Floating studio

"Floating Studio"  14th Sept.

Small but cosy. Dropped anchor off the spit in Southport today after leaving Ballina early this morning. A light drizzle outside with a SW chop in the bay. A quiet time to wedge myself in the bow of the boat, letting thoughts and the days events work their way on paper. Another space to lose myself... absorbing the elements around me.  

Studio spaces

My studio space

Sometimes it's just nice to see where other people work from. This is my main workbench where I make my collages and artist books. The screenprinting bench is adjacent. It's in a section of the garage that I affectionally call 'my studio' and when I'm perched at my desk working away the world dissolves around me. I can watch the birds in the grevillia outside my window or just melt into my current work. I love it.

What the bloody - hell are YOU doing?

This is a recent drawing I called "WOMAN" (approx. 1.5m x 2m). My mum recently died. She was 100.

I've been trying to get my work off the 'pedestal', separated from the sterility of the gallery and connected with the natural world. This could explain the lack of cropping but, in truth, I didn't know how. What does it matter if 'certainity' isnt all that important?

I often wonder what others are doing in their workshops/sheds and think that the cpm blogsite - underused &/or forgotten - might be a good place to share our ideas.

Did you see the doko. last night on Anish Kapoor?

Working Bee 7 August

Forget Clean up Australia, it's Clean Up CPM! There's heaps for everyone to do, from painting, to sorting, to cleaning, to throwing out, stacking. archiving, filing, and making labels so we can find things, firing up the BBQ. There's 2 more left for the year, first Saturday in October and in December. So do your bit and join in.

REFUGE(E)

EDGE Stage 3

Nearing a finish, maybe? Less obscure than "off the wall Stage2" (see earlier blog) A very strongly bonded session of drawing after animated discussion about inclusivity/ exclusivity. This , in my mind, raised an interesting questions, esp. for collaborative work . ie. Are the exclusive rights of ownership of a picture confined to the person(s) who started/did it?
Is collaborative art, by definition, the domain of anyone who 'gives themselves' to the process ie. engages with the work at any stage? And if problems arise during this process is it not the role of all concerned to deal with issues arising just as families, macro or micro, deal with their issues?

Is art about the artist, the work, or the process?

Peter Schardin - Current Exhibition

Peter Schardin - Landscape Allegory, Photographs & prints
Opening Saturday 12 June until 1 August 2010
My thoughts; it is about the connection one has
with the landscape,earth, ground, water etc. I dare say, the landscape has been a little misinterpreted at times and turned into a holy grail of religion,
mythology and environmental issues etc.

My interpretation is quite simple, it is about our
connection to earth, hence the absence of the
human form in my work. To me, the placement
of figures in a work may shift the importance
towards the figure, because the figure will
become a reference point and therefore detract
or maybe dominate the work.