Make and Do

You probably already know I quite like that new job although the hours are tiring and I'm not home nearly enough for my family and it's a pay drop and my teacher registration requires me to get back to it eventually.

BUT in the meantime, I get to make stuff.

Unfinished paintings of tangled up bunting on the grass. Hope to do more of these.

Every day.

Garden lantern based on some Spanish ones I saw.

Demonstrating is a great motivator. It pushes me out of my comfort zone and makes me try new things.
like skull sculptures, (who'd have thunk?)

or landscape painting

Mine is a bit Reg Mombasa- ish

with my sons (how special is that?)

His is a bit more lyrical and, dare I say it- feminine!

or trying an identity themed painting based on my 14 year old boy's festering old sneaker. He loved these sneakers so much that I had to hide them after 18 months when they were no longer his size and had become tissue thin. They remind me of him as he is now- messy, loyal, adventurous, a secret fashionisto and kind of unkempt in a lovable, boisterous way. So I drew his shoe.

It really had to go.

It was partly to demonstrate that an art work on identity didn't need to be a painted selfie but also to preserve a moment in time about him for him. I may have to do four more of these- and get more walls to hang things on!

It seems I am aways conscious of making memory points for them to have in case I can't remind them in person. After I impulsively indulged in a therapeutic end of term pedi the other day, the girls asked for a $5 manicure each. At four and ten years old, I would once have thought they were too young or it was silly. These days I go for the memory making option. Hopefully we'll all sit around and reminisce about their first manicure when I'm ninety!

Remember artistica?

She used to live symbiotically with Domestica in our old farm house on the hill. Seems there is less time than ever for attending to her needs lately, especially in household areas like stool painting and op shop trawling. However one of the perks of the job is that I do get to help making some resources and demonstrating techniques for the students.

A couple of things were finished off recently with some kiln firing, another skill that it was nice to dust off.

 These are the Hermansberg style pots. I'm particularly fond of the bottom on the pink lady. It is comfortingly generous.

I'm sure this has been done before a gazillion times but I found these mud wasp nests just as I was loading the kiln one day. There is still some thought going on what to do with them. I'm thinking pastel underglazes and mounting them in a box frame like tiny Baby Bjorns in a row- which they kind of are when you think about it. (Oh look. There's one of the marbles I lost.)

 Last week my esteemed colleague made these with the boys so I had to have a go too because how can you not? Mine is on the lower left with the unfortunate underbite.

There is a strange pleasure to be had in loading and unloading the kiln. It is the magic of the transformation when things are fired. It never gets old. I just can't wait to open it up and see they have become. It's a bit like the cocoon, wasp nest thing I suppose. Here they are all lined up expectantly facing the yawning maw of the open kiln before being fired.

Speaking of being fired,  the northern mountain was thoroughly roasted the other day. On another gloriously clear warm winter's day, the crispy grass went up like paper straight over the hill. We saw it start behind some houses on the way home from soccer when it was just leaping up a couple of trees. An hour later when we drove back over to Nanna's it had spread across the entire mountain.

 Nature is quite dramatic even in the suburbs in Queensland.

Skullduggery

One of the best things about being back in an art department is remembering long lost tidbits from the cobwebby recesses of my mind. Information from fourteen years ago will pop back into my head as though somebody flicked a light switch. Meanwhile I still can't remember that I put a lunch box in the car five minutes ago. The dodgy short term memory is resulting in much driving back and forth for forgotten objets. However some old memories have plugged back in to have some fun. 

When the teachers got new blank aprons last week, one suggested we do a little bit of decorating. I could not remember a thing about silk screening then it just popped back in. Flick!

The students are drawing lots of animal skulls at the moment so I thought I'd go down the sugar skull route.

Cut it out.

Make a practice print to stick it to the screen.

Pull the paint across the top with a squeegee.

Get a little carried away with the whole excitement of printing something again.

Add some twiddly bits.

The next one is going to be a few words I received on an e mail when I started working. I'm thinking it might be nice on a canvas but can't decide what colours to use. Thoughts?