serendipity of layering materials and media. It wasn't until after I'd drawn Payton in, that I noticed that little butterfly on an underlying layer of tissue paper, perfectly placed to seem to be sitting on her hand, and the focus of her rapt attention. Sometimes, there are forces at work when we create that simply cannot be explained. Happens to me all the time. And, it's the best feeling. 

A Tale of Three Art Journal Pages

Just One Heart Art Journal Page
© 2014 Tracey Hewitt

One way and another, the art has been struggling for attention lately. What with plotting ways to spoil a new grandbaby, end of financial year, and a tiny change in our farm business structure (how is it that a tiny change necessitates a thousand phone calls, pieces of paper, and forms to fill in? It will forever remain a mystery...) just to name a few; the time available for creativity has been limited.

 

There are, thankfully, Art Journals. Smeared with paint, spattered with ink, heavy with bits and bobs glued in, and carrying no pressure to come up with anything special - just to pick up a brush, pencil or scrap of paper and slap something on a page. Aaahh.... balm for a careworn soul.

 

As I'm writing this, looking at Just One Heart up there, I realise there should be a comma after the word blooming. Oops! (As a self confessed grammar Nazi, that's going to bug me quite a bit!) The page was created with Dylusions Ink sprays, assorted stencils, a few bits of paper, coloured pencils, stamps and marker pens. The Art of Whimsical Lettering by Joanne Sharp delivered the inspiration to have a crack at some fancy lettering - which was tremendous fun!

 

Worry Art Journal Page
© 2014 Tracey Hewitt

So much fun, in fact, that there was more on the next journal page. Worry is a Misuse of your Imagination. I need this tattooed inside my eyelids! Not only a misuse, but probably a terrible waste of imagination as well. Constructed in a quite similar fashion to the first page, with acrylic paints instead of ink sprays, and a hand cut stencil. Manilla folders are infinitely more interesting used to cut a stencil than they could ever hope to be in my office.

 

Ink Calf Art Journal Page
© 2014 Tracey Hewitt

As life's path seemed to be walking me more and more towards cows and tractors (which I shouldn't complain about - that enterprise kind of keep us fed and clothed), and further away from the studio, I engaged that imagination, and decided to try bringing the farm to the journal. This little guy is brushed in Sumi ink (my current infatuation) over a stencilled, ink sprayed, and scrap paper collaged background. He's funky, but I think I love him.

 

 

A little story, for your information: I often add links to products, books, artists, places - pretty much anything that I think is great. Only because I use it, love it, just plain cannot live without it; and to make it easier for you to find more info about the things I'm waffling on about. No one pays me to give them a plug - it's all about the love!

Why Online Classes Rock My World

 

My Mum recently took me to task about the lack of interesting activity here on the blog. OK, the lack of any activity at all. She had a point. (You've got to love Mums for keeping it real and calling you on your shortcomings.) There hasn't however, been a lack of activity in my world - as my middle prince would say- lots of cool stuff (OK, so he wouldn't say stuff, he'd say another word that starts with s...but I'm sure you get the idea) has been going on.

 

In amongst a bunch of other 'stuff', I've been working away in an online class with the irrepressible Jane Davenport. It's not the first of her classes I have enjoyed: Supplies Me is a wonderful journey through a vast assortment of media while she teaches the nuances of drawing faces and figures -things I long ago swore off as being 'not my thing' and something I believed for a long time I just couldn't do. The lovely lady above was the result of my explorations in "Ink Week", where Jane's students discover the joy of Sumi ink in an Aquawash pen. I have to tell you; that's the most delicious, free feeling media to work with and I can't believe it's taken me so long to discover it! It was quite difficult to stop drawing, which goes some of the way to explaining how she comes to have a couple of mouths and a nose on her chest and shoulder.

