Friday Five - More Art Heroes

This week's friday five is simply more of my art heroes!

1) Krista Huot

I don't think I've seen one her paintings where I haven't been blown away by everything about it. Krista has a distinctive way she draws girls that makes me smile from ear to ear. Nature is a big theme to her work and her inspiration, she writes, includes "storybook illustration, folk art, animation and vintage kitsch" which makes total sense when you look at her beautiful paintings!

2) Alessandro Echevarria aka skulldaggery who I found through facebook, ah the magic power of the internets! He has a wicked drawing style, draws a lot of animals revealing their insides and skulls and cute girls with cartooney eyes. When I see his work I'm sometimes reminded of rocko's modern life which is a really good thing!

3) Cuddly Rigor Mortis aka Kristin Tercek who I think I've known through livejournal, maybe my feeinjapan blog, anyhoo, I think she is one of the raddest artists ever. She use to create these amazing plushies and has recently gone over to the dark side, aka painting and now translates her characters into these flawless works. She is able to paint her imaginary world with such realism that I'm often, less speechless!

4) Mark Ryden, now come on who doesn't love Mark Ryden. Not only can he paint amazingly, but he combines sweetness and weirdness (my fav mix!) throws in a bunch of pastels and cute girls and ridiculously cute animals, with cartoon eyes! Meat, religion and lincoln always dominate his strange Worlds. I love the amount of details and textures he puts into a piece as well. I'd love to see a painting in the flesh! One day hopefully :)

5) Yosuke Ueno, an artist who also does insanely cute works! His paintings often depicts characters with rainbow hair, which is what drew me to him in the first place. Again just a flawless artist who I can't fault! Just lovely!!

7 Facts

Tagged by Caroline to do 7 things that you may not know about me!

1. I have to check all sides of a condiments packet, or really any packet to make sure it doesn't have an easy to open nick in it.  I developed this habit a few years back and can't seem to shake it

2. I went to speech therapy when I was 4 years old (I think!) and continued up until around grade 4. When I was little many people couldn't understand me and my big brother Andrew use to have to translate a lot when we would stay at my Grandparents house. I still pronounce words wrong and people all the time ask me where my accent is from.!

My big bro Andrew, My Grandma and me!

 

3. The best award I ever won, (besides the art award in year 12) was the "English teacher who dances most to the beat of their own drum" award, I won in Japan

4. I'm a really bad loser, really competitive and several times in my life people have refused to play board games with me!

5. I collect feathers

6. When I was little I was a really fussy eater especially when it came to meat. One day we had lamb chops and I was convinced I couldn't swallow the meat. I think I chewed one piece of meat for at least an hour or more. I even chewed it on our daily after dinner, family walk. This probably ties into my stubborn-ness. Mum finally relented on her stance and I spat the piece of meat out...victory to fee!

7. I read motivational and life-related books all the time and I don't think it's daggy. I like people's different perspective on the World.  I like being Happy which is something that doesn't always come naturally to me!

Brass Hex Nut Bracelet DIY tips

 I've been making this Hex Nut bracelet since 2011! I think I've made about 4 sets for Ben and a few for myself and they've always gone down a treat.  I decided to make Ben and I a new set but this time use some stronger twine rather than the butcher's twine because that tends to break fairly quickly! I also wanted to add some of my own tips and what I've learnt :)

WHAT I USED

1) 3mm Hex Half Nut in silver.  Silver seems to be easier to find then the brass varierty! I really like how little the 3mm ones are, it ends up with a more dainty bracelet too!

2) 3mm venetian blind cord which I picked up at our local hardware chain, Bunnings.  You'll need to cut the cord into 3 x 40cm/16" lengths.

3) Loctite Superglue

 

TIPS

1) Make sure the twine can go through the nut hole, mine barely did, which made threading the nuts a little awkward but kept the overall finished look of the piece cleaner (and prettier in my opinion!)

2) Tape/clamp down the 3 strands of string before you start braiding. Plaiting is hard enough, but with bolts added to the mix, it helps to have your project secured down!

3) I threaded all my nuts onto the three separate strings before starting (saves trying to thread them on as you are going!).  I also folded the ends of the strings into bundles secured by tape so the nuts wouldn't fall off whilst plaiting.  

4) If you're having trouble threading the nuts onto your string, a bit of tape on the end twisted into a point will help things a lot!

 

5) The original instruction's measurements were slightly out (I plaited the first section for 7cm/2.7" before adding the nuts onto the bracelet!)

6) Adding the nuts is hard! Everyone else on the site seemed to find it quite easy, but not me, it took myself many attempts to work out the process. The original instructions are really awesome though, I'll just add by saying, when adding the nuts into the plait, it really is all about holding them tightly in place and keeping it all really tight before you cross the strand over! Otherwise it will look messy and nuts will be flying in every direction!

