COLLAGE, SKETCH, DRAW, THAILAND MAGICOOL

                                                                                                       Thai Magicool, mixed media collage 2013

COLLAGE, SKETCH, DRAW… 

THAILAND MAGICOOL

So In October (or was it November?) my family and I went to Thailand…and I was able to indulge in some ME TIME, when I could paint, draw, create, write … in my little sketchbook, with my travelling pencil case of delights.

But wait..while this sounds incredibly lovely, in truth I was laid low with a strep throat, in quite a bit of pain. The others were outside splashing around in the cool pool, while I stayed in my air-conditioned room, lying on the marble floor, popping painkillers, listening to the whoops of delight outside.

But the making kept my mind off it a bit, and made me feel like I was not wasting away the days.

This little thing was collaged from a packet of papers bought in a 7-11 shop,some freebie stamps,images from a magazine brochure,

watercolours and lead pencils. A glu-stik, and a teeny tiny little pair of scissors in a Swiss army knife, completed the creative arsenal.And so it was made.

                                                                                                     detail from collage

merry christmas, season's greetings, joy, happiness, love, and all good things xxx

 Merry Christmas, 

season's greetings, 

joy, happiness, love 

and all good things…xxx

LICKY DRIPPY NEON FLURO ICEBLOCK

drippy iceblock, watercolour 2013

LICKY DRIPPY NEON FLURO ICEBLOCK

HOT HOT HOT.DAMN HOT.

Give me ice blocks.Licky drippy cold ice blocks. Give me ice, give me water, give me fans, air-con and movies about snow.

Today was hot. Damn hot.Fry my brain and send me cuckoo hot.

Give me ice blocks, cold cold ice blocks. 

Or did I mention that already!?  

a little bit of book sculpture and paper art

a little bit of 

BOOK SCULPTURE and PAPER ART

The prompt for this was to do a vignette for "winter", and i was racking my brain to come up with something a bit unexpected.I decided to make some bare winter trees, bought a cutting knife, some black paper, and had a go. Then i realised I needed something to stand them in...and so, the book, found at the local tip, began to be part of the play. It is a rough little thing, but was fun to try out.

A knife, some pencils, a book, some tape, and there you go.

I did some other pics too...one of which I ended up framing up...but this little thing was a momentary thing, ephemeral it lasted but an hour or so.Nothing but photos left of it. 

THRIFTING OP-SHOPPING SALVAGING RECYCLING PRELOVED VINTAGE RETRO TIP SHOP

 

thrifting salvaging
recycling
secondhand 
pre-loved
vintage
retro
tip shop

These

are 

the 

kind 

of 

words 

that 

make 

me 

SWOON.

Cannot go past one,

even on holidays, without feeling a deep pang in my belly.(Am I weird? Does it matter?)                      

I have been doing this , thrifting etc, for YEARS, way before it became hip to do            so...yes I know... 

we all say that.                                                                              

It started age 13,     

year 8, when I walked past the                             local Vinnies on the way to and from school. 

In the window

one glorious day, I saw a rather fetching pair of "Dolly" style school shoes. I tried them They fitted. I was hooked. 

And so began my love in earnest...men's shirts, particularly tuxedo dress shirts..which I sewed funky vintage buttons onto.

I thought i was so goddamn COOL.

Now, a few decades on, my thrifting choices are geared towards purchases for my home. And boy, do I have a lot of cool stuff. No minimalism here...sorry.Do I neeed any more? NO. Will this stop me? NO...but you knew that already, huh?

JUST LEAF ME ALONE!

Leaves seem to be cropping up in my photos a lot...even my sketching.I think their simplicity...but complexity to, is a little kind of wonderful. 
The colours in them, the range of shapes and sizes is really extraordinary. 
I walk around looking at the ground, finding new pretty ones, and smuggling them home-in handbags, on car seats, nestled in my hand.All ready to be displayed and snapped, admired.Then these little found treasures usually end up on the garden, becoming humous, or maybe stuck in a jar to gather dust and be part of my little nature collections, kept on my desk, on mantlepieces, on top of cupboards- to inspire and admire a little longer.

