BEDSIDE TABLE: MONTH 21

Hello lovlies, 

I hope you are all well and good at the moment, and loving life wherever you may be!  This month's theme comes in from Mr Cam Ewart who is currently having a lovely holiday in New Zealand.....perhaps all the travelling and sleeping in different spots has inspired him to come up with this month's theme?

'Bedside Table' is the theme.  Hmmmm, a little bit of a thinker....but I think it's a winner.

If you are a reader of Frankie magazine, you may have seen the lovely feature article from this month's edition called 'My Bedside Table'.  A small collection of artists have illustrated their own bedside tables - quite lovely and all quite different.  One of those illustrators, Sandra Eterovic posted about her process on her blog here.  Another one is from Melbourne based Able & Game, which you can see here.

Hope it inspires you to make something and have fun along the way!  Due date is 1st November.

Gilli x

PULP FICTION FOOD BY LAURA GROGRAN

The very talented and creative Laura Grogan has made some tasty looking Art Club photographs this month, inspired by Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.  

Frome Laura, "Blueberry Pancakes, The Royale with Cheese, The $5 Shake, That Hawaiian Burger Joint, Not digging on swine are some of my favourite moments from Pulp Fiction. Quentin Tarantino's use of food as social commentary are a film technical all is own. Special thanks to Macdonalds & Huxtaburger for providing the burgers, all else concocted from my kitchen."

JOHN JARRATT BY JIM SAMMON

Hi everyone, 

Here is another wonderful submission for the Quentin Tarantino themed month, from Jim Sammon.

"It is an A3 collograph print, made of layers of card and shellac, printed with intaglio ink. John Jarratt has a cameo role in Django Unchained as an Aussie miner working as an indentured servant to the mining company.  We have a teachers Exhibition opening this Friday and I'll put this print in the show"

Thanks Jim!

WIGGLE YOUR BIG TOE BY GILLIAN NIX

Hi everyone, 

For this month's theme I wanted to make something that addressed Quinten Tarantino's foot fetish.  Have you ever noticed how many shots of feet there are in his films?  No?  Well there are!  I quite like drawing feet too, so I did some ink drawings of a few different feet to start this project.  I feel he has a particular affinity for Uma Thurman's feet, which I decided to feature in my print, from the film Kill Bill.

This artwork was a little experiment in moving away from the size number 1 lino cutting tool - and venturing out into cutting tool number 5 - a slightly bigger and chunkier tool.  I tried it and I'm not sure I really like it....but at least I tried it! (I know this sounds incredibly pedantic!)

Hope you like, Gillian 

The original ink drawing, which I transferred onto the lino surface using eucalyptus oil and the print press...

Uma Thurman's wonderful feet from the scene in the film...

Carving the lino block...

The cutting tools...

The scene from the film.  I love this little bit of the film...

PULP FICTION BY MATTHEW PHAM

Thank you to the very talented, Matthew Pham for his super cool 'Pulp Fiction' artwork submission.....

RESERVOIR DOGS BY ROBERT DONNELLY

Hello, me again. Here is my latest submission, titled 'Resevoir Dogs'. Getting both dogs in the water was a feat in itself as the older one did not like getting wet. I played around with filters on the camera to jake the image more exciting, enjoy. B x

QUENTIN TARANTINO - MONTH 20

Hello lovlies, 

Month 20's theme has been decided as 'Quentin Tarantino'.  Why?  Well, just because really!  I recently re-watched Django and Jackie Brown, and loved watching the films again.  It made me think that this man would be a fabulous theme for Art Club, et voila!

As always, anything creative is welcomed and encouraged......drawing/painting/sculpture/film/cooking/drinking/playing/dancing/singing.....  Please email photos/links/etc to Chris or myself.  Submissions due by the 16th of August.

Happy creating....but no guns please!

BUMBLE BEES BY ROBERT DONNELLY

This submission comes from the fabulous Robert Donnelly - his first submission for Art Club - hooray!  Thanks Bobby and welcome to Art Club.

"I decided to join the plight of the bumble bee and do a run of prints, 3 different tones of yellows and greys. I had off cuts of lino that were too wee to use but too big to throw out, so I thought, what's that small that would look good as a lino, a Bee!  Each print measures 3.5 x 5 inches."

WINTER DAVE BY GILLIAN NIX

Hello everyone!

