The stars eat your body - Del Kathryn Barton

On Friday night I attended Del Kathryn Barton's 2009 solo show titled "The stars eat your body". I absolutely adore her work. Her figures mingle between being beautiful and grotesque, sexual and unsettling, whimsical and eery.

I cheekily took a few snapshots of my favourite sections from one of her wall-sized paintings, and wanted to share them here. I can't say I've seen any direct influence of her style on my own work, but I do find it incredibly inspiring. Since Friday night I've been itching to find a porcelain watercolour palette and start working BIG... And by big I mean big for me, you know.... A3 or A2 sized, teehee :-)

Dear Santa....

All I want for Christmas is....

Looking for something unique for that beloved aesthete in your life? The sweet gothy girl you've been crushing on? That lovely fellow who wears Victorian-era bloomers to the office? A Black-Eyed Suzie gift certificate is for all those in your life who have a penchant for the creepy cute...

All dolled up and ready for....work

It's beginning to look a little bit like a doll museum at work. And I like it :-D

Bramble, the doll made for me by Crystal A Suh has come to the boutique. I now get to gaze at her lounging in the engagement ring cabinet all day long. And she adores it, her chin turned up ever so proud!

Odette, who used to be in the front window for years, has had to go back stage,  as there can only be one Leading Lady....

Victoria, Rachel and I spent an entire day stripping the front displays bare, cleaning the glass, and putting up the new posters. Most excitingly, Ophelia has made her debut. A beautiful Enchanted Doll made by artist Marina Bychkova (I know I am still yet to introduce my own!) Here she is, the new leading lady of Victoria Buckley Jewellery!

Victoria mentions her too, on her blog

Curiouser and curiouser...

I couldn't imagine how my creativity would suffer if I worked full-time in a place that did not inspire me, or make me happy.
So even though I haven't had much time to pursue my personal art in the recent weeks, I have been able to put my drawings to good use at the boutique.

Victoria recently designed this Alice inspired ring, and since I've been put in charge of wrangling her etsy page, I created a few little "background" drawings.
(It's only taken me about 3 months to finally be able to take a semi-decent photograph though!!)

Do visit her adorable etsy page to view her sweet jewellery, and more of my quirky little drawings!

Pocket full of Poesy

The beauty of an original #9

Caroline Kha

I was delighted when an artist friend gave this beautiful painting as a Christmas gift a few years ago. It was a beautiful gesture, and greatly appreciated. I love the painting, it reminds me of a nostalgic idea of youth, romance, and melancholy. I definately have a melancholy streak to me, and just can't get enough of art that portrays that mood in a hauntingly beautiful way.

The beauty of an original #8

Not usually the sort of little guy I’d go frivolously purchasing. However, In this case I was acquainted with the artist, a lovely young lady making bears out of recycled old shirts and clothes with fashion label Incu.


I really do adore anything that makes clever use of recycling and using up old materials, and am a big fan of eco-friendly anything. Her little bears, dressed in stylish corduroy pants, and flannel collared shirts are sweet, but my heart was utterly captured when she created this set of all white opera-going teddies. (Sadly not a part of my collection)

Jessica Sutton – Crafternoon

The beauty of an original #7

Scary?
Interesting?
Charming?
A litle bit of all of the above? And a dash of Froud and pinch of Labyrinth?

This little creature was made by a very dear friend of mine, Laura, when I was keenly encouraging her to try her hand at dolls. I knew anything she created would come out marvelously, her work and tastes always reminds me of the faerie world created by Brian Froud. This little guy reminds me of the goblins of The Labyrinth... I can definately see him frolicking with David Bowie.... maybe it's the polka dot tights...

I thought I'd share him here, since I am in full doll collector mode. You might as well forget my name as just refer to me by that title, the Doll Collector.

Laura Jade Hindes - Smaragd

Breathe, Rusty Breeze - Completed

My plate, all glazed and finished!

When participating in the FONAS Plate Auction, you're given a ceramic plate to paint on, that will be auctioned off to raise funds for the school. I always get very excited to go the event, because it's the first time you see your plate since you handed it in to be fired. The glazes always change colour slightly, certain tones might disappear, others might get darker or stronger.

