100 on the wall

Day 100 of the 100 Days Project was on Saturday 14th September. It was with a bit of anticlimax that I finished my 100th Sharpie drawing. I was wanting to do something really amazing, but in the end inspiration was lacking so I drew seaweed, something I'd drawn before, so it didn't even feel very original!

With two other local ladies who did the project as well, we arranged to hold an exhibition at a local shop and gallery, The Old Post Office Store in Upper Moutere. This involved a bit of media release and interview with the local paper. Amazingly I'm managing to smile for the photographer as I was four days post-op and didn't feel like posing!

I drew on A5 card which came in pad form, and it was quite a task ripping them apart. 100 drawings did make a lovely big satisfying stack.

Here's my blurb (written in haste the night before, as usual - my least favourite task):

Sally: 100 days with a Sharpie

At the beginning of the project I started with the following brief:

“Every day for 100 days I'm going to draw with my Sharpie pen. I'll be drawing on a piece of A5 card so I can use collage, paint, whatever takes my fancy - as long as I use my black fine point Sharpie pen.”

And that’s what I did for 100 days. I soon found I didn’t need to use other materials, that a Sharpie pen was enough.

Procrastination is the evil twin of productivity. While doing the project I had no time for procrastination (well not if I wanted to sleep), so it didn’t get a chance to lurk each day. So the flipside was that productivity reigned.

What I found hardest was finding inspiration. I’d like to say it got easier over the 100 days, but I’m not sure that it did! Completing the project has given me a resource of images to use in my art practice, something I can turn to when inspiration is needed.

I also learnt to trust my instinct and not to be too self-critical. So here are my 100 drawings, which took 100 days and 7 Sharpie pens.

Enjoy.

 

We hung the exhibition on 25th September, and it will be up until 28th October.  Well 'hang' is hardly the right word, it was more of like "masking tape them up". I shuffled my drawings and taped them up in random order. The wall made it interesting, with light switches, battens and other features I couldn't get anal about the spacing, I just had to keep on sticking them up, and down.

That evening we held an exhibition opening, and I was delighted that two of my drawings sold then. I had never planned to hold an exhibition or sell them when I started the project, so it all felt a little weird. But I'm getting over it, plus the sales should cover the wine and food expenses!

My favourite from the 100 days is day 89. It's the only plein air and "self portrait" drawing I did. I drew it while waiting for the kids at a sports day in Motueka. I found the seedhead from the pohutakawa tree and was going to draw it, but saw the shadow of my hand holding it on the paper and drew that instead.

If you have a favourite let me know as I will be giving those that don't sell away at the end of the month to my faithful followers. Yes you will have to be faithful, and a follower (with Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin' or  Facebook), and because comments give me such a buzz, my regular commenters will get first dibs (well only if they want one!)

Here's the link to my Facebook page which has all 100 drawings in an album.

Day 56 and counting down

I'm over the halfway point of the 100 Days Project I'm doing. It should get easier? Maybe, maybe not. Each day I have a blank page and a Sharpie pen, and the two have to meet. Deciding what to draw is usually the hardest thing. Once that decision is made and I have a spare 20 minutes, it happens. And I'm more often than not happy with the result.

Day 8

 I've never felt like quitting, but some days have definitely been a struggle. The two weeks of the school holidays meant that most of my drawings were done at night, sometimes just before going to bed. This is not ideal and made it feel like a chore.

Day 12

Sometimes I use an earlier drawing to expand on an idea/theme. Other days I draw things that I have collected or picked up. On the tough days I draw from books or images I've pinned. Sometimes I'm not quite sure where my inspiration comes from.

Day 36

I chose to draw with a Sharpie pen, as it stops me getting caught up with too much detail. And I like colouring in with lots of black.

Day 25

 

You'll notice there is a bit of a theme with my drawings. I'm inspired by nature; plants, shells, insects. Luckily these are also easy to draw! And they make good motifs which I am going to explore further in my paintings. I've already used one of my drawings as the basis for hand painting/drawing onto a china beaker.

