art societies and goal setting analogues and overwhelming sadness

Yesterday dropped in some work (including the Maori Madonna and some of the new art school work) to the Northland Art Society and used the opportunity to have a look at what work was on exhibition there and the prices. I have some ready to send to gallery who have asked if I could sell my work through them in Matanaka - just out of Auckland so Need to do a write up or artists statement for them. Just waiting for the address to arrive so can get it underway.
Today I had intended to do a full days work but worked in frustration for three hours on an analogue that still has not come together just right so will re work it again tomorrow. It is supposed to depict how I feel about my present and how i would like to feel about my future. But since Thursday I have been struggling with feelings relating to a sudden and significant loss in my life and the uncaring way I was told about it and the huge implications for my immediate situations and future and I have been unable to break away from the trauma response I am having to that. Even in todays work it came through. Feeling sad and scared and cluttered and all messed up and angry and full of mistrust with the people who should have been there to ease the news and check up to see if i was OK. Will load the pics of todays work when batteies have charged

Sundays work - colour theory and papaya painting

At the moment I am watching a movie on Andy Warhol - very interesting

Started today by working on completing my colour analogues - this time using short music fragments. In my initial planning I had looked at the idea almost of a church window shape so that's how it was all divided up. I will add it onto my emotion swatches from the other day when I am able to buy some backing support and adhesive.


Have been working through some colour exercises today that have resulted in a nice acrylic of a papaya using complimentary colours (the seeds also have blue added to the brown to contrast with the vermillion flesh and the background is essentially blue blended with the initial yellow blocking in colour which has resulted in a deep rich green-grey almost)


The inspiration for the work came from an advertising pic in a magazine that really appealed to me because of the shocking colour contrasting with the black seeds. I had chopped it out a month or so ago and put it in my visual diary on pattern.

Compared to my other work this piece seems full of energy and light

Tin Foil Masks - Saturdays Creativity

Today I discovered that the courier sometime last week had been and left my art portfolio sitting in behind stuff on the porch which was a bit frustrating and VERY lucky it had not gotton wet. So have had nice time looking at the feedback dvd and browsing through a book that was sent and in a moment of energy ripped off a piece of aluminium foil from the kitchen and made an imprint of my face which turned out really great and is now pinned over the stove. Looking at different online Galleries to sell my work from at the moment. Have found one a friend uses that will market also Tee shirts of your work which really appeals to me - so going to hopefully have some 'get up and go' this evening and sort through my work and see what is suitable. I also have to choose work to send to the gallery in Auckland and some for an indoor market that an acquaintance has offered to hang some work and sell some cards for me (I will give her a commission). interesting to look at the different online galleries as you get a feel for what other work is out there and how yours compares quality wise so a good experience for me and inspiring me to have quality work out there.

Colour Theory - The Colour of Emotion

Today the first hour was spent planning and thinking about what i needed for the lesson on Colour theory - so at the end of the hour i was SOOOO BIG and complicated in my ideas that I had to get out of the house for a while and refocus a bit. Paid off the art supplies bill to date which was a big burden out of the was and enabled me to book up another couple of items that I needed. With the CFIDS I find loud beaty music tends to overload the senses and causes stress and every place I went into had loud beaty music playing so by the time I came home I was totally wiped out and dysfunctional (not the right word).
I was so glad I had my notes from the morning to refer to as when I got cracking and began working on the emotion analog colour 'swatches' I just referred back to my morning notes and worked from them rather than rethinking everything.

I find clutter quite stressful and by the end of the day the table was so cluttered with paints and glitters and notes and pallets and brushes and and and.....

Poor Opal was so tired of waiting for me to finish (I had to keep going or loose the wetness and blending of the acrylic) that she took herself to bed before I had the chance to feed her!


The analogues are on one sheet of paper divided into four parts (fear-suspense, happiness, hatred and love/romance) I wanted to do the 'swatches' in stripes of colour after reading and looking at the work of an artist who did landscapes by painting strips of the colours that had impressed him about the landscape. So I wanted to play with the idea of doing strips of colour that reminded me of the emotion.

Work Thursday, Saturday and Today

It's been a busy day today - starting out with scrubbing out some soup bones and hanging them on the line to dry (wet bone smells a bit weird) as I thought they might make interesteing painting surfaces for hand made chunky pendants.

I will write up the rest tomorrow. Have run out of steam!

