MASSIVE STUDIO SALE 20% off everything over at my Outlook8studio Etsy shop
© 2012, Jenny Davis. All rights reserved.
Massive Studio Sale!
January 20th, 2012
“Merci Beaucoup ” A Birthday Parcel from Paris
January 7th, 2012
“Merci beaucoup” to my lovely daughter and partner who sent me some gorgeous art materials from Paris for my recent Birthday. A huge lot of art materials all packed in a very smart wooden case. The case will be extremally usefull when all art materials are gone as well….xxx
© 2012, Jenny Davis. All rights reserved.
Giacometti
January 4th, 2012
“Everything Gains In Grandeur Every Day.”
Giacometti
“The more I work, the more I see things differently, that is, everything gains in grandeur every day, becomes more and more unknown, more and more beautiful. The closer I come, the grander it is, the more remote it is.”
– Alberto Giacometti, Giacometti: A Biography
© 2012, Jenny Davis. All rights reserved.
Artist & Cat Lady
January 1st, 2012When I was googling the other day I came upon this question.
“How many cats do you need to acquire before you can officially become an old lonely cat lady?
Ok, it got me thinking about myself and my life.
Do I qualify?
1. I have 3 naughty cats ( is that enough?)
2. I’m a baby boomer (I qualify)
3. As an artist, I enjoy my solitude and quiet life on my own. Choices I made along time ago, so I could concentrate of on my creative life.
4. I enjoy getting up everyday knowing, I can create whatever and whenever I want, or not.
5. I love that I can do what I do.
6. I love and appreciate my beautiful family and friends who understand this strangeness in me and who are my biggest support in my life and work.
7. I love to grasp life using the time I have been given, to concentrate on creative ideas, projects and thoughts.These are the things I need to get out of myself to survive .
8. I feel extremally grateful and fortunate to be given this tiny space in time to express myself, but mainly, I want to give something back…
9. Sure, I can be a bit of a bag lady and sometimes go around with unkept hair, clothes full of holes and paint and pull a little cart to collect wood and found objects, with 3 cats in tow but, I’m also a very creative, intelligent and vibriant woman who knows what she wants.
Am I a lonely old cat lady? No, I’m just an artist who happens to have cats.
Now that’s out of the way I can get back to the studio where the cats are waiting…
Are you a cat lady and an artist?
© 2012, Jenny Davis. All rights reserved.
Results- Aesthetica Creative Works Competition
December 17th, 2011
Although I didnt win the “Aesthetica Creative Works” competition in England, I feel very honoured and pleased to announce my photograph
“Rider across the Light”
was chosen to be featured for the front cover of “Aesthetica Creative Writing Journal” 2012 Edition.
I have also been awarded a feature in “Aesthetica Creative Works Annual” 2012
An anthology of new works that explore contemporary artistic practice and brings together 75 global artists who represent contemporary visual culture across a range of media, from painting to sculpture, photography to installation and more.
Big thank you!!! to everybody at Aesthetica
Website Aesthetica
To buy Aesthetica Magazines
© 2011, Jenny Davis. All rights reserved.
Aesthetica Creative Works Art Award Finalist
November 16th, 2011
I am very pleased and excited to announce I have been shortlisted for this years”Aesthetica Creative Works Art Award” with my photograph ” Rider across the Light”.It was chosen from over 3,000 entries. (Sorry but cant show you the photograph until judging is finished.)
The winner will be announced upon publication of the Creative Works Annual, which will be released in early December 2012. I will keep you posted…
Aesthetica is a British arts and culture magazine. Founded in 2002, Aesthetica Magazine covers literature, visual arts, music, film and theatre. It has 60,000 readers and national and international distribution. Cherie Federico, managing editor of Aesthetica was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
© 2011, Jenny Davis. All rights reserved.
What is a Glaze?
October 31st, 2011
Layers layers layers. Did you know? many of my paintings, especially oil paintings, have layer upon layer of pigment and glazes. Each painting can take many hours,weeks even months to complete.
