macro
I’m nearing the end of my two practical units – just tying up a few loose ends before I launch into creating the powerpoint submissions. I completed my printmaking project today and have one more drawing to do tomorrow.
A little peek at some of my sketchy stuff..
macro of side view thumb/forefinger
foreshortening
The foreshortening drawing is a two part – the second half of the page is my other knee – since I was drawing this looking down on myself, the knee is huuuuuge! I can see a vast improvement in my tonal values since the beginning of this unit. Gathering these skills.. just leaves me wanting more practical stuff!
I’ve been indulging in a little Vampire Diaries and cooking up a vegan storm, tofu ‘fish’ sticks and tempeh chili con frijoles. These are the things that I enjoy for myself. And reading.. ooo, yes, Dunraven Road is quite enjoyable and after that I have a Chinese Revolution book to read – Red Azalea.. and.. took a few photos of Charlie and eldest daughter mucking around, with the supersampler and holga – I wonder what surprises will be on the supersampler film? Soon find out I guess. The weather is beautiful at the moment, good for photography and just generally sitting out and soaking up the sun with a nice cuppa tea.
twiiiibe, twiiiibe, twiiiibe.. she’s got that twibe.
It was only a matter of time before likeminded twitterfolks began to join forces. And so Twibes was born. Very, very cool community atmosphere. When I’m brave enough, I’ll join a couple of the art ones too.
faking it
In the absence of any more available Holga shots I’ve scanned in a couple of my Trip 35 photos and cropped them into a square format. I admit, I now have a preference for medium format and could easily do away with what I considered to be unnecessary background on these two – so cropped and vignetted to focus the image more intently.
Other than that, last push toward my final submission for printmaking and drawing so until I’ve sat and scanned and photographed every last image I’ll not be sharing anything art related. I have a couple of bits that I’m really pleased with and I’m hoping I can execute my last two drawing exercises well. I have a couple of ideas (text in art is the directive) rattling around in my brain, but to see them realised on paper.. we’ll see.
I’m reading Dunraven Road (vampire genre) too. I feel as though I haven’t read in ages but am setting aside a little time each day to just sit, be still and NOT think about study. I can be really single-minded and that drives me nuts.
polaroid
I was so torn between the Supersampler and Fuji Instax whilst browsing Pigeonhole on Saturday. I walked away with the Supersampler as you know and am really glad I made the decision. I’d like to wait until Polaroid film is in production again and opt for an old Polaroid camera – I’m sure there’s bound to be a cheap one available on ebay when I’m ready. Particularly pleased after I came home to find twitterfriend Angie had pitted her cameras against one another in a battle of the best. Similar subject matter, 3 different cameras and the results confirm that the wonder that is Polaroid rocks when it comes to vintage, lovely and ethereal. So, you know. Want.
The old film is available on ebay and once you get past the initial ‘oh man, it’s HOW much?’, you realise that actually it’s no more expensive than the price of purchasing and developing the Holga films. Plus, it has the added value of making one feel warm and nostalgic towards the 70s genius technology that you grew up with. My favourite photo of my Grandad was taken with a Polaroid. He’s long gone and the picture is falling to pieces after I chopped it to make it fit into a frame (well, I was small and I didn’t know any better). Still. It’s a thing to be cherished.
at last
ooo, at last.
Holga shots. I took 8 photos – 4 on the film were completely blank due to ‘did I or didn’t I wind on?’ issues. I’ve had to make sure I wind on every time I take a photo so that I know for sure. In theory. So, of the 8, I was really pleased that 7 came out well and 4 that I like rather a lot. You can see for yourself. The Holga is great for black and white, great contrast and my camera seems to allow just the right amount of vignetting when on the cloudy setting. I think I’m in love.
We were in Perth today checking out this shop on Shafto Lane. I want one of everything in their shop. We did walk away with a couple of new plastic fantastics though! A Diana Mini for Charlie and a Supersampler for me. Lomo goodness. My camera doesn’t have a viewfinder so I’ll be interested to see how whacky my shots are and wondering what the heck I was pointing it at 
Film is not dead. I don’t remember feeling this passionate about my D50. It serves me very well, takes lovely pictures (and we all need some of those) but it doesn’t excite me the way the Holga does. There’s something very endearing about a plastic toy camera that has the ability to ambush you with something utterly unexpected. I heart it.
waiting
for a train?
No, just the paint dryingly slow return of Holga and Trip films from the lab.
It’s killlling meeeee. In the meantime, I’m planning to set up some sort of food-related blog. For several years I was vegan when apparently no-one else in my town was and so I my needs were pretty much uncatered for, everything had to be made from scratch from online ordered ingredients, making being prepared as a busy single, studying mum very difficult. I fell horribly off the wagon and have had niggling guilty feelings ever since which I have successfully squashed with cake and dairy milk chocolate. But now! Our local organic market produce store has everything I could ever want, need or indeed scoff for the sake of it, right at my fingertips.
So I’m planning a slow return to (not vegan lifestyle) but a total vegetarian diet and supplementing the children’s diets with tasty vegan lunchbox fare. I say a slow return because I want to do this properly, work out how I’m going to satisfy my needs and juggle the rest of the family’s as well. If they’d like to be vegetarian, fine, but if not I totally respect their individual choices.
Charlie has promised to help me to photograph my creations. I’ll probably pay him in muffins 
That’s love, that is.
busy
Oh maaaan.
No. Free. Time.
I have around 5 weeks until the end of this study period. As much as I’m loving it, particularly the conceptual stuff I’m doing in printmaking, I could use some time out. I’ve been studying such a variety of artists, particularly pop and contemporary Chinese.. covering the Cultural Revolution and beyond. I’m really pleased with the fact that I’ve been so self-disciplined too. I think because I’m studying externally, I can pretty much choose the direction my work is going to take, so I’m interested in everything I decide to read up on. Next study period, Charlie and I will be getting married – yay! and so I’m going to reduce my workload, take on just one contemporary art theory unit so as not to stress myself too much. After that, 2 more SPs with a full-time load and I’ll have finished my first year. Exciting!
Wedding plans have gone well so far, pretty much everything is under control including my weight.. huge relief. Contentment = porkiness, apparently. There must be a happy medium, surely?
hay bales and face paint
My uni stuff has been all-consuming this week so I decided that today was going to be a slow down sort of day, spending time with my children who are on holidays at the moment. So, no uni related drawing until they went to their dad’s for the weekend. First up, we went to the shop for kid-style art supplies.. arrived home armed with air-drying clay, pipecleaners, paper plates, new paints, face masks. All in the name of fun.
Between them, they’ve made a couple of aliens which are currently in the drying stage and awaiting a coat of paint, a pig from paper plates.
For myself, I purchased a facepainting starter kit of dubious quality and subjected the girls to various butterflies and indian princess designs. Thank you to Heather at Sillyfarm for her instructional videos. I now covet a couple of ‘rainbow cakes’ and daubing brushes. This is all for our own amusement, you understand. I’m not suddenly launching myself into the heady world of children’s fetes and birthday parties. No thank you! A supplier and instructor of facepainting, now that might be something I’d enjoy..
And here is the hay bale. Yesterday’s exercise in ‘atmospheric perspective’.
hay bale
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