Freshen Up & Pay it Forward

Was starting to think the blog was looking

a little gloomy, so freshened up the colours for

your viewing pleasure (>u<).

PAY IT FORWARD 2012

Was over visiting
Jo Murray's Art Blog 

and decided to take her up on her offer
  of being one of three to receive a small hand made gift
in her quest to Pay It Forward.

There are a couple of requirements attached
and
in order for me to also Pay it Forward
I would like your help.

To keep the good will going,.

Please leave a comment here or

drop me a line at 

fostered@tpg.com.au 

with your details

and I will send the

first three people a 

small handmade gift.

I will post links to

those first three bloggers

and then they

will put a post up about 

Pay It Forward 

(with a link back to my blog)

then they too
will send on three small 

handmade gifts via snail mail.

If you are interested in participating

but are not one of the first three to comment,

come back after I have put links to my three

recipients and go to their blogs to be one

of their recipients. 

eg:  
I comment on Jo's blog, 
so Jo will send me a gift.

I post about the project on my blog 
wait for three comments.

When I get them 
I put links to their blogs on my blog

and send them 3 gifts via snail mail.

Those people will put a post about it on their blogs 
and send 3 gifts etc,

ad infinitum.

Please bear in mind, these are small handmade items

being posted in the mail, so nothing extravagant, just

a nice little shared token of creativity.

Look forward to seeing who responds.

"Ex Libris Olim" - End of Show

My exhibition

"Ex Libris Olim"

finishes at the Redland Museum this Wednesday.

I very  sincerely  thank all of the lovely

people who have been so generous in their support 

and praise for this little endeavour of mine.

Some of the books will be winging their way to the

Foyer at Sheldon College for a little while now.

As you will probably have noticed by my blog posts

I have had a bit of a hiatus from altered books over

the last month or so.

I think the intensity of getting this exhibition

plumped out with books was a little draining.

I am expecting my mojo to return very soon,

as I have some great ideas I want to pursue

(and lots of lost books lined up on top of my

bookshelf with which to pursue said ideas!)

The Meal - Photo submission

 Herewith my photo submission for the

ArtHouse Co-Op "The Meal" Project

The outline was that, where ever on the

globe you live,  you had to take a 6x4 format

photo of whatever meal/snack you were

partaking of at 12pm EST Friday 24th Feb.

The photo had to include the food being consumed

 and also a full/part portrait of the consumer.

The aim of the project is to highlight world hunger.

I shall post a copy of my little photo via

snail mail over the weekend to the

Brooklyn Art Library.

Sketchbook Project in Progress

Have been working away on my sketchbook project

which I first posted on here in December

sketchbook project beginnings

The title "How to Spell and Other Things to Learn"

has led me along a rather tongue in cheek path

with a mix of old book pages and obscure words.

I have used fragments of  illustrations from  old

book page pieces as departure points for

inserts of text and collage.

I have imbued the pages with a less crisp appearance

by running them through a press with inked 

and rubbed  mylar sheets as we did at  

Glen Skien's workshop 

a couple of weeks ago.

I have used old letter stencils for the text

which I have then filled in with gouache

and red pigment 

(which I found in an art shop in Kyoto - 

really wish I'd bought many more colours).

I plan on doing an index at the back of the book

to explain  the chosen words to make it more 

like a  children's lesson book from times past.

Like the solutions at the back of a puzzle book.

Love Seat

Wasn't looking for new furniture, but this was

such a bargain I couldn't leave it behind.

I absolutely love it - nice and quirky.

The guy in the delivery dock couldn't believe 

anyone would choose to live with something this hideous!

Lucky he's not a salesman!!!

It's little feet protectors are still on as it won't have a

proper place to sit until we have finished our renovations,

which have only just begun!

So for now it will sit in front of my overstuffed bookshelves,

in my already overflowing work area

where I can enjoy it's company.

Daruma Dolls

The top two photos above are of Daruma dolls, which we bought from

a little shop on the steeply winding dori (streets) leading up

from the Gion neighbourhood to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple overlooking Kyoto.

The idea of the Daruma doll is that when you have a goal/

desire/wish you draw a black pupil in one eye and then once

your goal/desire/wish has come to fruition you fill in the other eye.

We were told the Daruma doll is symbolic of Bodhidharma

who supposedly sat still for so long that he lost the use of his

arms and legs.  The hair on his face also represents longevity

(the eyebrows representing cranes and the moustaches 

representing turtles), thus reminding one that patience and diligence is

required in order to attain goals.

The dolls are made of papier mache and are weighted in the bottom

so that they will always right themselves if knocked over ( - more symbolism).

The bottom photo is of two cute little figures representing 

a ninja and a geisha/maiko, bought for us by our lovely young

friend Haruka whilst we were visiting Toeii Kyoto Studio Park.

They are only 5cm tall and made of wood and paper.

Kawaii!

Feeling a bit despondent this morning

as Jetstar have two for one offers on flights to Japan from the Gold Coast 

at the moment, but I know I won't be on any of those flights!
Maybe I should fill in one of those Daruma's eyes!!!

Lace Leaf Prints

These are very rudimentary,

but I have spent the morning,

along with my friends Jack & Corinne,

mucking around with printing inks, rollers & presses.

I had no direction to follow and ended up

playing around with little lace leaves

which offered themselves up to me.

Somehow, I keep coming back to leaves.

Riusuke Fukahori

   

Riusuke Fukahori is an extremely talented Japanese artist

doing wonderful, amazing things with paint and resin,

take a look at some of his work 

 in a recent post on the also fabulous Colossal art & design blog

this is colossal - riusuke fukahori

I dare you not to be amazed!