my own bunch of super heroes...

(one of three pieces I have just finished for a gallery down south)

I am so hanging out to do some painting for myself... I feel I haven't done any for so so long, and that is because I haven't!  I have been catching up with work for galleries and getting ready for a few markets that I have coming up.  So I have decided to set aside some time over Easter to paint, draw and create. I think I am worried about things not working out and then it all being a waste of time. Because at the moment time seems to be so precious, I know I will frown at myself if I have nothing to show for my two days of play except a great big bloody mess to clean up!!!

So... I have been telling myself that this will be time for developing and exploring new ideas. I really want to develop a few new background techniques and create 5 - 7 characters (I know I want one of them to a viking descendant).   I am not expecting to get all of this done in the two days, but I want to make a damn good start on it. I also want to document it in my work book, something I used to do on a regular basis, but I don't think I have done an entry so far this year, in fact probably not since my exhibition in October last year?

I have also been having an internal battle lately with what I think people want to see and what I want to do... I am not sure these are the same thing, or maybe they are? (I do worry what other people think, which can be quite exhausting). This is the reason why I want to create a series of characters that are all different but belong together, maybe represent a small part of myself that the viewer will find they can also relate to?   I see them as being my own bunch of super heroes.

Oh and by the way... I have a print up for grabs at New Zealand Handmade if anyone is interested...

whoflungdung...

I have been working like a machine this week getting work done for a few galleries and I am pleased to say I am just about finished.  Then next week I am looking forward to playing around with a few more backgrounds.  I am really looking forward to playing without the fear of deadlines, without the feeling that I should be doing something else.  I am also missing blogging on a regular basis, without new work I feel I can't do a post.

I finished this one above in between getting work done for galleries and although it is still a work in progress I am happy with it so far.   I am changing the faces a little, I really want to create some regular characters...  So when people see them they can say 'oh that's whoflungdung or whoseewhatsit'

I am also in the middle of doing some pendants for my etsy shop... and will hopefully take pictures and list them this weekend if it isn't raining!.. apparently there is a cold front heading up the country with heavy rain... good weather for watching DVDs I am thinking. 

not quite white...

I have decided to pay a bit more attention to my backgrounds... I tend to do the girls first and then the backgrounds feel as though they are an afterthought.

So above is my first attempt at thoughtful backgrounds... I am quite proud of the amount of colour I have achieved here.  I was sitting at my table ready to start this piece, I had white paint and an off white colour called cloud and that was it... I thought to myself 'Katherine how are you supposed to achieve any sort of colour with white and not quite white'!!!  So I got out some chalk pastel pencils and started working intuitively, just going with the flow, adding colour here and there... and using my not quite white paint to get rid of anything I didn't like.

There are parts that I really love and parts that need a bit more attention... and I am not really sure what the taller house is saying yet but I think it is a good start and am looking forward to spending more time on this process.

For those that were interested in some of the pendants from a few posts ago, I will add some to my Etsy shop soon when I can get some good pictures of them... stay tuned.

Love Love Love...

A really cool Kiwi band... Am totally loving this local cleverness and the video is so super cute too! (and and and the drummer is the son of a guy I work with).

Next post will me some new work!!!

being kind to each other...

I have been busy making pendants this last week... I was supposed to be making some new works for a few galleries, but that didn't really seem to happen and they have now been added to this coming weeks to do list.  I am hoping to use some of the skills and ideas I learnt in my 'get your paint on' class in this new set of paintings... (will see what happens).

I am thinking the colours of these pendants above might be the inspiration I need to get on with the paintings I need to get done.  These rich reds, pinks, pale blues, dusky grays and peachy colours are really inspiring me at the moment.  I am also wanting to continue the theme of community in my paintings, I think with what is going on in our world at the moment, community is very important... just being kind to each other.

fly...

Dear blog of mine, I am so sorry for the neglect and am really happy that when I signed in you remembered who I was... it has been quite some time.


I have been very busy the last few weeks filling gallery orders, crazy busy!!!  and this coming week I am starting on a new lot of girls beginning with the one above.  And I am so excited and honoured to be featured on Beth's lovely website Do what you love as her latest interview http://dowhatyouloveforlife.com/blog/2011/03/10/do-what-you-love-interview-katherine-quinn/.  So if you want to read a bit more about me and my work click on the link and let me know what you think.  If you leave a comment at the end of the interview you can win a print of the above painting and the pendant that this girl is wearing.

little communities...

With the earthquake happing early in the week my mind was completely fixed on the television watching the horror that was unfolding down south and not on the assignment for week 4 of Get your paint on.

After seeing and hearing about all that was happening in Christchurch I started thinking about communities coming together, helping each other, being there for each other.  And not just local community... I am completely amazed at the help that has come from all over the world to help the people of Christchurch.  

So these are my little communities coming together...

six point three...

Please keep the people of Christchurch in your thoughts and hearts as they have been hit by another earthquake, this one 6.3 has caused more devastation than the 7.1 earthquake in September last year.  They suspect 65 plus dead with 200 missing.  I work with a few people who have family down in Christchurch and I really feel for them.  I just can't imagine going through this for a second time....

freaking out seems to suit me...

