271 Austinville Road

Since the release of GOOD ART cards I've had lots of questions about the images, in particular '271 Austinville Rd' (acrylic on board, 180cm x 120cm, 2009). This painting is really a landscape taken from some sketches I did of a friends property on the Gold Coast. The paintings were part of the Abundant series, depicting joy as a landscape we can dwell in, using significant places and events as image sources. And this property is one such significant place. We have known these beautiful friends for over 10years and they have had an incredible impact on our lives. Whenever we visit this place there is calm, and revitalisation, and a 'filling' that happens. Such a beautiful location- secluded and quiet, with creeks and falls nearby. It truly is a special place to us-  plus we actually had our first real family holiday with there at the end of of 2008 with our son. Our friends generously offered their home to us for a few weeks while they were overseas- and after a busy season in our lives it was just what we needed! This is when I took the sketches and then came home and began the paintings.

I started by doing some pencil sketches while i walked from the front of the property, creating  a 'mud map' of the path I walked. 

 I stopped and took some sketches at different points around the property

 One of several initial drawings. (graphite and oil pastel on cartridge).  I took parts of my first sketches and did some drawings like this one where I started to focus in on some exaggerated lines, leaving out unnecessary detail and highlighting the most important features. 

'High Places'....getting there...you can see the clear relationship to the initial drawing, though the line work has been exaggerated and distorted some more, and the colours are different!

 'High Places' finished. 

'271 Austinville Road' The line work has been taken from a zoomed in view of the top half of the previous painting, and then further exaggerated and abstracted.  The lines are flowing and fluid. The colours are a bit softer in this one than the previous one. The palette is warm and rich- because thats how a significant place feels.  I wanted the viewer to feel embraced by the landscape.

So there you go. A brief history, and a little sneak at behind the scenes for '271 Austinville Rd'. Get your hands on a piece of it by grabbing some GOOD ART cards. All profits to provide lifechanging surgery for women in Nepal suffering uterine prolapse. Give health and dignity, and change a community- because when mother is well, children are fed and cared for,  and if mother can work then kids can go to school and get an education!!

Filming and building.

Lately I have been doing some filming with Kent Marcus, putting together a short documentary. Kent is always fantastic to work with- not only because his photography and filmmaking is beautiful, but because he is very 'unobtrusive' and makes it easy to work in the most natural way, so you can forget the camera is even there. So I'm excited to see the final product. So far he has already filmed my last exhibition, on location at rockpools, in meeting with a client for a contracted commission, and in my studio.

Today we had another cameraman come and film the next stage- preparing the surface.

My carpenter custom builds each of the surfaces for me to specific measurements (this piece will consist of two panels making up a whopping 2.4m x 1.8m!). 

Each panel is braced to ensure there is no bowing or warping and to also give the painting stability and depth. Once it is all braced up we begin the slow process of priming the surface with a professional primer (an undercoat). Paint. Dry. Sand. Paint. Dry. Sand. Paint. Dry. Sand.

It's painfully slow but I believe it's necessary to create the best surface to work on, and also to offer buyers the highest quality product.

Next we are hoping to set up a camera to capture some of the process of painting- perhaps even some time lapse so we can really see the painting coming together!

However, that will have to wait. Bummer! I'm heading interstate to do some presentations this week. But I'm busting to get started when I get back!!

sketchbook wednesday

a few weeks ago I started playing around with some sketches from the snow. I am busting to do some  painting of the seasons. I think these would be a good start for a  'winter'  series. What do you think?

sketchbook wednesday

 a pen sketch of some trees I was looking at out a window.

Lately

I've been away from the studio a bit lately. I'm not sure how it has happened, but somehow the next 8 weeks of my life are going to be a whirlwind blur. Soon we leave to go away on an annual family trip (which is exciting, but one of the most daunting packing exercises I undertake each year).  There will be presenting and filming, and more presenting, and flights south, more filming,  then flights north, giant fundraisers, and even a trip to the zoo! So on the whole there are lots of fun things, but needless to say, it's all a bit nuts!


Meanwhile, my new website is on it's way. My clever designer has shown me some sneak peeks of the work in progress and.....it's completely fantastic. I can't wait to show you all. 


Thanks so much for the support I've received for GOOD ART cards. I've shipped a whole bunch of packs since I launched them here last week. Awesome! But I have 500 packs to move, people!!  We want to give as many Nepalese women as possible the opportunity to recieve this life changing surgery. Tell your friends! And watch this vid to find out about where your money is going:




HOPE IN MOTION 9: PROLAPSE from Asian Aid on Vimeo.

GOOD ART: ART FOR GOOD

They're here! 
These cards will save lives and change the planet! All profits, yes ALL profits will help provide life changing surgery for women in Nepal suffering Uterine prolapse.

There are two different packs available with 4 postcards in each. Each pack contains 2 different designs.

 Printed on 100% post-consumer recycled card with soybased inks. All envelopes and packaging are 100% post consumer recyled also. Lovely.

You can purchase the cards HERE!!.  Hey, would you look at that! There's a shop, right here on my website, it's at the top, with all the other tabs...see!. Or if you are local and we can arrange a drop off/pick up just email me joanna@joannadarby with your order to save postage (if you order through the shop you'll automatically be charged postage)

Watch this video to find out exactly where the money from this project is going, or you can  visit Asian Aid for more info. 

sketchbook wednesday

this one's not from any of my painting series, just an old sketch of my hand.

what is your favourite subject to sketch?

sketchbook wednesday

Most of the sketches I do are super fast- partly because I have a short attention span, but mainly because I have a 3yrd old and  an almost 2yr old who are professional interrupters.

a super quick sketch I penned last week when at the park with my son. It's his pride and joy.

sundays are for.....

The principle of art is to pause, not bypass -Jerzy Kosinski

Coming soon!

