Wednesday, July 31, 2013

LOCAL ARTISTS

After last week's post on my collection of Aboriginal Art I did promise to show you some of my collection of local (Sunshine Coast, QLD) artists. 

Hope you enjoy them:


Peter Hudson - Ray & Moon, bought as a gift for my husband
 
 
My friend Aileen Shaw with her painting, bought at her exhibition


Noela Mills (collage), traded in the International Collage Exchange
 
Kym Barrett, bought at her exhibition


Kim Schoenberger (wallpiece), traded


Wendy Epp, bought at her exhibition

Mieke Van Sambeek (wallpiece), traded

Josephine Knight,  bought at her exhibition


Wendy Van Der Drift, traded for one of my works

Hope you follow the links to see more of their work.  I am privileged to own these pieces, and to live in a place where art proliferates.




Monday, July 22, 2013

Collecting : 1- Aboriginal Art

I fancy myself as a bit of a collector of art.  Let's face it, money burns a hole in my pocket when I'm faced with a piece I love.  Unfortunately, having a few spare dollars doesn't always coincide with a 'must have' moment.  In those rare times when I've had a few wins, or sales, and my 'art' account is looking relatively healthy, I indulge myself.  Perhaps you'd like to see a few. I'll start with some of my Aboriginal Art.


AWELYE - Betty Mbitjana
Betty Mbitjana was born in Utopia, NT circa 1945.  She is the daughter of renowned artist Minnie Pwerle. Betty paints the awelye, bush berry, and body painting motifs. Betty’s paintings depict the designs that the women would paint on their bodies, and the dancing tracks which are made in the sand during women’s (awelye) ceremony. Through their awelye ceremonies, women pay homage to their ancestors, show respect for their country and dance out their collective maternal role within their community. A design based on these dancing tracks is painted on women’s bodies before a ceremony is performed, and this same design can be seen today in Betty’s works on canvas and in the works of her mother, sisters, and aunts. Ochre, charcoal and ash are all used to paint designs on the women’s upper bodies, and Pwerle women paint their chests, breasts and upper arms for awelye in ochre, red and white. The designs they use have been passed down for many generations, and only the Pwerle or Kemarre owners can paint them.

AWELYE ATNWENGRRP - Emily Pwerle
Emily, when only in her early 80s, began painting in 2004 after being encouraged by her older sister, Minnie. Emily instantly took to painting on canvas, applying many layers of acrylic paint in linear brush strokes, creating dense patterns of colour which represent the body paint women apply to each other during traditional bush tucker ceremonies. To the women these works are spiritually relevant, paying homage to their ancestors and the land that provides them with life. To the general viewer, the work is a mass of moving colour, carefully orchestrated to guide the eye across areas of dense abstract beauty on the canvas.  Emily’s work has been exhibited & represented in several fine art galleries across Australia, as well as in New York, London, Paris & Seoul.   


Kudditji Kngwarreye with his painting, now framed and on my wall.
  
Paintings by the eighty seven year old legend Kudditji are hot property right now, both in Australia and internationally. Like his half sister Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Kudditji (pronounced goo-beh-chee and called Goob), seems set to take his place as one of Australia's foremost indigenous artists.

Born around 1925, he began painting around 1986, he was encouraged to paint in the fashionable style of the time, executing works with detailed infill. Some years later he came to find his current style of abstract imagery, bold colour use and intuitive interplay with space and form.
 
Now Kudditji's Dreamings have profoundly evolved into extraordinary juxtaposed colour fields, startling in both composition and hue. Harsh or soft and often surprising to the Western eye, his painterly style maps out the creation, his country, and his traditional Dreamings. While his spatial, painterly compositions have a Rothko-esque quality to them, the work of this Anmatyerre elder from the Northern Territory is clearly a unique Australian voice. His highly intuitive and gestural method of painting together with his vibrant, colour saturated spaces is ground-breaking in Aboriginal art, and although he is already well collected it is felt by many industry insiders that his work is poised for a major market leap.
 
It's blatantly obvious that I really like colour and mark-making isn't it?
 
Next time I'll show you some work by local Sunshine Coast artists, so don't go too far.

Friday, July 12, 2013

TEENSY WEENSY COLLAGES - Traded

Seems like I'm having an ATC moment...or several.  As you know I just LOVE collaging...but what to do with them all.  Aha...make them tiny, and TRADE.  So, here are a few that I've parted with recently.


Half Hidden - went to South Africa


Oriental Moon - went to a friend in QLD


Rainforest - went to Florida, USA


Houston We Have Lift Off - went to Chicago, USA


Acid Free - went to New Hampshire, USA


Moon Over The Battlements - went to Pennsylvania, USA


To Life - went to Guatemala


The Blue Vase - went to the Gold Coast, QLD

Across The Desert - went to Bulgaria
 

Bean - went to Germany

My Home Is My Castle - went to The Netherlands
OK...so I chucked in a couple of painted ones...just to keep you interested.  As you can see my trading world is HUGE...and that's just part of it.

It's time consuming, but FUN.  It's also a way to keep on playing with art when the market for paintings is so slow.  There are only so many paintings will fit under the bed.

Perhaps my next venture will be selling paintings online.  Have to sort out whether I want to pack and post first.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

ATCs... from everywhere.

You've had a giggle at my previous post now here are some favourite ATCs that I've received.

Cathy Calamas - Paper Traders

Angelica Paez - Ipernity

Risa Profana - Ipernity

Lee Kirk - Artful Collage
Pam Prosser - Artful Collage

Sanna Burgess - Fine Arts  ATC

 

These clever people trade in the following groups....just in case you might want to join in the fun.

Paper Traders
Artful Collage
Fine Arts ATC
Ipernity