 

 

Most recently though, the "Print and Scan" class has held me spellbound. For a very long time, I've been keenly aware of a limited understanding of digital file sizes, types and manipulation. I lost track of the countless times I told myself I needed to learn this 'techie' stuff. Then, *cue violins and blinding bright light* I read that Jane has created this class - the very one I need, with all the skills I need to learn! It's Jane's first Professional Development class; and the investment paid for itself in the first class. The image above is a scan of a 2 page journal spread. We learned how to manipulate the image to get rid of the 'gutter' in the middle of the pages, and lots of other techniques to show the artwork at it's glowing best.

 

 

 

After a small mind explosion (don't worry, it didn't make much mess) - and a bit of practice - the lovely lady made her way onto the journal page; and changed the colour of her face - all in the innards of my computer, with information streamed to my computer desk via the wonder of technology and the Internet.

 

What's great about Jane is that she delivers this in artist speak, not techie talk; though she has extensive technical knowledge. What's great about the Internet delivery is not having to drive for hours (and hours...and hours..); You can stop and start that video and toggle back and forth between your image manipulation and the instruction, so you practice it as soon as you see/hear it; you can work on it at whatever time suits you; and - possibly my personal favourite - you can hang out in your paint stained shirt and yoga pants. (Have I ever told you just HOW much I love my yoga pants?)

 

In honour of Carmel (my awesome Mum) there will be effort made to post stories of more of the cool 'stuff' going on around here. Right now though, it's time to go and log into the Print and Scan classroom for some more mind exploding fun.

Cunnamulla... I'll See You Soon!

In a month, I'll be off to Cunnamulla! A town in South West Queensland, which I have never visited, to hang an exhibition in the Cunnamulla Fella Centre Art Gallery. I'm a bit excited, a bit nervous and kind of busy.

Some of the pieces that will be getting loaded into the car:

Keeper of the Mystery 101cm x 76cm
Acrylic, tissue, oil stick, lace and pencil on canvas
© 2013 Tracey Hewitt

If you've been visiting here for a while, you'll know that the human face is not something I generally look to for subject matter. Keeper of the Mystery certainly didn't start out with any intention of a person appearing, yet, as it evolved, she insisted on making an appearance! (My family of practical males are bewildered when I suggest that an 'inanimate' object like a painting  might be telling me secrets, or what is to happen next...but, that's how it works sometimes). And, I have to tell you - she knows the answer to all those questions that we mere mortals struggle with. But, no matter how hard I look into her eyes and plead with her to share them with me - she doesn't. You see, she's not called the Keeper of the Mystery for nothing!

I've been having a great time with resin, as well. This lovely ring (I keep wondering if I can, in fact, bring myself to part with it? I LOVE this) has a bunch of tiny millefiori glass pieces set in it. How cool would this look with your jeans and favourite white shirt?

My awesome framer, Les Rigby, is currently weaving his magic with this piece, as well as a number of others. This is a concoction of woven felt strips that had all sorts of goodies applied which was then dry felted with a machine felting technique. Have to give a shout out to my sister here - that triangular piece in the top centre was in fact one of her earrings in 1986. ( If you hang onto something long enough....)

This one is in need of a name - any suggestions? Coming up with suitably engaging names for a number of works is just one of the things that will be keeping me busy over the next month. (Containing my excitement about the wedding of our middle son is another - but that's a story for another day!)

Do you know anyone in Cunnamulla? I'd love you to share with them that the exhibition "Feeling My Way" will open there at the Cunnamulla Fella Centre Art Gallery on Friday 5th April from 6pm; and I'd love to meet them!

Creating Texture - With Old Tomato Paste Tubes!

Sometimes, I do weird things. 

It's kind of fun, and keeps the people around me shaking their heads...

Today, it's been reclaimed tomato paste tubes. (Yes, I cut it open and washed it carefully first - after we ate the spaghetti bolognese, which was awesome, by the way...)