7) I finished off my piece by pulling both sides through a slightly larger hex nut (idea from this lovely site here!).  It's only a few days in but it seems to be holding up well.  I also put a dot of superglue on both ends of the chord to seal it good!

Ta Daaaaaaaa!

It's really pretty and shiny in real life, who would of thought..nuts!

I also think this is such a good DIY idea for guys.  I wouldn't say every guy would love but Ben does and I find it really hard to find good DIYS to make him!

 

P.S. I have just added a "Posts Emailed to You" section over on the right column *points right* psst... it's just above the facebook fan page icon! This email thing is particularly neat if you're lazy and would like some reading material delivered straight to your email...I'm excited!!

Caloundra!

Something super exciting happened today I got to catch up with my friend Mami from Japan! Though silly me in all the excitement forgot to get a picture with her, oops! I did though snap a couple of shots from the day. We went to Kings beach at Caloundra and boy oh boy was it a miserable looking day, so cold, though she, like many others braved the water! Crazy!

I on the other hand, hang out with one of her friends making sand sculptures, was meant to be totori, but turned into... fat cat:P

and the family!

Mami also gave me way too many presents, silly girl! Can't wait to catch up with her again in Japan, eek! Getting closer and closer!

HAPPY EASTER!

I decided to get some of my bunny themed peeps together for a little photoshot!
It's no secret I love bunnies, so I especially love Easter when all the shops are decked out in bunny themed goodness!

Received as presents, except the guys on the far edges - Left  was thrifted and righty was bought in Japan and the brown clay guy, I made myself
 

                                            

I Also treated myself to a freshly made marshmallow bunny being sold by some scouts...YUM!

I also have some secret stashes of chocolate in my fridge to divulge in as well!
Good times :)

Hope everyone is having a lovely time!

Update!

1) Mum, just rang me to tell me that skittles the Guinea Pig had babies! Unfortunately one didn't make it, but fingers crossed for the other little survivor. I've never seen a baby Guinea Pig before but Mum said they are totally cute and are born with their eyes open and fur and are much bigger than you would imagine. Looking forward to havinga hold next weekend I'm down there!

2) I miss Ben terribly! I've been emailing him everyday and usually with a photo. Took lots of photos the other day and one made it as my new profile pic, hurrah!

3) Which reminds me, Ben is just over halfway through his first stint, so in under 3 weeks I get to see him, weeee!

4) I have been going back through my old journal that I wrote whilst living in Japan, gee it's funny! Reliving memories, ahhh and most importantly getting some ideas for our trip back there in June, can't wait! On a side note, when googling for my old livejournal blog "feeinjapan" there is another identically named journal on blogger *gasp* I'm sure there can't be room for two fee's in Japan!

So that's my update. Tomorrow is Easter and I'll be working on more of my surprise costume!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Friday Five - Textures

This week I've been inspired by artists who put beautiful textures into their works!

1. Elsita aka Elsa Mora aka the queen of the papercuts! Not only does she simply cut paper into fantastic images, but as she often says on her blog, she tries to encorporate the way shadows and textures of the paper come into play..amazing! Her blog is well worth a look too as she is often posting original papercuts that are simply drool worthy!

2. Mister Rob, aka Rob Ryan. Now if Elsa is Queen, Rob Ryan is King! His papercuts, for sheer amount of intricate details, won me over, instantly! Again I love reading his blog for seeing all those original papercuts he does! Speechless

3. Lizzy Stewart, who I've just stumbled upon recently and who does the sweetest illustrations. I love how she incorporates nature and patterns and how her works have a lovely soft quality to them! I choose the work above, titled Summer Wolf for it's fantastic texture!

4. Super Cool Spy Club aka Jared Andrew Schorr whose papercuts make me ridicously happy! His work is bright, funny, clever and amazingly well executed! I don't have much more to say except, go check out his work!

5. Lucky last a shout out to aussie team wilkintie aka Carly Hargreaves and Niels Oeltjen, who write about their etsy shop project which...

"Evolved from a love of letterpress printing and a desire to collaborate with the amazing artists we discover in our day-to-day lives." 

Well I'm glad they started it because their shop is beautifully stocked with the sweetest prints. I absolutely adore letterpress printing and that wonderful embossing texture that is created! The particular image I have choose, titled 'bloom' is by artist Jacqueline Pytyck who is also well worth a look at!

Wedding Cake Hat

Ohhh got around to drawing another idea I've been meaning to draw for ages!

Listed in my etsy shop, where you can see more details of it :)

Kuromi!