Yesterday I made my 'Winter' submission which is a portrait of Dave - a lovely friend in Melbourne who is the uncle of even more lovely friends.  I think Dave is a terrific human being and for a while I have been wanting to make an artwork using his face.  I originally took some photos of Dave way back in 2011 and finally decided to use these photos for this month's theme.

  The artwork is a lino print/cut, measuring 30 x 30cm.  I started the process by playing around in Photoshop and manipulating the image to have lots of dark shadows.  Dave is also wearing a wooly jumper which I also added in Photoshop.

I also attended a workshop at the Silk Cut factory in Highett yesterday, which was ran by the wonderful printmaker, Heather Shimmen.  Heather makes lovely layered prints with incredible detail, and was incredibly generous and sharing with ideas and tips for novice printmakers like me.  She introduced the class to working on a gesso surface on the lino surface - which I hadn't tried before.  Some of the marks on Dave's print are due to the gesso paint brush marks - which I think work really well with this image.  

Hope you like (I'm a bit chuffed with how it turned out)! 

Gillian x

Cutting the block...

The original photo of Dave....taken way back in 2012! (Yes, it takes me a while to get to working on projects, but I eventually get there!)

WINTER: MONTH 19

Hello lovlies, 

Month 19 is going to be the theme of 'Winter'.....brrrrr!  Yes, that's right, it's pretty wintery here in the Southern Hemisphere and we're getting warm, wooly and creative.

Due date is 2nd of July....happy Winter!

MINI GARDENS BY RYAN HALEY

Hello folks, 

Mr Green-Fingers (Ryan Haley) has been making mini-gardens lately....check out his cute little terrariums! Um, Ryan....these would make really nice gifts for friends, hint, hint.

Thanks Ryan!

x

INDECISIVE BY JENNY SCHWAB

Thank you to the lovely Jenny Schwab for her painting submission below, titled 'Indecisive'.

x

FRIDA KAHLO STENCIL DECISION/INDECISION BY GILLIAN NIX

Good evening everyone, 

Here is my submission for this month.  It is a hand cut stencil of the beautiful Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo.  I have to admit, that the link to the theme is quite loose - but I have found a way to make Decision/Indecision work for Frida AND for a project that I am working on with a Year 9 class.  Hooray for multi-tasking!

So my Year 9s have a project in which they have to make a stencil portrait of a chosen hero of theirs. As a good little Art teacher, I like to make an example to accompany the project as it helps me with planning and helping my students.

I chose Frida Kahlo as my hero example, because....well.... I love her and her artwork.  Her life was littered with tragedy, having suffered a horrific spinal injury as a teen, a turbulent marriage and many years of ill health as an adult.  Her marriage to Diego Rivera was on/off...and that's where the Decision/Indecision link comes in....see what I did there?!  She overcame these difficulties by painting and used her artwork as a type of therapy.  Frida Kahlo was always true to herself, and forged her own path, even in the face of adversity.  For example, she did not conform to the fashion of the day and chose to wear traditional Mexican clothing which was brightly coloured and patterned.  She always wore lots of jewellery and flowers in her hair. I added some flowers into the stencil as I feel that the flowers in her hair are one of Frida's signature looks.

The thing I admire most about Frida is that she made her paintings for herself and not for anyone else.  She was driven by a passion to record her life.  She again, did not follow any trend in her art, and really made her own style of painting.  I find her spirit and energy inspiring.

Frida Kahlo inspires me to embrace my own creativity; making artwork for my own purpose and enjoyment – nobody else’s.  She is a role model who always did things her way and did not conform.  I love that about her.

Hope you like it!

Gillian x x

The stencil....

This was the original image that I used to make the stencil.....

GARDEN BY MATHEW DODOS

This is a first time submission from a top Tassie bloke, Mathew Dodos.  Thanks Mat!

x

DECISION/INDECISION MONTH 18'S THEME

Hello everyone, 

I hope you are enjoying yourself what ever you may be doing over this Easter season.  Is the sun shining where you are?

Well, it took a bit of a while to decide, but this month's theme has been decided as 'Decision/Indecision' - quite apt don't you think!?  As a person who finds decision making difficult most of the time - this month might be a bit tricky!!!

The due date for submissions is the 17th of May.  Happy deciding!

x

Oh and I picked 'Yes Man' as the visuals for this post.  It is a story of a man who just says 'yes' to everything....not really a decision making process but a possible solution to someone who finds it hard to make up their mind?