Self Portrait and beating the chalk dust

A friend suggested I tie something round my face to stop the chalk dust reacting with the sinus all the time so today I armed myself with a long sleeved tee shirt and did just that. The exercise for today was to do a self portrait using a random Indian ink background so set up the big mirror on one of my high easels and sketched myself all togged up and ready to go using the Rembrandt chalk pastels and a touch of white oil pastel for the eye highlights. I LOVE the way the Indian ink shows through the chalk and adds an atmosphere all of its own...

Untitled Male Torso - Indian Ink

For art school I've been tituing with different things for drawing and learning so many different things is such a short space of time sometimes I feel a bit thick as it takes a while at times to fully grasp what you are learning. Some things I 'get' instantly and feel quite excited about and other things take longer to understand.

This week the focus has been on using tone to build atmosphere into your work. I am now looking at some of the work I have on my wall ('Wairua' for example) and seeing things I would do differently next time


But I am thrilled with my work the other day (now 7 weeks into the course). It seems to take me a lot longer than the suggested times as I am only working with one hand at the moment as the other has to be in a sling when i am upright because the tendons and nerves are so stuffed and it is too painful to have unslung (so to speak) Slowly growing in consistency in the quality of my work and enjoying the explorations...

Art School

I am thinking about starting a new blog called "Nicky J - the Art School Diaries' to catalogue the journey through artschool which started in July. Just working out how to do this and then will post a link to it - troubvle with not having been online I've forgotton all the passwords and the way things work so taking a bit of time. Unless i just continue this one and work out how to change the title to makle it easier...

June Landscape - "Arohanui" and in the studio

About.com's painting project for the month is to do a landscape twice as long as it is high so I am painting one of the local churches which has a stunning ocean view from one direction and mountainous view from the other. All very mathematical initially - dividing the canvas into thirds for placement of horizon lines and objects (the taller figure is on an upright third - the ocean at the top on the horizontal third). There was something missing in the top right in the sky so I have decided to put a Maori kite in that corner so to get the placement where I wanted it once again maths with circles and triangles and strong diagonal lines.

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So anyway - lines in blue chalk and initial sketch placement in yellow (I like chalk better than pencil as it does not show through at all in the final work and also is easier to shift things if you do not like where you put them.).

Two pics at the start of entry show the studio with the initial sketch and the work at the end of the first day (June 1). Pic below shows pic at end of first day - lots of work still to be done...

Exhibition changeover

Exhibition change over today at the Gallery so have put in three works - could not stay as am sick but the gallery is looking lovely - really like a little boutique gallery now. The person who has been so unpredictable and tempermental was not there which made things easier.
I am also very happy to have my Grandmother home again - have been missing her portrait presiding over the kitchen goings on!

They are just small works in today - Poverty and Wealth is a new one and depicts a very poor woman (you can tell she's poor - has no shoes) wrapped up against the bitterly cold wind fishing. Called 'Poverty and Wealth' because she's poor but has wealth in that she has a lot of fish in her basket, so for tonight at least her family will not go hungry.

Other works are The one of the Amanita muscaria that I did in oils earlier this month and one completed in 2006 called "Putting out the Flounder net, 90 Mile Beach" Both of those were done on location whereas "Poverty and Wealth" was painted in the studio.

One step closer to Art School

The enrolment forms are in the post as we speak.
There was a delay as we had thought that I had to send all of the information in at the same time, including the TIA forms, but was having difficulty getting actual costings etc from the school so that I could properly fill in the forms and it was all very confusing. SO I made a list of things I needed to know so I could let WINZ know including like what things would be in the starter pack so I could go and price the additional materials that are not in the starter pack and also to have written verification of costs including additional costs like the need to purchase DVD and Courier costings and any library costings etc. SO that was last night. Today Peter the OT called in and wondered WHY I had not posted in all the forms (he had done the photocopying for me last week as had no money for photocopying) and explained to him that the TIA forms could not be filled in because there was no official written down breakdown of costs verified by the TLC so I could not fill in my bit and it was quite confusing and stressful. SO he was cool and rang the school on my behalf and found out that they do not send you all of that until you have actually enrolled so he's got the passport signed for me and the enrollment forms are all in the post and next step is to write a letter with him and my new GP (whom I meet on Tuesday) so the achademic board can decide whether or not to support my need for a laptop to play the DVD's through so in the times I need to be lying down I am still able to study and also incorporate a reader writer programme on to assist with corrospondences and note reading. I was watching 'ATTITUDE", a NZ TV show that is about people with disabilities and how they manage and even have quailty of life, and last week I think it was there were a couple on there who had devised a scanner to scan in any notes and work in conjunction with a reader writer programme on the computer so I am going to have a talk with workbridge and see if this piece of equipment is a possibility.
Goodness! What a palather!!! If I knew all I needed to do was enrol first and then go from there we could have done that weeks ago!!! OH -well. At least it is another step in the right direction!

