Undergrowth - by Debb

And the poem says:

Little valley of ferns, dark grove, treasure trove. Here the
fire rekindles + sparks fly. Sunlight peeking curiously,
sheepishly through a canopy floating on stems,
kissing the autumn sky. Breathing in deep
+ sucking the marrow from life.
Here, no need for 'why?'
Pushing, unfurling, i'm growing again.
Bliss. Back up toward the sky.
Blue atumn sky.

Did i mention my scanner and i are not friends at the mo'?
It doesn't do justice to my colours ^^

Questionable Symmetry - by Debb

Shaun Tan is one of my all time favourite Australian artists, and in turn he's inspired by Paul Klee. So it makes sense that I'd like Paul Klee too! Klee is a recent discovery for me, and I love his experimentation with geometric shapes, vibrant colours and his playfulness with boundaries - sometimes crisp and othertimes bleeding into one another as if there's really no boundary at all. This pic' is Paul Klee inspired ^^

(Nb: If you Google 'image search' Klee you'll get a nice little taster of his style)

Chrysanthemum - by Deb

I was inspired by Shell's three flowers to paint one of the chrysanthemum blooms from the bunch I bought on Valentine's Day (a lady's got to do the spoiling herself when her man is overseas! ^^). The background is a page out of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which I found while I was out wandering. Reading those two pages so intrigued me.. I think its about time I read the novel!

Cloaked by the ocean - by Debb

This is a teeny tiny thumbnail watercolour painted on the back of an envelope. She wears the ocean for a cloak, weighed down by the sheer immensity of it and overwhelmed by all its contents, beautiful though they may be.

Sometimes, in the midst of despair with my studies, or when things in life aren't going quite as i imagined, this is how i feel. But the joy is that great inspiration emerges from such burdens, and in creativity lies release.

Nesting - by Debb

I've changed the background :) My cuckoo-shrike looks more at home amongst the green of the eucalypts, i think ^^

Nesting - by Debb

A black-faced cuckoo-shrike nesting in the summer heat. I'd like to have a further play with this, change the background... watch this space ^^

Tigermoth - by Debb

When we were young, my brother and I used to love catching insects in the summer. One of the most beautiful, although humble, creatures that was the target of our nets was the tigermoth - black, with bright orange spots on its wings and a tiger-stripe body. They aren't common where I live, but the rain and lush countryside have enticed a few our way. There's something very special about seeing an old friend who embodies childhood memories.

I've painted me as a tigermoth, talking to the cuckoo-shrikes. I'm fascinated by them, not only their cute colours, but the way they're always hanging around in groups, and going somewhere together at sunset. They only visit us in summer, and because of the recent drought, haven't been around a long time. They've returned with the rains, and never fail to deliver me a sense of curiousity when I'm out wandering with the wild things of an arvy.

Aussie chrissy deco's - Debb

(This one is a little blurry, sorry. I couldn't quite get the lighting right)

To celebrate having our first ever chrissy tree in our little flat, i made a small flock of handmade felt decorations to grace its branches, inspired by the galahs I see on my arvy walks. I especially wanted to make something that symbolised an Aussie christmas for me, because beautiful though they be, snowflakes and reindeers aren't part of my summer landscape (although there's a deer park down the road, wonder if that counts? ^^)

Recent linoprints - by Debb

I'm delighted to say i've completed my first print run of my linocut tree, which I've titled 'On a journey' (because the print-making process has indeed been a journey of discovery and understanding, and because I wouldn't mind being on a fantastical journey and happening to wander past this tree - one of the ladies in my class said it looks so lively, like its dancing). Of many prints, only 2 turned out! This is the 2nd best. The other is waiting to be hung in the gallery foyer for our class exhibition (Next week - most exciting!).

I carved out and printed up this second little black and white number today too, 'Book Girl'. I'll be in-filling with watercolours to brighten it up. After last week's attempts to print my burning thoughts sketch, with not much success (too detailed), i've relegated that one to the 'maybe someday' pile.

I'm loving my foray into print-making thus far + would recommend it to anyone who's up for a bit of creative experimentation!

Lino Print - My First! - by Debb

This is the print from my carved lino block (below) after 2 inkings, orange then red. My first lino-print!! I'll add one more colour, a midnight blue over the top, after carving out a few more details.. But I was impatient to share what I'd been up to so snuck one of my work-in-progress prints home ^^

I've begun work on the next carving now too. Am loving the process so far, there's so much involved in making a print, its been revealing learning about what goes on behind the scenes.

Burning thoughts - by Debb

I've been loving my print-making class thus far. This is a sketch of what i'd like to try next.

I'm hoping to start carving this print over the next week, and get printing next wed. Oooh, how exciting! I'm not sure where she came from, or what she means. But she asked to be drawn, and as the artist i obliged ^^ I've used coloured pencil to get an idea of the colours i might use, and the 'layers' of sucessive carvings i'll need to etch into the lino panel.

My tree (post below) is still a work in progess...I've wanted to bringthe prints i've made thus far home to upload but each week i've had to leave them drying on the paint rack! One more colour left, so perhaps next week..