I just cannot seem to leave them alone!

STRINGING ME ALONG...STRING LOVE...YOU JUST KEEP ME HANGING ON...

DON'T STRING ME ALONG...

aka - string love x

(you just keep me hanging on)

How long is a piece of string, how many things can you do with it...how many types are there?String beans,strung up,tied up, all in knots. 

String for presents, cooking, making,fixing,knotting, catching,retrieving, measuring,tying,dying,cutting, controlling,hanging,suspending, decoration,flagellation, inspiration,imagination,creation.

Made of hemp,twine,sisal,plastic, nylon,polymers...

So humble,so amazing,string love. 

So xmas presents,prepare to be stringified.  

draw gold blue white

                                        

                                    LANDSCAPE mixed media drawing, crayon, watercolour pencils, watercolour, gouache     

                                    FEATHER crayon sketch

       ON THE ROAD TO ORANGE, November 2013                                 

DRAW GOLD BLUE WHITE

"My goodness me, would you look at that..."

is what I often think to myself as I drive along, either in the passenger or drivers' seat. If I am the driver, if there is not too much of a deadline..i will pull over, and snap off a few pics...So easy to do these days with my phone.

So as a result  I am building up a little reservoir, a cache of landscapes to use as inspiration for future work.Drawing, painting, whatever. It may or may not happen, but either way, the temptation to capture those colours, the golds, the blue, the white...is too much.Obviously!

STORYBOOK TEXT LOVE.... old books...making something else with them

                                                   TEXT LOVE X   2013   old book paper, watercolour paper, red craft paper

STORYBOOK TEXT LOVE

Children's books are found gathering dust and smelling like mildew in opshops all over the place. Forgotten, discarded, unloved. So sad. Some of them have divine pictures that I swoon over. Some are mainly text. And true to my hoarding, magpie -like collecting...of course, I collect them. 

I bring them home, and play. Sometimes it is folding, sometimes it is using the illustrations in new ways, drawing on or with them, collaging them, making artworks with mixed media...

But sometimes just touching the old yellowing pulpy paper is enough, and I cut into them, and play some more. 

Sacred books! Sacre Blah!...

I know, some think of this as almost criminal behaviour...but to me, if I can give something forgotten, a new life...then..it has to be good.Surely...

So this is a little collage made up from pages of old style children's storybooks....random words and snippets that suggest

 their original story.And a love heart, just because... it felt right.Nothing too tricky, or serious, or artistic, just a bit of playing around.

LOOK A BOOK - BOOKFOLDING

                                            four folded books, above 2013

                                                                              folded pages 2013

                                           folded books 3 from above 2013

LOOK A BOOK - BOOK FOLDING

WOOHOO! As part of my get creative everyday sojourn, I am posting photos on the Fat Mum Slim FMS PHOTO A DAY   fatmumslim.com.au/category/photo-a-day-2/ challenge, as well as Australian crafting guru Pip Lincoln's (from "Meet me at Mike's") 
http://meetmeatmikes.com/category/uncategorized/ 
Just B page, #amonthof  -  both of these challenges are on facebook and Instagram. 

Lucky ducky me made it to the 'fab 4' on the Fat Mum Slim page food the word 'book'.YAHOO!(Sounds all a little weird to those who do not do this kinda thing, i know.)

Anyhows, the picture was of some books, that I had folded.An aerial shot...Yes,that's right- folded books. 

Why? Just because.Because if you fold the pages in them, in certain repeated patterns, you make something that can go from being a dusty smelly one-of-a zillion-in-an-op-shop book, to something special and handmade.Because paper is lovely to touch. Because it is medititve. Because I felt like it.

There must be links on youtube...or google...but I myself just started playing a few years ago, trial and error.