Playing with 3D

Being Sunday it's my 'play day' - havn't had one in a while. I picked up some Jovi modelling clay from the stationary shop and it sat on my table all of yesteday because I did not know how you use it (there were no instructions). So today I decided just to have a play. Was going to make a bumblebee but couldn't get the unfamiliar material to do what I wanted it to so have ended up doing 3 small figures in hats (the skirts are made like pinch pots) and am calling them my "Ladies of Fashion" I will be interested to see how they dry as you don't need to fire them. The clay was lovely and soft so I did not have to 'work it up' at all and an odd bluey green colour so hoping not too toxic. As there are no instructions I also do not know if they are weather proof when dry or for inside only. Shall have to wait and see!

I am really looking forward to see what my students come up with when they use it.

Student work - abstract

Had a lovely time working on a combined abstract today with one of my students. It's on raw canvas using both artists acrylics and house paint and cosigned by both of us. Was a good experience in design choices, moving with the 'flow' of a work and creating balance - knowing when to stop and when to do a little bit more.

Size is approx 1/2 a metre square. Will pop in and ask the artist neighbour tomorrow how to seal the edges of the canvas so they don't unravel. 'Fire' seems a good title.

In the weekend began the process of getting the house in order ready for the birthday exhibition in July. The first little alcove room is 'hung' and 'priced' and tidy! I also start art school in July so this next month will be busy tying up other things that need to be done before then.

'Pukana pots' - photographs of

Yahoo - finished - now drying over the next couple of days so the paint can harden and be weather proof then they will be potted up with the date palms and an appropriate spot found for them outside. The photos showing the koru design is how they look on the back. The one of both pots also shows Theresa Reihana in behind them. She's the artist who ran the workshop and boy oh Boy her work is stunning. For two days it was $25 and just some kai to share with the others there so I was thrilled because i could afford that which meant I was not ruled out because of lack of finances. She talked through doing the portraits and also 'tricks' (as she called them) she uses to make things look really balanced and three dimensional and realistic (although mine still look a bit cartoony I am thrilled with them. Would not like them on my wall though! Good for outside pots!!!!) Her final portrait was amazing.

Road Kill and Pukana pots...

Thanks for the comment Tim- good advice!

I bit the bullet and went out to the workshop with Theresa Reihana today - she was doing a painting of her neice as a model so as I wanted to look at how she works I did the same thing (what her neice is doing in the photo next to the pots is called 'pukana' - where the eyes pop out almost and it's kind of a challenge)

I have too many paintings in the house so I decided to take the opportunity to paint up some large terracotta pots i was given last week along with some date palms to put in them. The palms are really pretty so decided they needed a stunning pot to each go into rather than uninterseting terracotta. With Pukana the face looks quite angry so am calling these my 'Guardian Pots' and they will go at the front entranceway. Did not get finished today os hoping to be well enough to go out tomorrow.

Not sure what conditions date palms like so hope that is OK

Pots are painted with resenes acrylic. Base colours are 'oil' and 'kaitoke green' (?) Each pot also has a green koru design on the back.

Oh - the Road Kill.... On the way I noticed a large turkey on the side of the road. The Marae hosting the workshop has a strong group of the top weavers in the North and I knew they could make good use of the beautiful black and white feathers so turned the car around and picked up the turkey. MAN what a HUGE bird and in very good nick (must have been run over at night or early morning) A BIT pongy though. Have come home with three of the enormous black and white striped wing feathers. The weavers put the birds in the freezer until they are ready to use them (The black feathers especially would be beautiful in a korowai I think or round the top of a Kite or woven basket). Everyone laughed at the workshop when I appeared dangling a dead bird!

Glitches and headaches...and postscript written later on...

