When Art Moves Out...

Handbook For Girls is all over at Urban Cow Studio but she's now hanging (missing a few who were sold to loving homes) at Paper String Plastic (99a Hindley Street Adelaide).

 If you're like I was last week and you don't know about this place, make it a priority... They're new and inspiring and I'm really pleased to see such a venue in Adelaide and even more please to have been invited to be a part of it. It's a Gallery/Retail space and very-soon-to-be Cafe with a first time run Art and Design Market being held Saturday Dec 11 (11- 4pm) and again on Dec 18. Very exciting!! Proof of what can happen when like minds combine and visions reach fruition.

Making things from Art

Time has done it's thing and come around so fast and "A Handbook For Girls" Exhibition is almost coming to a close. (Nov 28th she comes down).

It's been my favourite exhibiting experience so far as it has given me the opportunity not only for immense personal satisfaction and achievement, but also the chance to meet and reunite with some like-minded and exceptional people.

I promised myself I would slow down and re-group after the show was up, but in true Joelie style, that hasn't happened... Instead I jumped onto the wagon rather than off and created a line of products that coincide with the exhibition work.

I've made many things in the past but this is the first range I've produced that I'm actually attracted to and would seek out to purchase for my own personal use...To me, that means I've hit the mark!

So take a look at what products I've made from my art and bare in mind that it's just the start... I'll be TRYING To take a hiatus from exhibiting for a while to focus more on producing prints and products. Keeping art accessible and able to be loved and handled, not just admired.

I'd like to see tatty pages and ink stains on these journals:

Skulls by her feet {oh so sweet}

Swinging Girl

Journal backs

Journal Packaging

 Journal Specs:
48 pages
Mondi White colourcopy 100gsm
Enviro Board 100% Recycled covers
Lead Pencil w eraser

And to carry them in...

Skulls by her feet {oh so sweet}

Journal & Bag

 Bag Specs:
 Screen Printed by hand with Indigo or Sepia Ink (Sepia not shown)
 Size: 200x295mm (quite perfect for sunglasses, a novel and an ipod for a sit in the park...)

Greeting Card Range and Matchbox Tags:

All The Designs

Card Packaging Front

Card Packaging Back

8 Designs of Matchbox Tags - Each box containing 4 different illustrated tags.

 Each cover a notable quote.

Front and Back

One of the Designs

All of the Designs

So there we have it. I'll sleep one day...

Products (in their various forms) are available at the following outlets:
urbancow.com.au
righthanddistribution.com
marymartin.com.au
facebook.com/irvingbaby
And VERY soon to be on Etsy... (I'll keep you posted)

Oh, and a good friend Mr. J Brown was kind enough to take photos of the opening night for me which I'll pop up here as soon as they're on my hot little hard drive. And photos of the exhibition on the walls of course.

New Logos too....

Thank you for your lovely love xoxox

As she progresses...

 The posters are plastered all over town (thanks to MAD promo). The show is almost here and it's been quite a journey to get to this point.

I lost my mind with excitement when I received my packages of vintage frames hunted and purchased from my new best friend, Etsy.

These opened (as I was relying on them to do) the gateway to inspiration and whimsical-with-hints-of-darkness ideas flooded through and filled the frames!

I've worked on all different types of mediums, ranging from canvas boards to pastel boards and trusty old German etching paper.
 I even found this amazing oval shaped canvas for that instant vintage appeal.

So suffering from a bizarre case of Whooping Cough which has had me house bound for almost a month now, is destined to influence my interpretations of scenes I depict in this show.

Perhaps a little more twisted through fever can't be the worst thing to happen, right?

Well you be the judge... I've thoroughly enjoyed throwing myself out of my comfort zone with this show. I've used more colour than usual, different mediums... I'm even learning to draw things I never thought I'd try my hand at... (never been much of an animal drawer)

Here are some of the pieces I've been working on.

 

Schaffas fun

Only Lonely Live One Left
Due to a lack of human commitment to smell the roses, each one petrified to little notice by human existence. Rosie, bless her heart, evolved in a fierce, desperate attempt to maintain the
existence of her species.

 

 

With over 100 artists worldwide contributing to this event, the opening night was festive and fantastic... (although I did feel slightly like I'd taken my two children into a mosh pit...)! I love opportunities to participate in something like this as I don't consider myself to be someone who can easily dabble with 3D mediums, but I loved the process of moudling with my hands and not just inks and paints. Have a look at the talent. It's quite ridiculous...
Congratulations to Chris and Sam who have vision to BURN.
xxxhttp://screamdance.com/schaffas_pages/schaffas2_77.html

Looming solo show...

So it's now almost August and my "months of preparation time" have dwindled significantly for my solo Exhibition in November... But as the creative process flows I'm getting a beautifully pretty, just dark enough, vision for it.
This was today...

Almost finished, but so inspired...

I've been working on this lady for a while now... Probably cause there's only monotonous bits left to do. Now that she has no place in the closest exhibition (octopi not really being relevant to an Orchard) I'll come back to her when I'm not drawing my hand off!

"Octolady" (210x297) Ink on paper

I had an incredible discussion with an almost 90 year old woman, who although I met only semi-recently, has quickly become a very special part of my inner circle... She and I have conversations about parenting, animals, art, lifestyles... You'd never guess the 60 year age/social gap. It's quite awe inspiring really.
After an intense drawing day recently, I took her my book to show her what I'd been doing.
She asked me what other ladies were going to be in this series...(I guess its obvious I'm a sucker for the storylines that go with a series). I said I hadn't really thought about it yet, which led to a most beautiful discussion about the intricate beauty and fluidity in things we don't generally see as being beautiful... So what's to potentially come are Lobsters, Angel fish, Spiders, Scorpions.... you get the idea.
(I love it here...)

to paint or not to paint...?

