Paste papers in the rain

This is what we did on Sunday. I had an arrangement made a very long time ago to teach some friends how to make paste paper.  We wanted a fine day, because we needed to dry the papers on the clothesline out in my courtyard so that we do could do more layers.

The weather was against us. First we put them on the line, but then we had to go out in the rain & quickly bring them in. So we had newspaper all over the floor of the lounge, the heater on, and papers pegged to the clothes-horse in front of that and all over the floor as well. We also had the heater on in the kitchen where we were working, and were drying off the driest ones   there.

We started off with some paste I’d cooked made from wheaten cornflour. When that was used up we used Matisse Print Paste, and it worked very well diluted a little.

These are some of the ones I made. I only wish that they’d scan as beautiful as they are. The top one is Matisse Indigo with the gold.  There’s a little cerulean blue in under there too. That’s my favourite.

This green one is Matisse Emerald over paper that had had blobs of paint put on it, pressed together and then pulled apart. It has a sort of batik look in under there.The orange one is Permament Orange over Cobalt Teal.

I made 10-11 pieces, which wasn’t bad under the circumstances. We started at 10am and it was getting dark when we finished.

More handmade boxes

Last year I was lucky enough to have the chance to learn to make a box with Glen Skien. You can see that box here. Recently I made this one with handmade papers in green. The papers are of various techniques using Matisse inks, paints and mediums.

I showed it to a work colleague whose eyes lit up, so now I have made this blue-green one for her.

Both these boxes have itajime papers and credit card papers. The top one has some papers that used Gloss Medium as a resist, whereas the bottom one has some paste papers.

The third box is made from some papers using a friend’s technique made in a huge batch on a very hot New Year’s Day. They’re all from a monoprinting technique. The paper I used here is cartridge paper that had previous been life drawings in charcoal – those two minute ones that are usually a total disaster. They make an interesting layer for decorated papers.

Send a postcard to Tasmania.

You’ve got until March 2009 to enter this postcard exhibition in Tasmania. Where’s that? It’s the island down the bottom of Australia. What are the criteria? Just incorporate things made of paper. Gail Stiffe, a well-known Australian paper artist is organising this exhibition, and details are on her website here. Don’t be afraid – have a go!  I did. I needed a break from poring over the computer last weekend, and I quickly collaged some paper bits to these three.

I’ve used old parts of old lithographs, collographs and drypoint etchings, linocuts (that’s the tigerskin!), plus paste paper, credit card paper and other decorative paper.

Some of the postcards have started to arrive, and you can see them here, and read more about the exhibition. Even more can be seen here.   I am issuing a challenge to YOU to enter this exhibition. You can do that!  Think of all those paper bits you’ve got round the house.

One warning though – we have very strict quarantine laws - see what happened to one person’s postcards by clicking the link.

Finally – bookmarks with credit card paper

I promised to put these online a week or more ago. A lot has been happening in my life. I’m working about three days a week now and as well as that I’m going to a tutors-only life drawing class at Sydney Community College on a Monday morning. I’ve just got back from that. I teach Painting in Acrylics there, both on Wednesday night and Wednesday morning.

Now we’re ramping up for some more book/paper art classes at Artwise the Amazing paper shop. Hope to finalise all the dates today. These will be a two-hour Saturday morning class. First we make the credit card paper (which I learnt from Kelsey’s blog). – then we make the bookmarks. There will also be a flag book class. You can see some of the flag books in previous posts on my blog – here.

As well as that I’ll be doing the star tunnel book class again.This link is to a little variation of it we learn the skills for if we’ve got time. We have some new classes that haven’t been offered before – art books and decorative papers. Watch the Artwise website or give them a call. Dates should be finalised today.

Playing with Bologna bits and pieces

Glad you liked my Bologna book. Yes, it has been submitted for the AGNSW exhibition – that’s not to say it will be accepted. I’ll post more pages when I’ve had time to crop them & so forth.

This is something I did to let off steam when the book was finally finished and all the deadlines met. I had all sorts of little bits and pieces left over. I have been selling some art books on ebay, and I quite often put in a handmade bookmark and I was running out. I’ve also used some credit card paper and a piece of itajime paper. The second set is what you see through the window when you pull up the red blind.

This artist comes from Bologna.

Who is he? Alison, from scribblesadagio has been using him for inspiration.

I also did some bookmarks with credit card papers glued onto matt board I bought at Reverse Garbage. I’ll show you them soon.

It’s a conspiracy !

The planets seem to be aligned in a consiracy to stop me making art. Waaaah! I’m getting stressed. The deadline for the Pyrmont Art Prize is coming up, as is the Australian Bookbinders’ Exhibition. Neither of my entries are complete. Today I am making the cover for my Bologna book, which is highly stressful – a lot of cutting & piecing. I worked on the Pyrmont Art Prize entry yesterday (stuff the planets) and it is now well down the track. Still, I want to make a major change, so it’s next once the cover is made.

On Monday afternoon I had some friends round to make credit card papers. I learnt about this from Kelsey first. You can find detailed instructions on her blog on this post. They are such fun – totally addictive. You only have a certain amount of control when you make these papers – the variables are the paper, the card, the consistency of the paint, the smoothness of the surface under your paper. We used pieces of perspex, which I had Ajaxed to get off any bits of old paint. It was very interesting with three of us making papers together. We made nine each, and when you saw them in a bunch, it became obvious that each group had a slightly different ‘look.’ Obviously the hand of the artist has something to do with it too.

The top one (I think) is Aqua Green Light, and Burgundy and Copper. The second is Magenta Light, then half Cobalt Blue and half Hookers Green, then Silver.

The third is half, Yellow Deep, half Yellow Light, then Burgundy, and Australian Sap Green.

The last is a bright red (I don’t remember) Hookers Green and Metallic Gold. All Matisse Flow Formula paints. I did make one piece with Matisse Structure Formula but I didn’t like how that panned out so much. The Structure has a lot more plasticky stuff (technical term, there) in it, and therefore the water doesn’t move the paint so easily. Nevertheless. it’s just a different look, and may well suit some purpose in the future.

At present I have a painting in an exhibition in the “At the Vanishing Point” Gallery. Last night was not only the opening, but the gallery’s first birthday. Huge crowd, but huge cake with plenty to go around. They have a courtyard out the back and everyone tends to congregate there, because that’s where the bar is. At this gallery, instead of an inch of warm wine in a paper cup, you pay a ludicrously small amount for a proper glass of wine in a proper glass, or a bottle of beer. I love this gallery because Renee and Brendan are such a pleasure to deal with, and they make everyone so welcome.

Before we went to the gallery, we ate at African Feeling. Yummm -oh! I am Thai’d out at the moment. The food at this restaurant is like the best home cooking and it is only a couple of very short blocks from the gallery (as is Doytao, our usual haunt.)