a Man's Shirt

This is a drawing of a my striped shirt,

bought at one of those suburban housewife parties,

popular in the 80’s.

I wore it throughout the long mothering years.

It was my go to favourite,

and detested by my husband.

He thought it was surely a ‘Man’s Shirt’…

even though the buttons were on the left-hand side… which I thought defined it as a woman’s shirt,

being that men’s shirts had buttons on the right… Right?!

But why I never said…

”Well, what of it?”

at the time,

still escapes me.

En plein air. Drawing. Painting. Walcha Country NSW. April 2018. Ross Laurie.

 A few weeks ago I was very fortunate to experience 3 full days of en plein air on Ross Laurie's home turf on the Tablelands of NSW, an arty village named Walcha, between Armidale and Tamworth.
I had a most awesome time.                It was organised by Beryl Miles of Art Workshops Australia and it was well worth the time, money and energy to participate.

Ross' wife Myf is an interior decorator/artist/ceramicist/angel/gourmet cook extraordinaire and i seriously have not eaten better...ever! Their art filled country home was to die for! Ross gave a great talk in his studio and we got to have a sneak peek at his glorious oil paintings being created for a show at King St Gallery in Sydney later in the year.

The drawings above were done on the first day on Ross and Myf's property.
Next day we drew at Apsley Gorge, 5 min drive out of town. 3rd day we put it all together...kinda, on boards with paint.
Of course, i thought I was now going to become a painter but have since realised, of course, that i have some serious limitations in achieving this and have settled back down again to be the mixed media drawer/collagist that I was always meant to be. But it was all a very lovely dream! These 3 below are what i got closest to calling paintings...

  And a little drawing of Laurie's tractor in situ, drawn in charcoal.

I have a very active instagram site named _donnamalone 

The other day I discovered a friend (Omkar, whose insta name is healers.life) is using his insta site as his sole blog!

I think it is a clever idea, especially for artists, as it is far easier for people to see and read your images, words and tags as they are happily scrolling through their instagram feed.

I pondered on that and then started thinking about just posting my tags here as my blog today. I think tags can be quite imaginative, informative and revealing.

Here are the tags I have been using and a few others that have come to mind as i wrote them up...kind of like automatic writing!

and here are a few WIPs i have been playing with lately...

#itsallinthelayers

 Till next time...

Everywhere now holds the evidence of both ancient natural cycles and human detritus.

As an artist, I listen to the conversation between the marks and scars that we, as humans, have made on the land and those left by Nature and Time.

My own sense of occupation and belonging, exile and longing, regeneration and return also come into question through this dialogue with the changing environment that surrounds me.

The motifs that surface in my work: the birds, the abandoned chairs and tables, the garments, the mystical hybrid creatures and religious icons, 

the orbs/circles - broken and pieced back together, nets and veils, the urgent childish scrawls and found lists, are a clue to the history and mapping of the layers that exist simultaneously in my mind and in the environment I find myself. 

The idea of recycling previously used paper and materials ties in with my interest in renewal and rebirth. 
The chance involved in the selection of grounds and working materials is not incidental as it forms an integral part of my creative process.

The paper or board might be torn, punched or folded, cut into separate pieces and glued or stapled together. The manipulation, by way of gauging, stapling and such, of the paper envelopes, book covers, pages from notebooks, vintage National Geographics, packaging cardboard and eclectic papers might seem accidental; as the medium and ground form an indivisible unity.

To Bloom where i am planted

is my mantra for 2018 - self explanatory, really

Well...the workshops are about to start...!

I have enjoyed getting my head around my processes to share with others.

I have 5 or 6 women interested and 5 are coming tomorrow

I have decided to forgo exhibitions this year and unstead concentrate on these workshops and getting a juicy portfolio together...slow it all down a bit and take stock.

Other things that have been happening are...I went to the fabulous Ron Curren's Dynamic Drawing class last week in Mullumbimby...a few of the drawings are down below...the model, Verity - a beautiful young woman, unbecomingly has became a grasshopper woman (as we had had a mini plague of them in our tiny front garden) 

and, of course, I have been fiddling around with more mixed media collages as i worked through the processes step by step for my little workshop group!

So...Keep Calm! Keep Cool! and Bloom Where You Are Planted!

Is Art decoration?

Well 3 or 4 years have past since i did a blog...I am still a full time artist...collaging and working with paper both here in the studio and outside...

I see that blogs could be a personal diary type activity more than a reaching out and joining in conversations with like minds type activity which my slightly younger self was hoping for...
So i will pick it up again.

Recent news is... i am planning on doing art workshops!
The flyers have been designed and are coming in the mail as I type and then i will be forced to put them around the place to see what happens...
The idea of teaching for me is a big stretch
But i have found that anything that stretches me out of my comfort zone surely is a good thing!

Thinking of myself as teaching art has really got the grey matter going though...and as an art friend recently said...
"You teach for yourself so you can become more concise and focused on what it is to be an artist and what it is your art is communicating".

Just last night, after chasing the possums and plenty of freeform gymnastics, my three year old friend Ari asked me "What is Art?"
When I went blank (I happen to have a head cold! :))
he asked "Well...Is it decoration?"...!!
This a true story and I have several witnesses to collaborate.
So when i see him, at the beach on Wednesday and if he is still interested, I want to tell him that...
"Art is the product of a persons individual expression of their truth of what life is! Being in the flow of that great river of creativity and actually having the discipline to express it uniquely produces Art! and it can be joyful! or sad or so many things and anyone can access that river through their inner artist."

I need to trust and of course do the work.

Collage... I actually dream of doing it in my sleep!

I was collaging before Venice this year but now it has really entered my bloodstream. 

I cut and paste this priceless advice on collage process from painter and collagist 

Harry Stooshinoff 

Harry Stooshinoff

"How to make a collage....
-dig around for a piece of painted paper, but don't dig too long or you'll drive yourself crazy
-cut or tear the paper.....put big pieces down first....the first 2 pieces cover the whole image size
-paint on the glue, apply immediately to the surface, place typing paper on top and rub, quickly turn typing paper over and rub again, so that you rub out any glue that squeezed out....don't let your hand touch the collage....much
-put your hand in the water bucket every so often, and dry off with gnarly old towel (old is good!), so that you don't stick to your coffee cup
-proceed until you are happy with your collage.....and always be happy.
-stare at your finished collage until you suck the life out of it....at this point you have to make something else....and repeat, forever.
-save the bigger pieces of cut up leftover collage paper, but the smaller pieces have to go in the garbage.....or you will surely drive yourself crazy! (but those smaller leftover pieces also look soooo nice....)
-always clean up after every session (things can get very STRANGE very quickly)."

Above are four of my own collages created pre Venice. 

The last two titled 'Starling City 1 and 2 ' were done in New York city in 2012