I'm currently doing a mega clean up of my place and in my cleaning up route, came across all the wedding memories I had saved from Heather's and Dan's wedding and in that stash, what did I find?

Unopened Lego!

I was just talking about Lego the other day, so what a lovely find this was :) I had so much fun putting it all together and now it sits proudly on my shelf! Thanks heather and dan :) Sorry it took me way to long to get around to opening it...opps!

Weird Packaging

I bought a mask the other day, unfortunately sold as being for kids AND adults, but gosh you'd be worried if you were an adult and fit into...tiny tiny head!  I was chucking out the packaging and noticed the slogan was a little strange... "real life animal" mmmm, what's a non real life animal?  Strange strange.  The mask is for an exciting idea Ben and I are going to do! Working on a bit of a costume at the moment...stay tuned! weee

Wooden Guy

I was cleaning up images on my computer and forgot I hadn't posted this little guy I made, he started out trying to be a horse and I think sort of ended up as a Zebra *weird eyes*

I think my photos give him too much justice, he ended up falling apart and then I gave him a terrible paint job.

I was actually more than happy for his fate to be the rubbish bin but Ben spied him in the nick of time and claimed him! So he lives another day! Wood work is really fun though, Ben's room mate Daz had a rad set up and Ben and I have a fun afternoon one day playing around with wood :) Will have to try my hand at it again in the future!

Friday Five - Art Heroes

This is a fun Friday Five, some of my art heroes!

 1) Miss Van! Aka Vanessa Castex, a French artist who started out in the graff scene and is probably my number one art hero. She has a kick arse style, draws girls and bunnies and boobs, she started out in the streets and now does solo exhibitions once a year that always blow me away! I think she is totally fantastic!!

2) My Childhood art hero, Brett Whiteley, an Aussie painter who unfortuantely died in the early 90s. I use to paint much more messier-ly and I guess why I loved Whiteley so much. The work I've seen in real life at the Gallery was really textural and amazing and huge and it cemented my love even further. His work is abstract but still very narrative and doesn't (in my opinion) isolate the viewer, which a lot of abstract works can do! He does landscapes, australian images, self portraits and amazing nudes...big butts!

3) Yoshitomo Nara, a Japanese artist who is the bomb. I feel I can't say too much this week because all of the artist's awesomeness is so obvious, but, I'll try :P  The main reason I love Nara so much is he has the perfect blend of evil/cute-ness. He draws girls (another thing I love) and I feel if I didn't know he was Japanese I would have guessed it anyway as his images have a distinct kawaii/japanese feel to them! *love*

4) Audrey Kawasaki, an American artist (we're going globe trotting this friday five) who creates such beautiful paintings of girls (are you seeing a theme :P). Her works are usually painted on wood which seems to be her trademark style. Not only are her paintings beautifully executed but there's usually something a little odd about her girls, which makes me love them even more! ahhh *sigh*

5) Banksy, a graff artist from England who I really like so much because not only does he make amazingly well executed stencils, but he manages to also be funny/clever/political and make use of the space so well. I also love how he shows just how mong the art world is, a excerpt from wiki... 

"In May 2005 Banksy's version of a primitive cave painting depicting a human figure hunting wildlife whilst pushing a shopping trolley was hung in gallery 49 of the British Museum, London. Upon discovery, they added it to their permanent collection."

Had another, unfamous artist done such a thing, I'm sure the Museum would have just removed the artwork and dumped it :P

What a funny funny world!

Gnocchi Success!

With the help of this site I was able to make some pretty delicious gnocchi. Normally I skip straight past those recipe sites with the video but this one had a cute dancing chef at the start that made me stick around and watch!

Chicken, cream sauce, parmasean cheese and gnocchi!
Very indulgent but very yum! Finish off my plate and was tempted to lick it as well :P

This Little Teapot

So since the opening is tonight I can finally show you my teapot!!!

Moth Princess

When I got my teapot, actually before it had even arrived, I was thinking of ideas.  It wasn't until we were at Ben's Mum's place while intently starring at her chicken teapot that I noticed it looked like a face and realised that would make for one hell of a cute teapot!

The inspiration!

Quick sketch on my hand

and then the painting process

Process shot

Around the same time, I was playing with some moth paintings and I decided to incorporate a bit of a moth theme, since I love moths!!

Tiger Moth

Clara's Satin Moth

So there you go :)
I was also very fortunate to be contacted the other week for an interview which you can read here.  I had a quick skim cause it still feels strange to re-read my words :P

Anyway hopefully you are currently at the opening, if you're in Sydney, and if you missed the opening, no worries it runs until Sunday 1st of May at Paper Plane Gallery, 727 Darling Street, Rozelle!

Alright I'm off to make gnocci my first attempt, I'll let you guys know how it goes :P