I've NEVER used the computer to contribute to any part of my illustrations. This is neither a good or bad thing to me. I like to feel chalky pastels on my hands and mix the water/paint content in a hit and miss manner and be amazed with the results. It's like flying without substantial wings.
However, I have in my life someone who I tend to love listening to a fair bit... Who's ideas are so vastly different from mine, sometimes purely based on practicality or sensibility! Who'd have ever thought! So when I pondered out loud to this man about my predicament of whether or not to colour this lady, he said: "Well surely you'd just scan it in with the scanner you have connected to the computer you have in front of you and test it out in Photoshop to see what you want to do with it."
My reaction? "Oh my god, thats brilliant!"
He went to leave the room, then stopped rather abruptly and said to me..."Oh, you're being serious aren't you! you really hadn't thought of that? It was so obvious I thought you were being sarcastic..."

Can I just point out this person isn't an artist... But I thank him all the same...
(xox)

So... the result? I still don't know if she's going to have colour or not, but at least its in file format, not grubby, colourful fingers on the actual page...

Piece by Piece

I like to create pieces like these in stages. Sometimes I'll sit and start and finish a piece in a mental sitting, but mostly I'll draw it up in pencil, rest with it a bit, enjoy the process of choosing every individual item/expression/emotion/symbolism in the piece. When I'm ready, I take a deep breath and head in with ink.

"Penny" in progress...
Finding images of Penny Farthings was wonderful for this one... I always like to reference images if I'm going to draw something I don't see everyday.
Did you know someone's made a Penny Farthing Motorcycle??!!

Up close details for "Penny" and "Eagle in the Sky"

"Eagle in the Sky" in sketch form didn't take on too many variations... I changed her gloves to incorporate feathers (whatever I sketched out reminded me of the weird frills you'd find on cooked turkeys. Not really the kind of intimidation I was going for with her.)
The falling dead bird was kind of an after thought but its now what I'm drawn to the most.
It reminds me of laying down harmonies in a song and then never hearing the song without them...
The pencil sketch by the edge of her skirt in the second image was going to be an eagle skeleton, but with the dead bird, perhaps death overkill for a pretty exhibition...

Finding out what I Love...

I recently made a conscious decision to make a mental (or otherwise) note of the things I love. The things that inspire me - either through beauty or repulsion, intrigue or familiarity.
It seems the happier I am, the darker my art can take me...

Here is a glimpse at the process for some of the pieces I'll be exhibiting as part of Frauleins Orchard.

 "Lady She Enters" (210x297 ink on paper)
She is the first in a series of five... Each character introduced has an 'ailment'... something from the earth living or growing from them.

"Flowers and Bees" (210x297 ink on paper)
This is the second piece - Its from the other side of the door from above.
(That bee hive took me close to 3 hours... and there may be some hidden treasures amongst the flowers...)

"Penny" (210x297 ink on paper)
She is the third piece - I feel a bit strange about this one. I've never modeled an illustrated face on an actual face before, but I felt like this one wanted it. So I asked for an appropriate photo to be taken of me to draw it from - at first not for the face, but more just for the positioning of the arms and hands. As I got round  to her face I thought I'd keep looking at the photo... So out came my face.
Or so I thought it did... now when I look at her all I can see is Madonna...

"Eagle in the Sky" (210x297 ink on paper)
She is part four...She's the darkest, the strongest, the most beautiful... She has her place within the Orchard to maintain balance. Nothing can be all pretty and clean, blooming and full of life...She is the balance. (she is my favourite)

Drawing my head off...

Coming up on June 2nd (which is far few days for me to care to count) is the opening of Frauleins Orchard at Urban Cow Studio.
This is the part two of what was last year Frauleins Playthings.

 So, I've been drawing my head off... each piece is taking somewhere between 6 to 36 hours...

Ramble down an orchard lane

Climb a ladder in the dappled shade.

Pluck sweet fruit for jam, then

Lie back on lawn and listen to the leaves

 

fräuleins orchard

 

MEDIA RELEASE

Opening night, Wednesday June 3rd, 6pm

Urban Cow Gallery, 11 Frome Street, Adelaide

Exhibition runs until June 28th

After a hugeley successful first show, fräuleins playthings, the girls are back. Individually the girls handiwork has graced the pages of magazines such as frankie, Sumptuous, InsideOut, Attitude, featured in a number of exhibitions around the country as well taking pride of place on the necks, blouses, in the hands of and on the walls of sassy ladies around Australia.

A concept born from nuturing talented young female creatives in Adelaide, Urban Cow Studio presents a harvest of works from these eight nature-loving artists and designers. Working in the heirloom varieties of painting, illustration and jewellery, this collective continues to nurture one another’s ideas, cultivating a creativity that promises to blossom into a rare display of colour and beauty. The artistic fruits of the Fräuleins are ripe for the picking.

FEATURING

 

Clockwise from top left: Georgia Gabrielle Jewellery, Naomi Murrell Jewellery/Illustration, Elisa Mazzone Illustration, Katrina Weber Jewellery/Textiles, Anna Creasy  Illustration, Ruby Chew Mixed Media, Peta Alannah Chigwidden Painting, Joelie Croser Illustration

For more information contact Elisa at elisamazzone@yahoo.com.au

High resolution images available upon request.

Visit the fräuleins blog

http://www.frauleins-playthings.blogspot.com