The inside of the paste tube is the loveliest, soft, buttery gold colour, and it's easy to bend, fold and generally manipulate. Here, it's got some painted vliesofix and a chiffon scarf ironed over it, which gives it that orange-y colour in patches. Keeping it company is a piece of copper shim, with many holes poked through it with my trusty - and very blunt - awl. Don't worry, I keep an old awl just for nasty, tough jobs like this. There does exist another pointier, sharper, better looking awl for the tasks awls were really designed to carry out. 

The copper shim becomes a kind of 'claw' to set the glass bubble in, and after a bit of free machine embroidery (plus three broken machine needles and countless broken top threads), the end result looks like this:

This little lumpy treasure is destined, along with some other lumpy treasures, to be the focal point on a canvas that's been evolving in the studio.

If you promise to eat all your vegetables, I might even show it to you when it's finished. (Yes, Carmel* - that means you!)

*Carmel is my Mum - who is awesome - and also happens to be the worst vegetable eater in the history of the universe!

More of What Lies Beneath...

Do you remember a post a while back about "What Lies Beneath"? I decided to take Sarah's advice, and tackle a series, based on that piece.... Here is What Lies Beneath #2...

What Lies Beneath #2 ... Fear  25.5cm x 30.5cm   mixed Media on Canvas
(c) 2012 Tracey Hewitt

This one began with the word Fear ... not a theme typical of my work, yet exactly what this series needed to tackle head on. The original word is totally obliterated - which feels like a good thing, yet the piece has a  dark and broody feel about it. I'm quite uncertain what the face in the top left corner is about - but he was there, and refused to leave! Does he freak you out a bit, or is it just me? (and by the way, don't ask me why he's a 'he' with such red lips...but there's no doubting it in my mind!)

Even the birds, which to me are a symbol of freedom and lightness, have a heavy, menacing sense to them....

I'm not too sure how I feel about this piece - 

What Lies Beneath #2 ...Fear - Detail 
(c) 2012 Tracey Hewitt

Except that it feels important to have created it. I'd love to hear what you think of it - love it or hate it?

The Angels Anthology Evolves onto Canvas

After drawing lots of practice faces for Pam Carriker's Angels Anthology class, I finally felt ready to tackle the canvas and paint. Firstly, a few bits and bobs were laid into impasto gel , which also had some marks scraped into it...along with the word: Grateful.

I missed taking photos of the stages between the first photo and the finished piece - I may have gotten just a little caught up in bringing her to life, and forgotten to pick up the camera. (By the way, her weird looking eye is a reflection picked up by the camera - she actually has pretty normal looking eyes in reality!)

She's not the Mona Lisa, by any means, but I'm pleased with the result...it looks recognisably like a face!! 

And while I don't know that I'd go so far as to say I conquered my fear (of faces); I will say I gave it a swift kick in the butt - and am keen to continue to give it a good shake up.

Whisper for Sarah

The time has come for the next whisper to be completed and sent on. This one will join it's brothers and sisters and make it's way home to Sarah Larsen (Sarah is the generous artist who visited Theodore and offered us the Art and Soul workshop earlier in the year).

We're now 3 artists removed from the original artist and their original theme, and I suspect, in the spirit of the childhood game "Chinese Whispers", that our collaboration is based on...we're getting a little off track - at leat I have a strong feeling I am!

Sarah's pages are an unusual shape - which you can't see here, because I can only show you a tiny hint...There's gesso, acrylic paint, tissue paper, stamped images, gold and black pen and charcoal used in this one. This rubber stamp of kids swinging in a tree is one of my favourites...and there are a lot of stamps in that stamp drawer in the studio! It reminds me of a late afternoon swing as the sun sinks low in the sky...I get a peaceful feeling just looking at it. That, however, is no clue as to the theme.

And I guess this isn't either.

This is the desk next to the piece as I finished up a minute ago. You can see a little bit of it in the bottom left hand corner. Does that help you?

I have to confess that I can't say what this theme is in a word or two - this one has more of a general feel about it. I hope I'm not too far off the mark... I'd love to hear your guesses as to the theme...



The Next Collaboration



The studio has seen a frenzy of paint, paper, packing tape transfers and walnut ink as I've been working on the pages for the Whispers Collaboration.

