Yes, I know. I’ve gone and done another disappearing act. But as usual, I have great excuses.
I’ve been busy grooming dogs in the morning, working 5 hrs every afternoon/evening at a travel agency, and trying to get a swim, a rest and some food in between.
Unfortunately, art has gone by the wayside as is always the case… its always the first thing I sacrifice. Cause its easy to do. Jobs for money get 1st priority, then food, then rest. Even the dishes get more attention than art… as pitiful as that sounds.
This coming feom a woman who didn’t mop the floors for weeks…
So, for now I’m sharing the last 2 small pallet trays I painted. I found the trays and couldn’t resist them cause they seemed cute, and just added a few touches to make them cuter.
The first one got fish, cause, well, everything gets fish pretty much. The second got an octopus… just because.
Other than that, life is pretty much as always. The island is still full of people but its a lot quieter than last month. I yearn for winter and quiet. And time to myself, to be at home for whole days at a time where I don’t have to see anyone at all… or be anywhere.
Oh lockdown, where are you now?
Is it healthy to wish you could just be left alone to do your own thing?
I bought a tiny folding bluetooth keyboard which I’m trying out on the phone. It will take a little getting used to if I’m to use it to do stuff like this, but it sure will be handy for connecting to the TV for searches and other typing needs.
Whatever.
Hopefully I will find/make some time to do some art soon. I miss it.
Over the last week or so I’ve been working on some serving trays… They’re sort of a good filler project when I don’t feel like tackling something big, or when I just want to relax and paint while watching something on Netflix.
Plus, I get to do some retail therapy as well because I have to buy the trays I want to paint. I do love me some retail therapy! (In Tasmania, where I had a workshop, I would make my own trays… sigh. I miss having my own workshop…)
These are the first two of the new trays (not to be confused with the first trays I did which you can see here). They’re smaller than the first two, but not everyone wants a huge tray. I figured these can be used to serve on but also for display in the centre of a table.
Here is a closer up of the bigger one – a school of fish in a spiral. I’d once painted a marble with tiny fish flowing across it and a friend loved it. I gave it to him as a gift but thought I’d re-use the idea.
Wooden tray 40cm x 30cm, white washed, oil paint, varnish. 35 euros.
The second one is more ‘usual’ for me, being bigger fish. This time they are black, white and shades of grey. Unfortunately, the light reflection washed out the image in the photo a bit. It’s very contrasty, as it looks in the photo above.
Wooden tray 36cm x 26cm, white washed, acylic paint, varnish. 30 euros.
Now on to other work, then back to the next lot of trays… something totally different next time.
Meanwhile, it’s hot, and Greece is on fire. Literally. There are fires everywhere. I would never have thought it possible that Greece would have so many bush fires. Living in Australia you expect it every summer… but I never thought Greece would be so badly affected. It’s devastating.
And the heat continues. It feels like we didn’t get a proper summer for a long time, then it jumped from 23-degree days up to 30s plus in a week. At least that’s what it feels like. The mainland is having over 40-degree days and we are expecting to get some here too. Being by the sea, we are lucky. We can go dunk our heads in water when it gets too much. Cause even the wind is scorching hot.
Hopefully summer will be over soon enough. And with it the madness which is a Greek island during tourist season. Ugh.
This was a commission for an apartment. My friend wanted something in grey and white, not too dark, large in size, to go above the bed.
I worked on this for a while to get it right and I’m quite happy with how it turned out. Up close it has quite a bit of texture, but on this piece I only used acrylic paint, no added paper as I do for some of my art.
Here are some pics of the work in progress. You can see it changed quite a lot as I worked on it to achieve the look she wanted, starting with blocking in the basic shapes, then layering from dark to light.
Its a large piece as I mentioned, about 90cm square. On recycled canvas.
Over the last few days (lots of days) I’ve been working on some sea urchin ideas. First I finished a painting I’d started ages ago… then I made some clay fridge magnets.
Here is a closer up of the urchin painting… a mix of acrylic, watercolour and newsprint on canvas paper. As yet unframed.
And here is a closer up of the magnets. I’ll be selling these guys in sets of 3, I began by thinking I’d make them 3 of the same, then thought it might be more fun to sell them in sets of 3 different ones.
These were made by rolling out the clay and cutting the circles using a little plastic shot glass. Of course, as they dried they buckled a bit but hey… nothing in nature is perfect, right?
I added some great little magnets to the back (Neodymium magnets – the same type I used on the little fish stones I made a few years ago – you can see those holding up the paper).
I personally hate dislike weak magnets that can barely hold up a postcard, so I love these guys. Tiny but mighty.