In the process of applying for artschool and have hit a glitch that is really stressful. Have to provide full details of costs including block courses with airfares, accommodations etc and the website for the school has none of that information on it at all - not any updated listings of upcoming courses. I am also feeling very stressed because i do not know how i would handle the travel and strange place and accommodations and cold. So I can't do the costings and have to present them to WINZ on Friday.
Glitch #2. My head is so full of wonderful ideas for things I want to do it has become a jumble and feel totally drained and exhausted. I have not even managed to prepare a meal today I am so fatigued and my head hurts so much. Everything has become a grey haze of fatigue. And feel very confused because i do not know how they do their programme - like do I get everything all at once and what if i need more materials and they are not budgetted for??? And how do I do accurate estimates when I have no idea of what I will be actually doing apart from very vague overviews?????
Glitch 3: Everything hurts. Tried to sort papers on Friday and as a result my muscles are now screaming at me. Tomorrow I am booked on a painting workshop with Theresa Reihana and right now so lacking in the ability department. I always really look forward to her workshops because she's such a skilled person yet so down to earth and easy to learn from and you always end up with something really awesome at the end of it. I've double booked with other things and needing to sort that out today. But if i can't stay out of bed then i wont be going anywhere. I am SO frustrated with the CFS.
Glitch 4: The commission work needs to be completed as she is coming to look supposedly tomorrow (yes - that is one of the double bookings). With my printer down have been unable to print out the work I have done for her and unsure of what to do.

Hmm - being an artist is not all creative fun and games!!!!

Post script...having just had an inspiration I am going to talk with someone tomorrow who has done the same programme and find out how much she paid out in extras and postage etc etc etc. Spoke with her husband today and he was very enthusiastic and told me some of the projects she worked on. They had to end up building a studio just to put all of her stuff in!!!!!
So for now i have stopped the brain rolling out ideas because apparently they give you lots of starting points to work from and build upon so pre planning now is a bit time wasting.
Local travel agent gave me a rough estimate of costs for any block courses. Pretty horrific and would far rather spend that money buying a laptop to play the course dvd's on! (All hypothetical as do not have the money anyway)
Was not aware I had no cat food so had to go and buy some so bought some mandarines at the same time and so have had mandarines, chocolate and cheese for dinner. mmm. Healthy!!! But at lease it is something.

Hey TIM.G (NC) - Just for you....

This is what they look like when not covered by ones shadow when one is lying down in the grass to photograph them...

just to show they do not only exist in books!!! GRIN!

Painting on Location - the church toadstools

In the last two days the most beautiful toadstools have started to come up under the oaks at the church. Went a bit camera happy and took around a hundred snaps - mostly all usable which I am thrilled with. Darn the printer being broken!!!

Went over again at 8am this morning and sat down to paint on of the emerging ones on a canvas that I had done the background on back in January. I was interested to see how the colours would go with the red of the toadstool on the deep pink base. Really pleased with the result. Subject is painted in oils.

(Vermillion, yellow, titanium, black, browns and a touch of pthalo blue and green.)

A day is always better somehow when one is able to paint.

The other news is I have been approved to apply for a loan/funding for the first year of art school (foundation year (PT)of a diploma in art and creativity).

experiments with texture

Monday I watched a demo from a floral artist who had covered a fishing bouy with flax seed in order to use it as a container. It looked stunning so duely went out on a flax seed collection trip (across the road) and came back with a pitiful amount of the most georgous shiny black flax seeds. Not enough for a container so used then on the edges of a small canvas instead.

Reminiscent of the top edge of a Korowai.

Bim's Snapper

Today Bim collected me and we headed up North to take photos for the Orca painting and also to do a spot of fishing. Above photo is of the snapper he caught at a magical place where we stood on the wharf and watched as 3 BIG Kingfish herded a huge school of pipers and then went into a feeding frenzy. The biggest one hid in the shadows of the old wooden posts and would burst out on the unsuspecting fish as they swam past. Easily 3 ft long at the least. Bim was telling me about seeing the Orca herding stingrays up the harbour and hunting them in packs. New Zealand is the most amazing place!
Had to take a photo of the snapper because i want to paint it but if the innards are left in they will taint the flesh and have no energy to paint it tonight. Peter kindly held the dorsal fin (I think that is what it is called) upright for the photo so it looks like it is swimming. Yay for him and yay for photoshop! So snapper for tea tonight and good subject for painting in the morning. A thoroughly enjoyable day.

POST NOTE: 18 APRIL Have begun doing memory postcards of images i see that really stick in my mind and need to be painted out so the black Angus cattle on the lime green kaykouya grass (sp) and the schooling pipefish have been done over the last week. Still have not painted the snapper - my printer is playing up and refuses to print anything.

Anyway...here's the pipefish both underway and the completed image (I ended up doing 7 postcards of this altogether - one for myself, one for Bim, 1 to post and 4 to frame up and hopefully sell)(LOVE the movement and the patterning in the images)

and also the Angus series.