the light

This week I had the privilege of hosting the lovely John Mangila in my studio space to take some photos of me (oh joy!) and my work.

Its always interesting having people over to my second home - and hearing their reactions to my new work and seeing what initially catches their eye. 

John loves using soft natural light in his photography. He loves moody shadows and backgrounds that fade into inky indigo blues. So as soon as he saw me turn on the fluorescent studio lights he immediately asked for them to be turned off. 

And then I saw my work through the soft natural light that filters through the space - and observed every painting, drawing and weaving in a new light. 

How lovely to see things from a new and beautiful perspective...

h 0 v e r .   2 0 1 6

baseline or bottoms up.
you choose!

Gettin messy

^Lucinda getting messy building a drawing at my abstraction workshop at the studio in October^

Hello November. 

Dont know if im quiet ready for you yet -

But im already loving your hot sunny days....

As everyone starts to organise dates in the calendar for end of year catch ups and celebrations I feel like i want to try and slow down a little, as October was a mad month - full of surprises in both the good and bad columns.

One great thing that happened a week or so ago though, was my last abstract drawing workshop for 2014. It was held in a workshop room connected to my studio and was filled with lots of lovely and creative people all ready to get messy with a plethora of art materials and ideas.

I dont know if you can feel the energy that they created in the room that day from these images, but let me say it was exciting to see everyone get completely into the moment and let go! 

It was truly inspiring and a great way to end my workshop year.

Last week I sadly moved studios. So the last few weeks of the year will see me knuckle down and finish off commissions that need to get out of my head and onto a fresh canvas and piece of paper.

So it feels right to say thank you to EVERYONE who came to a workshop this year.

It was a brilliant year for collaborating and creating -

with every class bringing a new conversation, idea and connection. 

Bring on 2015!

^busy^

^Jasmin finding new ways to make marks... with as many materials and colours as possible^

^Lucinda setting out a few shapes on the floor^

^dirty hands, knees and legs means it is was a great class!^

^playing with as many ideas as possible^

^moving shapes along the floor to create a drawing...^ 

^hands blending into the artwork^

^John creating a beautiful artwork on the floor^

blink and the workshop has gone

^Coil weaving workshop this month @ Koskela^

Its amazing how fast three hours can go. 

When you're waiting in a queue - three minutes can feel like forever.

But when it comes to a coil weaving workshop, the hours disappear in the blink of an eye.

Thats what happened earlier this month when I taught my latest coil weaving workshop at Koskela in Rosebery. All I remember is setting up the space, greeting fourteen lovely people, giving a demonstration of how to begin a coil woven bowl, and then it was over!

So I have to apologise for my lack of photos.

I needed another hour and another set of hands.

But I think you can see that it was a big class, full of colour, conversation, and questions.
Thank you to everyone who came along and make the class so enjoyable.

The next workshop will be my last for the next couple of months as I go into hibernation to complete all my new artworks for my solo show that opens on July 31.

So if you would like to come and learn how to coil weave before Winter truly arrives -
please click here for all the details and to book a place for my studio workshop on June 7.

^some of the weavings I took with me for show + tell^

^inspiration of a different kind on the showroom floor ^

^^

^Tree inside^

^Tree outside^

creating with colour

^ Mix media coil weaving workshop @ the studio.
11 April 2014^

Just one.

Just one image that says it all.

My lovely photographer for the day and birthday girl, Mel, took a whole handful of brilliant photos last Saturday.

But when I saw this shot I smiled as it really told the whole story of what happened at this months studio weaving workshop.

A room full of lovely creative people -

A bowl of chocolate Easter eggs to get us through -

A whole heap of coloured weaving materials to play and experiment with -

A lot of eyes and hands concentrating on coil woven creations - 

while open mouths talked + laughed.

Thank you so much to everyone who came along to play.

Especially on such a wet and grey weekend! 

It was great to meet so many new faces and get a chance to catch up with some familiar ones too!

.......

Thankyou again to Mel for being the resident photographer for the workshop x

drawing inspiration

^detail from a mix media drawing... 2012^

New week.

New focus.

And it all started with my last post.

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of working with a group of high school art students - a class that had been organised by North Sydney Council - for their community art project entitled Colouring Our Habitat. 

