Jen Denzin, Japanese art: Finding beauty in the everyday, Reimagine and G.W.BOT no.27

chandelier

words cannot emotionally describe the art of Jen Denzin, it is artwork that i think is wonderful, thought provoking and powerful (i am a little bit bias as we are great friends, so why would I not applaude all her years of hard work?). “Since here the Way was Broken” had to be experienced and enveloped within ones very own soul. both adults and children alike beam and question the art hanging; as chandeliers, the detail, the sewing, the entwining of many different mediums, the palm trees, from plastic, to op-shop finds, to glittery reusable items, the bright, the neon and the ugly. it must be said it’s from another world, inside her forever shifting imagination, she takes you there and you are transported into a type of intergalactical kind of cyberhighlighted encounter.  she has been making art ever since i have known her from back in the early 1990’s when we both lived in an outback country town for a while. the joy of her creativity oozes from her soul; she relishes in the found object, plastic object, the most shining vibrant object, the floating object, the tinsel object and the christmas-tree light object. and as well as of course the red and gold of pure Chinese and asian influences. the themed opening party of her latest show was baroque style with patrons dressed in their best beehive doos, with flowers in their hair, gowns to the ground, listening and dancing to the ethereal tunes of the fabulous Royal Fox Society, their tunes I must say blew me away (seriously) also transported the listener to a classical electronic orlando (the film) experience. with added karaoke kracks for unformidable style sounds. over the decades I have seen the evolution of Jens’ art, from plastic buckets in shop windows, to wedding ceremonies and now her very own exhibition “Since here the Way was Broken” has references to Dantes’ inferno, the powerful poetic imagination she possesses is required to make such art is paramount to Jens artmaking practice. if you did not experience her art in real time, head over to her Instagram page and take a peek… @jen_denzin_   and whatever you do, don’t miss the next one.

for the past two Friday mornings i braved the freezing metro and headed into the Art Gallery of NSW to listen to Dr Toby Slade from University of Sydney in his fashionable suits educate his audience about the fashion, decorative arts, and architecture of Japan. such a fitting subject for my life as i have always wanted to visit Japan. since the age of about 4 when my mother gifted me little twin stars brush and comb set with matching baby pink plastic jewelery box i have imagined finding this place that invented such treasures… the cultural ethos of Japan is that art is everywhere and art of the everyday. the art of folding paper known as origami, the layering of the kimono around a human form, the simplicity and space of a room that converts to bedroom, dining room and study. the culture of politeness and bowing often. many beautiful woodblock prints of female courtesans were discussed in this lecture which gave me pause to research more: https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/golden_age_ukiyo-e.php this has a lovey musical interlude video of an exhibition that was in New York in 2020. also, the tragic story of Komurasaki with poetry on her kimono, the exploration of the seasonal motifs and decorative symbols and the colour of indigo. after world war two women would spend at least two hours a day on needlework, coming from a needlework family this emboldened my needlework practice and i do wish that each day was 48 hours as i have so many things i want to fit into a day… i also discovered the term ivy style, which opened my eyes to the nature of modern Japanese fashion, as like the world, trying to be like America, Japan does ivy style so well, relaxed elegance, it is swell. the second lecture was on architecture showing how material and nature are combined, humid mountains produce water and wood. the wood is alive and breathing, aged and weathering of wood is most wanted. the shapes of the roofs and temples are so unique, the Japanese architectural ideas are to build structures to enhance nature, be a part of nature to be within it which i think is so much more than just a place to hold and house humans. https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/

i also had the opportunity to watch over a very creative exhibition run at Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre in Hornsby called Reimagine for the past two saturday afternoons. the exhibition exhibited a vast array of artworks that had reimagined or reused items to create new ones. materials were vast from lindt dryer cloth to make an embroidered landscape, coffee pod capsules collaged, repurposed light display test tubes and silk dyed weed cloth. this exhibition opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of creativity and how we do not just have to make with a paper and pen, it is immeasurable of what can be achieved with a repurposed item that some would throw away. in the future I may incorporate some of this kind of making into my practice and see what eventuates, my mind tumbles with the prospects this could ensue. it was quite social and fun also minding the gallery, i met some interesting artists and had a chance to dissect artworks verbally as well as connect with different folk who are interested in seeing the arts flourish in our neck of the woods. https://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/lifestyle/arts-and-culture/wallarobba

i also had a little visit to the Australian Galleries, Sydney to view the work of G. W. BOT as when i saw this artist last when i was residing in Queensland. here i was again enamoured by her artworks, the variety and eclectic yet complimentary pieces.  i was enthralled by the fine pencil work of christ recrucified and her homage to Rembrandt artwork with the repetitive gouged lines in lino. new to me were the bronze wall sculpture glyphs, and the calming perfection of the linocut prints on tapa cloth of celestial poet and full moon poet. all of the work was spiritual, poetic and exemplified an artist practice that is flourishing and full of meditative production and skill. i really appreciated her work and was glad to see it in real life. this is the thing as an artist, i do view so much visual images on screens and in print, but how ever much more satisfying it is to see it in reality, fresh, tangible, you could reach out and touch it, (but you don’t, of course) it cannot be compared, like live music, live art lives! https://australiangalleries.com.au/

emotional excitement, fear, love and a musical interlude no.26

nest no.9

pencil on paper

i am feeling a range of emotions because i am about to embark on new beginnings in my arts practice, knowing that i have a lot of work to do. since the beginning of this year i have had the opportunity to immerse myself into my studio at least a couple of times a week. this has been so much more intentional and progressive than other years due to less commitments to family, outside work and a renovation that has been taking over for a while. so, I started this whole website thing in August, 2021, in the covid era…. it has been a little part of me for the last 4 years. now it is coming to the fore once again. yay, glad you are here reading….

