100 Ideas | Week Eighteen

This week I chose the idea: Work with a medium that is subtractive.
I don't share much of the work I make at art school on my blog but this week I've been using the subtractive medium of paper cutting. I have been making paper cut silhouettes for my Drawing The Body class. 40% of our assessment for this class for the semester is a self directed project pertaining to the body. I wanted to do something I'd never done before so I chose silhouettes - it was something I always thought would be too challenging but after having a play around (first drawing them on paper, then moving to my computer), I found a method I found easy (albeit a little time consuming). I draw the silhouettes with my graphics tablet and Photoshop, based on photographs I've taken, then print and cut them out with a craft knife. I wanted to try to subvert the genre of silhouettes and make some body silhouettes of things that might make you look twice - perhaps a little weird or a little controversial. It is interesting that so much information and meaning can be conveyed through just a little body language. I aim to make at least ten of these silhouettes and photograph them against different contrasting backdrops (eg. pages from magazines, outside). I'm also going to make a set that will be placed on oval shaped pieces of cardboard with collaged backgrounds. I'm having a lot of fun with it as you can probably tell. By the way - I'm all for suggestions of different body silhouettes to make!

If you can't already tell, one of my favourite artists is Kara Walker.

100 Ideas | Week Seventeen

+ image credit.

This week I chose the idea: list 100 uses for a tin can. When I first saw this idea, it didn't really strike me as being hugely interesting, but as I thought more about it, the tin can is such a ridiculously useful, versatile object. I thought 100 ideas was a bit ambitious, so I settled for 25. Have any to add to the list?

1. wrap with twine and use as a vase for flowers
2. hammer in tiny holes and put a tea light inside to make a little lamp
3. make tin can cakes
4. decorate and use as a container to hold pens and pencils
5. turn a can into a pin hole camera
6. tie string to two cans and make stilts
7. stack them up like bowling pins and knock them over with a ball
8. decorate and fill with sand and use as bookends
9. grow little plants in them
10. use as a money tin
11. fill with rice and shake to make music
12. tie to the back of wedding car
13. make a time capsule
15. use pretty ones to store kitchen utensils
16. make a tin can toy
17. make a lantern
18. add a piece of string and make a tin-can phone
19. cut into shapes and attach to a necklace
20. make a tin can flower
21. make a tin can pin cushion
22. turn into little drums
23. make a craft caddy
24. use a campbells soup can as a lamp shade
25. make tin can stars

100 Ideas | Week Fifteen

I chose a pretty simple idea for this past week - make a map of everywhere you went in one day. Our friend Chris was staying with us for a few days from NSW and my best friend Sara was kind enough to drive the four of us around the countryside visiting some of the lovely sites that Northern Tasmania has to offer. We had delicious lunch and sweets at the raspberry farm, devoured cheese samples at the cheese farm, ate late afternoon burgers on the water in Devonport, observed some topiary and a hideous statue and watched C and Chris drink a paddle of beers each at the brewery and observed all the lovely scenery in between. This map shows all  the places we stopped over our 6 hour journey.

Next, I'd like to road trip to the Great Western Tiers to see falling snow and maybe go camping when it's warm again on the pretty East Coast. I feel like Tasmania is pretty much inexhaustible, despite it's tiny size (if you were wondering, it is about the size of Ireland or Switzerland or West Virginia). It has expansive beaches, snowy mountains, treacherous forests, huge lakes, rolling hills. I like it a lot.

Where would you like to road trip to?

100 Ideas | Week Fourteen

(I wish my camera didn't hate taking photos at night)

This week I chose the idea: describe your favourite room in detail.

My lounge room:
+ worn out green couch with thrifted crochet blanket and mismatched cushions (often covered with a blanket of cat fur).
+ colourful, miscellaneous thrifted artworks on the mantle piece and walls.
+ c's comfy old man armchair.
+ worn out floorboards.
+ long wooden coffee table with floral tablecloth (where we eat our dinner).
+ door to the hallway covered in C's soccer scarf collection.
+ big glass double doors leading out to the deck and backyard.
+ thrifted record player sitting on a chair with Carole King's Tapestry record.
+ clock on the mantlepiece 10 minutes fast.
+ air con.
+ dim lighting.
+ little tv, wii, dvd/video player, Foxtel, old sound system.
+ vases of dried flowers.
+ giant map of the world leaning against wall.
+ doorways to kitchen, office and hallway - the middle of the house.
+ colourful, warm and welcoming.