Colouring Our Habitat is a project that asks artists' to work with a local school or community groups to initiate and spark ideas for the main event - which is to design and paint three murals for three traffic light boxes that already sit on the pavement but are never noticed, as they are painted in a dull grey/green tone. Which is a shame as they are the perfect blank canvas' for any artist to make their mark. 

So now its my turn to switch dull grey/green to....???

Ive been thinking about these designs for a while - but its only now - with a deadline looming that Ive started to become focused on what I would like to say, and create, with my three boxes. 

So on the weekend I did a reccy to North Sydney in order to collect information and take photos. 

These are a few of those photos - book-ended by two colourful photos that I love, and may appear in one of the final designs. 

As you can see from these images - North Sydney is a corporate business district with the buildings reflecting that look, with clean lines and shiny surfaces. And grey. ALOT of grey - that is only broken up in Autumn and Spring when the trees turn a golden hue. 

So Im thinking about colour. LOTS of colour for my designs. 

To add contrast and a shock of the new! 

Plus I dont think I could do anything without colour in it! 

Not willingly anyway.

mmmmm....

(To be continued....)

^the search for pattern in street objects^

^ negative spaces and unexpected shapes ^

^ Autumn gives colour to all the grey ^

^shadow play ^

^ lines and shapes when looking ... up! ^

^ colour found ^

experimental drawing workshop

^Detail from a beautiful set of drawings created
at my abstract drawing workshop with
Monte Sant' Angelo school students last week^

^A snapshot of a lovely few hours playing with colour and a whole lot of ideas...^

I dont think these images do this workshop justice.

It really was a great day filled with colour, questions, and lots of experimentation with drawing.

Its been a while since Ive taught a group of school students and I had forgotten how talented and eager young artists can be! For 3 hours, myself and a group of 22 year 9 students from Monte Sant' Angelo high school played with ideas of landscape, colour, abstraction - without fear or hesitation.

And in the end what the girls produced was a collection of experimental and inspired mix media drawings that brake from conventional notions landscape and plein air painting.

Thank you to Kate and all the teachers and students from Monte Sant' Angelo high school.

It was such a great day...

And as you can see from these images above, the beautiful sunny Sydney weather was the icing on the cake!

Open studio // Workshop playtime

^The beautiful kids weaving workshop I held at my studio on March 2 for the
Marrickville Open Studio Trail (MOST) Weekend^

March has signalled its intentions. 

It has stated in no uncertain terms that it means business! Literally! 

And to kick it off - the first two days of the month were spend celebrating two big events on the Sydney calendar - The Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival and Art Month 2014. 

As I am working in a Marrickvile council residency studio space I had the privilege of being asked to take part in Art Month's Marrickville Open Studio Trail - which is an event where local artists' open up their studios to the public and host talks, tours and workshops. 

I decided to host two workshops for the public.

And boy were they busy! 

It all started with the adult weaving workshop on the Saturday which was filled with old and new faces - all wanting to escape the rain and get creative for the start of Autumn. And even though everyone was packed around the big table like a can of sardines it was a truly a fun class - made even more special for the fact that everyone enjoyed each other company.

By contrast Sundays kids weaving workshop was a picture of complete serenity. It was calm, quiet and industrious as parents and kids worked with rope and wool to create the beginnings of some beautiful little bowls. It was such a lovely way to end an extremely busy weekend, and a great way to meet the public and invite them to share and play...

^A beautiful coil woven bowl by Olive that was nearly completed by the end of the class...^

^colour co-ordination!^

^busy hands.
concentrated faces...^

^On Saturday I held an adult weaving workshop and boy - was it a big class!
But it was such a fun morning with lots of old and new faces all sharing
their creativity and stories around the big table^

^Wool n raffia^

^The gang
surrounded by colour and conversation^

^The lovely Pernille and the beginnings of a new woven bowl^

^Giving a demonstration while Christal took
a photo of the table in a state of colour chaos!^

under the trees...

^Sustainable weaving workshop. North Sydney. Feb 2014^

What a weekend.

What a workshop.

On a beautiful sunny Saturday morning, underneath a canopy of trees, I was asked to teach a sustainable weaving workshop to 18 lovely people at North Sydney. It was an event organised by the amazing team at North Sydney Community centre - who run a brilliant calendar of art and craft events throughout the year. 

