Turner from the Tate

last Thursday evening i [along with a cast of thousands] was a guest at the opening of

Turner from the Tate

at the Art Gallery of South Australia

there are an overwhelming number of pictures in the exhibition

if you go

allow a whole day

take a picnic lunch and perhaps a yoga mat for a nanna-nap in the afternoon.

i was enchanted by

J.M.W. Turner's travelling paintbox

it's metal 

[a rather slimmer and more elegant version of my own portable studio : simply an old Brockhoff's biscuit tin]

and contains delightful glass-stoppered bottles of pigments

small bundled pig's bladders

and more

Turner was an enthusiastic wanderer

in pursuit of wild landscapes

in some of his marine paintings the vessels seem to be tacking against opposing winds

perhaps there were curious meteorological phenomena

and i do wonder how some of those bits of cloth casually draped across the bodies of women in his paintings stayed put in the days before double-sided tape

but his rendering of the impression of light is wonderful.

utterly.

and his orderly paintbox
has inspired me to try and tidy mine
shown here emptied of its contents
so as to facilitate a bit of panel-beating
after its most recent experience with the flying kangaroo

BTW that black blob is not usually packed in the box
it is Felix
graciously assisting me with my labours

happy new every day of the year

waking up breathing is a fine start to the day

everything else is a bonus [well, mostly]

make the most of each moment.

and thank you Sheila

for writing such nice things

about our meeting in May

painting on paper with plants

there's been a bit of chatter amongst the interpixies lately
on the subject of plant dyes and paper
and such things as the need for 'fixing'

not something you hear watercolourists musing about...
the beauty of putting colour on paper is that it doesn't need to be washfast
and unlike immersing a precious length of silk in a dyepot
paper is [often] cheaper and far less scary

the ice flower technique [outlined in Eco Colour]
can also be used to create coloured solutions for staining/painting paper
whether for making colourful journals
or painting with your children [avoiding poisonous plants of course]

freeze a handful of flowers overnight
drop into a small amount [half a cup] of water
muddle about a bit to release the colour

for stronger colour, increase ratio of flowers to water
paper can be dipped
or painted
or you can thicken the brew and print with it
[visit Lotta for ideas]

you can also grind up petals or leaves with a mortar and pestle
adding a little water to make a paintable mixture

depending on how much kaolin is in your paper
[they put it on the surface to make it smoother to write on]
you might see pH sensitive colour changes
while you paint...

desert dreaming

a brilliant new exhibition showing at the Art Gallery of South Australia
drawn entirely from their collection
charts the evolution of contemporary indigenous painting in Australia
some of the works can be viewed here
all of them are reproduced beautifully in the exhibition catalogue
the sort of publication that i wish i could
carry dozens of - in my travel bag
to give as gifts when i go wandering

visit if you can, it runs until January 26, 2011

skin and bunny [possibly not what you might think]

it's been a week of highs and lows [thank you everybody who sent kind thoughts, tis wonderful indeed to know so many warm hearts read these pages]
now let me tell you about the high -
the formal confirmation letter from my lovely publisher
accepting the manuscript for second skin*


and then yesterday i pootled down to the Art Gallery of South Australia
to see the exhibition Rupert Bunny, artist in Paris


like me, Rupert was born in Melbourne [1864]. i think we have a couple of other things in common -
you can see by the way he paints them that he loved dogs

although i've a suspicion that his wife [above] may not have shared that passion. it looks to me as though she's thinking 'get this creature off my lap now' and the Jack Russell [clearly a perceptive hound] has a slight air of alert nervousness about him

and there's another portrait of her in which she looks, to be perfectly frank, utterly bored - a condition which her beloved has captured beautifully. he's also jolly good at painting cloth; lavishly and sumptuously detailing lace, silks, satins and velvets in his paintings 

 worth a visit...

* to be published 2011

oh and in case you wondering about the link below, i'm experimenting with a new feature offered by Blogger that finds stuff for you relating to what you're writing, while you're writing it

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found at sea

click on the picture to go and see work by Imbi Davidson

entitled

'lost at sea'

beautiful paintings on found mailbags

and while you're there have a look at this

blanket dyed with fencing wire and Allosyncarpia

another one of those instances

where amazing people

wander through one's orbit

in the guise of students

but really

sometimes

i think

it should be the other way

around