mural update

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In comes some colour! Isn't my lovely orange vest a quirky fashion statement!

Photo courtesy of John :)

introducing ...

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John Hellen is a splendid artist who works with me on the River Stories mural AND who makes these awesome quirky sculptures. Aren't they great?

The first time I visited John's house I was greeted by these wonderful creatures all around his house and yard ~ You really need to see John's work in person ~ it has such personality and vibe that it's almost like the sculptures are alive!

*In fact, I freaked when I saw a slithering snake on the top of his steps, only to realise it was one of his sculptures!*

John utilises scrap metal, automotive parts and anything else he lays his eyes on and has an uncanny ability to see animals and people locked inside them - waiting to be welded together with some other metallic friends to create a new species!

Love ya work John!!!

mural process pics update

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Added in vertical lines to break up the river into sections, cleaned up & strengthened the line work, removed graffiti. Ready for colour tomorrow!!!!

introducing ...

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The BEAUTIFUL work you see here is by Australian Indigenous artist (and friend) Debbie Taylor. Debbie and I met only recently, when she came on board to assist with the painting of the River Stories mural I've been working on.

I've just seen her portfolio for the first time today myself, and her work absolutely blows my socks off! She is utterly beautiful to begin with and seeing her magnificent work has just added a whole other layer of appreciation of her for me!

Debbie's Indigenous roots are with the Kamillaroi of northwest NSW. Through research into the traditional art methods of her people, she developed a fascination for their dendroglyphs, (tree carvings), which you can see she beautifully appropriates and explores throughout her works.

Debbie has a website you can check out also : http://www.debbietaylor.com.au/

What a lucky girl I am to be working with her on my project!!

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Stay tuned - John Hellen is the other artist working with me on the mural and I will be showcasing his amazing metal sculptures very soon!

process pics - river stories mural - outline

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It's coming along! nearly ready to introduce colour and imagery. Very exciting!

bits and pieces

Hi guys - this is a random bits 'n' pieces post to catch up on a few things on the go at the moment!
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First - I just HAVE to share my recent discovery of Stefan Thompson's amazing artwork. There's something beautifully deep and vulnerable in them that I really connect with.
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Check out his website here: http://stefanthompson.com/

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Secondly - As promised, I've now uploaded the full artworks in my collaborative altered book. There were 6 of us working on the book project: Marilena S, Shirley W, Karin H, Lena T, Maria S and me (our art group is called Avid Divas)! My book theme is all about connection. Check out the uploaded full book here: http://picasaweb.google.com/chrissyforemanc/ConnectionRefidexterity#

And more info about the collaborative altered book project here
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Third - I've just returned from a meeting for another AMAZING project I'm involved in. The Environmental Art Collective here in Brisbane is putting together an exhibition which will be created and cross-pollinated by scientists and artists alike. The theme of the exhibition is 'learning through play' and I've come on board to weave interactive components into the exhibition. This basically means that as the exhibitors devise their creative responses to the 'learning through play' theme, I'll be working with their concepts and ideas to develop an interactive, community involvement component for the exhibition. More about that as things come along!

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Lastly - I've just had lunch with the Avid Divas and a couple of new amazing artist friends who joined us.

Kate Knapp is a creative illustrator and storyteller, who's heart is as open and beautiful as her work. Click on her name to check out her beautiful products such as books, prints and cards.

Sophie Munns is another wonderful friend who's passion for life, colour, creativity, sharing and food is unimaginable. She has recently started a blog also, click on her name to check it out.

Phew - that's it for now! xx

River stories mural - commenced!

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So after a few weeks' delay, I started the mural today with fellow artist, Debbie (John is out of action and hopes to be back on board in a week or so). As promised, I'll be uploading the process pics as I go, so you'll be able to see it progress from start to finish.

It may not look like much at the moment - but if you squint you might notice some feint wavy pencil lines in the piccy above, which, believe it or not, is the overall mural design drawn onto the wall.

To enlarge the 'River Stories' design onto the wall, we began by carefully measuring and marking it out precisely using grids and mathematics. Pretty soon, Debbie and I realised we were both rather mathematically challenged, and that the design was translating differently in real life to how the design worked on paper (this happens with almost every mural).

So we soon swapped over to the trusty ol' freehand technique.

John had invented the awesome adjustable jig you see below to draw in the river waves, so we could glide the device across the wall and create the correct depth & wave proportions every time. Just genius ~ it worked like a treat!

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It only took a couple of hours to map out the whole thing; and then another hour or so to touch up the line work and paint out a few tags we discovered when we got there this morning. Next Tuesday we'll be back in action, painting over the pencil lines with black to isolate the design spaces and set ourselves up for a lovely few weeks of filling in the colour work! Watch this space!

new artworks

This Tree Is Free 2009
Acrylic on canvas board. 22cm x 30 cm


When I stopped fighting, I saw I was going in the same direction as me 2009

Acrylic on canvas. 30 cm x 25cm

a new forecast

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See how the Eastern side of Australia is covered in cloud?

