'Call of Nature' mural finished

Finished collaborative Mural "Call of Nature" by Crisp, Miko and Tish. Bogota Colombia. I must admit that my contribution to this mural was to do some of the buildings and windows. The boys did a great job of the rest. It was fun to be part of this project and gain a greater insight into what Street art is about. It was lovely to see people enjoying the art being done in their neighbourhood on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. It is such community-based art.

A watercolour sketch from the kitchen, of a Japanese Maple, my parents gave me.

I enjoyed doing this sketch from my kitchen table looking out the back window. It was done quickly to record the wonderful colours on a Japanese Maple that my parents gave us.   It is a simple freely painted sketch, but I still enjoy it as it takes me back to a happy times in our first home with a young family in Tamworth NSW.

Small Japanese Maple watercolour sketch

My first spray painted mural or street art

I very much enjoyed learning to do spray painting or street art from the well know street artist Crisp This was a collaborative effort with artists Crisp and Miko in Bogota Colombia. We had been invited to do some paint a mural of some ethnic Colombians, on the wall of project that assists children in a poor area in the mountains. I chose to do a Kogi Indian, as I had just seen some whilst hiking in the Caribbean. Crisp and Miko went back there a few weeks later and helped the children to do their own art on the wall also.

 Crisp taught me the process of making a stencil which involved choosing the photo, editing it and then making it into a tonal picture on the computer. I found this very was interesting. Then there was the tedious task of cutting the stencil out with a sharp knife and importantly leaving bridges, so the whole thing didn't fall apart. I had to be very careful not to accidentally cutting the bridges after cutting for hours and it was a test of concentration! Lucky I didn't have many layers of card to cut through like some of the experienced artists have.

Then of course there was learning to use a spray can in a way that gave the right effect. No drips, a nice clean line, shaking the can and moving it fast. What a challenge! I felt a great sense of accomplishment when the 1.5 meter Indian was finished. I will find a photo of the finished work for the next blog.

I would love to hear your ideas about street art. More to come in the next installment.

Work in progress. The black layer was done and now fixing the stencil for the next colour.

'Bellingen Home' Traditional style Watercolour 2013

'Bellingen Home' Watercolour (28cm x 19cm) 2013

This older style home at Bellingen NSW appealed to me as it had so much character and seemed to have a story to tell of families who had lived in it and still do. It seemed typical of many country old Australian weatherboard buildings of it's day. My watercolour sketch was done on site, sitting under a tree, to get shelter from the oppressive summer heat. The style harkens back to the style of painting I did 30 years ago, and it was comforting to do it. A bit like  chicken soup for the artistic soul! A traditional old style of painting for an old style home. The photo is a little darker than the painting.

It is certainly a contrast to the more abstracted acrylic and oil paintings I have been doing over the last couple of years.

Welcome to my blog.

Hello readers. Thank you for visiting my blog. My goal in making this blog is to let people know more about my art and my art making process, as well as receiving comments, tips and ideas from others. I use various media ie oils, watercolour, acrylic, ink, pastel and mixed media and various techniques to create Chinese and Japanese (Sumi-e) brushwork paintings, representational and abstract painting.