Doodles

Have been looking at street art in class and have been trying to fill pages with pattern and characters.

Have been using reference works, so not all of the characters produced are entirely original, the blonde haired girl which dominates the first drawing is taken from a book on street art.  The sole purpose of the exercise is not to produce a finished work but to work on filling the entire page.  Good fun and very addictive.

Fish Out of Water (just about complete)

 

Fairly happy with this one I think, a little too simplistic perhaps, although it almost has a Deco feel about it somehow.  However, before I use orange again,  I must remind myself that it is not an opaque colour choice!

Fish Out of Water (beginnngs)

Went to view the Churchie Emerging Art Awards at QCA then Oxlades Art Supplies and then had lunch at Kai  San Japanese Restaurant at South Bank yesterday, so therefore got absolutely no work done. 

Have started this morning on another painted book cover from a sketch I drew up in my trusty pocket sized note book that travels with me everywhere.  Hopefully I'll have this finished by this afternoon and then I can start on another.

Not Safe to Surface

 

Another little painted book with an idea that had been rattling round in my head.

Am enjoying painting again and I really like working on a small scale like this.

Sardine Tin

 

Decided to try something different with this book.  

Hadn't painted in a long time and have had an idea for a sardine tin book rolling around in my head for a while now. 

I had been going to cut out a hole in the book and then make sardines with silver leaf to go in the book, however, I decided to spend my afternoon painting the cover with oils instead.  

I did use silver leaf for the base of the sardines, so not totally off the original idea.

Little Black Book of Anthropology

 

A little book on the evolution of man which I picked up from a $1 bin in a second hand book store in Melbourne Central.  Easy to carry home without going over the baggage weight restrictions.

Venetiian Red Napthalene (complete)

 

Played a little more with this book as it didn't seem completely rectified. 

Encircled the void with tacs and added a couple of stamps and a small tag.

All done playing now. Moving on to the next book challenge.

lambs to the slaughter

More books waiting to be made into, hopefully, desirable sculptural pieces.
When asked what I am doing at present, I am constantly amazed by the immediate response people have to books. 
Conversations invariably lead to revelations of fondness for books as objects of familiarity and comfort and also despondency at the possibility of books becoming obsolete through the use of computers.

Venetian Red Napthalene

Rescued from the skip - a 1915 book entitled Venetian Red by P.M. Pasinetti.  

The bottle, which is now embedded in the book,  bears a vintage chemist label from the times when phone numbers had 2 letters and 4 digits.  

The label bears the text: 

NAPTHALENE   

J.C. KILBURN, M.P.S 

CHEMIST

Cor. CLOVELLY ROAD & ARDEN ST 

PHONE ML 1077               CLOVELLY

Not sure if it's a finished project yet, or not.

Vinyl Creatures

 

Yes, I know, I'm having a vinyl toy moment!  

Problem is, we have just switched computers and I haven't transferred over my photo files - so I am having to use photo's I have taken in the last couple of days.

Bear with me, I'll be back to books shortly!

Dunny Series - Vinyl Toys

 

Herewith some more vinyl, this time from the Dunny Series 5 collection.

Kathie Olivas - Vinyl Toys

 

Three of my Kathie Olivas "The Scavengers" vinyl toys.

"Winston" with the black and white party hat and octopus legs is from Series I.

"Daisey" with the pink and red pom-pomed party hat and the zippered brown jumpsuit is from Series II.

"Dexter" with the nice little red zippered jump suit and blue and white party hat is also from Series I.

See more Kathie Olivas images here at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathieolivas/

Songs of Nature Calendar Illustrations

These sweet illustrations, on buff coloured card, are from a little "Songs of Nature" 2010 desk calendar I purchased in the Kinokuniya bookstore in Shinjuku,  Tokyo. Totally kawaii!

Annotated Mother Goose

Ex library book of nursery rhymes.  Unfortunately the front page was ripped where they'd taken off the old borrowing pocket, but I suppose this adds character, since borrowing pockets are a thing of the past now.  Remember the old card catalogues?
My, how things have changed.

Old Family Photo's

 

I am the youngest of five siblings and generally I am happier moving forward than looking back but as a Christmas present a couple of years back, my parents gave myself and my siblings USB's containing images of old slides they'd copied.  

Nice and yellowed with age, full of a lot of forgotten moments and family folklore.

Winter Flowers

 

The magnolia tree has once again burst into flower in my front yard.  

The tree is now as tall as the roof and about 2-3 metres across, bearing these beautiful, lightly scented flowers, white with the slightest hint of a blush.

Birds

 

More backyard bird photo's: Scaley Breasted Lorikeet (Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus), Sulphur Crested Cocaktoo (Cacatua galerita) and Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus).  

All taken with my trusty little Canon Powershot S2IS.  Best little compact zoom lens ever!