Full Steam Ahead

Just sold on another piece on Etsy!

Food for though for a mental health check.

Some jewelry I have been working on the past few weeks. Sold all to Gallery Serpentine in Enmore, Sydney.

It's my Jules Verne Collection.

Recycled watches, scrap metal, found objects.

It's the industrial age in the studio. Pins (brooches) galore.

Vial with bat bones.

What time is the Zeppelin arriving? I shall check on my holographic viewer.


I can see it in the distance, thanks to my Steamscope.
Have a great week!

Another World

Grevillea.

Nasturtium.

Protea.

Lily.

Kangaroo Paw.

Fly.

Common house fly.

Daisy.

Net-casting spider, stick spider or ogre-faced spider Deinopsis subrufa.

I am close enough for now.

It is a beautiful and fascinating world down there. Even in an urban environment there is so much life going on and so many stunning flowers to be found.

I have been using a Sony A350 (DSLR) with a 4x macro filter. ($8) I haven't run these shots through Photoshop. Some are cropped a little but they are pretty much straight out of the camera. The right light helps a lot. To say the least! A little bit of patience and the right aperture does wonders. I don't have a macro flash set-up so I just use natural light. Tripods are a hassle. Auto-focus does nothing but frustrate you as it cannot 'lock-on'. Manual focus works best. The macro filter is a cheap and easy option that allows the camera to focus at very close distances. Of course there is a million gadgets to buy.

But for the moment I am close enough.

Close to nature.

May you get your fill.

How Close is Close Part II

Close. Nice and close. I'm starting to learn how close I can go. Although I have always owned a camera it's been several years since my enthusiasm for photography has been so great.

Grevillea in the back yard.

Female St Andrew's Cross Spider (Argiope keyserlingii).

All other projects are on hold. New priority: photography.

Walking stick handle. Found object.

Special thanks here to Azirca for getting me inspired in photography again.

I say embrace healthy obsession.

How Close is Close?

Macro.

Macro photography.

What a rewarding way to spend the weekend. In the grass. Amongst nature. Really close to nature. Half science and art.

Discovering what's in your street. Right under your nose.

There is fun in the 'hunt'.

Or setting up a seed pod in a studio shot.

There is so much out there. There is so much to do. Every moment is a chance to be creative, productive and exploratory. My reward to myself this week has been to learn something new.


To discover another aspect to photography and to learn techniques.
Although, now I find myself drooling over professional macro equipment on eBay. I want to see how close I can go. How super-sharp can I get and how creative I can be.

How far can I go?
Next week it will probably be something else. Sigh. I had better go over to eBay now!

Peace.

It's All About Me or Another box/ Another post

Still life with head. Acyclic on board. 120x80cm

More paintings emerged from boxes this week.
Some are long lost friends, some I hate, some I will paint over, but either way I am taking a journey down memory lane. (Whether I like it or not)
Each painting has a story to tell. Why did I paint it, what was going on in my life, where was I living? I must confess some of those questions do not always have fond memories.
The painting above is pure commercial. Hell, it got put on postcards. This was done while to pursuit of money through art was my highest priority. That mental condition lasted several years but I did a 10 step program:

1. Don't stock galleries
2. Don't paint in this seasons colours
3. Make art that won't sell
4. Do your own thing
5. Don't listen to non-artist gallery owners
   
6. Expand your horizons by trying new techniques
7. Create for yourself
8. Paint self portraits
9. Go for emotion, not money
   
10. Change your style often so 'the buying public' wont recognise you
    

Alone. Enamel on canvas. 100x100 cm.

This white painting I did just over ten years ago while my mother was dying of cancer. The painting title is 'Alone', which is how I felt as she faded from this world. This could be a favourite if only for the emotion behind it. She died the next day after painting this.

Blue Grid.2005. Oil on canvas. 90x70 cm

More optimistically, this large grid, painted several years ago, was my embrace of painting for myself. Not painting to satisfy others. I did this with the intention of hanging it on my wall. (Screw those galleries- I did it in the season colours and all!)

Self Portrait. 1997. Oil on canvas. 40x40 cm

Who would want a painting of me? Well, me, I guess. Again, freedom to express myself (without thinking of sales) manifests in half decent artwork. (???) This is my favourite painting. For me, this is me. My art, for me.

Express yourself. Be yourself. That's what I live by. (Along with some other half-baked hippie principles that make no sense at all, which I shall bore you with at a later date.)

Love to you all.

Art and Science

Finally. My junk and art in storage is back. Mountains of old paintings, books, sculpture tools, soapstone, canvases, timber scraps and treasured finds. Like long lost friends we play and reminisce.
I fondly look at my paintings.

And then put them on Etsy!
Goodbye. (please)
There is just not enough room in here. Assemblage bits are in assembled mountains. Paintings are three deep all around me. Electronic components spring to life while crashing down on me from shoe boxes. This has to end. I'm selling all my old paintings!

The Science Part

I have been enjoying stimulating discussion on the meaning of life at the Edge website.
Each year they invite the greatest minds in psychiatry, biology, AI and other sciences to answer questions of importance for all humanity. All the big names contribute, like Paul Davis and Richard Dawkins. The group comes together under whats called the third culture. (The new public intellectuals)

"The third culture consists of those scientists and other thinkers in the empirical world who, through their work and expository writing, are taking the place of the traditional intellectual in rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are."

Besides besides being a great read I have added a few words to my vocabulary. Are you familiar with the following words?

picayune
neologism
asymptote
stochastic
promissory
egregious
aphorism
metonymy
chronocentrism

Enjoy!

Wild Thing

In an interview that could have come straight out of The Fountainhead, Maurice Sendak upholds artistic integrity and vision. The Wild Things creator said. "Don't like the movie? Go to hell."

Where The Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak has a message for people who think the film based on his classic book is too scary for children: "Go to hell".

Is it too scary? "That's a question I will not tolerate," he said in an interview with Newsweek. "If [kids] can't handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it's not a question that can be answered."

In 2008 children left early test screenings of Wild Things in tears, and Warner Bros studios ordered director Spike Jonze to re cut the film and make it palatable for young audiences. How much was re cut I don't know. From the trailers it looks like the beautiful and moving story bought to life.

I know I want a costume. And now there is clothing and jewelry inspired by the movie!

The film releases in Australia on December 3.

Speaking of movies, I did see The Moon today. An amazing and disturbing movie. Highly recommended, but what would I know?

Be wild! Be yourself!