Still Life for the Adventurous - a workshop

The last two weekends have been full on drawing and painting with the well known tutor Michael Winters.  We worked as usual in the semi rural environment of Strathnairn on the edge of Canberra.  We were working with three different still life setups and looking at images and books by the three artists - David Hockney, Piet Mondrian and Patrick Caulfield.  Their styles were very different and all varied over time as well.  So it was really hard getting one's head around the differences to make drawings and paintings.  I still have one to complete.  Here are some of my works and studio views.

This is my last post for a while as I am off to Bangkok on Friday and then on to Bhutan for 2 weeks.

More pastels

I continue to beaver away at pastel paintings on Wednesdays at Strathnairn with other artists - I use my own photos as references and use different surfaces - some textured and some not giving a variety of results.  I'm not sure what I like best.

The first two here are from Kashmir which I visited in 1989. The photos  appear in my photo book.




This painting was done on very light pastel paper to suit the ice and snow photo taken in Iceland a few years ago. It's almost monochromatic. I've done back to my favourite area of Ethiopia to show this volcanic peak in the countryside.

My Photo Books

Although I am still doing pastel painting each Wednesday, and Printmaking on Tuesdays,  I have spent a lot of time at the computer completing my third photo book.  I gave the link to my first one early this year but don't think I have given links to the other two.

I use Blurb and am very pleased with it's BookSmart software which can be easily customised.  I have decided that books last longer than digital records so am gradually scanning many of my slides and creating books that can be passed down in the family.  What's more it's allowing me to relive my travel experiences.

This is the link where you can preview (and even purchase!) all three books
http://au.blurb.com/search/site_search?search=ruth+lathlean&filter=bookstore&commit=Search

My largest book is the one called "London Overland from Asia", a journey which was begun in February 1968 with a simple Kodak Retinette 1a camera with no light meter, no distance, no focus.  All was set manually and that is when I learnt so much about photography.  As my mother kept all the aerogrammes I wrote home, I was able to use them to add to the experience.  Fortunately I also had a database with the captions of all the photos.

I have only just uploaded my "Kashmir on a houseboat" book so will expect the printed copy in a couple of weeks.  Here is a taster - the cover photograph

Another Pastel Painting

This picture is quite different to the recent Central Australian ones.  A friend sent me a post card of this Italian street and as I was unsure what to paint the day I received it, I thought I'd try the challenge of perspective and arches.

Central Australian waterhole pastel painting

This pastel was inspired by a photo I took in the 1980's when visiting the McDonnell Ranges near Alice Springs.

Central Australian pastel

I'm back to working in soft pastels at my Wednesday art group as I love the strength of colour.  Since I have been scanning lots of old slides lately for my next photo book, I thought I'd scan some of central Australia where I last visited in the 1980s.  Kings Canyon was a favourite place and we hiked amongst the rocks, cliffs and canyons for a day.  This view showed how the conglomerate rock was layered in the cliffs.  I used it as the inspiration for this pastel painting.

The Olgas at sunset

I was travelling in central and north Australia in the mid 1980's by small plane with some friends.  We were so lucky that it rained in the desert and when we went to see the sunset at the Olga Mountains (now Kata Tjuta) there was a transient pool of water which was great for reflections.  I remembered this experience so found the best slide and scanned it.  I had a very large canvas and thought this would be a good subject for painting so here it is - in acrylic - not realistic but as I felt and saw it.

Quirky Landscape Paintings

I recently went to a 4 day painting workshop (2 weekends) with Michael Winters who always challenges one to attempt things beyond one's comfort zone.  The topic this time was"Quirky Landscapes".  We were shown lots of art books by artists such as David Hockney, Joan Miro, Henri Bastin, William Robinson, Sam Fullbrook, Egon Schiele and John Rigby.  All are worth looking up to see their images.

We were to get away from reality and consider mood, colour, texture, design, simplifying images that we had as inspiration.  We worked first in pencil and coloured pencil and then a canvas with acrylic paint.   I used a photo of a mountain peak in Ethiopia for my first small painting, which I greatly simplified making shape and colour the important features.

 


The second small painting was again more design like with the mountain peak shape drawn from all four sides looking up to the sky (which wasn't in the photo at all).  I got this idea from William Robinson who often painted from all four directions, not that this painting is anything like his.