They hung her a little off kilter, her hair was meant to be billowing out more to the side... but oh well! I'm happy with how she turned out, and she sold to a home too, after a small bidding war - always pleasant to see!

It was a very fun experience, I love getting to draw on surfaces other than paper. I know whilst I was working on this plate I was contemplating doing an entire series! But that would only add yet another project to the looming mountain that is my "to do and to finish" list. So, until next year's plate show!

The beauty of an original #6

The FONAS Plate Auction went very well! Besides a little hiccup at work when I thought I might have to curl up on the carpet and sleep there overnight, I got to the event in pretty much one piece, and only slightly frazzled.

As I did purchase a plate on the night, I'll write a little about the new original that came home to join my slowly growing art collection.

Lauren Murphy - Untitled (mouse)

Lauren was in the year above me in printmaking whilst I was studying my BFA at the National Art School, and I remember always being captivated and drawn to her images. Detailed etchings of small creatures curled up in various stages of petrified decomposition... dark and ghastly, but I loved them.

The beauty of an original #5

With this years FONAS Plate Auction "An Artist at my Table" to be held tonight (I can't *wait* to see how mine turned out!) I thought it fitting to introduce the plate I bought two years ago.

Simon Cooper

The artist's name is Simon Cooper. At the time I was just completing my third year at the National Art School, and he was one of my Printmaking tutors, specializing in Copper Intaglio.
This piece is very much synonymous with his style and subject matter, but I loved that it was an Original, and completely one of a kind.

The beauty of an original #4

Continuing along with sharing our art collection at home :-)

My good friend Marie Peter-Toltz recently had her second solo Art Exhibition in Australia. I've modelled for her portrait and figure studies for both exhibitions, and she's an amazing young woman to be around.
At the time of her exhibition last year we were neighbours in a communal artist studio space - me working on tiny neat intaglio etchings, where I needed a clean environment for the paper to stay pristine, and all the painters around me frenziedly coating everything in their near vicinity in paint. It was an interesting experience, but I value all the time I got to spend with her. I am not a regularly exhibiting artist, so there is a lot to learn from those who are.

At her show last year, my partner bought this small portrait.

Marie Peter-Toltz, "Asleep"

Obstacles and an Opening

That marvelous etching I was working on in my last post? It did not go so well... Some technical mysteries popped up, and we're not really sure what went wrong. First of all.... the "copper" seems to not really be copper, yet I'm unable to identify what on earth it is, it isn't zinc, and it doesn't look like aluminium. It's a mystery metal. It had to be left in the ferric chloride acid bath for a lot longer. Luckily though, the lines did get etched in nice and seemingly deep.
When it came to printing the image, the first proof came out almost perfectly - oh I was *so* happy. The next proof... well, almost as good as the first, but the girls face didn't seem to print... then it went downhill from there, with each consecutive print coming out fainter and fainter. What a nightmare.
So, we'll see. I'll save the prints I did pull, and turn them into "mixed media" works, using watercolours, pens and inks. I think, it will actually be fun. But I definately missed my deadline in mind.

~*~

On an more positive note, my partner Rudy Kistler had his third solo Art Exhibition a couple nights ago. "Shadow on the Back Block" at Charles Hewitt Gallery in Paddington. He is a painter and works in oils on board and canvas. This year he went on a long painting trip for six months, painting the fruit growing regions in Australia from Sydney down to Mildura. He had been very stressed in the weeks leading up to the exhibition, but I think it was a great success. The gallery did an amazing job of curating the pieces, and so many of our friends came to show their support.

Sadly, my camera does not seem to like documenting humans, and the photographs I managed to take were, well... shocking.  And even more sadly, we didn't manage to get my outfit on camera either... and I really worked hard on trying to steal the show!
So I'm sharing the one decent shot I got of one of the walls, and my two favourites from the 53 paintings he has exhibited!
You can visit the Charles Hewitt Gallery website to see the rest: http://www.charleshewitt.com.au/