Anyhow, the weather continues to be hot, but at least we have some wind today… The Cyclades are well known as being the ‘windy islands’, and the wind is both a blessing and a curse. On days like this it’s a blessing cause at least the air is moving around so you don’t just melt into a puddle.
The downside is that the beaches closest to me are in the face of the northern winds, which means the beaches are messy (the waves bring out seaweed and any plastic crap people throw into the sea) and rough. I don’t like rough beaches; I prefer to swim where the surface is like that of a swimming pool… spoilt rotten I am!
Still, at least the breeze going through my house means I don’t need the air-conditioning on today.
I needed a pepper mill. I have peppercorns and no pepper. No ground pepper… So instead of buying ground pepper I thought it would be better to buy a pepper mill and use the peppercorns.
So I went looking. There were tons to choose from… but in the end I decided to try to personalise a simple wooden one I found in a local shop.
I gave it a quick light sand and began with a bit of leftover creamy white chalk paint. Then I painted circles in a stylized greek ‘evil eye’ design and finished off with some dots. Cause, why not.
Its random in its design but I think its unique and I’m happy with it.
Just one small bit of creativity finished quickly one afternoon. I’m ready to cook now.
Yes, I did one of my famous disappearing acts again. However, I have been creating… now and then… not constantly… but trying to…
These fish were a kind of commission/inspriation. A friend wanted to buy some fish to add to her collection of ceramic fish for her wall, so I had a play with some air-dry clay and papier mâché pulp.
This is how the pulp ones started…
And this is them finished.
I love the way the little puffer fish turned out. But he’s pretty delicate… the spikes were hard to make AND keep from breaking while he dried…
I had a go at some flatter/simpler fish, made by cutting shapes out of air-dry clay. This time finishing them in a ‘different way’… ie not fish-like at all.
I decided I like the flower one best so I’ve made a few more of those. They’ll be on my FB Junk4Joy page soon. I decided against hanging them in a group so they each have their own little hook now, and they can be placed on the wall like flying ducks were placed back in the 50s…
I had a little clay left over, I made these fun little brooch fish. I mean, I had the brooch pins already, so why not?
If you see anything on my FB page or in any of the videos I share (not nearly often enough) that you’re interested in, please let me know. I do sell stuff and am happy to ship anywhere.
Life has been pretty busy. What with grooming and trying to keep up with everyone socially, swimming as often as I can manage, etc. I started water aerobics classes early morning 3 days a week and love it. I really need to force myself to get up the same time every morning and just swim. It’s so quiet at that time and usually not windy… ideal beach time for someone like me who hates the sun and the heat.
(So why live in Greece you ask? Well, it’s a long story!)
I’m still missing my little shadow (Lainee) a lot but having dogs to groom, and sometimes look after, helps… I get kisses and cuddles, so I don’t feel so ’empty’.
And I’ll soon be looking after a senior dog I groom cause his old lady mom is having health issues. I really hope she recovers quickly… and can come back to him. As much as I love him, I’m not ready for another senior dog…
I figure its time to get back to sharing art and creations. This is one I did while I was in Athens last.
Its taken me a while to get back into the mood to post…
The house still feels empty without Lainee next to me and I can’t remember how many nights I slept with the door unlocked cause it was always the last thing I did before bedtime: walk Lainee and lock the door when I came in. Without her to walk, I’d just go to bed and forget the door. So now I try to lock the door as soon as it gets dark.
I’ve been busy. I did what I said I’d do: I made my home into an art studio/gallery. I’ve had a couple of open studio days and they went well. I’m grooming. And when I have free time, I am as creative as I can… Most of the time. I still have lazy days. Thats life.
Now I have to organise myself and decide what days I’ll be ‘open’ and what workshops I want to offer… It seems like an easy decision but I have a mental block. I can’t decide…
I’ve been working hard in preparation for my open home/gallery idea. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks packing away all craft supplies I won’t need/want to work with till winter time, all decorative items that aren’t of my own creation, and everything else I generally don’t need handy.
Most of that I’ve packed into heavy duty plastic boxes and moved down the basement. I’ve donated a ton of stuff I don’t want and been ruthless about throwing away items as well.
I watched The Minimalists one night on Netflix and they were going on about how when you get rid of everything you don’t need and only keep stuff which ‘has value’, you free yourself and live better and have more free time…
To be honest, I don’t know how having less stuff in your life can actually give you more time, other than maybe not having to clean or dust as much (if that is something you do!). But I do agree whole heartedly that having less is always better for your mind and soul.