The reason that today's photo really shows you nothing much is important! This collaboration - with many of the artists from our last collaboration, plus a few more - is based on the game we all played as kids - Chinese Whispers. Instead of whispering the words to the artist beside us, we are whispering a theme, a visual interpretation of our intention, which only the artist alongside us gets to see, interpret, and then send their work to the the next artist. So, I can't in fact show you my page here...it is top secret! Instead, I'm sharing with you what's been left on the studio bench after I took the book pages away.

Just to tease.

Any guesses as to what my theme might be? I'm struggling with not being able to share this yet...not in my nature at all. And I wrote a kick-butt statement about it this morning!

As there are twelve of us, and we each have every book for a month, it will be such a long time before I can tell you much about it at all. Which will frustrate me, because I love to show you what I've been working away on. Creating can be a solitary pursuit, and I have come to look forward to sharing the fruits of that solitude with you here. I guess I'll just have to create more of the things I can share, to ease my angst!

There are some awesome artists in this collaboration...check out the Whispers Blog to learn a little more about them!

Believe...

Believe Resin filled ring. 2cm x 4cm

©2011 Tracey Hewitt

Towards the end of 2010, I had some big plans for 2011. Then Mother Nature let me know in no uncertain terms that she had other ideas!

I have a New Year ritual that includes giving over a couple of long hours over a couple of days to cogitate, plan, dream and commit to my hopes and goals for the coming year. One way and another, those days near the New Year when I would have engaged in this delightful process were spent very differently!

Throughout the worst of the flooding, and subsequently, as we tackle the clean up and reclaim our livelihood and land, I became aware that I was often telling myself the equivalent of "Believe"...my self talk was, of course, more wordy and extensive than that one word, but there was a slow realisation that this one word was the essence of all the things I was telling myself.

So, my word for 2011 has become Believe. This resin filled sterling silver plated ring will be my constant reminder. The first piece to be created in my studio for 2011, and the first piece in a very long time I have created with the very specific intention of keeping for myself. The background is from a scan of an artwork I did last year. There is a little gold flake in there, along with my word, printed onto very aged paper.

Believe has some sisters, too.. Free, Together, Hope, Secret and Gentle.

These pieces were created without too much deep consideration of their 'words' - I pretty much picked up the words that seemed right for each of the artworks...yet, as I look at them together on the screen like that, there seems to be a story telling itself, and I like how I feel about that. These sweet babies will make their way into my Etsy store in the next little while (in fact Secrets has already been listed), but I wanted to share them with you, here, first....A sneak preview before the rest of the world gets a look, because you are very special to me, and your warm thoughts and encouragement have made my life so much richer and lovelier. Thank you. (Yes. YOU.)

Do you have a word for the year? I'd love to hear what it is....

PS. The lovely sterling plate bezels in these pieces came from Captured Moments Etsy shop, and Cindy is a delight to do business with!

Life's Promises

Life's Promises 6 canvases 4" x 4" x1.5"

mixed media and acrylic on canvas

©2010 Tracey Hewitt

A very special person in my life just turned 21. She also happens to be even more special to our middle prince, so that gives you a clue who I painted these for!

My fondest wish is that she likes them half as much as I enjoyed creating them for her. 'Cos I really loved creating them...

I should offer a nod of thanks to our firstborn, who helped figure out the terribly complex mathematical geometry that left each diamond meeting up nicely with it's neighbour. (I know...it's not that hard! But some days my mind is full of too much turquoise and walnut ink to think straight!)

These just make my heart happy...I hope they make yours happy too.

Of Towers and Turrets

How cool are these?

Deryn Mentock and Sharon Tomlinson are running an online class called Of Towers and Turrets, this photo comes from Deryn's Blog Something Sublime and I am very excited to tell you that I signed up and have been busy gathering supplies and painting backgrounds and collaging towers all weekend! So much more fun than pulling weeds and ironing! I keep hoping no one is heading this way to visit - it's getting to be a long time since I flexed my domestic goddess muscle! But I think it will be cooler to paint and resin a goddess than attempt to be one, anyway!