Day 10

When the 100 days are over I'm going to have a giveaway. Yep, I'm going to give them away, to the lovely people who follow this blog and make the lovely comments that encourage me to keep on blogging. (You know who you are, thank you.)  Also to anyone else kind enough to start following me and commenting, names will be placed in the hat. I'll sort the details out closer to Day 100 (Sept 14th).

It was hard to choose just a few drawings for this post. If you'd like to have a look at the rest pop over to my Facebook page.

lights and shakes

Sunday night was the last of the newly established three night festival Light Nelson, which was held in Queens Gardens in the middle of the city.  We arrived soon after this free event opened at 5.45, and there were already a lot of people wandering around in the dark. Despite the full moon and all the lights from the illuminated installations, it was quite dark, and we wished that we'd brought a torch.

The first installation to greet us as we walked in the gardens looked like three clumps of spun sugar, was in fact made from fishing nylon. They were hung on wires across the pond with lights above to illuminate them. It was great how the reflections on the water and the gentle breeze added another dimension.

These small paper houses with candles inside them, were made by refugees based on their old homes. They had names and handprints on them, and were set in a quite part of the gardens, and were very moving  in their quiet and simple understatedness.

Another favourite was this large lotus flower installation that was constructed out of bamboo poles and fabric around the Victorian fountain in the middle of the rose garden.

I didn't manage to take any half decent photos of the walk through a rainbow. As we went across a bridge we grabbed an umbrella and were wowed by the rainbow produced by laser lights and a fine mist of water.  It can be seen on this video of the event. My camera and I struggled to take good photos, here's a link to the local newspaper, which has some much better ones.

It was a good place to quell post-quake nerves. We only just got to experience the 6.5 magnitude earthquake that shook the centre of the country at 5.09. If we'd been better organised we would have already left the house and been on the road. But instead we were in the garage going out the door when it rattled us. We then had to go back inside to check the computer to find how big it was. The drive into Nelson was a bit tense as it took the radio station almost half an hour to let us know that Wellington was still standing. There must be lot of people with raw nerves in Wellington and Blenheim as the aftershocks have been very frequent, and are still going.

changing threads

Since the Mapua Makers Market (which was on 9 Feb) I've been beavering away on another deadline - my entries for this years Changing Threads National Contemporary Fibre Awards.  I have entered this award three times and been chosen twice, both with blanket wall hangings. As I blogged about last year here.

 This year I've stepped away from wool and felt into the great unknown - environmental art! Tomorrow I drop my entry into the gallery on CD, so I've been taking photos and writing my artist statement and going slightly crazy. But hey even if I don't get one or two pieces selected at least I can share it with the my lovely readers on this blog.

The first piece I created is an installation, so is quite hard to photograph especially in my garage. It's titled "Coming Home to Roost", and my statement about it is:

This installation is constructed from some of the plastics that I have collected from the beach at Ruby Bay over the last 18 months. Some of the sources of this rubbish can easily be identified, such as the tags off fishing vessels or parking meter tickets, which have flown out of car windows. While these may look like paper they are in fact plastics, the recycling symbol on the back of the parking meter tickets identifies these as polypropylene.

It is hard to imagine the size of this problem. In the North Pacific Ocean there is what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an estimated 11 million tons (and growing) of floating plastic covering an area of nearly 5 million square miles of ocean, swirling in the Pacific Ocean between the coast of California and Hawaii.

Unlike organic debris, which biodegrades, plastics disintegrate into smaller and smaller pieces while still remaining a polymer. They never “vanish” so throughout the decay cycle different sized organisms are affected.

“Coming Home to Roost” is my response to this disaster that we cannot see. While I realise that the amount of rubbish that I pick up is so miniscule in the big picture, it may still help at the individual level. If one bird is saved by my actions that is better than walking past and leaving the rubbish to re-float in the next high tide, and go who knows where?

 

 In the centre of the shelter is a nest I made from fishing rope and twine. I made the top part first, and then added the mound, similar to what some sea birds build. This nest building led me onto using some of the large pile of twine and fishing line I've collected, and I made three vessels loosely based on a basket design. These are sewn together with salvaged fishing line which I had to untangle first.

The second entry is titled "Adrift".

These three vessels have been made using pieces of fishing net, twine and line that I have collected while walking along the beach at Ruby Bay. Originally the materials were used for fishing, and then discarded, cut loose or lost to become part of the garbage system that drifts with the ocean currents.

