Hold my hand

As I pondered through my thoughts, ideas and what I wanted to achieve from creating Do you see me?, I started to look outwards to the people around me. I suddenly became more aware of the challenges that people around me were facing and the strength they harnessed from these experiences.

As a second instalment to Do you see me?, I decided to create a piece dedicated to a group of five women, mums, who I have come to know and admire. Five women (6 including myself) with different backgrounds who have come together for a common cause – to support one another through a new phase in their lives – motherhood.

Hold my hand, the second instalment in the diptych Under the Water Line, reminds us of the unspoken words and invisible hand reaching out to us when we least expect it.

Left: Do you see me? Right: Hold my hand

Left: Do you see me? Right: Hold my hand

Are we there yet?

It’s been about 5 months since I got hold of my oil based markers and a few weeks since ‘Imperfect Balance’ was conceived. The set has moved on a bit but there’s still work to be done.

And as I am still exploring my own style and direction, I would like to share with you the process in which one of the canvases takes form.

For my first project, I decided to venture into the world of canvases. Previously, almost all of my doodling was done on paper so this will be a good test to see if canvas is a good medium for me. To start, I decided on the 10 x 10 inches medium grain. Masking tape is used to loosely manage borders and a couple of fine pencil lines are added to further guide the concept. The rest of the canvas (and majority of the work) is created freestyle using only the Pebeo oil based markers.

And here is my progress to so far. Enjoy!

Colour or Monochrome?

I’ve been inspired by some very creative and talented women who I have had the good fortune to meet over the past few years. And they all have something in common – the ability to move forward beyond challenges in life, maintaining a positive perspective and harnessing it all to produce creative work.

Their backgrounds are different so it is no surprise that their styles also differ. The more I get to know these women and the more I see their work, the more I ask myself what it is that I love about each of these ladies, their creative work and why. I am hoping that reflecting on this will help me define what it is that I do.

So, let’s start!

Katie Lips, an entrepreneur and artist, has successfully transformed into art her experience in technology and the challenges encountered in startups. Her body of work is fun, vibrant and thought provoking. Katie has been featured in Living etc, The Discerner and After Nyne. Make Something Amazing and My Ideas are two collages that quickly come to mind when I think of Katie.

Elizabeth Stewart, founder of Loopygifts, is a graphic designer who designs and creates frames to commemorate weddings, new homes, births and other special occasions. She draws from her graphic design experience and combines it with the more delicate art of crochet. Her pieces are simple and elegant with a sense of serenity and calmness. Much like the designer herself.

Michal Tkachenko is an established Canadian/British visual artist. The story behind the Metal Head series is one of strength and self-reflection. And if you are lucky enough to meet Michal as I have, you will not only see the strength but the positivity that follows. By far, my favourite piece is My 3 Plates.

Bhavini Kundaiker studied law in her past life and has a day job in an office. Outside of this, B, as we know her, conjures up the most delicate henna designs for wedding parties and candles for special occasions. She also channels her love for all things bright and beautiful to create a gorgeous face painting portfolio.

Isobel Carr is the youngest and is currently studying. I first heard of Isobel through a distant relative. And although Isobel and I have not met in person, we have been in contact via email and Facebook. Isobel is a passionate young Australian, mature beyond her years, with a keen interest in journalism and politics. And while these interests have been explored through her artwork, her passions are animals and the environment. In Isobel’s opinion, these are ‘underrepresented in contemporary art’. My favourite piece by Isobel is The Dying Life which highlights the ‘fragility of the natural environment and why it deserves to be protected’.  

What has become clear to me is the variety of media and colour used. This raises the question: If I am drawn to their work and the colour they use, why is it that my own body of work is almost exclusively monochrome? Truth be told, I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s because it is easier to create an illusion if it is black and white. Perhaps it is easier to contain the ‘mess’ when there is only one variable.

I haven’t quite been able to define the work that I do just yet. But what I have achieved from writing this post and exploring the work of these women is the motivation and courage to find my own direction.

Imperfect balance

I mentioned in my last post that I set myself two creative challenges. My first was creating a couple of bespoke birthday cakes. My second challenge since the new year was to get cracking on my doodling project.

I had initially wanted to go back to my roots and do a piece that showed the journey that got me to where I am today. After weeks of brainstorming, planning and prepping I came to the realisation one sunny afternoon that I worked better when I gave myself less creative boundaries and less structure. Sounds like a bit of a copout, right? I thought so too at first until I found myself procrastinating and started looking back at my previous attempts.

When I am doodling, what gives me the sense of stillness is creating something that is cohesive, flowing and to some extent symmetrical without being restricted by numbers, rules and measurements. Yes, I did use several fine lines to guide the overall concept but most of the work is freestyle.

And here is a sneak peak of what is planned so far for the body of work ‘Imperfect Balance’. The plan is to create a body of three pieces showing that we can create in our everyday life the illusion that we are in perfect balance and holding things together. Look closer. OK, maybe not too close and you will see that there are small but visible differences (or cracks) among the shapes, lines and so on.

The art of baking

I thought I had started drafting this blog a few weeks ago where I was motivated enough to bring my laptop with me to a café. Needless to say, I discovered a couple of nights ago that there was no draft to speak of.

It’s been 2 months since I have last written and since then I have given myself a couple of creative challenges. The first was to create a couple of birthday cakes. A slightly larger one for celebrating and a smaller version with left over ingredients for the actual day.

This probably sounds pretty straight forward to someone who bakes and bakes well but for me it was a challenge. Don’t get me wrong, I am I think a decent ‘everyday kinda cook'. I’m not great at desserts but they are generally OK if kept simple and I set my mind to it. But these cakes were different. They were using ingredients and tools that I have not used before.

The challenge was to create a dinosaur cake using fondant. I watched so many YouTube videos that I lost count. After purchasing all the tools, ingredients and watching endless videos, I have a new appreciation for the art the goes into creating a bespoke cake.

The videos always make it look so simple, don’t they? That’s what I naively thought anyway until I got started on the sugar paste models. It’s a good thing I spoke to people and got the advice to start days or even a week ahead because I definitely needed the extra time. I started working on the dinosaur models several days ahead. The first two were too big. Three days later I finally had three figures that I could work with. The cake itself was baked two nights ahead and decorated the day before. And here is the result.

1st Cake (name removed)

A shaky start I give you with uncooked centres and a lot of patching up but overall I was happy with my first attempt. Happy I could patch up a lot of the cracks, wrinkles and holes! And as for jumping into another baking project, I think a bit of time out to recover would be a good idea.