100 Ideas | Week Thirteen

+ Paul McMillan

This week I chose the idea: Research a celebration ritual from another culture.
I am really fascinated by Mexican culture and iconography - so I thought I'd do a bit of research about the Dia de los Muertos/Day Of The Dead. I pretty much only know the basics of this celebration and I'd love to be a bit more enlightened on the subject.

The Basics:
The Day of the Dead is a Spanish holiday celebrated in Mexico and other countries. The celebration on November 1st - 2nd brings family and friends together to gather and focus on lost loved ones. Those celebrating the Day of the Dead often build private altars honouring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, favourite food and beverages and items belonging to the loved one and and visit the graves of the departed with these gifts. The intent of the celebration is to connect with the souls of the dead, hoping that they will hear they're prayers and answer them with guidance. Celebrations can often take a humorous tone, as those who celebrate remember funny events and anecdotes about their departed loved ones.

Can you add anything to my research? Is there a particular celebration ritual from another culture that fascinates you?

100 Ideas | Week Twelve

+ hairy sock

This week I chose the idea - List all the places you've ever lived. I have lived in quite a lot of places. I don't expect you to read all about them, but you can if you wanna. It's interesting what memories stand out most from different places you've lived. What memories attached to places you've lived stand out for you?

+ When I was born my parents lived in a house they refer to as "Watt Street". I was too little to remember, but I remember my dad telling me over and over: "What street? Watt Street!"

+ I lived in a caravan near Coffs Harbour (where the Big Banana is located) when I was a baby, with my mum and dad and ten year old brother.

+ I grew up in a ramshackled old house in the middle of the bush with my mum, step dad and little sister. It was constantly being renovated and at different times, it had trees inside that held up the roof, a bathroom floor made of river stones, an indoor rock garden, orange shag-pile carpet, a wood fire stove, bats living in the walls and a precariously hand-built rock-wall. It had an acre of gardens surrounding it and a huge life-size tree house. My mum still owns it and I love it. It's one of a kind.

+ My little sister and I spent a weekend every second week staying with my dad in his three-room (kitchen, bathroom and sleeping/eating/loungeroom) housing commission flat. We slept on foam mattresses on the floor, drew a lot of pictures and sticky taped them to the walls, watched the Simpsons, invited the neighbourhood children over, walked to the beach, played softball in the tiny yard and ate fish fingers for dinner and Bubble-O-Bills for dessert. 

+ I lived in a house on a big block of land with my mum, her new partner, his three children and my sister. Um, cramped?! I remember being a very grumpy teenager in this house.

+ I moved in with a friend and her family when I was 16. She had lots of horses and we had to get up really early to go to school. I remember that time fondly, though the friendship is long since over.

+ I lived with my high school boyfriend and his parents in a little house on the river. They had a piano which I loved to play when nobody was around and my boyfriend's dad HATED garlic and could tell if I had cooked with it even if I washed everything thoroughly and aired out the kitchen. Garlic was not allowed!

+ I lived by myself in a tiny old nurses quarters off of an old hospital. It was a weird little place and had too many chairs with nobody sitting in them.

+ I lived by myself for 6 months in a 4 bedroom house in the town where I went to high school. It was a little lonely at first, but I loved that house. It backed onto the town park and the library and was nearby to everything. I loved having people visit. When I left, I accidentally left a kilo block of cheese in the fridge and couldn't go back and get it.

+ I lived in a tiny flat on one of the main cafe streets in my city with a girl I didn't know very well. I probably stayed there a max of two weeks (even though I paid rent for 6 months).

+ I lived in a lovely little house in a bad area of my city (the red light district) when C and I first got together. Many good times were had in this house.

+ I lived lived in a tiny, 1850's cottage when I first moved to Tasmania with C. It was freeeeeezing.