Some books work better than others.Some folds work better than others.It depends on the look you want for your book. You just have to play.

                                                                     three folded books 2013

DRIPPING WITH YUMMY...watercolour loving

 CHERRY GLOW, watercolour on canvas 2013

9 BLOOMS, watercolour on canvas 2013

  DRIPPING WITH YUMMY....

WATERCOLOUR LOVING

 Is there anything more lovely than watching colour swirl and do its own little performance as it drips and settles? Well yes, i know there is, of course...but it is a rhetorical question! 

The point is, that watching, guiding and trying to coax watercolour into place, with its translucent glow and lush yumminess, is just too lovely.

These two little pics are of watercolour on canvas, not my usual paper play.But still delicious, and with a whole new way of making the paint move.In fact, I am going to get of this darn computer and do a bit, RIGHT NOW!!!So adios, amigos, I am of to get drippy and spend some quality time with my watercolour (and some groovy beats.)Yahoo...

paper pears

                                                            four paper pears 2013 

                                                             

                                                             paper pear love 2013

PAPER PEARS

One of the problems of being a little bit ADD with creating, making, painting, and being not the greatest ever human being in relation to time management, is that I bounce around from one idea to the next, try out new things, and move on again...

HOWEVER... there is one or two mediums and styles of creating I do boomerang back to - watercolours and collage, and books too I suppose.These 2 little fancies, pictured, were made quite awhile ago,with all three just playing about.

I guess it was when the very seeds of rarepearstudio were first planted.My style and interest has moved on a bit since then, but it's always good to reflect. So, paper pears, thanks for kicking me up this path.

FEATHER LOVE phase..tickling my fancy

                                                                                                     cool feather  watercolour 2013

                                                                                                                    warm feather  watercolour 2013

 FEATHER LOVE phase...
tickling my fancy

Earlier this year I was escaping domesticity for a day to attend a drawing workshop with a really lovely and talented, prestigious and sweet Australian female printmaker, 

G.W. BOT.
We spent a few hours drawing from little natural treasures, trees, leaves, and suchlike. Amongst the beauties scattered on the table was a perfect white feather, which I promptly began sketching...
This began a bit of a feather phase, when feathers kept appearing in doodles, drawings and paintings,I began picking them up, seeking them out, and photographing them.
It seems they just tickled my fancy! 

COLLECTAMANIA....MAGPIE DISEASE

COLLECTAMANIA...MAGPIE DISEASE

I suffer from a disease I call "collectamania". I am almost obsessed with collecting bits and bobs, like a magpie.Before you know it,I have one thing...and then need to have another, and another, so that it soon becomes a collection.These things can be quite random, but i think there is a pattern , a rhythm in there, somewhere.I love old and discarded. But I love new and bold.Quirky and boring, humdrum and bizarre.And mixing it up, to create tension, drama, contrast, interest...maybe.

The truth is, these tendencies are very definitely inherited...both my parents collect. Beerbottles, tins, dinner settings(love the Acapulco, thanks Mum, can I have that one day?)T-shirts, plastic bags from overseas sojourns,art, posters, fridge magnets...are just some of the adornments that are currently residing in my parents home.So I am fighting genetics. That's my argument, and I am sticking to it. 

I think my siblings, both very talented creative types,have a form of this disease 

too, somewhere on the spectrum.I am not too sure how deeply their symptoms are evident...but I think it lurks there, just below the surface. I have heard rumours of pebble and rock collecting,and tattoos are becoming plentiful. And there is a surefire nautical little display in my sister's house..(okay, I confess, I gave quite a lot of them to her...guilty, guilty guilty..an enabler...)But the animal figurines are sure a collection.

YES - the genes are showing  in our own little people, we have passed them on...and I reap what i sow, as I trip over tanks, soldiers, Polly Pockets,baby dolls, lego...not one or two, but HUNDREDS of them (i think).

That said,better go. Time to stop rambling. I have an Op-shop and tip to get to.You never know what I might find...