my new collection which you can view on my website is called the empty nest. i wanted to start with drawing as i have always embraced drawing as a meditative and developing medium. through searching in my being i was able to think about nature and how birds particularly make a place for their young, then they leave. this period of my life is what has happened to me with both my charges being in two different continents in april just gone… one has returned, but due to a busy life, mother doesn’t see him very much. this is the transition many of you make, i know i am not alone, but we feel it, so through my art, i am expressing i suppose an emptiness that once was full, a grief of sorts, a new take on a life. not trying to be all morbid and melancholy as that is not my nature, but it is good to let things out, out of ones’ soul so to speak.

i have had the most wonderful last 4 Friday mornings where i attended the Art Gallery of NSW Lecture series on the Emotions in 17th Century Art. Dr Lisa Beaven imparted her wonderful knowledge and passion of this subject and it resonated with my being. ensuing that i have studied the paintings of the old masters, Caravaggio, Michealangelo, Rembrandt, Gentileschi etc for many a year, she informed us with her refined expertise and exploration of details within artworks of four specific emotions, fear, horror, humour and love. i am trying to think of which emotion settled the most within me, love is an emotion that always is noble, because it makes us feel so good and joyful and gives us trancending vitality and a pleasing life, as Dr Beaven expressed, “it is both frightening and exciting.” the work by Piero della Francesca, Double  portrait of Federico da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza spoke of the love Montefeltro had for his wife to have her forever immortalized on panel. how she was 14 years old at her marriage, she gave him 8 daughters and then she died in the birth of the one son. such tragedy as well as raw grief i am sure this general felt for his beautiful and clever wife. interestingly my new collection has taken on an opposite of love and happiness… is more about grief and loss? mmmm …. interesting…maybe it is because this is what is inside, others only see the outside….

emotional impact is what one thinks about when relating to an audience… an artist is trying to convey a feeling, their feeling, then the audience responds with their own feelings. this all encompasses a life, their experiences and nuances that are all individual and different, and i suppose this is how we all exist in our own world of experiences…

i am so glad I decided to attend these lectures, they gave me such a dynamic lift and i truly would recommend going to things that extend your mortal existence, these teachings definitely moved me. thanks Art Gallery of NSW. 

another wonderful emotional experience i had was last sunday afternoon, i attended alongside my parents and sister, a charity house concert. how wonderful that these two dear friends of my parents opened their home to the Valda Silvy Ensemble which is from the Penrith Conservatorium. four wonderful young musicians, I believe they were all under 20 years old, played flute, violin, cello and piano, they played 3 pieces by Millault-  Sonatine- Quatuor ‘25, Beethoven-Sonata No.8 Op.13 (Pathetique) 1. Grave- Allegro di molto e con brio ‘10, and Mozart Symphony No. 40 (in chamber form) ‘28. What was especially wonderful about the whole experience that it was not through a sound system, it was live, and oh that experience is worth everything, it makes me want to go to the sydney opera house and hear a full orchestra right now… these young musicians were so on point, time and had such devotion and energy, you could see and obviously hear it up close and personal, i could even read the music on the piano to see how difficult and complex their playing craft was. the first piece by Ed Millault was played beautifully and it was said it was the first time it has ever been performed on Australian soil, (as it was french) so I thought that we were privileged to hear that, and that was quite exceptional, don’t you think? for these young musicians i am so delighted that i was able to experience the beginnings of their careers as they performed so well together as an ensemble. music is so important for humanity. i will forever think of this afternoon when again I hear Beethovens sonata no. 8 and Mozarts symphony no 40. how incredibly and pleasantly agreeable the afternoon was. i am very thankful to my friends for holding such a wonderful event.

thanks for reading,

tasha

art writing no.25

i had to start off my blog no. 25 in 2025 (it’s a sign!). i am trying to get my gear into G O this year. i really enjoyed writing my artblog before, i had friends saying they missed it…hell yeah, i missed it….last one was in like 2023, but really 2022… and really i was dreaming…. you cannot work full time and do other things like writing blogs and making art. now after all this time of full-time work i have cut it down to part time, part time is so good for me at the moment. yay. we have been renovating our house for years and it is now come to an end which is so very complete.  i do feel like i am on the brink of some good things with my art and my journey as an artist.  i have had the privilege of guiding the young ones toward their own art making journey which has been so beneficial for both them and for me…. now is the time for more of me making time. i do love my part time job, i think because its part time, and i can do other things…

 i am also able to get into my garden and enjoy the seasons, the flowers and the growing and creating a garden. i am glad to have a green thumb like my mother and my nanna before her, even my great grandmother and great parpy were really good at the garden. so it comes from both sides i guess. i am able to get into the studio a few days per week now, much more than before which is so great, i have worked solidly on a painting project since late feb- late april. it is done now. and i have decided from now on that i am making art that is meaningful for me. i have realised a lot since the beginning of the year that often i was chasing unrealistic avenues and i think you have to get past them to realise, they were not real things….