+ and now I live in the loveliest little house in Launceston with my lovely boy and our four cats. My house is right in the city, in the cafe district, in a sweet side street full of houses with flags.

100 Ideas | Week Eleven

This week I chose the idea: Find a photo of a person you do not know. Write a brief bio about them.

I found this photograph some time last year, sent to me in a bundle of collage materials and it has always made me wonder. I really do wish I knew the true identity of the person behind the bunny suit, but perhaps letting the imagination run wild is more interesting.



Here's my bio:




I urge you to write your own bio for a stranger! It was harder (and more fun) than expected.

100 Ideas | Week Ten

This week's idea:
Using a grid, collect various textures from a magazine and play them off of each other.


This is what I made (using several magazines and sitting watching Game Of Thrones):


The collage is in my newly acquired hardcover sketchbook. I felt like I had separation anxiety when I sent my Sketchbook Project book away. I didn't want it to be a book I used for uni work either, something entirely mine. I chopped out the names of some paint chips and used a hole punch and decorated the cover.




I wish that I was the person with the job of naming colours of paint, I think they're fascinating. Add that to my dream jobs list.


These are the first few pages of my sketchbook. I love a good title page.

100 Ideas | Week Nine

I'm a little behind on my 100 ideas, so this is my idea for last week.
I chose: Draw a map of all your favourite sitting spots in your town/city. Photocopy it and give it to a person you like.

Instead of just making a map I decided to take photographs of each spot to share. I have a lot more favourite sitting spots than these but I thought I'd list a handful of my favourite inner-city sitting spots (tongue twister). So, here are my top 7 places to sit in Launceston.


1. On the water in Kings Park: Nice shady view of the water and up towards Cataract Gorge.


2. Civic Square Japanese Gardens: Good for sitting and people watching (the view from the other side is of where lots of people in the city eat their lunch).



3. Secluded spot at City Park (near the Cimitiere St gate): The only con is that you can hear the loud traffic.


4. At the top of City Park (near the Brisbane St entrance):  A good vantage point for watching people in the park. Good place to watch sunsets.


5. The really long bench at City Park: Good spot for people watching too. Lots of space to sit!


6. The little gardens beside the Design Centre (City Park): Nice and shady and secluded.


7. Princes Square fountain: Another good spot for people watching. As I learned from Isis; the fountain in Princes Square was purchased from the Paris exhibition in 1858, but due to public disapproval, the half naked nymph atop the fountain was replaced with a pineapple!

And here's my map:


Do you have favourite places to sit in your city? Do share!

100 Ideas | Week Eight

This week I chose the idea: Go to a paint store and collect chips of all your favourite colours.

I went to the paint shop in town today (after my first day back at university) and nervously approached the paint chart section and started picking out a few colours. I always feel a little uneasy sneakily taking a bundle just to decorate my bike - even though I know they're there for the taking. I had about ten picked out and I heard a man say my name behind me (and I thought, "crap, I've been caught", haha) and it turned out to be one of my regular customers at work, who happens to work at the paint store. The first thing he said was "you can take as many as you like for your bike!".  It was so nice to take them guilt free and we had a lovely chat. So, the moral of the story is make friends with the man at the paint store so you don't feel guilty taking all their paint charts. If you're ever in Launceston and you need paint, Andrew at Inspirations Paint & Colour is lovely - go to his shop.


Inside the paint shop.



I thought I'd give my bike a wash (only its second in the year and a half I've owned it) before I put the new spoke cards in. It was so filthy, poor thing. My bike weighs a tonne (I guess it was probably light when it was built in the 70s) and I am always knocking it on things and roughing it up. For a bike that is ridden every day of the year, it has held up exceptionally well. I'd love to get a lighter back-up bike, but I don't think I could ever sell this girl.



Bath time!




I layer the paint charts around the spokes, slotting them in close to the middle of the wheel, then I tape the backs and fronts of the cards to hold them in (if you don't do this they do come out and fly away down the street).


I decorated my basket last year with fabric yoyos (tied to the cane).



Freshly washed and spoked.