Lot's has been going on behind the scenes here. I'm very excited. See:

So....wanna know what's in the works??!

• An online shop! For the first time I will make some limited edition prints available. You'll have to keep your eyes peeled for these because I won't keep constant stock. You might have noticed the shop tab up there at the top. Oh yes. The bare bones of my online shop is in place....though there is no stock.....yet! Stay tuned!  Once my stock arrives and we pretty it up it will be officially opened and ready for business.....
• Postcards! This is the most exciting development around here. Two sets of postcards on beautiful recycled card with gorgeous vegetable inks, with ALL PROFITS going to Asian Aid to provide life changing surgery for women suffering uterine prolapse in Nepal. More details about this in another post soon.
• New look website! My little bloggy website thingy here has been in much need of an overhaul. For ages. But I'm totally not a tech-head and have no idea about internet code and can barely upload an image. True story. However, I do have a talented friend who speaks computer language and is going to help me out and I'm very excited about a whole new look. 
• Open studio! That's right. I'll be offering limited places to come and check out the studio, discuss processes, tools and materials,  share a long and lingering morning tea, and then a fun drawing workshop.

oh the excitement! Thanks for all your support and patience.

It's like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks

I've been away on holidays recently and was delighted to come home and find my sketchbook had arrived.

A teeny tiny little brown book. Empty. But full of possibility.


The Sketchbook Project is a very cool initiative indeed. It is run by the Art House Co-op and involves thousands of artists from all over the world, completing tiny little sketchbooks, in whatever way they want, and then submitting them back to a travelling sketchbook library exhibition. 
Thats right. A whole bunch of these sketchbooks pop up in cities around the world, people come and visit, and look at all the sketchbooks. How fun!

sketchbooks from the 2011 tour, now in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Art Library.

Artists can also choose to digitise their sketchbook so that people all over the world can hop online and flip through the pages. So when my book is done and sent to the US, you can all still view it! I believe there are plans to bring all the Australian contributions to exhibit in Melbourne at some point. I'd love to go down and spend 2 days drinking coffee and eating pastries and looking at sketchbooks...

So now I have in my hands, my own specially barcoded sketchbook. Ready for me to fill. The starting theme I selected is 'treehouses'
It's hard to know whether to experiment with something completely new....


I'm nervous!

the best Chai... and some art

I spent the afternoon with my husband setting up some works at Cornerstone Cafe, an organic and wholefood cafe nestled inside Organic Feast at East Maitland.

We are actually going to head back tomorrow to do a shuffle on some of the paintings to make sure we get a best fit (you really can't tell what works until you take the pieces to the space)

(I think we are going to bring in a giant painting for this space)

If you haven't been there, you are missing out on  the best organic beef curry around, soup that really does taste homemade, bread like grandma used to make, and salads that can not be beat (I'm not talking about those caesar salads that are all lettuce- I'm talking about yummy interesting quinoa salads, lentil salads, beetroot salads, rice salads....)

And did I mention the chai? No syrup or powdered chai here. The real brewed stuff. It's the best I've tried in all newcastle (and I'm a chai snob! ha!)
Go get some. 


Cornerstone Cafe is open  mon-fri  from 9am-4pm and saturdays 9am-2pm
 cnr Lawes and William St, 02 49337849

Sketchbook wednesday

 a little page from my 'year of the home' sketchbook

Sketchbook wednesday

I've decided that every wednesday I'll share a peek from one of my sketchbooks (how about that, a little order on this here blog of mine!). Why? So you can see my process, and see things I'm working on, or have worked on. Some will be great, some will be rough and ready. To start, here's two pages from my (mind)map sketchbook.

What are you sketching at the moment?

what a week!

Two paintings sold, two commissions arranged, and a small show at the Cornerstone Cafe in Organic Feast confirmed. All topped off with a night out at a suave cocktail party in a Hunter Valley Vineyard last night. Tapas degustation. oh. my.

brushes that are dying to get out and dance around on a blank board

one of the paintings that went to a new home this week

all dressed up. pity you can't see my fancy hair at the back and my pretty hair piece thingy.

The cafe gig is nice timing. I am running out of storage space and I'm keen to get some new work started- it will be good to get some work out of the studio to make room! I will be showing pieces from the (mind)map exhibition, plus a couple of new ones that were created as part of the series but wouldn't fit at Compass Art Space. (Including one sweet little miniature I dropped off at the framers last week, a studio fave that will finally see an audience.)


AND
I finally finally got word that I have a shipment on it's way. For my new shop. Oh yes.
Stay tuned for more info on that one.


( a shipment? A shop?! Are you buzzing? Are you twitching with excitement? I am.)

Finished!

Ta da!  Last night I finally finished this piece. Good.

progress: on my easel right now

Last thursday I went to bed and couldn't sleep. There was an image in my head. At 1am I was so frustrated and ready to explode that I got up out of bed and spent three hours in the studio- I just had to get some work out of my head and onto the page! So I started. Then went back to bed. A creative explosion.

 I've been plodding away for a few hours every night since then and this is where I'm up to:

sketches all over my studio walls

start with an acrylic wash and blocking in the underpainting. 

mapping out shapes and colours. I'm working on a heavy weight card. It is super thick and stiff so I have not soaked and taped/stretched it (like a watercolour paper). I don't think I'll be using enough paint for it to warp.

begin working up the top layers in top section to get some more direction before continuing the background

blocking in more background. layer. layer. layer.

tools. Acrylic paint. Spreader medium. Drying retarder. Brushes. Palette knife.

more tools. graphite. 6B. 7B. 9B. and oil pastels.

working my way down the page with more layers and building up the detail

 

It is by no means finished, but just thought I'd share a sneak peek of what's been happening in my studio over the last week.