i have been doing really helpful journaling and writing due to reading a book called “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. i am still reading it as it is kind of like a course but it’s like therapy too, this is very effective for those of us who can at times be a bit upside down.  i have always believed in enjoying and experiencing new things and to get the most out of life.  doing all the wonderful things that i want to do and so now i am more than ever. i am back into so many avenues that have been put by the wayside for so many years due to the raising of a family and all that it entails. it is the time for tasha to step right back out. some of you reading this have known me for many a while so you know what i mean…. i hope to be able to keep up with this artblog…. i know i have had a few starts over the years…. this one is a keeper as life is on the up, in a creative world sense.

 thank you to Julia Cameron, how many creatives have I heard now that have read her book?? so, so, so many, they all sing its praises for the encouragement….. and leadership and self reflection…. i could go on….it’s a bit of a phenomenal read if you need a bit of a push and shove….i know i did. it’s a multi-million copy worldwide bestseller, she is very real and has obviously worked so very hard for a long time to be able to tap into what creative types ever so need. i do definitely know that i have needed this guidance now. all i have to do is go with it all…

so my friends 28th August 2021 was when this WEBSITE was launched how life does fleet us by… so i am planning to sell my art online eventually… as this makes it easier for all….if you were subscribing before, i have sent you this, but if you don’t want to get the email that there is another artblog, please let me know and i will take you off the mailing list, no worries whatsoever.

                            tasha

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

timing no.24

how things change in a world, sometimes you are going in one way, then life takes you along another way, so we move with the time and it-is-exciting…so i, think it is anyhow… so my dear friends due to scheduling of my world this artblog will continue…even if the life of tasha is a little busier than i originally thought it would be, this artblog it is important to me… so it will arrive sometime over the weekend, still every week, just maybe not on a friday night…

i really do like writing these little thoughts about my artworld and what i think about things in my world, i hope it is a positive experience as you read and not too boring… who said my life was boring????? no one did! ha ha… so lately i have been thinking about timing and using my time wisely… maybe it’s a beginning of the year thing too… starting new projects, new paintings, new drawings, and new readings too!

speaking of readings….i am nearly finished this wonderful little penguin book on Matisse by Alastair Sooke, it has been so motivating and inspirational toward my art practice. Matisse was such a goer… he just oozed his artmaking and loved the artform of dance… Sooke said, there is something tremendously poignant about a sickly artist finding inspiration in the aerial lifts and pirouettes of a professional dancer performing for him in private. even matisse in his ancient years got a buzz from his creating… i so know how that feels… and i do so love his collage’.

back to timing… now where i am presently i am aiming to use my time with utmost care, it’s the balance of all things, i am thinking zen like, not that i am buddhist, but we can learn so much from each other…. being in a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort, which i think is quite damn wise…. but with all things we need to put effort in, and i try to do that, my best effort…at all times…

so my art and life is a balance, making time for the 1. loved ones and making time for my 2. day to day work and 3. making time for my studio practice, three things, that’s all…so i am incredibly motivated for this new year and all that it brings, the journey’s i am to take and the people i am yet to meet…

january is nearly done, unbelievable!

spowers & syme no.23

in 2023 (its a sign)…

due to so much wonderful frivolity of renovations and life, being that the sun has warmed my bones this year so much more than any other, swimming has been high on my agenda, lunching  and relaxing and spending thoughtful quality time with my loved ones has been the priority this year thus far… I have felt a control and a freedom that I have not felt before until now… curious i do know but it is where i am…

my artblog has not been imparted to the masses, therefore today i write this and want to share that i had a unique opportunity to see the Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme printmaking exhibition last week with a wonderful and encouraging artist friend of mine at the S.H Irvine gallery in Sydney CBD, the gallery is beautiful, it is right next to the Harbour Bridge and holds a special meaning to me…back to the S and S….these two women were wonderful friends who were artists and worked tirelessly in the area of printmaking, they were pioneers in my mind.

i have always appreciated Ethel Spowers as a young artist, but did not know of Ms Syme, these two seemed to work furiously at their craft, my only thoughts is that what if i had worked at their same pace? how i would have achieved so much more in my art making till now? … but I should not look back but forward, so they say, today is a new day, and a brand new year, and i know that mrs button has come so far, compared to what it may have been… life has a way of planning things for us and i am, well…beholden to the belief of, well, going with the flow, so I just go…

they immersed themselves in their art, in learning technique and i do believe they mastered their technique in specific and unique ways that explored the notion of their time they had here on earth, a note of interest was the repetitive nature of the figures or subjects in their work, this gave the work an impression of movement and works being animated, an artist must keep on moving…they went to the Grosvenor school of art in the UK, and were under the guise and tutelage of Claude Flight who had written a wonderful book on linocuts which i would love to see one day, like, to turn the pages, not just in a glass cabinet… i wonder if it is in the state library?? pondering… so these ladies were into Japan…especially Japanese printmaking… some of thier works reminded me of Japanese woodcuts, so gentle and thoughtful….time, contemplation, patience, it takes me back to when i first learnt printmaking in Mackay, Queensland, over ten years ago now… presently, i am quite enamoured by all things Japanese, the food, the art, i even watched a film on SBS called Tokyo Sonata the other day, it was so quirky and good and cool…

so if you get a chance, look into these two remarkable women and their prints they are a wonder to behold and they have shared so much to inspire me, after the exhibition, i wanted ever so much to start a linocut….so inspo!