Lino Printing - by Debb

I've just this week started a lino print-making course of an evening at our local art gallery. I'm loving it! This is my first ever lino tile carving. I'm yet to make my first print. Watch this space, I'll be uploading it next week!

Abstract to music - by Debb & guest artist Jacqui ^^

In the same art session, Jacqui and I chose a song and whilst listening to it drew lines with our eyes closed, on post-card sized paper. We used watercolours to paint and re-create it after.

The song was 'Who'll stop the rain?' by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Jacqui's painting is above, mine below.

We surprised ourselves by drawing many similar elements. It was inspiring to create an image that I would not of thought of painting otherwise..pushing the boundaries.

Portrait of a friend - by Deb

I had an especially lovely drawing sesh' with a friend of mine this week, in which we drew portraits of one another simultaneously. I get a buzz from doing portraits and drawing people, but I find creating realistic representations rather tricky.

This is my portrait of Jacqui. The resulting pic' has certain of her features, but mysteriously I've painted her both child-like and elderly all at once. The painting reminds me of a porcelain doll, or an 1800's child. The colours were more vibrant, my scanner likes to impart its own style to my art though ^^

More old territory revisited - by Debb

Revisiting more old ground, i've been flicking through old sketchbook pages and getting busy with my paint-brush. You can see the original post and unfinished image here:

http://soulknocking.blogspot.com/search/label/Babes%20in%20the%20Woods%20or%20other%20Strange%20Fairytales

There are a few more yet to come, keep an eye out for future posts ^^

Retreading old ground - by Debb

Once upon a time, about a year ago and in the midst of an icy cold winter, I began to paint a picture of warmth. More than a year later, with plenty of distractions in between, i unearthed it in my cupboard, incomplete. So i've been retreading old ground. Such a delight delving into old imaginings and reviving them anew.

You can see the old incomplete pic' here:
http://soulknocking.blogspot.com/search/label/Warmth

Do you have any old ground to retread?

Upcycled photoframes - by Debb

In my neck of the woods you've got to be well cashed up to afford photo frames. I'm not sure why, but even the simplest ones are expensive. The second hand store, on the other hand, sells frames from 50 cents to a few dollars. Bargain! Sure, they're a little rough around the edges, dirty or in need of TLC. But that's the joy of it, because with a little sand paper, paint and creative resuccitation they can be brought back to life in a jiffy. A cluster of frames upcycled thus now grace our walls. I cut 'photo mats' out from simple pieces of white cardboard and printed the pix on my home printer using photo paper. No need to say, I'll be on the look out for more frames next time I drop by my fave' second hand store.

Paper cutout & imaginary quests

All the paper cut outs i've been admiring lately have inspired this cutout of an imaginary quest. I loved seeing the stripes of the zebra emerge from the page. Other inspirations were nature doco's on birds of paradise, wild animal migrations, pondering rainy days spent playing in puddles and gushing gutters as a kid, and thoughts of growing nasturtiums...another childhood memory. I've been working on this pic' the last few months, slowly and bit by bit cutting and carving when I felt in the mood.

Garden - by Debb

A garden wild and weedy grew below our flat. Mostly grass and the rest bare earth, it was a sad scrawny patch hungry for love. So love we gave. We've changed it into a native flower rockery. Such a delight to walk past now, seeing the local bees and bugs sip at the buds and buzz contentedly. They're not the only ones contented. I felt such connectedness playing about in the soil and surprised to see so many critters still living in such a barren place.

Thought i'd share a few pix of our new flowers. I love the variety, colours, patterns and textures of each. Perhaps inspiration for future soulknockings. Is there a garden in your 'hood that could do with some creative sprucing? ^^

Joy of Nature cake

A few weeks back, our landlord send us a letter. There was to be a "working bee" on the weekend. We were excited. Our little gardens have so much potential. We envisaged new plants, a weeded yard-space, the trees delicately trimmed back. It was a day I would be working, so i'd see a 'before' and 'after'. Fun! Trucks came, utes, a whole bunch of people with landscaping gear. But in the afternoon when I came home, i was heartbroken to see all they had done was hack away at our trees, leaving stumps and devestation...a bit like clear-felling. We were both sad. Fewer birds came back. Did i mention they didn't plant a single thing? And they left all the weeds in the un-planted garden beds.

So, went a week or two ago we got another "working bee" letter we held our breaths, precautiously hopeful but mostly doubtful. In the morning we awoke to the the whine of chainsaws. Deep sigh... again. We looked out upon our garden with heavy hearts and anger. Suffice to say, what little was left of our trees were further savaged. All the little wrens and finches are well gone. Parrots too. Only our lone currawong remains. We see all the houses and suburban yards neighbouring that we once barely noticed because of all the green leafiness.

So you might wonder why we'd be making a 'joy of nature' cake? Simply, we wanted to remind ourselves of the lovely things we once had and reminisce a time past. Plus, we needed loads of chocolate to cheer our hearts. I felt so healed creating and decorating. Today we go to the nursey. We're planting the gardens ourselves.

100% vegan and devilishly devine... above are all the little details of decoration. I felt such joy crafting the delicate decorations for this feel-better cake