sandstone

I had looked forward to seeing and being on those long beaches that seem to go on forever and yet it was a fairly modest beach that stole my heart in Tasmania. The 'big' beaches were certainly impressive and all consuming - and yes, I could have walked for hours and hours. I guess I like beaches where I can stop often, pick things up, scrabble around in rock pools. I can't remember the name of the beach we found down a dirt track. The tide was out and we watched tiny crabs burying themselves in the sand and found fresh oysters hanging on to rocks. We started noticing the sandstone - pebbles turning into rocks, into boulders, into a cliff face. Sheer beauty.

fruit of the fish tail palm

I passed by a wonderful fish tail palm yesterday - along the length of its trunk were fruits in various stages of development. Luckily I had my camera with me - a habit I am trying to cultivate as much as possible. There's something really pleasing about these great bundles.

hot wax

Last week I got to go to my favourite country around here, Indonesia. This time I went alone for an intensive batik course in Yogjakarta - something I've been meaning to do for several years. Although there are batik courses in Singapore, I've never managed to find anyone to teach me about dyeing and so have only really learnt 'faux' batik techniques which are more akin to silk painting. I was really excited to have the opportunity to learn about dyeing in particular and also using 'caps' (pronounced 'chaps'), the batik stamps. Possibly the best part was getting this new input from wonderful husband and wife team Nia Fliam and Agus Ismoyo who run Brahma Tirta Sari batik studio. They and their team produce exquisite fine art textiles - my heart just melts when I see them.

The week was certainly intensive - learning how to use the tjanting (the wax filled tool used mainly to create lines), learning how to use the caps, learning about Indonesian batiks, learning about dyeing... there was a lot of learning. There was also a lot of doing. As my main interest was in the dyeing process, I worked mainly on four pieces which were loosely based on the four elements: Earth (Tanah), Fire (Api), Water (Air - mmm, that became a bit confusing - the word for water is 'air' in bahasa), and Air/Sky (langit). All four pieces had about 4 different colours layered on top of each other - using two different dye systems. I used some caps but just as simple reminders / additions to reinforce the themes (eg leaves for earth, turtles for the sea etc). In the end two turned out well in my opinion, if not that pleasing to me on an aesthetic level, the other two not so good and need more work. But hey, first time doing this so I was very pleased to have achieved it at all. Of course I have to give 99% of the credit to the guys who mixed the dyes - they really know what they are doing.

So, back home I am wondering where do I go with all this new input...I still want to incorporate batik into papermaking somehow - not sure which aspect - perhaps the dyeing, perhaps the stamping. Guess it's time to play some more!

aquatint

Spent today doing some aquatint printmaking and am beginning to get the hang of the possibilities. I decided to use one of my life drawings as the basis for a print - quite suitable as it was done in charcoal and was tonal. My first print was OK (bottom image) but not as much contrast as I wanted so I etched the shadow behind the figure more. After that I decided to etch more lines in the figure. Given more time, I might have stretched things a bit more but have decided to leave it at that and when I have time in the studio to play around with colours. I just love the process of printmaking. The possibilities are endless...
The print studio is windowless so I had no idea what the weather was doing. As I was coming home I noticed there'd been a huge downpour - it's been dry for so long so very welcome to have some rain. When I got out of the car, it was positively steaming outside. One of my cats had been inside all day, the other outside. It must have been some storm. When he finally appeared this black and white cat was mainly brown. Guess he'd been hiding in a drain somewhere. A battle ensued to get him into the shower and wash him - he was that bad. Even now his underside is beige not white. He's not best pleased with me.

mapping the landscape

I've had this idea for ages to map where I live. I sense this may be long project and have no idea where it's going yet and yesterday decided to actually act on it, start it, get some ideas going. So, I spent an hour or so tracking the land behind our house - taking notes, adding things to a diagram - reading the landscape. Where I live has a definite identity and I'm intending to chart it piece by piece and see what emerges. Who knows where this will go. What's interesting to me is how the land is used (OK there's the latent geographer in me...), how people claim the land and what they do with it. I'm also really interested in the flora and fauna and in the contours of the land - probably on an aesthetic level more than anything else. Here are some of my photos.

sketches of frank gehry

I watched the documentary 'Sketches of Frank Gehry' last night - it was a wonderful insight into the work of such a creative architect and to hear some of the things that both he, and the director (Sydney Pollack) had to say about creativity and the creative process. One thing that particularly stuck in my mind was Gehry talking about how difficult it can be to actually start work. He describes cleaning his desk, making stupid appointments, avoidance, delay, denial - and admitting that he's scared he won't know what to do. But when he does actually start, he realises it wasn't so bad after all. Think I know how that feels! - waiting for everything to be just 'right' before starting anything, and clearing everything up first. Of course this is fear disguised as procrastination! There will never be the perfect time to start...Quite comforting in some ways to know that this affliction is not just my domain..

Seeing him at work with his assistants was an eye opener for me. I am very ignorant about the world of architects, and somehow assumed they worked in neat clean offices with computers - perhaps many do but not so Gehry. His studio had the feel of a sculptor's studio with 3D models everywhere. Scissors and card to hand, he and his colleagues played with shapes and forms, putting them together with sticky tape. It looked really fun. At one point Pollack asks Gehry, 'Do you think of architectural shapes unrelated to a job'? To which he fetches a Bosch reproduction he had on the wall and points out the compositional elements of the painting and then shows the floor plan of a building he is working on. Quite an insight. Although this was 'high art' influencing a design, he says later that you can look anywhere and find inspiration, citing an example of looking at the contents of a bin and noticing the shapes and forms. The other thing that was interesting was his drawings - mad squiggly sketches. Somewhere down the line some of these drawings, or ideas of drawings become buildings. Hurray for the scribble!

dancing shoes

Here are my new flamenco shoes direct from Spain! I love the fact they have metal in the heel and toe - they sound great on against the dancefloor. If I can just get the hang of Sevillanas, or some basic hand clapping (palmas) in the next few months, I'd be really happy. I'm not the quickest at picking up these things... Kind of hoping this will help my posture too... You don't see many flamenco dancers slouching. I have no big aspirations, just a desire to be challenged in a way I don't usually let myself be challenged. It's fun. I don't care about making mistakes (which is just as well).