When fishing nets are left or lost by fishermen they are known as ‘ghost nets’ which drift about continuing to do what they were designed to; catching fish along with sea mammals, reptiles and birds.

By piecing together the fragments I have collected, I have made these vessels as a reminder of how fragile the marine environment is, and the need to care for it.

 

 

 

 

This morning when I went for my daily look at what's happening in the world according to Facebook, I came across Kirsty Elson's post with a link to this video. It's mindblowingly sad, and makes me feel like every little bit of plastic that I pick up off the beach is making a difference. Take the time to watch it, please.

deadlines

I definitely need deadlines to help get over the procrastination stage and into the productive stage. I've got two craft markets coming up in November, but before then I want to finish four paintings for the spring exhibition of the Nelson Suter Art Society, and I need to finish another work on paper for a new gallery.

So instead of knuckling down to it I made something that had been floating around in my head for a while. In my stash I had a couple of very small zips. I have loads of homemade felted wool. The buttons were no problem once I had located the storage bin loaded up with jars of buttons (another shameful secret of  mine!)

First came the fearsome gray cat, then the demented cerise rabbit.

I added a fluffy tail to the cerise rabbit. However, with hindsight it looks more like a hole than fluff, so I shall be removing the offending appendage!!

Due to the shortage of tiny zips at the op shops (and my ethos that I do not buy anything new to make anything) these will be a very limited product line for the upcoming markets. They do however make a change from my "normal" zippered pouches, two of which have already winged off to new homes (thanks to Facebook and a blog swap!)

So I need to spend some serious time in the studio next week. It's been hard to find time this week with orthodontic appointments (both of the kids), school sports trips, delivering art works, and trips to the post shop after a mammoth packing session. Yes I sold my first painting via my website!!! So soon one of my artworks titled "Forma 1" will be gracing a wall in Melbourne. The crazy thing is that postage across the Tasman is only a few dollars more expensive than across the Cook Strait to the North Island.

I have started some new paintings for the exhibition in October, I don't think the above one is quite finished yet.

So next week no more procrastination. As we are going on holiday the following week. It's the last week of  term, so while hubby is off to Australia for work we will go to Christchurch for a couple of days and stay with my sister. It will be the first time I've been to Christchurch since the earthquakes so I am trying to steel myself for the changes. Then we are off to Brisbane for 7 days, yipee!! If you're on instagram follow my adventures here.

Linking up with lots of clever people at My Creative Space.

printing on lorna

Thursday is Mapua Art Group day.. Since moving it's a 5 minute drive versus the 20 minute drive it used to be. Since moving (6 months ago now - hard to believe we ever lived somewhere else!) I seem to get to Art Group less often than I used to. How can that be? I even used to take the kids in the school holidays, and then we'd have lunch at the beach at Ruby Bay as a treat (well it was for me), now that's my regular beach and I go at least once a week.

Anyhow I did get to Art Group on Thursday this week. We had a  printing session, following on from the workshop on printing in November. Back then I started off by drawing with a Sharpie pen on pages of an old Lorna Doone book, as I posted here. I never seemed to get around to showing the prints that I did then (better late than never!)

On Thursday I managed to carve one more lino cut, only a small one. I based it on the photo of the matai tree that I took on my phone while down the Coast. I would love to have a printing press, it's so much fun, the anticipation as you peel off the paper ........ Again I got the comment from someone, they'll look nice when you print them on some proper paper. Well I have no intention on printing on "proper" page, what's wrong with using a page of a book? But I'm not actually sure what I'll do with them, maybe cards? or I might matt a few up - but then they'll need framing......

I couldn't resist making a print of autumn leaves

due to technical issues (thanks Blogger) I can't seem to get this photo and the one below to turn around!

 

what am I going to do with all these prints?!

the 3 lino blocks I've carved

On another front, I have a new venture (adventure) with a good friend. We have talked about it for so long we suddenly decided to stop talking and get doing. So we are organising the very first Mapua Makers Market, to be held on Queens birthday Monday (4th June) at the local hall. So exciting, and a bit nervous that we'll get enough stall holders of the right calibre in such a short time!