Progress

It has been a prolific painting period for me, prompted by the course at Art Est. Woke up early yesterday in an effort to paint these roses before they wilted.


And then I went with my new sky painting to class to take advantage of the fact that Carla's speciality is beautiful skies. Colour matching is the challenge. Clouds are pretty hard to depict. On Carla's advice I am posting this as a 'progress' shot. It's not finished yet although hubby thinks it time to hang already!

Inner West Art Group Exhibition

I was invited by my friend David Cole to participate in a group exhibition.  The Inner West Art Group was formerly known as Artists@Ashfield and is a loose group of artists.  Ashfield council used to support this group by providing a venue for their annual exhibition.  However,  the venue, Thirning Villa is located in the middle of a park and does not attract much street traffic.  In recent times, the group has exhibited at Gallery NTK in Croydon.  The recent death of the group's founder has made David the defacto leader - or at least the organiser of its annual exhibition.  David has enlarged the group membership to the Inner West.
Here is your invitation - I hope to meet blog readers this Saturday!

Hooray - I'm in the calendar

Tonight at the Art Est end of year show, Jennifer announced the winners of the calendar competition and I was one of the lucky winners. Haystacks is featured in the calendar as Miss November and besides the publicity, I also got 4 calendars and a $100 voucher towards my next art class/ workshop! Thanks to all who voted for me.

The Blue Mountains

Most Sydney-siders would have been up the Blue Mountains, and right around the mid mountains, stood on the edge of the cliff to peer at the stupendous vista unfolding; range upon range vanishing into the hazy distance. Truly the Blue Mountains is our own Grand Canyon - and it's so accessible, really.


Well this week I decided to try and capture the feel. I had purchased a heavy gel medium and thought to try palette knifing it on the canvas to create the texture of rock face. First painted both rock face with exactly the same colours. Then knocked back the one further away using glazes. Transparent white gives that effect of distance which is so lovely.

More Moreton bay figs

I've been invited to exhibit with the Inner West Art Group at Gallery NTK Croydon on the 8 Dec. As a consequence I've been busily painting.


This diptych was inspired by the impressionists who frequently painted figures with their backs to the light. The deep shadows are actually not conducive to the modern art of photography. But the eye does not suffer from the same problem!

Moreton Bay Figs are some of my favourite trees. Their trunks have this human limb like quality. And they are such magnificent trees, casting deep shade on hot summer days.

Art Est calendar competition

My artwork 'Haystacks' is finalist for the Art Est calendar competition!

To get into the calendar, I need votes in the form of Likes on this
Facebook page.
If you like my art, please vote for me by 12 Nov. The most popular 6 adult and 6 kid entries get featured in Art Est calendar. I suppose I'm in it for the promotional prospects although its gratifying to hear positive comments.

More glazing techniques

This week I thought I'd get a handle on glazing by painting a favourite scene of rocks at Bronte. I also wanted to complete the piece so did it in A3 size.


The glaze is of pthalo green as water and this wonderful ink in burnt sienna which is transparent on the rocks. There is also a transparent white which I used to knock back the background water. As a technique glazing takes time and being impatient I can't see myself embracing it 100%. I'd use it judiciously and have a hair dryer handy!

Glazing techniques

This term I've enrolled in the Contemporary landscape painting course at Art Est. Our tutor Carla is a kiwi painter well regarded for her beautiful skies. Carla promised to teach me how to glaze. I've often wondered how the Dutch masters get their luminescent effect. The answer it seems is the patient application on multiple layers of thinly diluted colour in a glaze medium.


Great isn't it? It looks almost renaissance and a landscape of Europe rather than the Cook river in Sydney.

To get an effect of deep shadows which are usually purple, glaze alternate layers of ultramarine and magenta. Both colours must be transparent for it to work. Glazing allows the colours to be optically mixed on the canvas.

To knock back a colour eg green so that it recedes, glaze with orange ( its complementary colour). I'm quite thrilled with this effect, just have to experiment a bit more.

Western Australia

This holidays I went to WA with the family. It was only a short trip as it piggy backed onto hubby's business trip to Perth. Given the short timeframe we only visited Perth, The Pinnacles, New Norcia and Fremantle.

The Pinnacles are where limestone outcrops protrude from the earth. What made them remarkable is that they occurred at a desert setting which meant that everything was the same vivid hues as deserts in Central Australia. While my family explored the territory I set myself up to do this watercolour sketch. Was terribly wind blown and bitterly cold. There's fine sand in my palette now.