So it was no surprise that this workshop was oversubscribed with interested locals, who were all keen to get creative on a sunny summer morning. There is an insatiable interest in the arts at the moment - which is so great to see and be a part of. But when you only have two hours to learn a new skill you can get a little overwhelmed - especially when you're surrounded by much colour and filled with so much new information!

But as you can see from these lovely photos from the day, it really was a great morning, and a brilliant way of connecting and creating with a whole lot of new people.

Thank you again to Joanna and everyone at the community centre for running such a fun event. And I also have to say a massive thank you Sal, who took these photos for me as I was running around like a headless chook for the whole class! You were a great 2ic! 

interwoven portraits pt 3

^just hanging.
Woven form by Amy^

Here are three portraits.
Of three lovely women.
Amy. Ruth + Mel.
Who all created unique and colourful collections of weavings, textiles + drawings during my Interwoven basketry/weaving course at Sturt earlier this month.

..........

Thank you to Tracey, Mark and Alex from Sturt.
Thank you to Fiona, Eileen, Margaret, Shona, Amy, Mel and Ruth for sharing the creative ride with me and each other.
And thank YOU for coming to have a look at this tiny blog!
Seven years and still going strong!!
Cant believe it...

^amy^

^textiles and weavings by Amy^

^Ruth^

^mix media sculptural piece by Ruth^

^Mel^

^the weavings + drawings of Mel...
so colourful and fluid^

interwoven pt 2

^detail from a beautiful raffia woven platter by Ruth^

I have a confession.

I know I can talk. But Ive been avoiding the computer in the last week or so. I even went away again so I could have a think and digest it all. But Ive been struggling to explain, articulate, and edit down all my stories and images from my week teaching at Sturt College for you. A week that was inspiring, exhausting, colourful, creative, nerve-wracking, emotional, and exhausting (yep I meant to say it twice!) A week that pushed me in ways I havent been pushed before - especially in regards to teaching. 

In the last few years I have been teaching workshops to adults and children in weaving and drawing. But those workshops were completed in two hour sessions, and not spread out over an entire week. So to say I was nervous would be an understatement. I was nervous but also concerned about my body and how it would cope over the week - especially since 2013 was not my best year - health wise. 

But is always the case - it was me who learnt and gained so much from the experience. 

So much so that I hoped my class felt like they received enough from me!! 

But it all began and ended with the people I shared the experience with. And in that regard I was truly blessed with an amazing class - full of like-minded, soulful people - all eager to share themselves, and their creative energies with new people. 

It truly was the best way to kick off  2014.

And I felt privileged to have been asked to participate. 

Here are a few images from the week and I hope they give you an indication of how colourful and fun it truly was.... 

^beautiful ink stained hands of Amy^

^mix media action drawing - made in a drawing session first thing on Monday morning ...
so we could warm up and have some fun.
And get our creative minds switched on!^

^then we moved onto basic weaving and textile fabrication^

^Mel getting busy with one of her amazing coiled forms^

^These are Mel's finished pieces - hanging on the wall for the end of week exhibition.
They were so amazing, so colourful.... and Mel was a first time weaver...^

^Shona, Mel and Eileen - the back seat bandits!^

^Shona created some beautiful textile prints and woven forms.
And again - she was a first time weaver^

^busy hands of Amy^

^soft texture weaving vs hard texture weaving.
Both created by the lovely Ruth.
And both celebrating colour^

^a sculptural piece by Fiona - who is an amazing mixed media crafts-person.
This mix media piece was made using raffia and her own textile print^

^The creations of lovely Margaret - who is such an inspiring photographer and weaver in Sydney.
This course was to push her in new directions- especially in regards to mix media and colour.
I think she's a natural in both!^

^many little things that were created at the beginning of the week -
 and used as test pieces for honing
technique and media fabrication... oh... and colour^

^Brilliant Ruth and her amazing sculptural form that took many hours and lots of experimentation.
By the end of the week it was the biggest woven form in the class...^

^Detail of Ruth's experimentation with a woven flat dish^

^the lovely Mel - busy weaving on her lap - surrounded by colour^