i have reflected much on my artmaking and practice and have decided to pop my artworks for sale on bluethumb, i had attempted this once before, but now have decided to step up the tasha button world and journey and see what eventuates, i do know there is a plethora of art in drawers and other places that could adorn another humans’ world or space and give them delight and that’s why one creates, it is what is within that seems to come out pictorially… so if you are a bluethumb subscriber, please follow my page, thank you kindly, for now it is the last week of holidays, then i sojurn back to the books, the books are lovely though…

thanks for reading…

new start no.22

happy new year 2023

dear friends, happy new year, I do hope you had a swell Christmas and New Years Eve. this is my first artblog for 2023. and oh what expectations i do have for this year. rain is pelting at my windows as i write this, quite the tropical storm we are experiencing in Sydney after some lovely warm summer like days, those of which we certainly did not see in 2022. i am feeling a little lighter heading into this year compared to last year. oh what a year it was… i learnt much about myself and have processed immensely and deeply about my practice and my direction as an educator and a practicing artist.

so i am glad to announce that many new avenues of tasha button art are being produced in 2023 and i am so exhilarated about all my ideas that just well, keep on flowing and moving and oozing from the brain that has been bestowed upon me…and i just can’t wait…i have just re-examined my bluethumb page which is a art selling platform in Australia… and have decided to sell old works, they are works that i have kept for nostalgia, but there is far too many of them, and for one, i have no room, and i want to share my art with the whole world, each day i am uploading a new image to the bluethumb and am making a catalogue of my art, so therefore, one day there will be a digital representation of the artworks and journeys that i have made progressively through the years. there is a little of this here on this website, well a snippit of works and stories under the memoir tag at the top.

today i was going through my camellia studio and clearing out a few things as you do in a fresh new year and was surprised to find some old charcoal drawings from my art school days, all rolled up, i felt i hadn’t seen these for many a decade, so that was a little treat… as you get older the memories are sparked by images and i think that is why visual representations, whether photographs or artworks are vital to our existence. hands up dear friends those of you who have not one artpiece or photograph on your wall, there is my point, creativity is so important to society as a whole.

i made this little happy new year sign quickly this year on an app called procreate, it is a wonderful app which enables one to compose digital artworks with ease. so my friends, the journey of my art in 2023 has begun and thank you for your support in this coming year, more news next week…

good night, sleep tight…

tis the season no.21

dear friends, this is my last artblog for 2022, wishing you all the joy, the peace, the quiet or the loud that this time of year brings to you. happy holidays! sending you love, light, and laughter for good memories and a bright and healthy 2023. i am feeling really glad that i’m back writing again about all things in my life that are to do with my art journey. when you look at our world and the wonder that it is, it makes sense to me to be creative about it all. this showcases ones’ depth of meaning and well, just being.

i would like to

thank all my subscribers for your constant encouragement of my art, artblog and my art practice. hip hooray to you!

this year has been a busy one with all the teaching of art to our youth, and i indeed have had a great couple of years with them, the above artwork was an appropriation created by said students and I was thinking about this tremendous ancient work’s colour palette the other evening as i was composing a painting in my head, and although it is not a christmas scene or theme it does have a christmasy type of colour palette, so here i share this appropriation of a Van Eyck, “arnolfini and his bride” for you to be inspired by, as was i, many times over, all of 16 year olds…who knew??? i think Van Eyck the artist from 1434 would be pretty chuffed to think that these young art students of the future are being inspired by his work centuries later…i am presently preparing for festivities in the next few days, then, when all is celebrated i am back to the canvas and i cannot wait…. it has been too long between paintbrushes, so i will keep you all posted on the goings on in my world of art and projects in the new year of 2023…and finally to share a quote a very wise student of mine shared with me in her christmas card this year…

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others feel” the great Degas.

peace out

tasha

winding up no.20

how the end of the year has arrived and now we head towards the new and fresh 2023. i have learnt so much this year about art, my life and how i want to live it. its interesting that you can think that your life will take you to a place but then how the universe or God has other plans and knows intrinsically what one needs to lead our manifested artistic fabulous lives. in saying that, i think it is still very important to work hard, and do your upmost to succeed at everything you do, how can this line of thought not be advantageous? this is a question i ponder and wonder if i will ever know the answer? maybe when i turn 99 years of age and look back on my life then i will know. the other week we were in darwin and oh it was so hot there, having taught this past year about a few notable aboriginal artists such as jonathan jones, i was very glad to be immersed in the aboriginal art scene, in its essence of place rather than a gift shop in sydney or a book in a library. the stories and painting of land, the patterns, the direction of forms and how each piece is unique, just like every artist is unique, and generations of painting, passing down marks from mother to daughter or niece, father to son or nephew, all sisters painting together, all family painting together, the simplicity of life is expressed and painted on canvas. not complicated, just is. i now have a further understanding and experience of aboriginal art and the depth of meaning it has to a culture of people. just like when you go abroad and see the glassmakers in venice, or ceramics in capri, it is the cultural generational aspect, you see and understand so much more about yourself and the world we live in. this is why travel, experiencing the world is thus so important if you can. just go. i am so looking forward to this christmas season and new years where we get to be with out loved ones and stop the rollercoaster of day to day. then i am moving forward to taking my painting , my creating , and my artistic life to the next level. woop woop. i am excited to see what that may be. thankyou for joining my journey, it all starts now, merry christmas everyone!!