Fremantle is historic and full of the most amazing old buildings made of their unique sandstone. We stayed at a pretty cottage by the beach and I took time to paint the geraniums flowering profusely.



This is also the location of our historic America Cup defense, wharfs and marinas taking up lots of the beach front. I thought the view lovely but was not able to capture everything about the water that I wished. Am resolved to get an acrylic pack ready for excursions en plein air when I get home.

Spring in Sydney

Sydney is enjoying a lovely spring this year, glorious sunshine, but with a coolish breeze so it is most pleasant. I refuse to stay in my studio and have embarked on several plein air expeditions.

This is the result of a walk along the Cook River. The wattles are in bloom and although I had to omit them from this sketch, they were magnificent in their yellow powdery abundance.

Today, I went to the Dawn Fraser pool in Balmain and enjoyed the sight of sailing boats moored. The Harbour sparkled and it was an idyllic hour of sketching for me.

This made me reflect on the reasons why I paint. I paint because I enjoy the process and have this need to convey the beauties that I felt and saw. If somebody else agrees with my vision and it gives them pleasure, that's a bonus.

Of course as I'm prolific, there is a need to get rid of paintings. This I do by giving them away or selling them in an exhibition or other forum. Luckily I don't have a financial need to sell art as I can't think of a career more tenuous. Worse, I'd have to churn out popular paintings that sell and cannot experiment with subjects or techniques whatever takes my fancy.

Exhibition 2012

 

Well folks, the exhibition opening for 2012 has come and gone.  I thought I'd share a few thoughts about exhibiting... or what I learnt over the last few weeks.

 

The last few days before the exhibition were nail biting.  Mainly because I made all this effort and what if the consensus is that nobody likes my art?  That I've wasted all my time and energy?  It felt very much like when I was at Architecture school adn the moment came when you presented your work to the tutors.  Would they love it?  Or hate it?  Scathing comments have changed careers!

 

Although exhibition 2010 was a smashing success, things could have changed.  In any case, I needn't have worried, it was a moderate success.  The wild wind detered the semi interested parties, and cafe invitees were not plentiful, but we had a reasonable turnout, see the following photo.

 

 

I'd like to thank all my friends who turned out and lent me the support.  Plus my wonderful husband who made the speech that everybody loved.  I know I'm lucky to have him beside me.  I can feel the love in the room and am encouraged to continue painting, drawing and sculpting.





The musician

Due to some mix up with dates, I was able to make this fortnight's sketch club. The format was unusual in that we are having a single long pose for 2.5 hours hurray! At last somebody understands what it takes to paint or sculpt.

It turns out that we have a second convenor Matilda who is keen to try different things from Sarah. Our model is the refreshing Mary Jane who is a professional musician (cellist and guitarist). She brought her cello (also named Matilda) with her as prop. Beautiful instrument - all golden wood gleaming. In all, I was set up for a treat!

I knew I'd not have time for a detailed painting so deliberately chose an impressionistic style to capture the scene. It's quite liberating to paint with bold strokes.

The hanging

It is time to hang the works for the exhibition and previous experiences hanging have been arduous. It is difficult deciding which pieces to put together and how to arrange them so that they look good. When the pieces are from different artists and different styles it is even harder. This time I was as prepared as I could be with a handyman (thanks husband!) and a spotter (thanks Gerry!).

The handyman's job is to clamber on top of the step ladder and adjust the length of string and the position of the picture, armed with pliers and blutac. The spotter is to say 'up 4 in, left a bit,' etc.
As artistic director (ahem!), my job was to decide where each painting should go. And to organise other details while the cafe owners were handy.

Anyway it is all done now and in a record 2 hours. They look great so hopefully others will agree. Let the show begin!

Closer to the exhibition

I've made all sorts of frantic efforts since my last blog post to complete my paintings and to prepare them for the looming exhibition.  Fortunately, since it is not my first exhibition (veteran that I am), I know what I've to do - and over the weekend, I completed my preparations in time for the ardous hanging on Wednesday.  Perhaps experience will count there too, plus a stable step-ladder and a handy bloke (thanks hubby!) 
This painting is the last that I've completed and will be included in the show.  It depicts a sunbather at Clovelly.  She lounges on the rocks above a shallow pool of water.  Originally she had a companion who was chatting to her, but I couldn't get her posture right and just painted her over. 
Here is an invitation to the show.  If you would like to attend, just turn up - I'd love to meet you!

