by Leonie Andrews

Small beauty

It’s been a while, but I am moving forward again with my opening stitches project. This time a most beautiful piece of fabric and thread, (both made by Deb Lacativa, http://morewgalo.blogspot.com) contributed by Mo Orkiszewski.

Mo’s original submission.

Mo’s current exhibition ‘I dream of a world where love is the answer’ at Artsite Gallery Sydney, seems more relevant than ever given the awful events in Christchurch, New Zealand. Mo’s exhibition closes 24 March. (https://www.artsite.com.au/exhibition/2019-03-mo-orkiszewski-catalogue.php).

This was a piece that had me thinking of complex wetlands, filled with intense colours and flashes of light, glinting off the water. Couching the threads down proved quite challenging, so choosing to use some slippery rayon thread was possibly more challenging than necessary. Here are the photos of the front and back sides, now that I have worked on it.

The front side.

The back side.

The opening stitches project is still open to new contributions, check of the link to get the full details if you would like to join in.

by Leonie Andrews

Collage play

I have been looking at some interesting art lately, which has revved me up to get out and make something. Collage is my go to for quick work that encourages me to bang something out without thinking too much about it.

I try to follow the principle of not stopping at making one collage, or only one of anything, when I am exploring new ideas. I managed three collages before I ran out of time to complete anymore.

Using paint to isolate the images was inspired by seeing some of the 19th century photographs from the collection of the Australian Museum, currently on display in Sydney. Many of the images on the photographs have white paint surrounding them. This was to facilitate focussing on the specimen. If you look at the final image you can see how some of this paint has deteriorated over time, resulting in some very artistic marks.

I was undecided about painting around these last collages. But I probably should to at least unify it with the other two works.

OK, I took my own advice.

Finally, here is a photo of the back cover of the catalogue for the exhibition Capturing Nature. It’s well worth a visit if you are in the area.

by Leonie Andrews

Happy 6th Birthday ? Sort of …

I have just received word that I have been blogging with WordPress for 6 years, although when I look at my archives I started this blog in March 2011. Even I can tell that doesn’t quite add up.

In reality I started my blog on a platform, Posterous, that subsequently became defunct after a company takeover. Such is the way of social media.

Anyway I have decided to honour my 6 years on this platform because at least I have maintained a reasonably regular presence here, which is something to celebrate.

I leave you with a random piece of vernacular architecture and it’s somewhat singular decorative adornment that I came cross over the weekend, in the central western town of Dunnedoo in New South Wales. For non-Australians the term ‘dunny’ is slang for toilet so this town has, and continues to be on the receiving end of much unwanted mirth.

by Leonie Andrews

Brett Whiteley – Drawing is Everything

This week we had a two hour window to see one exhibition in Sydney, before we had to catch our bus back to Canberra. So Brett Whiteley ‘Drawing is Everything’ was the unanimous choice.

Arriving early, before the gallery opened, I took the opportunity to sketch Gilbert Bayes PBRS sculpture ‘The Offerings of Peace’ (1923), from across the road. In honour, no doubt of my artistic endeavours, I was duly shat upon by Pied Currawong sitting in the tree overhead.

AGNSW

The Offerings of Peace, Gilbert Bays, PBRS, 1923

On entering the gallery we were immediately caught up in the vitality of Whiteley’s works, predominantly made with pen and ink and brush an ink. It was fascinating to see how Whiteley intensely studied the works of Van Gogh, Lloyd Rees and other artists as he developed his own style.

The gallery was encouraging visitors to draw while visiting the show, providing pencils and a small A4 folded piece of paper.

Whiteley2

‘Her‘, carvings in Mangrove wood, 1975 to c. 1980 (LHS); a quote by Whiteley “A good drawing (should be) loose, casual, abandoned, odd, wonky, immediate,swift, detached, +soaked in feeling, it should be brief, not just spare or simple, not just quick, It should be brief, beautifully brief, like the best Japanese art, like the soul’s shorthand.”

Luckily I also had my own paper as there were several other sketches I wanted to make.

whitely 1

After Brett Whiteley, Wendy Drunk, 1983, original, brush and black and brown ink. My version, pencil on paper.

It was intriguing to see how Whitely playfully amalgamated and created images, such as the following sketch of Matisse, putatively sitting in the Luxembourg Gardens, reading a newspaper.

After Brett Whiteley, Henri Matisse reading a newspaper in the Luxembourg Gardens, 1989 ink and brush. My version pencil on paper with watercolour added later.

Much as I enjoyed sketching in the gallery, the relative stiffness of the pencil sketches, compared to the brush works in particular, was underlined by a quote by Whiteley “Have you ever seen a pencil drawing that isn’t safe?” (p9, Brett Whiteley Drawings, Lou Klepac, The Beagle Press, Sydney, 2014)

Brett Whiteley: Drawing is Everything
Art Gallery of New South Wales, on until 31 March 2019