hello artblog no.19

well here we are again, how i did miss writing these weekly musings, with a full time occupation this past year my own artwork has suffered, but that is ok… life happens… things happen… onwards and upwards as grandpa used to say…. so here i am…. i am back with bells…thank you to my dearest friends who have missed my artblogs…and told me so… i really appreciate the feedback and saw that it may have meant a little something something. so how exciting that we have a brand new modern gallery wing as a part of the art gallery of nsw, in our city of sydney… right next to the wonderful botanical gardens which i do love to stroll around at my leisure… its all the green i think…cant get enough of the greenery… i was so fortunate to have the opportunity to be one of the first lot of people to step into the gallery through the traditional owners smoking welcome ceremony before it was open to the world… such privileges i do dare say… there is quite a lot of glass in the building and it lets in a vast amount of light, showing off our blue cobalt sky and wooloomooloo bay with Yayoi Kusama sculpture bringing a vast amount of joy from flowers on the horizon… with strong sydney sandstone sweeping walls and twirling and spiralling staircases. these led down to the darkness and depths towards a site specific alien like artwork by Adrian Villar Rojas that aligns mystery of dark hues and light forms, where the WWII bombs once laid… so historical …. so dark…so nice to have a new fresh space to visit and see more art anyways…. maybe one day, my work will be on those walls, one has to dream, do they not? dreamer …dream… breathe….so now i am back in my little camellia studio preparing to create some magical artworks that hopefully will delight some, as long as i like them…. this art… it is but a habit… a need.. an inclination to create… so natural… the art of being… have a nice weekend, ciao

a little rain ? no.18

Rainy rain rain rain…

It is still raining, unbelievable, all of this year has so far been “wet”. I saw a glimpse of blue sky and sun yesterday and I think I nearly fell over. Soon we will be getting a little sleep in which is great, due to daylight saving being all finished and done, presently I am up in the dark… which is different…

so i wrote this on April 1st- it is now 20 days later… due to work/life balance, commitments i am unable to proceed at this time with my artblog… it is not goodbye… it is just on hold for a while… know your limitations….. thanks to everyone for reading this past 18 writings…. i will be back, having a break for a spell

ciao all

artblog no.17 2022

it is importance to balance one’s life, with work and also with the things you enjoy. so i will always try to make time for art pondering, creating and visiting other people’s collections, as a vibrant life does, i have decided to add my love of music, both live and creatively. so….. last weekend I was able to see a wonderful musician called Ami Williamson, i only caught the 2nd act, but that’s ok, as it was better than not seeing her at all. she sang some 1960’s tunes and invited the audience to sing along which was so fun! it was within the folk style which I appreciate very much. instagram:@williamsonami

another cool happening was that i went with a friend to see some art which I haven’t done in a while, by an abstract artist, Reiko Azuma called “Life Force” solo works from 2020-2022, her paintings were so connected, energetic, fragmented and delightful, they would look fabulous in any space they were in. and as I am on a musical inspirational journey too, she also happened to be an amazing jazz musician, playing her tunes with a ukulele to her audience in a little gallery in Camperdown, it was so choice, that weekend. instagram: @reikoazumart

how is this rain my sydney friends? i cannot fathom how my garden has exploded with growth over these past months, my camellias are just about to pop with floral magnificance and carpet the grass with petaled glory, i have never seen so many buds on the trees, it is outstanding i must say, we are nearly mowing the lawn every week and it feels like we live in tropical queensland … and we know what that is like. very wet. my camellia studio is still out of action :( …. but the renovations continue, we are doing some choice tiling- subway tiles seem to take a while???…especially when you take them to the ceiling…i am thinking i will move back to the kitchen table to do my art and maybe some interior like artworks might pop out…i suppose you have to go with the flow and take what comes, and i do know that eventually life does sort itself out, and all the good things happen.

so all in all, how wonderful to have events and life getting back to what it once was before, i do like to go and experience the world around me…

have a creatively fab week…

no.16 2022

well HELLO my dear friends , unbelievable that it is now march and i am writing my first artblog for the year. the year has started rather wobbly and rockily, i started a full-time occupation, then the household got “the covy,” we have been renovating rooms in our home since before christmas and now this week we found termites in camellia studio :(

so on the bright side i went to a cool music festival last weekend just out of brisvegas, “springloaded”, with some dear ole mates from queensland, it was an excellent fun, cruisy, cool frivolity type of weekend. even appreciating bands like frenzel rhomb (which i naturally would not take to), their stage presence was electric and so theatrical and heavy to your soul. the fauves of course gave so much as always and regurgitator, well what can i say you hipster poleyester girls?

about my art side of things i have been really appreciating and getting into my typography, style guides, logos of the graphic designers and digital art, so as i said last year i am renovating, you will notice the website is now a fresh colour of natural green, (it was pink before) i am thinking about our natural world and trying to encompass a green attitude both aesthetically and humanistically to my life…

i was especially inspired over the weekend by regurgitatiors’ graphics, a circle of creative coolness behind the drummer at the music festival. think they were their video clips from a few years back, but man they were so choice and the implementation/drawing was spot on. this encouraged me to move forward with my digital explorations… i did visit a bit of digital art last year with fleur de rouge, so who knows what’s around the corner in all this coolness of the life…haven’t lifted my own pen or brush, only to show others… oh the art life is all encompassing…

in january i started bullet journalling, which has been a great thing, it just popped up onto my you tube because i watch alot of art related content, and now I use it as an organisational tool for my art life, to be able to reflect on experiences (even a film you may watch on netflix,) is so important for ones growth as an artist, i am appreciating my life so much of late with all the sadness around, it makes you accept the mundane of the day to day living and knowing of what is, i’m not trying to sound all cliche’ but the world is having a difficult period, and i am looking forward to brighter days,

thanks for reading my waffle,

have a great week, i am back, woo hoo

here’s to 2022,  go us!