FROM THE DESERT TO THE SEA
An exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Meng Woo

 

Opening night on
Fri 7 Sept 2012
from 6:00pm

 

Yuga Gallery
172 St Johns Rd
Glebe NSW 2037
9692 8604

Exhibition from 7 to 30 Sept 2012

Creek walk

With my exhibition date looming (7 Sep) and my intention to title it "from the desert to the sea", I realised with a jolt that I only have 3 desertscapes completed. This led to a panic attack and the commencement of a fourth painting.


This one was inspired by a walk we did at the base of King's Canyon. It is a gentle walk, leading to a sheer rock escarpment. At that point, braver and fitter souls could venture up a million steps to the top of the table. This walk went through very lush landscape, surprisingly thick in parts, due to the phenomenal rainfall enjoyed last year. The creek was dry but the eucalypts were plentiful, their smooth white trunks contrasting with the red earth.

Not the way home: 13 artist paint the desert

Last Saturday we made it to the SH Erwin gallery at Observatory Hill for the exhibition titled "Not the way home: 13 artist paint the desert". As regular readers may know, I have been struggling with desertscapes ever since my brief trip to Uluru last Oct. I thought that perhaps I could get some ideas from the exhibition. Alas, the desert in the subject was quite different from that of Central
Australia. 13 artists were taken to Broken Hill for 2 weeks and asked to make a body of work in response.
Broken Hill may be desert but it's not as arid so there is quite a lot of vegetation. In fact it looks a lot like my friends' farm in Young. The colours are grey green and brown not vivid reds and ochres.

Steve Lopes painted various industrial junk discarded to rust slowly. He included figures in these pictures but they appear quite awkward, some bang right in the centre of a picture, in an unharmonious composition.

My favourite was Bonfire by Euan Macleod. It centred around a bonfire in the desert at twilight or sunrise. The shadows are long and the figures are warming themselves. The fire looked really warm and inviting. I also liked the sun hitting the hills behind.

Guy Warren painted a beauty in Forgotten Singers, Forgotten Songs 2. This is an abstract but the colours are great. The blue and orange zinged.

It was quite a good collection, and even included a ceramic sculptor Merran Esson. Merran's work reflected corrugated iron structures, she even used copper glaze for that green tinge of oxidized copper.

Sculpture making workshop

As a birthday present my hubby bought me a workshop for sculpture making with a life model. He even did the babysitting as part of the deal and so that was great.


Our model Tash was reclining on a pile of cushions and she held that pose in 20 m sessions for 4 hours. It was the first time I had a model posing for long enough to sculpt!! Hooray! It really made a difference as I was able to correct things from all angles. We moved around continuously to appreciate every view.



What I noticed was the detail that I could get with a life model that is imagined when sculpting from sketches. Also because I did not have to get it fired, I was able to relax about air bubbles. Our tutor Linda said a mould would not be difficult for my sculpture and suggested the Sydney Sculpture School as a place where I could explore my interests.

Life drawing May

Lately I've gotten into crochet and have neglected my art. However last Sunday I made the life drawing at Art Est. It was packed - so much so that the organizers have decided to hold it on a fortnightly basis.

Our model was Berenice who I suspect is German descent. She spoke with a heavy European accent. Lovely skin and figure. I often wonder what models think of when posing, particularly the longer poses. Do they enjoy being looked at? And the judgement of everyone on one's flaws must be daunting unless possessing a supreme sense of self confidence.

King's Canyon paintings

When we were at King's Canyon, the walking choices were either a 6km difficult walk around the canyon rim, or an easy walk on the canyon floor about 2 km and taking an hour. My husband did the hard one and for his efforts was rewarded by aerial views and my 7 year old daughter and I did the easy route. Truth be told, I preferred this walk not only for it's ease but the opportunity to see the stunning contrast between the river white gums on the dry creek bed and the red cliffs overhead.

Finally months after our trip I got going with this painting.

I am not sure it is finished but it is a base for further experimentation.

Location:Yulara Dr,Yulara,Australia

Desertscapes again

My artist friend Catherine generously gave me a few tips on painting deserts. This is what she said "...it is the density of the dark shadows that define the reds - think abstract shapes for the shadows. I think you've got alizarin crimson and pthalo blue in the shadows - more intensity." With her advice in mind, I decided to have another go at the King's Canyon painting. Here is what it looked like before I started experimenting.


It was fine but lacking in impact. Not memorable as the desert is in reality. I re-coloured the rocks to pure pigment and resisted adding white. That was quite a discipline for me! I added pthalo blue to the shadows which immediately darkened them.


And here is the result after. As Catherine said, it packs more of a punch. It captures more of the harshness and vitality of the desert.

