Art 46

So now I've joined tumblr, pinterest, and twitter. Is that all of them? Is there anything I'm forgetting? Not entirely sure why - mostly just a terrible urge to not Miss Out. Oh well. Feel free to add me on whatever - extrantice, as usual (hooray for made up words!).

I've been working fairly steadily on the cryptomnesia piece (nearly, neearrly, etc) since my last art post, so there isn't really much to report as far as my own stuff goes. I did possibly finish making a pair of goggles in Second Life, but I'm not very happy with them, so i neglected to take any snapshots.

So, that leaves me to find something else to write about. Thankfully there is, of course, a huge amount of art all over the damn place. The South West Survey* was on again this month. Neither my sister nor i entered, or attended the opening thing (circumstances rather overtook us on the night in question, unfortunately - we both would've liked to go), but we're making tentative plans to see the exhibition later this week. Quite looking forward to it. I wish you were allowed to take photos in the gallery, then I could show everyone my favourite pieces. Might be brave and ask about it specially - i don't have a huge gamut of followers, though, so the gallery might not look at it as publicity, or something. i dunno.
*South West Times Survey? South West Art Survey? South West Times Art Survey? South West Times Regional Art Survey?

Elsewhere in town (or possibly connected to the gallery, I'm not sure), there is an art event called... I must look that up. It was in one of last week's papers, I think...
Ah, here it is. Walk Your Art Out. It's about young people (from 16 to 25) making art and putting it in the windows of various local businesses in the central business district. Here is the facebook page: Walk Your Art Out.
Looks like fun, to enter (alas, I'm already 29), and to see. I have a fancy new diary (cat themed. Oh yes.), will definitely be writing in the dates for this.

Meanwhile, here is a webcomic i'm reading: A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible. The link shows the page i'm currently up to (i go slow with webcomics - there are so very many of them, all being read at once). Liking the art. Kind of messy, but still definitely clear enough to show what's happening. Colourific, too. The story seems to be about various, one-page adventures of two friends, the writer and artist of the comic. Surreal adventures, on the whole. Yayo.

Art 39

Well, month(s) since I last posted anything here... I undoubtedly have excuses, but I can't seem to remember them at the moment. So, on with the important stuff.

Lately* I've begun collecting stamps. Or rather, I've finally figured out how to remove them from the envelopes without destroying them (soak them in water). Thank you, internet! But why collect stamps, I hear you cry?* They're small, portable, highly public pieces of art, of course. I like the incredible variety of images in them. Everything from the staid profiles of royalty to paintings of cats to mysterious art deco logos. All delightfully miniaturised. When I get brave I may put some pictures of my collection up...
*- More or less.

An example of a stamp, vaguely rendered by me, and featuring Micky.

In other news, I recently signed up for free weekly samples from Dover publishing. They publish a range of stuff including colouring-in books, and books featuring royalty-free clip-art, and things. Inspiration abounds, possibly. Here's their website: http://store.doverpublications.com/index.html

Lately I've come across a lot of old greeting cards. Not too old - they reach as far back as the seventies. I'm thinking of photographing and uploading a range of 'em... There's something interesting and strange (to me, anyway) about the pictures used to communicate well-wishes.

Meanwhile, still working on the quad type-1 koch snowflakes, and the cryptomnesia piece. I've also borrowed a few books from the library in regards to some designs I want to embroider/cross-stitch/whatever on the handbags I'll eventually be making from the shiel pack. Aside from that, I've been woefully non-productive on the art side of things. My energy levels have just plummeted this past couple months. I blame the doctor for telling me to cut back on caffeine. It's vital!

I've also been woefully (woe! woe!) negligent in keeping up to date with the webcomics I'm trying to follow. Several weeks (if not years) behind now on all of them.

Last Friday my sister and I went to the exhibition of the South West Survey (or South West Times Survey? South West Times Art Survey? Ah, whatever) art competition, held at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery. There was some brilliant work that we both loved and were freaked out by. It was incredibly inspirational this time (there's so many things I need to start work on!), and in some ways the reason for this post, so I thought I'd better mention it.

Art 7

First up, that exhibition my sister and I went to in May. Twas housed in the mysteriously musk-pink Bunbury Regional Art Gallery. There is space there to run a few exhibits at once, and the one we wanted was upstairs, but first we had a look around downstairs, particularly at an exhibit of the aerial photography of Richard Woldendorp.

This is some really special stuff. Mostly waterways and mine sites, the distance of the landscapes reduced them to abstractions. Lots of curves and strange ripples and textures. It reminded us both of abstract print work.

Then up the slightly creaky stairs we went, to see Simon Gilby's The Syndicate. What can I say about this... Well, it was good. There were a range of sculptures, all human forms in various attitudes, and made of different... different bits, I suppose. Mostly metal, but different kind of metal. Rusty nail-like things, and shiny scrolls, and sheets of metal treated in such a way as to look, I thought, like leather. There was a figure rising in defiance of gravity, with impossibly tiny wings, and with such grace it was amazing. Parts of the figures were highly realistic - generally the mouth and hands, and sometimes the genitals. I found that really interesting, the parts of each piece chosen to be highly articulated.

My favourite (possibly - I can't really choose) piece was of a large corpse sort of thing, with movable joints. The pieces of the body were hollow, and inside were bones with words or numbers scribed on them. It was strange and beautiful in a way that wasn't extravagant.

It was definitely worth seeing, I'm very glad we made it in time. There are pictures on the website linked above.