no. 15

we are renovating everything… be back in early february, have a nice holiday season and new 2022 :)

over and out.

nearly… no.14

well, here we are, two weeks till christmas, i cannot fathom how we got here, but we did! so last saturday i took a sojurn into the city with a friend to see the portia geach, a women’s only portrait prize. i try to see the portia geach when it is on, some years i have missed it…..in the past, Australian women painters whom i admire have won the prize, i would love to follow in their footsteps, they are so inspiring to me. these wonderful painters are dora toovey, jocelyn maughn, margaret woodward, rosemary valadon, jenny sages, wendy sharpe, lucy culliton, prudence flint, just to name a few. also, i just love to see all of the other artists who have put works in too, one of my friends from art school days- yuri shimmyo was in the exhibition too, you can see all of her beautiful artwork at www.yurishimmyo.com the portia geach its always a motivatingly good show. this year was especially special as i had entered, and to see the other works i was up against made me realise that i have to lift my game, get more serious, although i always do my best where i am. i do think that i am serious, but i need more deep spiritually devotional energy, i think that i concern myself with overworking a painting sometimes that i underwork it, then it does not, well you know, sing…..(even though we are not supposed to sing coz of covid, tee hee) so last year as we went from painting to painting, i said to my friend erina, i am going to paint you for the portia geach next year in 2021. so i did. i entered. and my painting was rejected. i did mentioned this in my artblog a couple of weeks ago, as an unknown artist i am getting used to not getting into prizes. one day, there is always hope! you cannot rush these things… like everything it takes time, and over these last 20 years i have always had my art as a side to other things in the life of mine. which is all ok, i wouldn’t have changed a thing…

which leads me to last sunday, the market, i was involved in the eramboo artist environments’ first ever christmas artisan market. as i said in my last artblog, “it may rain”, and it did, sydney has had an elnininniyay (sp?) type of start to the summer THE WHOLE DAY! :( not ideal weather for a market day out. all i can say is that i met some really nice people who braved the weather and came out anyway to support eramboo and the artists. i showed some of my wares and handed out cards, that was my goal, to be a presence and meet some interesting people, for example: the people in the tent next to me lived on an island, another lady paints from her tinny rather than the land, how cool is that! an island where you have to get a boat to work… one lovely lady who popped along to my tent entered my lucky dip and won an artwork of mine, congratulations Sally! she was quite glad about it too which is nice.

camellia studio has been calling me back into its fold, so i am looking forward to some time over the summer break, moving on the next groupings of creations, so much going on in my mind…

au revoir bella’s

tasha

matisse and a market no.13

so i haven’t written for a couple of weeks, life has been a little bit too hectic, and i must admit, i have just been plain old tired, its kind of like the end of the year has fallen in our laps and everyone wants to meet up, or finalise things, or we are catching up on missed celebrations and so forth. so last friday i had the wondrous opportunity of heading off to the art gallery of new south wales in the pouring rain to see the matisse exhibition. to those of you who love all things french, who love colour, pattern and style most of all, you should attend! one is taken through his early career as a somewhat traditional painter similar to what one would find at a florence academy (julian ashton’s) in style, and then given some resplendent live footage of him cutting out his collage’ and climbing walls painting murals. from portrait bronze heads to bold enmassed bronzed egyptian-like figures…small figured considered one line drawings and prints and decorative paintings of russian women. this exhibition is truly curatorial on steroids, i loved it so much. i went with my sister who has just began painting abstract figures and abstract forms this year and she was truly beside herself with excitement at seeing his work. she was inspired beyond belief which was so nice to see. matisse delved into the human experience, he was raw, the beauty and fragility of the human form, alongside the beauty of nature or a flower patten on a wall or a balcony scene, the brightness of colour, the detailed interior or the leg of a table all sinuous and curvaceous and french… soiree’ , it has only just opened so there is plenty of time to go and see it. so i highly recommend that you do…

i have been lately thinking about my own art and i know that i still really have not arrived, i am on a journey which is so fabulous, i am relishing in the little drawings that i have been composing, picking up this and that, so i am wondering if i need to put all these little things together, rather than all these little ones on their own… i am thinking about combining my flowers with portraits (matisse influence maybe? probably) in a more substantial and unconcious way, so we will see how this comes to the fore, i am on such a travelling wilbury with my art i love the creating when i can and seeing how it all turns out, how colours pop next to others and how others just don’t cut the mustard sometimes…i don’t want to be modern, what is modern ? or contemporary, but we are contemporary as we are now??…maybe it is the label of “the now” that i don’t appreciate, i just want to create what i like to do, i still am trying to work it all out, do we ever work it all out though? i just don’t know… maybe one day