This class promises to offer a smorgasbord of techniques from collage to painting faces (which I am terrified of...but determined to master...) and from applying cold connections onto metals to setting artwork in resin in free form bezels. It sounds like so much fun! If you'd like to join the class, click on over to the class page. Things are already in full swing, but the class stays open till the end of December, so there's loads of time.

I thought I'd share with you my backgrounds, which are the first part of class. I've already picked up a few neat tricks...

If I go quiet here for a while, you may need to send a search party...they'll most likely find me under a pile of papers, metals and resin, sticky, smeary and blissed out!

Loving these leaves...

A while ago, a photo of a piece of silk paper made an appearance here...at the time, I thought it would make a great cuff, all stitched out with leaf shapes. The stitching was started, and frankly, it looked pretty lame and disinteresting. So much so, that I tossed it in a corner, amongst a bundle of other lame and disinteresting stuff, to be forgotten for a while. (You might be surprised just how much stuff is in that bundle!)

It was rediscovered when I was thinking about creating some special sample pieces for the Exploring Soluble Films workshop in Blackall. It may have looked lame with only stitching, but what about adding machine stitched slips created on soluble film? Hmmm...better!

Many laves (count them!) were patiently stitched on Romeo soluble film. Romeo is a plastic like sheet - it reminds me a bit of the clear, heavy plastic that school librarians were always busy covering books with. Using a slightly different variegated thread in the needle to the bobbin, some subtle colour changes were fairly easy to create. Once the leaves were finished, the whole lot went into a tub of cold water, the plastic dissolved, leaving the thread in these neat leafy shapes, ready to be stitched down on to the base...in this case, the silk paper.

The addition of a handmade bead (foiled black fabric wrapped around a satay stick, secured, and with a little embossing powder added) and a machine wrapped silk loop...and a cuff is born! I'm still trying to decide whether it needs more leaves, some hand embroidery on the silk, or if it's fine the way it is. I change my mind every time I walk past it! So, what do you think?

It's time to go pack my many bags for my teaching (and road) trip... Stay tuned for an update towards the end of next week!

Sing Me Your Story...the final part of It Starts With An Emu

 While this is technically the end of the series following the development of these pieces; I'm going to take a minute to slip back to the beginning...although, at the time, I didn't realise it was the beginning. Confused yet?

The images above are of the Devils Marbles in the Northern Territory. These marble shaped granite rocks are dotted over an area of about 1800 hectares, balanced on one another in seemingly impossible formations. The traditional owners, the Warumungu people, share the creation stories that tell of these rocks being the fossilised eggs of the Rainbow Serpent. The Aborigines have songs that record a great deal of their culture - their stories - which are handed on through song to following generations. Walking among the devils marbles, you come across an information sign which tells of the belief that spirits inhabit this area; that they coax the children in to visit with them and never let them return to their families, and that the people have 'forgotten the song to sing the children home'. It's a little chilling. And, after wandering among these remarkable rocks for a while, losing your way once or twice, it is easy to imagine that thousands of years ago - when there weren't thousands of tourists tramping around every year - that little children would run off playing, become lost and simply vanish!

A couple of weeks ago I started to share the creation of these pieces with you. We left off with the background of this one in a condition I was very happy with, and waiting for the strong focal point it needed to tell it's tale.

I settled on a black dimensional paint - called Xpandaprint - applied with a rubber stamp. This stamp has a series of oval shapes and wavy lines that reminded me of the Northern Territory - especially the Devils Marbles. When heat is applied (with my trusty heat gun) the paint bubbles up and becomes lumpy and crusty and delicious! Perfect for the application of a very careful and gentle rubbing of gold gilding wax.

