Compact Prints Collection

Today my friend and I visited the collection at the local library which had been made possible as a travelling exhibition by the Friends of the Library group so a big thank you to them . We were talking to a staff member and she was pleased to have participating printmakers and locals as well to view it. Now we , along with three other local members have been invited  to share a half hour morning tea tomorrow .
 Each printmaker creates three prints to size , one for donation to auction and raise money , one for display and the other to randomly swap with other members.
 Umbrella Studio http://umbrella.org.au also present each of us with a cd of the collection , a very nice keepsake.

This is my print of a sculpture of a mangrove pod that had been commissioned in 2009 for the Urban Art Project along the Mackay Bluewater Trail.

A previous print submitted to the project . This was my first submission and I am trying to enter each time. It's a good way to add to my personal collection.

This is the second one I submitted and is a screenprint taken from an original drawing.

Next year will be my fourth one so I am looking for ideas at present and different techniques.

First visit to Yeppoon followed by a second visit.

Back in 1999 I attended a ten day painting workshop with  a long time friend. We travelled by car from Mackay to Yeppoon staying at the centre at Cooee Bay. A great venue with accommodation included though bunk style bedrooms with adjoining ablution block.
This happened to be the 25th anniversary of the groups meetings at the same date every year. We shared two tutors between approximately thirty artists. My first tutor was Joe Furlonger and we were doing lino printing.The second half the tutors swapped over groups and Bela Ivanyi concentrated on acrylic painting on paper or canvas.
Without going into detail I came away very overwhelmed but knew that large groups of people wasn't for me. To this day my friend is still attending and I have moved on to further my interest in printmaking, drawing , bookmaking and watercolour.

This is an acrylic painting and I now look at it and wonder where my artistic psychic was as I am not a figure or landscape person in my own work and this is not the sort of abstract I like. Hmmm......

Mixed media on paper here and again figure in the landscape though I don't mind this one and have reused the image.

Anyhow I really do appreciate my learning curve from the adventure and have kept my notes and artworks as reference material.

The second visit to Yeppoon was under different circumstances. My man had never been to Yeppoon so as his treat on the way home from Hervey Bay we stopped a couple of days and it was a chance for me to reacquaint myself with the other end of Yeppoon, Farnborouh and Byfield area. We found great accommodation at Beachfront 55 and I went for an early morning walk as you do and here are a couple of photos as a result.

Early morning raincloud approaching the mainland.

Early birds catching worms.

We visited two local galleries, The Mill Gallery which is housed in an old post office building and the Paint Pot not very far away in an old church. Morning tea in town across the road and after lunch we enjoyed a drive through the country passed the state forest to Cooberrie Park Wildlife Sanctuary where  I'm told they breed their own koalas.

 

and have two white peacocks

as well as many lizards reptiles, birds and a fox, sleeping ....

We said goodbye to them all and continued even further on into the forest to here...

Now this is dangerous territory as some wonderful pottery, hand blown glassware, jewellery,tiles, and artworks situated on beautiful property offering a relaxed atmosphere.

It was hard to depart but we had to move on as time to go home.

My Whale Watch Tour

Yes I have been very fortunate to visit Hervey Bay to see these beautiful creatures. The weather was reasonably kind with just the white horses breaking the surface of the waves. Such gentle giants of the sea who were only too happy to play around the boat showing off the new offspring. Two dolphins whizzed past without bothering to say hello to us.....(human speak)
I can only imagine what it must have been like under the surface ,seeing this large boat above me with curious faces peering over the side, clapping and yahooing to attract my attention, after all don't these "odd things" know that is why I am here, as a whale to show off.(whale's thoughts.)

 Part of the action and this is so much fun showing my tail!!!

 Now it's time to to play chasey....

 Look out here I come.....

And here we are all together.

This is a beautiful rain cloud coming across the bay at Yeppoon.

Local wildlife on the beach at Yeppoon.

On the return trip home we spent a night at Yeppoon and these two photos are taken there on my early morning beach walk. Such lovely flat , long beaches perfect for walking.

The rain cloud swept over the beach and onto town .

UPDATE WITH LINK

Oops! Seems Blogger is having another of its problematic "fits."

I tried to go back in to the previous post to give you the link for Maria's great  site, but I(and, it seems, several others!) come unstuck.

But here's the link to Puzzle Prints.

1000 woodblock project

This project is moving along nicely and never ceases to amaze me with each block that is submitted.
The skill and creative thinking of other artists is something  I look forward to .
Each block tells it's own story and I am left to wondering how it is going to appear as the finished print.
How will they in the images themselves adjust to each other being such diverse pieces?
Lets ponder on this question together.

One Thousand Woodcuts, my effort.

Earlier on this particular site was brought to my attention and was very interesting and challenging so decided to give it a go and see what I could produce.
The basic idea is that interested printmakers paid a fee to receive a small block of timber from Maria in America, who has been the chief insitgator and driving force of the whole project.Instructions were sent with the woodblock to be carved by me and returned by December for printing. In return every participant receives a beautiful print in the mail. With over one hundred printmakers working towards this goal I can only imagine the size of the finished print.
As I was also involved with another project which needed my full attention being  much more of a challenge in that I had planned to edition at least 15 books but ended up with 12. More on this project at a later date.
Okay enough babbling here are some pictures.

My small block ready for carving.

Original drawing and proof. One main instruction was not to ink the block, or change the shape in any way.

Completed block with newspaper wrapping as requested by Maria, gives her something to read as she unwraps the blocks!

 Note how I have a block in similar shape to our great state.

A picture of the print when it arrives sometime in the New Year, a long time to wait but as I have read her progress reports I will be patient for it's arrival as you must be!!...

Celebration lunch.

Celebration Lunch.

Yes folks I know it's the same photo as in Book Arts Object site. We had a lovely day starting with a chat at home followed by lunch at a smallcafe in the city and a pleasant drive to Gargett Gallery,(up the valley) not only to view the current exhibition but to show Lesley our prized possessions. Very proudly we displayed them to Lesly and she is very impressed.Well done to all our book making friends and we look forward to a repeat performance when the others arrive safely.