the eramboo market is this sunday, i am really chuffed it is going to be a great day, a day of meeting new people and enjoying all the works of the other artists in the community, i have some cute little business cards and a table and some great stands to display my work on, so it is like a mini exhibition, all christmassy, i am even going to have a lucky dip and a raffle, which is going to be a hoot, i do hope it doesn’t rain, the weather in Sydney has been so topsy turvy of late. and if it rains well…. theres always next year…hope you can make it and support the arts in the community…

have a wonderful weekend and thank you for reading my little artblog…

the next thing, eramboo christmas market no.12

so now i have up my sleeve a new venture, a christmas market. oh! i do love christmas, the glitterings and the happiness it brings, families and friends together and all that. especially the decorating of the home, christmas tunes, so traditional, hearing christmas music in the shops the other day was really sweet. it could be annoying (the music, i mean), but i chose to embrace it, as hope. so the fabulous Eramboo (which is an arts precinct in Terrey Hills, who knew?? ) are holding their annual christmas artisan market. i grew up in Terrey Hills in a little cold-a-sac called cudal close (as a little girl i called it cuddle close) and spent many hours mucking around in the bush behind the park making cubby houses with my friends and playing hide and seek. i was very good at the swing and used to go so high i was literally nearly flying in the clouds like a bird. the park was across the road and now a street or two away from my old home there’s an arts establishment… lining that same bushland of my childhood, love how the suburbs of Sydney progress and provide substantial places for creatives which are accessible to all over time, you just have to find out about them….

Eramboo is an Aboriginal word for tomorrow, it is a place i have mentioned before in my artblog, they have a gallery, run workshops and you can hire the place and spaces, there is an artist or two in residence which is so great! it is a place that is really “in nature”. this i do love so much. in the past couple of years i have been to artist’s exchanges there (when i wasn’t working) and other various things like exhibitions and workshops, and it is part of the Pittwater artist trail which is on a couple of times a year. (people open their studio’s). someone very inspirational to me who i met at Eramboo is basketry artist by the name of Catriona Pollard who has been artist in residence at Eramboo this past year, she is having an exhibition called “the volume of hope”, it is on until the 21st of november. a must see … for those of you further from sydney you can see her work @catrionapollard on instagram. she is such a kind soul and is so willing to share her process and journey with the world.

so when there was a callout for a christmas market i thought to myself “why not? i’ll give it a go…” i knew i would have plenty of artworks from fleur de rouge to display that may go well in a christmassy type of way, so i now have something to further work towards, so fun. i would love to see you at the christmas market, hope all my subscribers residing in sydney can make it to a wonderful day out. have a great weekend…

tasha

visiting galleries, entering art prizes no.11

like anne of green gables said “when one door closes, a window opens somewhere else..” how the life can and does continue….i was so focussed and a lot was all about the exhibition for months. then gone. some people have said to me that i may feel a kind of loss, but i don’t really, maybe a little….. i am just keeping going, onto the next thing…

 this past week I visited two galleries, stella downer fine art in zetland and arthouse in rushcutters bay.  at stella I viewed the beautiful work of viola dominello, who captured the earthy colours deeply of the australian bush with sensitivity. she used abstract forms as representation of light and shape to show the scrubby undergrowth. and tree-forms that were so familiar to many of us who have ventured into bushland, it took me there. brilliant. it is so rare these days to delve into an artwork and go there.

i then sojourned to arthouse, what a space, so modern. here i viewed some wonderful paintings by kate bergin who like me is a still life artist, her work was so BIG and inspiring, she has such skill with the brush and has obviously spent hours at her craft, she paints animals on tables in various poses, almost comical. she even had such a unique thing, she framed her palette, that you could also purchase alongside of the artwork, i am unsure if i would by an artist palette. but for the art collector, well????

this year i have entered my work in three exhibitions thus far. one with the Mosman Art Gallery – Artists of Mosman, The Emerging Art Prize- Michael Reid and The Portia Geach- S H Irvine Gallery. entering into prizes is suggested and i feel all exposure is good exposure. so one out of three this year ain’t bad considering a pandemic and the world being upside down.

 way back when i was at art school and living near the sea i entered the artists of mosman 2088 exhibition at the Mosman Art Gallery, i was also a volunteer at the gallery in their little shop and worked as a waitress with the food at various openings, it was also a new gallery too, i believe it was the first year of the exhibition in the year 2000. over the years i have entered into it a couple of times and now it has become a selected exhibition which makes it a little more exquisite and unique to be chosen. so that was a tick…

secondly, as i was painting away for fleur de rouge i was inspired by my trip to the american museum of women artists (whom I have mentioned in my artblog before) and painted an interpretation of Rachael Ruysch, from the Dutch Golden Age 1680’s. i do love my painting of this as it was kind of like a dream i have had, this painting is all over the website at the moment…. and up popped on my instagram the emerging art prize with a similar dutch inspired painting as their advertisement, i took it as a sign, as i am emerging….i entered, but alas, to no avail, but am glad i get to keep it anyways…..

finally, last year i went with my friend erina to the portia geach exhibiton and i told her i would enter her portrait for 2021, completing this was an experiment, but I achieved the finished portrait, i had not done a real portrait from life, (like at art school) for a long time, and she is glad of the outcome, so as a painter, i am moving and growing and challenged, portraiture is hard, you want to get some essence of the sitter, i feel that if the subject likes the painting then that is a ‘win’ even if the portia people did not deem it so… just keep going, that is just what i do.