Sing Me Your Story 13cm x 18cm

© 2010 Tracey Hewitt

All that remained was to tear some more map pieces with the words sing me your story written on and apply them to the canvas. There is something about the power of a song - think of nursery rhymes and even those awful commercials that you will never forget the words to - handed down through generations to help a culture remember, that speaks to my soul.

Thanks for following along with these little canvases - I've enjoyed sharing them with you and have loved the comments some of you have shared with me!

They are, as I write, in their new homes in Indiana...And, if their new owners happen to visit here - I hope you like them!

It Starts With An Emu, Part 3

Ernie was giving me a bit of a hard time...and it's possible that in the heat of the wrangling, I may have forgotten to photograph a couple of steps.

Will you forgive me?

Thank you.

So, from where we left off, it was clear Ernie needed to be a little more distinct. No problem - with the endless supply of black pigment markers in the arsenal, I had unlimited options for enhancing his darkness! There needed to be a little more interest in the piece, so a walnut ink stamp that looks like cracked, dried earth was applied to the bottom of the piece, and a couple of stamps of black Xpandaprint (dimensional paint that puffs up when it's heated) were applied to the bottom left hand corner and up the height of the extreme right hand side (this might be one of the steps that missed having it's photo taken! But, you can see the little square of triangle shapes, and on the right hand side, you can make out the lines and blobs, which have all had a little gold wax rubbed over them to highlight the texture).

At this stage, the background was giving me hives and I had the bright idea that some tribal inspired lines and circles would be the go.

They might have been.

But they weren't.

And, frustrated and cussing, I forgot to pick up the camera once more! You can see them lurking under the yellow paint I attempted to tone them down with though!

Happy with the foreground, and Ernie himself, I was now doing battle with that wretched background...the 'lines' were echoing Ernie's shape nicely, and kind of suggesting Uluru, which was working for the overall direction...but that 'sky'??!! Careful dabs of ochre and white

...many layers, many times, each ever so slightly altering the look of it made things a little happier.

Ernie Obliterates Uluru View 13cm x 18cm

©2010 Tracey Hewitt

However, the point where foreground and background met was less than ideal to my eye...I spied the green Golden acrylic bottle and thought "I wonder...?" Careful sponging to Ernie's left and right seemed to do the trick. Another touch up with the black pigment marker and I declared Ernie finished.

Do you remember in the first post about this that I expected the writing at the bottom of all this to be mostly obliterated? I think that worked!

For some reason known only to Blogger (and possibly the great creator) it's not possible to load more than 4 photos to a post (unless I'm missing something painfully obvious...which is possible!). AND when I tried to remove this one to do a separate post about the second piece, I had no luck with that either! So, this is a sneak preview of Sing Me Your Story, which I'll tell you all about in the next post.

It Starts With An Emu, Part 2

When I left you last time we talked about these canvases, I was off to add some more layers. First up was more paint. A lovely deep, rich red went over both pieces, a little heavier at the bottom than the top, sponged up in places with a scrunched up paper towel.

While they were drying (is anyone else as impatient as I am about waiting for paint to dry?!), Ernie's photo got a bit of Photoshop treatment - nothing too tricky, a quick change to black and white and a bit of cropping were all that was needed. He was then printed onto TAP (Transfer Artists Paper) and ironed onto the canvas. The light coloured residue wasn't blowing my frock up, so that was quickly scratched off, painted over and gotten on top of! Ernie, however, was pretty much exactly as I hoped he'd be. The next challenge is to get the rest exactly as I want it! (which proved to be a challenge, but you'll have to wait for part 3 to discover what happened there!)

The second canvas was telling me it wasn't feeling it for Ernie...it had the 'desert' feel happening though, and what it was telling me was it wanted to talk about those spirits and lost souls inhabiting such soulful places as the Devils Marbles, Uluru and Kata Tjuta (Ayers Rock and The Olgas). The addition of a little stamping in walnut ink on the tops of the torn paper pieces and a stencilled spray of Starburst Stains across the surface, and this one is right on track. All we need here is a focal point...hmmm....Stay tuned to find out how this ends!