A Daydream Space

 

Sun in Aquarius, Moon in Taurus, Waxing

Good Morning Sunshines!

Yesterday was the last day of my latest exhibition of creations called 'A Daydream Space' as part of the City of Stirling's Summerset Arts Festival.  

A Daydream Space is essentially a celebration of life and its curiosities, its 30 works are inspired by pen and ink drawings that emerge from a meditative daydream space that I 'wonder' off to when i draw.

Lonely

Hugging Monsters

I have translated these little drawings into larger ink paste ups, acrylic, gouache and water colour paintings and mixed media assemblages. The works relate to the space of the lane way - a transitional forgotten and often neglected space full of potential and wonder - the suburban wilderness!



Faery Creator Spirit Altar

When i work with recycled materials i feel i am working with memories and materials with a bit more guts than something wrapped in plastic from the store, the materials have their own voice and they have helped to tell the stories of the pieces.


These doors came from our old TV cabinet, from days of yore when TVs came in boxes! The carved space reminded me of old shrine spaces and the little round handle and key hole made it like a magik doorway, i attached the ledge from an old picket from our fence that my neighbour lovingly keeps alive!

Apple Blossom Fairies

A friend at work told me about an old lady who lived on her street who had an old dog she would walk and then suddenly all her stuff was piled out in the front yard with a little free sign, not wanting to think the worst we went along to this cute old little house and thankfully the old lady was still there and she explained to us that she was moving house and we should take all of her junk! I did find some awesome stuff that has been transformed - this old weathered Apple Blossom fairy print by Cicely Mary Barker was found and reinvented with acrylics, water colour and glitter!



Faery

A collection of beautiful old keys were found that remind me of the one Dorothy finds in 'Return to Oz' - still one of my favourite movies!

An old chess set and pieces were found and reinvented.

There is something about the checkerboard  patterning that always takes me to Wonderland and magikal surreal spaces, i wanted to play with the idea of a game of medieval war being transformed into a dream space - the pawns have become the Owl and Pussy Cat, the horses a Pegasus and Unicorn. There is a repeating motif of the boat in a lot of my drawings lately - i think its something to do with dream voyages and vessels that take us on adventures! Unfortunately this piece was defaced by the end of the installation - shame, I'm going to see if my creation skills are up to scratch to restore it or maybe it will all change again?



Life is but a dream.

Lessons in Being a Black Sheep

I drew sheep jumping a fence and changing into black sheep rather randomly - i thought it would be a bit of fun to make in 3D. I was then reading about "The Voyage of Maelduin" in some Celtic Bardic work i am learning about (head to http://www.faeryshaman.org/ to find out more!) on one of the many islands that Maelduin visits he comes across one that is divided by a fence and when the sheep cross it they change from white to black - WHAT THE! Wowee that is some serious synchronicity!
The Sheepys were so much fun to make and they have really fuelled my desire to do some stop motion animation!




An ugly old doll destined for the bin gets a super make over! 


 

 

 

 

 

Mercrone

I have always wanted a Dolls house! SO i have finally made my own inspired by the amazible home of creatrix Katwise - i highly recommend her if your lacking colour in your life. I cant wait to own/make one of her recycled wonder coats! Check her out at www.katwise.com

What ever happened to the little mermaid? I wanted to explore the aging feminine body - do all old women depicted in fairy tales have to be evil witches? What happens to mermaids as they age? I think she is beautiful, i love her over the top trinkets and her positioning in the lane way in the driest, old weather beaten spot, sadly some of her treasures were stolen - so mean!















The Blue Boy - Thomas Gainsborough

Pinkie - Thomas Lawrence

Mr Rabbit

A print of this painting was given to me from a friend - mainly because of the beautiful frame it was housed in that i could use randomly down the lane. I didn't like the image  unfortunately and thought i would discard it but the more i looked at it the more i wanted to paint on it. I turned the image upside down and the legs became long rabbit ears 'I'll paint a rabbit' i thought in honour of the gorgeous bunny who lives in the lane and the little sweety who lives next door.
I thought i better be culturally aware and research about the painting i was about to deface. Some quick research on the original Blue Boy painting told me the story of an image painted in the 1700s that is very famous by the artist Thomas Gainsborough, he painted the image over an exsisting image on the canvas - huh i thought, a link to my own repainting! The image is housed in a Florida Museum and has been paired with the image Pinkie by Thomas Lawrence even though she is 80 years his jounior! I do love a love story so in their honour Mr Rabbit is wearing Blue Boys clothing in Pinkies scenery :)

 

Magician

Magicians Bunny

The Magician pops up a few times though out the daydreams - maybe something to do with rabbits and magik hats! 



 

 

 

 The Magician's hat!

The thing i am loving the most about hanging out in the lane way is getting to meet the residents - hearing their stories and watching their own creativity emerge amongst the daydreams. One groovy guy propped his surf boards up behind the wave painting - Thank you so much that is too cool!

Waving

 

There is a surreal mural emerging in the entrance of the lane and the talented artist and her partner have also popped clay sculpture heads up on their fence to observe the lanes entrance - love it!

Love Kite

Love Kite began as an old metal tray my lovely neighbour pulled out of the bin for me! I think the kids used to play with it in their fairy cubby! I enjoyed working with paper in new ways with this piece and Connected below

Connected

 

Wembly Watching

 

 

Glitterbug

Glitterbug was the first piece i included glitter on, he was like a lil bug that whispered yessss! in my ear and then it got smooshed nearly everywhere!


Friends

Grow!

Mecha Meditation

Good Things

There is a Gorilla at the end of my Street wearing a Scarf!

Good Things was based on drawings i like to do of good things in my life - its like a visual gratitude list, it helps to relax me, centre me and open my heart!

I wrote a blog post a while ago about a Gorilla that lived at the end of our street that i knitted a scarf for - he doesn't live there anymore but this painting on old pickets is a tribute to him :)

Growing Happy

Growing Happy was painted on a piece of wood i found under a pile of almond leaves in my garden in a time when gardening and being in my garden was helping to ground me and simultaneously uplift me!



     

Hark!

Choir

Memory Dancer

Happy Birthday

 

1up

Cup of Tea Dreaming



It feels really wonderful to have saved so much stuff from just rotting in landfill, to have transformed so much into treasure!

 

The After Arty Party is this afternoon - exciting!!!

 

Some of the more fabulous phots in this blog were done by the wonderful Ash from Wild Dawn Photography - Go check out the beautiful way she captures moments www.wilddawnphotography.com.au

Thanks so much honey!

 

 

 

Art Love for you all!!

Blessed Be

xx