have a great week

tasha

fleur de rouge is happening till nov 1 no.10

well there wasn’t going to be an opening with speeches and all the palaver that goes along with it due to social distancing, amount of people etc… so it was very fabulous that Jen and i got to be in the gallery for the day, last saturday, 23rd October, people milled their way in, people milled their way out. for all the attendees it was a good excuse to have somewhere to go after such a long stint in the homelife, into the big city of sydney, woo hoo, it never before seemed like such a rare occasion. so all in all it was really a valuable sojourn due to the recent opening up of sydney.

we feel like pioneers for the arts, leading the way, at the forefront of normality within the arts that is to reign always, in our being, the art is, anyways  

a gargantuan and colossal thank you to all the family and the friends that came along to support our art and gain some joy from the viewing and showing. some colour, dare i say, to your world. a bit of serge gainsborough to groove along to,  i will be again at the gallery tomorrow Saturday 30th and am looking forward to the day of meeting new people and sharing the enthusiasm i possess for our art. sometimes you never know who you may meet, you just never know…

for my arts practice, i have gained such momentum and new knowledge in the “behind the scenes”. i have hung many a show with other artists, group shows at art school, when i ran a life drawing class at pennant hills, when i was in hornsby art society, usually paintings, framed drawings etc. whereas installation and sculptural forms as i have learned is another beast altogether, oh, but i did like it, such joy and tribulations in the install of the work as i said last week in my artblog.

also a mamoth thank you to the gallerists at gaffa gallery. gaffa gallery is also very unique as it has multiple spaces for exhibitions, the floors are old, like from ships, 1800’s heritage building, it used to be a police station and when you walk in you can even imagine the cells that are downstairs, like a gaol, creepy…..so our exhibition was alongside two other artists whom were also on the journey, naveena gokool who challenges the traditional imagery and concept of “self” through abstraction and distortion, you can follow her work on Instagram @naveena.gookool. and a regional artist from orange, sarah randall who hoped to invoke sentiments of reflection and empathy with her still life small works that displayed images of letters and envelopes, you can also follow her work on Instagram @sarahrandallartist. i am looking forward to following both of these insightful and remarkable artists as they move and shape their art in the years ahead. fleur de rouge comes down next week, sad and glad…

don’t cry because its over, cry (smile) because it happened….. dr seuss

all in all a good time was had by all… hurrah

install day no.9

we have arrived…. jen and i installed our exhibition yesterday and oh what a day. i was truly astonished and the pure joy and jubilations of the day. having worked toward something for many months with a goal and a purpose, and to see it on the wall is such a satisfying position to be in.

the hang went pretty smoothly i must say, how fortunate i am to work with someone so in tune and on the wavelength of tasha, of ”lets do this!” and i also being on that same wavelength of jen and with our high-end out there design mentality of “well of course let us do this!”, it was too cool for school. let us follow our own fabulous agenda, float our own tug boat… i had a fantastically tiring wonderfully surprising and movingly productive time. the arranging, the drilling, the ladder climbing, the dancing, it was all there. all for the indulgence of our own, an indulgence of our creativity, sharing our art with the world, the pure excitement of it all, really. hard to put these kinds of feelings into words, i am trying my best, smiling as i write, but those of you who know me, would probs get the gist or the idea. a purely positive creative production.

we were very satisfied with how all of the artwork seemed to gel as well, so different is our practice, jen being an installation artist and me a traditional type painter, drawing etc….yet we are similar too, maybe its the gold… an amalgamation of ideas, sensitivities, gratitude and wonderment of the beauty that surrounds us, it is spring i suppose. everyone would be enjoying flowers at the moment. so we are glad that after such a time we have all had… we are bringing some of our exquisite euphoria to the city of Sydney. our joy in it all is apparent, so that is worth everything, to us it is anyways!

 so… if you are in Sydneytown, i do hope you get a chance to pop into gaffa gallery to see the fleur de rouge extravaganza!

SOIREE!

one more week no.8

its like a play, or a show, like having an opening night at the theatre, the lights, this is a real thing, i have never realised the intensity of putting your artwork out there to the public in such a fashion. i am very chuffed and looking forward to the process. now the paintings are all done, nearly all framed, all varnished and clean, finality of string and hammering, the placement and positioning of items on white walls, of paintings and drawings, of installing and installating.

i only ever had dreamed of having an exhibition one day. and now that day has come, and i am so thrilled. jen is a fantastic friend and a momentous artist to work with too, we have always had a genuinely strong friendship, one that travels deep within the creative realm, it is so very cool to have a friend like that, we have been talking art since we met when we were 17 years old, working on a cotton farm along the wanaaring road just out of bourke, new south wales. fresh out of highschool, giggling young girls, from there our worlds went in different directions, but we always found some time to inspire each other creatively with no effort really. it is i suppose a natural gleaning, our friendship. the smiles and the laughter, it does not cease. so it is only correct that we should have an exhibition celebrating the beauty of flowers together. of course!

last year was the first year i decided to really deepen the devotion of my artistic endeavours. work, life, family responsibilities change through the years or passage of one’s life and i see that alongside these other things we transform as humanity does. we metamorphose into different people than we were before, moving through our lives, with our own memos and itineraries. i love to look back to history, in times gone by. and i also love to look forward to futuristicness. so as an artist i am on this journey, there is no going back, i am here for all that it is, for now anyhow. oh, the creative wonderful life.

onwards and upwards…