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Saturday, November 21, 2015

My work and the start of a very special Noah's Ark canvas.

Even a piece of  wood can look beautiful ... if you paint it !


On Tuesday l am off to Australia, to see my new grandson, Felix. I am SO exited !!!!! As a present for him, l am painting a " Noah's Ark ' canvas, as requested by my son and his wife.  I have painted quite a few of these and each one is different. I have found it really hard to paint this one because it has to be perfect .. in my mind anyway. This is the start of it.


Then in between waiting for bits of it to dry ... l painted some journal pages. Especially the journal l am taking to Australia , to record my trip.




This is the start of my cardboard journals.


This is a canvas for spare paint ... this is the way a lot of my paintings start!


This is as much as l am going to show you. You can see the completed canvas, when l have given it to my grandson!


Friday, November 20, 2015

Nov 2nd ....My Birthday Treat.

One of my Birthday Treats, from my husband, was a visit to the Royal Acadmy of Art. The Exhibition l was dying to see, was the work of the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. To get there we went through Waterloo Station and saw this beautiful Poppy Dispay, for Remebrance Day .



We are here and l am so excited!



Tree, 2009-10, 2015
This is the beginning of the Exhibition ... a Forest made of bits of old wood, from all over China. Each tree is made up of bits of wood, all screwed together, to form each tree.




Quite a few interesting people went pass me, while l sat on the marble seat.


Straight, 2008–12. 
Porcelain crabs, 3,000 pieces,

each 5 × 25 × 10 cm

Twelve Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) and four Neolithic (5000–3000 BC) vases with industrial paint.  I want one !


Marble Stroller, 2014



One ton of compressed Tea ... the smell was wonderful.




Just love the design on the floor of the studio ... floor vent!


A lot of things, such as bones, copied in porcelain. Beautiful!


S.A.C.R.E.D., 2011–13 
Six-part work composed of six dioramas ( 50 % smaller than normal size )– Supper, Accusers, Cleansing, Ritual, Entropy, Doubt – in fibreglass, iron, oxidised metal, wood, polystyrene, sticky tape, each 377 × 198 × 153 cmThe police detained the artist in a secret location for 81 days, throughout which two guards stood silently watching him from only 80 cm away at all times, even in the shower. 








(from the RA Catalogue)
" Bicycle Chandelier ", 2015, a further evolution of Very Yao (pictured). Once a floor-based installation, Ai has re-fashioned it for the Royal Academy, where for the first time it appears as a chandelier made from Forever bicycles, the country’s most popular brand since 1940. His appropriation of the bike calls attention to its one-time status as China’s chief form of travel, owned by Chinese citizens across the land. Today, however, the bike has ebbed in popularity as a result of the country’s rapid modernisation, improved public transport and air pollution. Significantly, it has also become unaffordable to many. Ai has pointed out that owning a bike in China has become a luxury, a fact he emphasises by converting the installation into another symbol of extravagance, the chandelier.
The artist, who grew up in exile without lights or even candles, further accentuates the status of this work by suspending and illuminating white crystals that cascade down from the rims of the bicycle wheels. He has taken Duchamp’s concept of the modest readymade and not only enlarged it to a grand scale, but also transfigured it. No longer utilitarian items promising their owners a means of transportation and thus freedom, the Forever bicycles now hang eternally motionless.




An amazing exhibition and so much to take in. There was a lot more to see but how many more pictures can you take! :)   I don't normal use the multi-media guide but for this exhibition, it is a must. My husband, who only came to the exhibition to please me, said
" I didn't expect to  enjoyed it but l am so pleased l came, it is amazing" ! No more needs to be said!

Wednesday, November 04, 2015

Fungi and Circles !

This blog entry is going to be about what l have been upto lately. I have been moving my studio into my two bedroom apartment .  Was not easy, l tell you! We have been able to turn my kitchen annex, into a great studio . My husband has been amazing about it.
So first off ... many of you will know l have a "thing " about fungi!! I have been on a hunt in the woods to see what has been coming up. 




Love the texture on this one.



Beautiful pink !


Love the pattern on the edges.




When my 2 year old grandson saw this fungi, he thought it was an Orange. 


This looks like gills!


Fairy toadstool!





Love the delicate pattern on edge of the fungi. I know it is because it dying but still beautiful !


So white and beautiful and beautiful edges.


So delicate.


Like the colour and the central dot!


I have had so much finding these. I am not sure why l am so fasinated by fungi but l am so hooked!

:)

If you have been following me, in anyway, you will know l am also fascinated by circles. So finding these decorative balls/circles, well l was in heaven!  



These will certainly go into my sketch book.