GARDEN DRESS BY GILLIAN NIX

Hello everyone, here is my submission for 'Garden'.  It is a little lino print titled 'Garden Dress'.  I just finished it yesterday after a little day using the press at school.  I was led by the idea that our bodies are like gardens and can grow and mend in such an amazing way.  And particularly female bodies - as we can grow babies! When I was researching  found an image of Adele in an amazing red Valentino dress which led me to making the initial ink drawing which I've included a photo of below.

Hope you like it!

Gillian x

GARDEN: MONTH 17

Hello everyone and I hope you are all well and good.  'Garden' is the theme for Month 17...chosen by myself ( I hope that's okay !).  

Around Christmas time last year I heard about a present buying scheme in a friend's family: 'Make, Bake or Grow', as a kind of Kris Kringle type affair.  I love the idea that a present has to be considered carefully, time given to it and not necessarily expensive.  I was thinking of having 'Make, Bake or Grow' as the theme for Art Club this month, but like my friend, Belinda pointed out, that's kind of what Art Club is about anyway as you can make, bake or grow whatever you like!  That lead me to think about 'Garden'.  In addition to this thought, yesterday I reheard a lovely song by Laura Mvula called 'Green Garden', which I just love.  Something magical about gardens is captured in this song, and it really caught my imagination.  So there you have it folks, Garden......grow, draw, paint, sing, plant, water, mend, sculpt, photograph, write.....have fun!

Submissions due by the 6th of April.

Gillian x

CROCHET REPETITION BY KAREN NIX

Hello lovlies, 

Karen Nix is going to become a grandmother very soon!  She has been a very busy lady of late, making a heap of crochet hexagons.  

Thanks Karen! x

Hi, just sending in my very late submission for 'repetition'.

The wait is nearly over! It won't be long now before I become a grandmother for the first time!I'm so looking forward to experiencing all those maternal emotions again - but differently this time of course.

So after repeating the same stitches many times over, there are now enough pieces to join together to make a colourful blanket for the little one. Yay!

108 hexagons in all and only a few that are identical - that's going to be a lot of sewing up! Luckily the cooler weather is still a little way off.

REPETITION BY ISSY ODDIE

G'day folks!  Here is the lovely, Issy Oddie's Repetition submission....all the way from Vietnam!  For those of you who don't know Issy, she relocated to live in Ho Chi Minh City last year.  Her submission is a beautiful slice of her daily life.  Thanks Issy!  (Come home soon!)

x

From Issy.....

speel:

last minute whip up!

had dreams of a repeat pattern made up from elements of vietnamese daily life..... perhaps an etching or even just a sketch.... but ran out of time!

so here's a little collage of iphone shots from the daily life i've been living in Vietnam for the last year.... no day is ever the same! just a constant barrage of beautiful, smelly, rough, old, fresh, loud, dirty, crazy, funny moments.

going across from top left to right.....

fresh fish_HoTram beach 

bananas (chuoi)_Tan Dinh market HCMC 

fence_Go Vap HCMC

crazy building_road to PP HCMC

pottery baskets_Hanoi 

pottery moulds_Hanoi

sand bags_D2 HCMC

Tet flowers + flags_D2 HCMC

sea snails_HoTram beach

limes (chanh)_Hanoi

fake flower vendor_Tan Binh HCMC

packaged goods_road stop Mekong Delta

silk loom_Hanoi

shoe moulds_shoe factory HCMC outskirts

fruit shop_Binh Than HCMC

coconuts (dua)_DaLat 

chillies_outside my place in Tan Dinh HCMC

pagoda flags and umbrella_Binh Than HCMC

ceremonial hangings_Hanoi

Tet melons_Ben Thanh market

REPETITION/ BEARDIE MEN IN WOOLY JUMPERS BY GILLIAN NIX

Hi everyone,

 

I finally got around to finishing up this month's (cough, last month's) art work for 'Repetition'. 

 

I was back in Scotland in July last year and came across a curious little book all about traditional knitting patterns, see here.  In the book were some pretty groovy looking guys that were modelling the jumpers. I loved their cool haircuts and the facial hair combos, as well as the beautiful patterns of the jumpers.  I took some photos of the book during my visit for use at a later date, and ta-dah, I found a use. 

 

Repetition can describe the repetition of the patterns on the jumpers, or the very repetitive act of lino carving and printing.  I hope you like it!

 

Printing...

 

Lino detail...

 

I made a few drawings using black ink....

The original ink drawing of the one I took into lino...

 

Original source photographs from the book (with Gracie hovering around)...