Mother's group revisited

As my friends will attest I'm a prolific painter with a huge output. When I reach a quota of paintings that can fit on my walls I look at the ones that can be improved. Sometimes they can't be made better and I gesso it and paint over.

One that caught my eye was the one of the mother's group at Wylie's. This is what it looked like:

I thought the colours were a bit off and I decided to introduce violet, yellow and blue to the orange green scheme. The result is less abstract and I think the effect of shadows from the stairs is better rendered.

Life drawing w Elly

The weather on Sunday was strange; just as we got ready to go to the beach the sun went behind a cloud and it got cold. So instead we went for pho and I went life drawing.



Elly our ex dancer is very graceful. I like drawing her as she looks good despite the fact that she is middle aged. The muscle tone still going strong - quite an inspiration.



I tried to use pastels in a painterly fashion for this pose. I like the way the colours are muted.


Life drawing is quite refreshing- especially when done occasionally. I left feeling like I'd exercised my artistic 'muscles' - a bit like the high one gets after exercise.

Swimmer emerging from water

After the last painting I rediscovered my painting mojo and enjoyed painting this one of a swimmer climbing out of Wylie's. It was very high tide which made Wylie like a washing machine. The few brave souls like this lady who attempted a swim, quickly gave up and climbed up the ladder back to dry land. The water was swirling everywhere and sparkling in the sun. Alas no swimming could be done!

Rocks at Coogee

Apologies for the long absence but I've been distracted due to child swimming prowess requiring presence at various carnivals. This has taken chunks of time away from painting.


I finally completed this painting of waves crashing on rocks at Coogee. I've always loved the beauty of Wylie's and this is a picture of the north side of the rockpool. Sometimes there are explorers on these rocks but not at high tide when there is a risk of being washed away. Moss grows alongside oysters making it even more dangerous.

Kings canyon

For weeks now I've been struggling with desertscapes... The colours in the desert are brilliant and most cameras cannot convey the shades of orange, ochre and yellow. But I wanted to put on paper what I saw, not what my camera captured.


Acrylic paints also have their limitations- the bright colours are usually transparent and opacity is obtained with the addition of white. However white dulls the colour and hence back to square one. In this desertscape of King's Canyon, I decided to work on paper so that I can put pastels and pure pigment on top. It's done with two pieces of paper so that it illustrates the vastness of this ancient land.

Colours of the desert

In an attempt to get the palette right for desertscapes, I painted some rocks and then used soft pastels to highlight them.


Incredible as it looks, these are the colours of central Australia. I've struggled to capture the desert and now feel that pastels are probably the best medium.

Banana coast revisited

After some fiddling I finished my acrylic version of the banana coast. It's a view that I love, combining the rural views with the Pacific Ocean.

Discovering watercolour

The gregarious Susie Murphie was a delight in this one day workshop I attended this week at Art Est. Susie is a 5 colour is enough watercolourist and all shades mixed with these limited colours will 'go' which makes sense. Previous workshop focussed on drawing with watercolour lending an interest. Now I want to learn how to paint watercolour without the pen as a guide.

The first thing we learnt was that the more dilute the watercolour, the less intense on paper. It all makes sense of course but there are 5 grades of consistency and ways of telling which by how runny they are on the palette.

We did still life as it's the easier subject. But here is the reminder of what I have been taught time and again, shadows look most vibrant when the complementary colour is used. Put purple with yellow, green with orange and blue with red.

A bigger canyon by Hockney

On a visit to the NGA in Canberra, the piece that was outstanding was the compilation of 60 canvases that made up David Hockney's Grand Canyon. In photograph, it doesn't look very impressive but in real life its size, scale and colour creates a sensurround experience. And it is very similar to the landscapes at Uluru and King's Canyon. The trees may be different but the rock formation is similar. The colours are just as astoundingly vivid.

Australian landscape

On a train journey from Sydney to Canberra I was struck by the landscape rolling by. Once past Campbeltown, bucolic green fields unfold, hedged by pine trees. There were lots of lorikeets and rosellas and once I spotted a wallaby leaping past in a gum jungle. And past Goulburn the rolling open pastures makes the sky seem so vast and blue. I itched to paint it all. I realized how much I loved the Australian landscape when I went to NZ 2 years ago and didn't feel at all inclined to paint. Perhaps it was the newness of it all and the strangeness of the flora. I also felt overwhelmed on a recent visit to Uluru. It was so red and so different from coastal Australia. At least there are gumtrees at Uluru. I remember thinking how wonderful it was to encounter a gumtree at the Italian Lakes and how homesick I felt.