Jodie and I had our first market together on Saturday. We were both tired and I was feeling sick and sneezy, but we both managed to have some fun times and a lot of laughs. The weather was rather warm and we were both annoyed to find out we missed out on the Sunny Boys. Next time I'm bringing an esky full of ice, sunny boys and fizzies.
I had a somewhat busy weekend although it was a little hot today in Melbourne, so standing in front of an iron isn't really much fun. I got some acrylic paint today when I went to get some glass for the screenprinting to weigh them down. Today was my fourth attempt at exposing a screen and again it was overexposed. I'm getting closer to getting it right, but I find putting the liquid emulsion onto the screen quite tricky, as it is too thick in some areas and not coated on in others. I still printed the overexposed screen on paper with the aim of working over the print with paints, inks and other things. Below is one of the artworks I created from the prints, now listed on Etsy.
This weekend is a free weekend and the first in a long while. I got quite a bit done today, which often doesn't happen on the weekends as I spend time just wanting to relax after a week of school. Gareth made a new shelf for my studio so I had to move a few things about so it would all fit in, resulting in some clean up, as things were moved and had to be sorted out. I ended up with one huge bag of rubbish from all the clutter I found hidden under the ironing board.
Last night on my way home from school I dropped into the Fanny Gate Spotlight to pick up a couple of things that ended up being two full bags. One of the things I got was some cushions inserts as I have been planning on making cushion covers for a while now. I thought with the Rose Street market next weekend it would be a perfect time to test a few new ideas and get some face to face feedback. The two designs I created used prints I had waiting to be used up. The bottom one with the red, yellow and black was waiting for the perfect thing to be used in, and the pillow worked out really well with the design.
This drawing, from last year in July, was my first drawing for the lady badge design. I have a whole page of ideas and this was one of the ones I made that actually worked. It is a little fuzzy because the image is close to the centre of my sketchbook, which is a big blue hard bound book.
Only a week and a half until Rose Street and I have not even started to think about it yet, but I have the weekend free to sit and plan things out. I have an idea for promotional stuff which is quite exciting, but I will give out more information when it is heading down the hill towards finished rather than climbing up the hill. I have been stitching some little ladies and finishing off bags over the weekend to get prepared and I'm starting to get excited about spending a day with Meringue selling our wares in Fitzroy. If you're in the area come and say hello.
Down below is a new artwork in the Etsy shop. I seem to find that my best drawings are all the ones in the sketchbook or just on scraps of paper. It makes sense to me, I start a drawing on the good paper and keep thinking "don't stuff it up, it's the good paper" and with that going through my head the only thing I can do is stuff it up.
The lady in this drawing was one of those drawings which I did quickly and liked it, but didn't think the paper it was on was the best. I think the paper redeems itself when it is stitched onto thicker card, so it all works out in the end and I like the effect of the red stitching and the red ink lines in the body.
It is funny the way you look at your work and imagine what other people will think of it. I quite often make something and think it will be really popular, only to find I get no response to it then make something which I almost don't do anything with and find people really like it.
This artwork, which is now in my Etsy shop, almost ended up under a pile of heavy object in my studio. Everything is on a rotation in the room due to the bed being used for its intended purpose at the moment so available space is limited.
I was looking forward to using the shapes left over from screenprinting the cityscape, particularly the blue building, but I started the artwork off slowly and left it for a few days before returning to it. Often this works well when you look at it with fresh eyes and the final square of denim really tied the whole thing together, as well as the curved orange line.
I called Gareth "Garamel" when asking him to get me some more Jersey Caramels tonight. I think the name might stick, like the Jersey Caramel left under the desk after Garamel threw it at me.
I'm back at school today after a slighty non productive two week break due to some small trips and a little bit of lazyness. But back to school means I will be much busier and often when I get more done. I listed some new artworks in my Etsy shop last night and today. I got a pack of 10 coloured fineliners from Officeworks in Bendigo and they are fab. I love the yellow because it is light and looks good on white.
You would think that I would have been blogging everyday because it was the holidays. I have actually been rather busy with other things like trips to the country and other activities like making new silkscreens.
I went down to the farm in East Gippsland for a few days with Gareth and his Mum and Dad who are visiting from Scotland. Mum has new pet goats, much to the entertainment of my brother, sister and I. I got to feed them a few times from old wine bottles and they act quite similar to someone who has just drunk a whole bottle in 2 minutes. Once let out of the pen they jump around on things, including the car, like they are auditioning for Australia's Funniest Home Video.
