Thursday, May 21, 2009

Light/Dark



I've been getting back into the swing of art classes since coming back. Had a great time a couple of weeks back working with oil bar and pencil . The picture on the left is a bit awry but I was told that was part of its charm. As far as exhibitions go, I recently went to the Joseph Turner exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland. Joseph Turner loved Italy and by the look of his work he loved the Italian sun! What I liked most about his work is how the light is pre-eminent, so much so, that one of his Venetian paintings is so bright that the buildings are barely visible. The painting on the right here is Venice: Shipping Moored off the Riva delgi Schiavoni, which I like because of the strong light/dark contrast. Another exhibition I went to recently was David Martin at the The Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh, which was based on his travels in Ethiopia. His work was so vivid, rich with texture and I think done with great skill and energy. I was insanely jealous because he is only a few years older than me!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Rocks at Yass





















Inspired by my brother-in-law's lino prints of Japanese style mountains, I travelled the Yass country side with my sister for landscapes I could sketch and then convert into lino cuts. Well, perhaps not travelled so greatly. We only needed to head out to the local watering hole for this rock inspired lino cut and out onto the road to Wee Jasper for some amazing rolling hills, winding roads and tree dotted landscapes. Lino cuts of which I am still to cut.