What is a Glaze?
A glaze combines two or more transparent layers of paint, which have been applied over an opaque underpainting. Each transparent layer builds on the ones under them, creating new colors and added richness depth and interest to a piece.
Rembrandt would paint in layers, building from the back of the painting to the front, by using coats of glazes. He would use at least 15 layers of transparent glazes in many of his paintings. That is why they seem to glow and emerge from the darkness of the background.
A few good sites to find out how to create glazes in your paintings
http://painting.about.com/od/oilpainting/a/glazing_FAQ.htm
http://painting.about.com/od/oilpainting/a/Glazing_Tips.htm
http://painting.about.com/od/oilpainting/a/GeraldD_glazing.htm
© 2011, Jenny Davis. All rights reserved.
Occupy Melbourne
October 13th, 2011
Rust Dyeing Fabric for Artworks
October 4th, 2011
Lately I’ve been experimenting with natural dyeing processes for fabrics and papers. I’m trying out rust dyeing at the moment. I want to build up a collection of natural and rust dyed fabrics and papers so when my next creative spurt comes around, I’ll have plenty to work with.
Over the years I have collected heaps of metal for welding my sculptures so have plenty bits hiding on my property just rusting away. The gathering of the metal objects, wrapping them with the fabric spraying with vinegar and binding with rope and wire is quite relaxing. I call it mummy wrapping.
It only takes a couple of hours for marks to appear but I like to keep mine for up to a week or two so I can get deeper impressions and colours. I discovered if I wrap fabric around old pieces of copper pipe the amazing green and red patinas are transferred to the fabric as well.
I’m happy with the end result and see connections to the abstract marks I create in my paintings. There are paintings in themselves
Go to my tutorial on Rust Dyeing here
© 2011, Jenny Davis. All rights reserved.
Art Squats- Hybrid Arts & “Studioinabox” Paris
October 2nd, 2011I believe Art can no longer be only confined within the walls of established art institutions and be thought as only painting or sculpture. At a time when we are at the peak of global creativity I see artists refusing to be labelled and contained. Art venues and spaces are struggling to keep up and are experimenting with new ways to present this explosion of creative output artists for multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional.
When I was in Paris last time I saw evidence of this. In a city of almost 300,000 living artists Paris seems to find creative outlets for multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional. Little “Hybrid art” spaces are popping up everywhere in the streets. Artists themselves have had to think of innovative ways to get their art seen.Many making their home an art space open to the public.
Art squats, sandwiched between homes in residential areas, art has taken over abandoned buildings where a rich cultural life of concerts, debates, exhibitions, lectures and workshops unravels in clandestine venues.
When I’m in Paris I have a couple of creative spaces I made out of necessity. “Studioinabox” and “The Dungeon”
“Studioinabox” is a wooden trunk in the apartment living room where all my creative materials are stored. I create the work on top of the box or the floor space. As I move from country to country my “nomad art’ has to be small and transportable. I enjoy the challenge creating in the immediate space and using only items I collect from the streets,used packaging and a few other bought art supplies that I can fit into my “Studioinabox’
‘The Dungeon” is a space underneath an apartment block in Paris. It’s damp, smelly and creepy with dark corridors, full of earth walls with red wooden doors. The lights are on a timer and go out every minute, so you can be stuck in a very unearthly dark abyss, if you don’t press one of the buttons on the wall quick enough. I have now devised a way to stop them turning off and over the years I have became more brave and allowed myself to connect to the dark hole for longer periods. Eventually I want to open the space and show my video and photography down there. I also have ideas of a performance in the space.
In Australia I find there are too many artists and not enough art spaces as well. So I’m playing around with a few ideas using my home and my website as my art space for all sorts of creative experiments. Nothing is fully formulated or resolved yet but I will keep you all informed of my progress from this blog.
Do you have a special space where you create and show your work?
© 2011, Jenny Davis. All rights reserved.