Excited! We're having an exhibition in December.

Well it's official.The exhibition is on!

Our art class has decided to hold an exhibition from 14th December to 16th December 2012 in Mentone Victoria, so now the fun really starts. There about 15 of us, who under the tuition of our teacher Clive Sinclair, will be showing our artworks.
There will be a collection of different artwork types on show. Watercolors, oils, pencil drawings, and my favourite- acrylic.

Talk has already started about the amount of space each of us will have to show our wares, framing and how to showcase unframed artwork that won't fit in our official wall space, opening night festivities, and most importantly, what our group will call itself (the sinclair suspects and the wednesday night wankers have been names already suggested).

For those of you who have been following my blog for some time, know that i have used other artists artworks to cut my teeth on, while painting in class. Learning tones, brush-strokes & techniques by copying the old masters work, and taking inspiration from many current artists have resulted in class being an absolute pleasure. Current artists like Karrie Evenson and Fabian Perez have inspired me immensely. For example- the painting shown here, is my version of Fabian Perez's flamenco dancer.

But now, with a proper exhibition in the pipeline, the time has come to step up and paint Caroline Martin originals. HOW EXCITING!!!

So i gave some thought as to what i would like to fill my space with???
i want to paint passion, movement. love and fun - so dance won. Dance is passionate, dance is intimate, dance is downright sexy and dance is simply beautiful.

So with the help of a good friend Jodie-Anne Blair and her wonderful dance friends, i will be collecting a number of photographs of couples and individuals dancing, to use to inspire a whole range of artwork pieces. Those who provide photos for me to use for inspiration, will be most welcome to join us on opening night to view my masterpieces and socialise with our painting class.

i would like to thank those dancers, who have already been welcoming to me, who have accepted my facebook friend requests, replied to inbox messages, have confirmed that they would be comfortable with me using their images from photos that other people have taken, have consented to me checking out their photos for more dance inspiration and for the encouragement.
i hope you will like the artworks that your passion, movement and fun inspire in me.

So i look forward to posting the odd hint of a painting over the next few months, to entice people to come visit us at the exhibition.

Caught out with nothing prepared AGAIN!

Second week back,and i got all excited, as we were scheduled to have a nude model.

i just LOVE painting skin tones, so i got dressed summer style, as the heaters would be on full bore to keep our little model warm and toasty, only to arrive in class to find that the model was unwell (sick and throwing up at home).

So there i was, raring to go, paints, pencils, canvas sheets, with absolutely nothing to paint and nothing pre-prepared.
What was a girl to do???

luckily i still had the photos on my mobile phone from the Christina Perri concert i went to several months back, so i picked one, and threw caution to the wind.


Without pre-preparation, there was no drafting up my standard 16 square graph, it was all done by sight, straight onto the canvas board and then throw the paint at it.   So unlike me, and my organisational style.  

This is the results of a good 2 hour class........below you can see the original photo from the concert, and above, my painting of christina in full flight.

CHRISTINA PERRI ROCKS

 For those who know me well, know that i love to play my ipod with my favourite music blaring, as i paint either on my kitchen table or out in my studio.

Christina Perri and her Jar of Hearts Album or Lovestrong Albums have entertained me many an hour as i played with my paints and brushes.

In early June 2012 i was excited to hear that christina was hoping on to a plane and heading down to Australia. And even more excitingly, she planned to play at the Palais here in my home town of Melbourne.

Within 15 mins of her tour dates being announced, my sisters, my two nieces and i had third row dead centre tickets!

So when i returned to art class after a 6 month break, i finally had photos of my very own to play with.

This was what i achieved in my first two hour class.
IT IS NOT FINISHED! I STILL NEED TO DO MORE WORK ON THE SKIN-TONES AND FACE, BUT I THOUGHT I WOULD SHOW YOU WHAT I ACHIEVED IN CLASS ON THE NIGHT.

I finished the background, worked on her dress and hair, the guitar and got the first base coat of the skin. i plan to do more work on it, once i get back to class again. Using my normal mustard/greenish background (found in so many of my other artworks), i started to paint.

The only difference, this time, was instead of the classic glass of red wine in the hand, was her trusty guitar.