That basically means

A) It's raining cats and dogs here &

B) GOD decided to give me the day off instead starting the River stories mural today

And here's the forecast for the next few days:

Wed: Thu: Fri:

Although the forecast may appear rainy for the next few days, I'm keeping my optimistic cap on and hoping we can still get the mural drawn up on the wall by the end of this week. If not, that's okay too!

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This experience is another in a long line of recent wake-up calls, gently nudging me to reconsider whether I really can say I always know what's best for me. Can I absolutely know what's best for me? Is that true? Is it really my job to fight with reality to tick off my goals? Could I really know this moment I've been given isn't better than the outcome I had planned?

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I'm learning to trust that when these seeming 'hiccups' come along in life, they are always, every time, 100% the best possible scenario for my life right now. So when I get frustrated or start cursing the heavens for this or that happening 'to' me, I realise now that there is another option instead - this is happening 'for' me. And I can focus on the space this new experience has opened up. Doesn't that feel so much softer than fighting what 'is'?

almost there ...

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Ever wondered how much 'stuff' it takes to paint a 78m2 mural? Well wonder no longer.My wee 4 cylinder Corolla has been packed with Tetris-like precision with all the materials required to start painting the River Stories mural tomorrow!!!! Finally!
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There's about 36 litres of paint, drop sheets, brushes, templates, containers, knives, pencils, rags, buckets, a trolley and knee rests stuffed into the boot of my car.
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So for the next month or so, my car will no doubt be bottoming-out on pretty much every road incline, all in the name of visual aesthetics ... a small price to pay I would say!
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Of course I'll keep y'all posted with the progress. Let the painting begin!

pomegranate experience

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I gave myself my very first pomegranate experience for breakfast today.
I cut it open and realised I had no idea how to eat it! Thank God for Internet search engines.
The pomegranate is a softball-sized fruit filled with little seed-pods of bursting goodness. It kinds tastes like a passion fruit mixed with cranberry juice to me.
But the taste wasn't the only sensational part about it. The experience itself was a real bonza for me. It ended up taking me an hour to eat, because
a) it's incredibly fiddly and messy,
b) the colours are so amazing I couldn't stop photographing it, and
c) it takes intensive personal experience to work out the best way to eat it!

So for all of you who have never tried it yourself, here's the best way I found:

1. set aside 1 hour
2. put on old clothes & roll up sleeves unless wishing to dye clothing magenta
3. collect bowl for pips & paper towel for drips
4. sit on chair with bowl resting on lap, preferably outdoors or away from porouos items
5. chop pomegranate in quarters on chopping board
6. one quarter at a time, lean over bowl and pull flesh apart in sections corresponding to pattern in fruit flesh
7. ooh and aah and take photographs as necessary
8. bite into juicy beads like a corn cob
9. slurp pomegranate juice from wrist
10. spit pips into bowl on lap and repeat steps 6-10

altered book project

Refidexterity ~ Connection : 27cm high x 20 cm wide x 3cm deep
front cover. 2008/2009. Mixed media/collage

I've finally finished compiling, linking and binding the pages of a collaborative altered book project I've been working on with the Avid Divas since last year.

Each of us 6 artists involved chose an existing book and identified a theme of interest, which was then explored through collage, mixed media and by altering the original book pages. The original theme of my altered book 'Refidexterity ~ Connection' is based on personal responses to ‘Connection’, using an old 1980’s Brisbane Refidex (Other themes ranged from mermaids to elephants!).
Every month, the books were rotated onto the next artist to add to. Once all artists had deposited into each book, they were returned to the original owner to ‘tie’ together into an overall artwork as required.

I'm just awaiting permission from the other artists involved in this project, and then I'll upload the whole thing for y'all to look at.

Chow for now! C xx

happy mothers day!

To all of the mummies out there nurturing kids, pets, wildlife and nature, a big Happy Mothers Day to You!!!!
I have no kiddly winks yet myself, but I am a proud mummy to a kitty cat called Monty.
Monty got me a potted plant for Mothers Day today! Yay!

So I spent breakfast with my Mummy today - hubby, my Dad and I took Mum down the beachfront and cooked bacon, eggs and sausages on the BBQ for breakfast. It was such a lovely morning, the ocean was like glass. Ah, the serenity.

Did you get up to anything special today?

In other news I have had one of those online sessions where I've come across heaps of inspirational blogs and websites. And I mean HEAPS. It's like replacing cleaning products, they all happen at once.

Here's a few of the gems I've come across:

Sophie Munns

Little Paper Planes

Nothing Elegant

not for the faint-hearted!

Today I came across something I would honestly have never even imagined in my wildest dreams - eyeball tattooing. Yes, you heard it right - people are tattooing their eyeballs.
At risk of scaring off my blogging friends forever if I post it on my blog, I invite you to check it out for yourself if you're interested. There's a comprehensive link here but only go there if you're ready for it!
And all because I was looking for inspiration for a new diamond tattoo for my lower right arm. Remind me to refine my searches! I feel squeamish! (but I had to share it. Aren't I weird!?)