 

WATERMELON ICELOLLY CRUSH..and why I am licking my screen

 WATERMELON ICELOLLY CRUSH...

and why I am licking my screen.

I HAVE A BIG PROBLEM...

I AM SUFFERING FROM WITHDRAWLS...

shakes, cramps, aching bones, hallucinations, headspins. Okay, so maybe I am over dramatising a little bit...but seriously now...

These ice blocks/iced lollys whatever you call them, are watermelon flavoured slices of sheer bliss. I can only try to merely hint at their delectability, how on a hot, steamy day, with armpits leaking, brow furrowed and moist...one bite  and your tongue tingles. Body core temp drops, corners of your mouth go up, and a little thankful prayer for freezers begins to run through your cooling mind. Then...you discover teeny bits of chocolate, cunningly disguised as seeds.

I ask you, is there any greater genius?!

The very sad thing, is that I have never ever seen these in Australia. I would like to submit a letter of pleading to Pauls and Walls iceblocks...can they show mercy, and distribute these here?For now, I will just lick my screen, (ice-screen?)and dream...

craft, make, twigs and twine ,painting,photos....YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND

 you spin me right round

I get all fiZzy, spinNy, tumbley-tummied, when I start thinking about... 

MAKING, PAINTING, CREATING,TAKING PHOTOS, INSTAGRAMMING, DRAWING....

other stuff just does not get my juices flowing.Footy, lawn bowls, cooking shows, reality television, ironing, watching the trots, betting, drinking at the pub, etc etc etc...well, I just do not care for them so much.....at all.

So...here I am, in the country, wondering if this is normal? Of course, I know it is, there are lotsa peeples like me out there. 

Just gotta find you all.

I do know some-wonderful creative folk, who when i spend time basking in their wonderfulness,they just fill me with delight and feed my soul.Thank goodness for them.

So..until I gather more of these good creative types around me, like a cloak of magic to shelter me from the ugly realities of life, I will stay in the safe harbour of Instagram, my little studio, my lovely home, wild garden, and dream of all the possibilities...and maybe i will bump into you one of these days.

ADDENDUM!
HA! wrote this quite some time ago..why it is up as now?... a modern mystery to me...Happily, I have been bumping into those creative lovelies, even if only on social media and once or twice perchance in the flesh...x

So very cute, cartoons, advertising, graphics... so GIRLY GIRLY...

GIRLY GIRLY...

One of the things that made the corners of my mouth turn up in Thailand, was the fantastic cutesy graphics on packaging, advertising, toys, TV...

I bought this little plastic fan in a market in Bangkok for about 20 baht, Australian about 75c. Sigh...and not only did it look cute, but it works a treat. I ended up buying a whole stack more...under the guise of buying them for my young daughters(!)

These packets of blackhead removal cream....by SUPER GAL...I WANTED JUST BECAUSE...(i did not but them, hubby eyebrows raised.......)

A frappe in a cool cup...waiting to board a ferry to Koh Chang...(i wanted to keep the cup, settled for a photo of it...)

On a billboard at Dusit Zoo, advertising bike riding (I think?)Perhaps helmets are not compulsory..but fluro pink tulle skirts are?

BEAUTIFUL BUDDHIST BLING

BEDAZZLED BY BEAUTIFUL BUDDHIST BLING

Sorry, sorry, sorry,realising that prhaps the whole saffron and gold thing may be a trifle cliche, I am still going to share these snaps of some of the golden beauty seen in and around Budddhist wats, chedis, shrines, altars and offerings. 

Although not my first trip to a predominantly Buddhist society, and knowing these are the types of things I would see, nevertheless, the sheer loveliness and awesome  holy magical power of gold is still mighty 

gorgeous in its purity and perfection.

On me gold looks garish and gaudy,and I have been known to be snide about its vulgarity. But somehow...in this settting, it is the only thing that would be right. 

Beautiful Buddhist bling. Bedazzled again.