I am a collector, I admit. I love having collections of things which appeal to me, but when I moved to Greece almost 4.5 years ago, I got rid of almost all my collections. Even my extensive poodle figurine collection. I only kept a couple of figurines which meant more to me, ditto with all the other collections. I brough very little with me to Greece, including some things people won’t understand at all. However, they have value to me and that’s all that counts.
Over the years, as I said, I’ve always collected stuff. Partly cause I like to do things with the stuff I collect (remake, use them on things I create etc) but also cause I don’t think I would like living in a minimalist space. I like interesting things and love creating little vignettes with them. I like just looking at them. I love going to people’s houses and seeing that kind of ‘clutter’ as well. Going totally minimal was never going to be me, what with my collection gene and my art and craftiness.
However, in my ‘regular’ life, I am trying to simplify things. What I don’t use and don’t need is going or gone. I’ve been doing this periodically all my life. Once you begin to get rid of things it feels so good, you want to get rid of more. Its addictive.
Here are some pics of the first steps towards making my home a display for my work.
This corner near the couch has been started, with a few paintings on the wall. The more I sort out stuff, the more will be framed and hung, or put on the table to display. I also have some unfinished work I need to work on.
Behind my easel (with the STILL unfinished painting), I’ve created a little gallery wall with smaller artwork. Soon enough, all my walls will be covered with art (and nails)…
There is still a ton to be framed and space found to hang them.
The bookcase is roughly half display and half my office with the computer, printer, materials and other supplies. They may all be moved into the bedroom eventually… I have to see how I go space-wise. It really sucks having a tiny house.
Meanwhile, I do need to keep producing art over summer cause as things sell, there will be empty spaces which will need filling.
I HOPE things sell! I mean, that’s the whole point of having them on display.
Being that I’m not in the town with a door to passersby, I will be holding open days and art lessons to bring people to my home.
Fingers crossed on that!
Speaking of fingers, I got bitten on the thumb by a ratbag of a shih tzu yesterday. Three good punctures. He got me good, the little bastard. An elderly dog with a full set of teeth and very quick reflexes. Damn.
So, although I’m on a ‘holiday from my usual life’, I have done a little bit of creative work.
First was a big fail. I had some old sheets given to me, very stiff, thick sheets, no longer usable cause they were ripped or worn. I had planned to make shopping bags out of them, stamp them with Junk4Joy and other designs and just have fun with them, giving them as gifts to people who bought my art.
Unfortunately, it ain’t happening. The fabric is way too stiff to work on my sewing machine. I was having all kinds of problems with it so I did what any other self respecting crafter/artist would do – I gave up. It’s not worth the effort and frustration.
And since my thing is recycling, I refuse to buy fabric to make bags. If I’m going to BUY anything, I may as well buy readymade bags! I mean why the hassle of sewing when I can just buy and stamp/paint? Well, cost for one thing. I have to look at the cost of plain cotton bags I can get in Greece. Then decide if it’s worth it.
So I just went on with the other project I brought up to the dog sitting job to work on: sculpture.
I had started these figures months ago. Months and months ago when I was really into sculpture. (I go through phases as anyone who knows me knows.)
I had begun two cats, one sitting and one walking. When they’re finished I can share the start of the project, but for now this is where they’re at currently.
Of course, there have to be naked ladies. I really do love my ‘nekkid’ ladies.
If you remember, the naked ladies are made from recycled dishwashing liquid bottles. The cats, like the dogs, are made from toilet roll or hand roll cardboard, wire, foil and whatever I need to create the shape. They are then built up with a homemade papier mâché pulp and finished off with air dry clay.
They take a long time to make as I have to do one layer at a time allow for drying in between. But I do love getting my hands dirty! I majored in Printmaking at Art School… Inky black hands were the go for years.
Between working on the sculptures and failing at the sewing project, I spend time cuddling with the dogs, taking them out for short walks on the hill around the house, soak in the view, and, for the last couple of days, hiding inside from the cold STRONG wind. sheesh. Its windy out there. This morning I had to search and rescue outdoor furniture from the hillside.
Since its Greek Easter tomorrow and I’m joining the family for lunch, I’ve made a trifle as my contribution. Its currently cooling and soaking up the mastiha liqueur I put in it. Yum. A slightly alcoholic dessert, nothing like the one I made one Christmas in Tasmania where I soaked the cake in Cointreau, then added some in the jelly… Whoa.
Other than that, I’ve been thinking about/stressing over my plans and prioritizing what I have to do moving into the future.
I don’t recommend it.
In fact, I escaped into watching some Queer Eye for the Straight Guy episodes last night. Something easy to watch, not demanding at all!
Monday the homeowners return and I can go back to my own home and hectic life.
junk4joy 