The next painting was done on a larger canvas and was supposed to be in very very pale colours with all soft edges.  I had trouble with this as pale colours and soft edges are not my style.  And I used a photo of fields in Ethiopia where there were heaps of edges - and blending with acrylics is very hard to do.  My fields were not as pale as was expected but I was happy with the colours from a limited palette - Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber and white.  I darkened a few fields and the tree after the class exercise as I saw it as important in the composition.




The final painting was done on a very large canvas.  It was prepared the day before with modelling paste to give texture, and string was adhered to it in places.  I used a photo from Northern Australia.  I painted the canvas red all over to begin with to give the painting a warm feel.  I used a palette knife on the dominant tree trunk and chose colours that gave an outback feel... even the sky was orange.... somewhat quirky!



I loved doing this course and getting away from reality.  If I have a good photo I can see no reason to paint it the same, except to prove I can copy!

Wadi Rum, Jordan - painting

I have enjoyed working in soft pastels to make a painting from the photo I took in Jordan just over a year ago.  It has so many different colours and shades that are often found in desert areas.  Here it is



My next post will be work in acrylic as I am doing a 4 day workshop over two weekends with Michael Winters who always challenges me to do new things.  The topic is "How to Paint a Quirky Landscape."

Canberra - Enlighten Festival

Last night I went to the Enlighten Festival which is one of Canberra's main autumn events.  As well as films, performances and music, the thing everyone wants to see is the projection of amazing images onto the walls of the iconic buildings here in the parliamentary triangle. When the sky has become dark the images look fantastic. They change every few minutes.  I'm sharing with you here the photos from two hours strolling around the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Questacon, National Library, Old Parliament House (now the Museum of Australian Democracy) and a glimpse of the famous Spiegel Tent from Belgium with cabaret and other performances. The images on the National Gallery reflect the current big exhibition on Toulouse  Lautrec.

This is the lead in event to the One VeryBig Day on Monday 12th celebrating Canberra's centennial. There are heaps of celebrations on this day but also events that run all the year. I am involved in the Centennial Tapestry.

 Click the link at the bottom of the pictures to see them full size and a slideshow.

Canberra - Enlighten Festival, a set on Flickr.

More pastel paintings

I have started back at art on Wednesdays when a mixed lot of artists paint in whatever medium they want.  We are of varied background and experience in art but have fun together.  Here are a couple of small pastels I have just finished - not masterpieces but I enjoyed making them.



This is from a photo I took some time ago in the Snowy Mountains.



These beautiful Correa Manii grow in my garden.

Lesser Sunda Islands: ikat weaving cruise

The link to my book was not working properly when I last posted.  But it is now.  So look at the last post and press the 'Find my book here'.  When it comes up press 'Preview' and then you can turn every page and view it.

My first Photo Book

For some time I have been considering scanning a lot of my colour slides and making photo books that can be passed down to my cousin's children.  I hate the idea of all my slides going to the tip when I die.  Having been to over 100 countries since 1968 I have a huge collection of images which are indexed and in filing cabinets.  I used to have a small photo library business.

I chose Blurb.com from the many photo book-making websites as I had seen books from there and had very good recommendations.  I had planned to do a small book from my digital photos while I learnt the Book Smart software you download and work with.  But I couldn't wait to do a big book on a trip by schooner I did in Indonesia in 2006.  I spent several days working on the book while the temperatures were around 40 and I had the aircon on!  The book arrived last week and luckily it turned out well and I am very pleased with it.

Find my book here.  Click the Preview to look through it and buy it if you like.  It looks best full screen.

Filomena Reiss runs this cruise every year and this year's is from 16-29th April.  She does not make a profit as she's interested in helping the weavers on the islands.  If you are interested in the itinerary, cost etc. email  Filomena.

Etching

It's been ages since I have posted here but Christmas activites, visitors, work in the garden and such hot weather have meant that no artwork has been done.  But 2 weeks ago, in spite of a heatwave with temperatures nearly 40C, I attended the Summer Art Experience here in Canberra.  It is run every January by the Artists Society of Canberra and I was enrolled for Colour Etching with Basil Hall.  Although I had done quite a bit of printmaking over the years, I had not done traditional etching, only drypoint which did not use acid.

These are some of the photos I took at the course.