After reading the assignment for week 3 in my 'Get your paint on' class I started getting very excited at the prospect of using colour {I kind of have a problem with using colour} I then went to bed and completely freaked out...  and freaking out seems to suit me as several people told me the next day, I was looking good.  

So anyway we were to choose 4 colours from objects in your life and try to match the colors as accurately as possible by mixing your paints and incorporate them into your painting.  I chose red,  a lovely pale blue, charcoal and white... I don't think I got the blue quite right in hindsight {might need a tinge of yellow}.  I started with a cerulean blue background and quickly painted over with my pale blue mix leaving a bit of the bright blue peaking through to give my background a little noise.  I then painted the tent mixing a red {that matched my handbag} and the doily printed foreground, added the trees, bunting, the clouds and a few other details.

I am rather shocked, it was not really what I was thinking when I started... the tent was going to be someones neck!!!  I am kind of liking this intuitive was of image making, it is like opening a present.

lucky lucky me...

I don't really think any words are needed here... 

except maybe a little note for those who are interested... at 1:57 in this video clip I am pretty sure they are traveling through the grape vines  behind Te Mata Peak in Hawke's Bay... {where I live}.

get your paint on...

I have enrolled in 'Get your paint on' a five week online painting class with Lisa Congdon and Mati McDonough.  We are into week 2 and our second assignment is to find a painting by another artist that we love and take something from that painting and incorporate it into a painting of our own.  Well I chose a Kiwi artist I recently discovered during the Christmas holidays... Mandy Emerson.  I just fell in love with a painting of hers behind the counter in a little art supplies shop in Greytown.  

Mandy Emerson uses the intense colours that I really love and she seems to use a lot of mediums that don't like each other, that produce a chemical reaction.  I like this idea and have done it in the past with oil based printing ink and shellac.   So above is the first part of my play with this assignment... I have used iridescent oil sticks with a light layer of acrylic paint.  The water based acrylic has a very subtle dislike for the oil layer underneath and has produced a nice effect.  I have then lightly brushed areas of the paint off with my fingers so the shiny oil stick colour glows through in places.

I have actually found this quite fun, it was the first time I have had a real play on a stretched canvas... one thing I didn't like though was that I couldn't use my stamps on it as the surface wasn't strong enough to take a print from the stamp... more soon.

#709...

I have been spending the last week making a few new pendants and as you can see from the picture above, it all looks like a bit of a muddle.  Which is actually an accurate picture of how my brain feels at the moment... I have so many things on the go, partly finished, I sit at my kitchen table looking at the mess wondering where to start.  When I do start I flit from one project to the other and don't really get anything done.  Is anyone else feeling this way lately...?

I think I might have to start making a well thought out prioritised list...

• finish off the last works for gallery in Wellington
• finalise pendant designs and finish them off for the gallery in Wellington
• go to an exhibition opening on Friday night and then catch up with a few arty friends afterwards
• decide on designs and make some more pendants to take to two local galleries to pick from
• do a piece of work for the online course I am taking... get your paint on before Sunday
• Ring up and order the wooden panels for the two new galleries that want works ready to hang and not how I would normally do them
• transfer more money onto my credit card to do the above
• readjust the sizes of works to fit the new wooden panels
• do 12 works to fit the new sizes from above... (there will be a whole other list that goes with this wee job)
• decide on designs and make another lot of pendants to send to the two new galleries
• list some of my new mini prints on felt
• list some new pendants on etsy
• find my doily stamp and have a play with it
• get some more #709 chalk pastels
• do some new houses

So that will be my list so far... and hopefully on completing the above I will feel a little less muddled.  I also think starting back at work this week with procedures and practices that are still a little unknown and new is adding to the state of my muddled brain.  But I am remembering one of my words for the year... {brave} and am surging onwards nodding my head saying 'yes I can'.

cheeky Kaka...

We have been back form our little trip to the Wairarapa for a few days now and I am in shock thinking  there are only a few days left before I start back at work for the new year!!!   

On the top of my to do list was to visit Paul Melser a potter in Carterton, I bought some plates and bowls from him about 9 years ago and I was very keen to visit again and replace a few that had broken over the years.  He has a beautiful gallery and a workshop where he showed Ben how to turn a vase and then a plate on Ben's request.

We also went to Mount Bruce and enjoyed the beautiful native bush walks and wildlife... 

I think the highlight for Ben was the cheeky Kaka waiting for us to finish our lunch...

 ...so they could enjoy the leftovers.

 We also watched some native eels having their lunch... a little bit eeeew, but strangely intriguing.

Here is Ben next to a very tall friend.

It was really nice to see my god parents again and have a bit of a catch up.  I also managed to pick up two new galleries along the way that are interested in showing my work. So it was a good end to the holidays and a most enjoyable trip, I look forward to going down that way again, maybe this time I wont wait 9 years.

p.s... new mini house prints are being added today to my etsy shop (Sunday 30th January).