Some good news

Just a quickie to let you know some good news. Firstly "my red boots" won the 'People's Choice' award and tied for 'Most Creative Use of Theme' challenge in the NZ Art Guild and is on the front page here if you want to have a look.

And secondly, my piece in the current NZ Art Guild exhibition at the Bruce Mason Centre currently has sold! I'm really pleased with that.

I actually have several paintings on the go at the moment but they are all at that very ugly stage (the coloured blobs on canvas stage as my husband refers to it) so I'll keep going and post some progress soon when it makes more sense to others.

My red boots - a crack at colour pencil

Each fortnight the NZ Art Guild has a fortnightly theme challenge. The last one is "winter" and the challenge was that you had to use a medium that you haven't used before. I've had a 24 pack of Derwent coloursoft pencils that I bought a while ago, so I thought that I would give them a try. I did this on Art Spectrum black colourfix paper which I had actually bought for pastel work but seemed to work fine for coloured pencils.

The reason for the boots? One of the very few things I like about winter is the fact I get to wear boots and this year I bought these beautiful red boots that I love dearly and try to wear as much as possible. I wore them to the NZ Art Guild opening night last tuesday and kicked them off when I get home (am a slippers girl at home, and actually croc slippers at the moment horror of horrors). On wednesday morning I saw them lying there and thought, that will be my way of symbolising winter in this current challenge.

I enjoyed using the coloured pencils and I probably spent about 3-4 hours on this. I can see how if you spend a lot more time, how some artists come up with incredible realistic detailed work using coloured pencils. I left the background looser and tried for more detail and smoothness on the boots. It's okay for a first crack and I think I might play around with them some more. I don't think any medium will beat oils for me though, I love oils best.

Reach Out!

Here is the official image of Reach Out. I am so proud to be involved in this project and have thoroughly enjoyed the behind the scenes side of things as well. Big thanks to my lovely husband who looked after the practical side of things and built the frame/base etc.

It is huge, 1.27m x 1.52m. 88 artists have contributed and it is made up of 90 individual artworks. You can see individual photos of all the individual artworks here. The way it worked was that each artist was provided with a small wooden panel and given the theme of "on your mind" to paint to. They could interpret the theme in any way they wished. We then combined the images to make the one artwork. None of the contributing artists knew what the image was until we unveiled it on Tuesday night.

Information
Artists: 88 individual NZ Art Guild Artists painting 90 separate panels
Media: Wood (some artists have incorporated mixed media also)
Size: 1270 x 1520mm
Extras: Sold with hanging brackets, artist list & informational story
Designed by: Sophia Elise, Melissa Muirhead and Tanya Dann

FOR AUCTION!!
To be listed on Trademe at 8pm Saturday 19th July - auction closes 8pm 29th July

20% of the proceeds will be donated to the Mental Health Foundation of NZ

And here is a photo after the unveiling. From left to right: Shaughan Woodcock (Chief Executive Assistant, Mental Health Foundation of NZ), Melissa Muirhead (NZ Art Guild Moderator), Sophia Elise (Manager, NZ Art Guild), Mayor Andrew Williams (Mayor of North Shore City)

There is also a limited edition print of 'Reach Out' available right now as well as the ability to order individual boxed prints of the individual pieces. For details on how to order these, please click here.

NZ Art Guild Exhibition Opening

Here are some photos from the fantastic evening we had. There was a great turn out, a number of sales and an extremely positive response from the attendees when we unveiled the collaborative project (which I can now post a photo of as it has been so secret squirrel for the past month even though it was hanging on my wall during that time). This photo is of the downstairs area. You can see my sunset seascape hanging at the top further back

This is right before the great unveiling with me on the left and Sophia Elise on the right. I was a bit worried I was going to miss my cue about dropping the curtain but it was all good.

And this is right after the unveiling. There was about 10 seconds of silence and then everyone started reacting. Then for the next hour people kept on coming up to look at it in close detail. We got fantastic feedback from everyone there.

And here is a photo of 'Reach Out'. Later this month it will be auctioned on Trade Me. I will post the link at the time. 20% of the proceeds will be donated to the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand which is a fantastic organisation for the NZ Art Guild to support. Personally I think this piece would be fantastic in a foyer/entrance area of a corporate or community building as it is so large and has such an impact it would be such a focal point. I really hope the auction goes fabulously and lots of money is raised for the Mental Health Foundation.

NZ Art Guild Exhibition opens tonight!

Well, yesterday was hanging day for the annual NZ Art Guild exhibition at the Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna, Auckland. We had lots of fun and a small team of us started in the morning by getting the collaborative artwork hung and then covered quickly in preparation for the grand unveiling tonight! We then prepared all the panels with artist's names, profiles, business card holders etc so at 1pm, the artists could come themselves and hang their pieces in the space allocated to them. Artists from outside Auckland were kindly adopted by Auckland artists which meant they couriered their artwork to their adoptee last week and the adoptee hung it for them yesterday along with their own piece(s).

We were having a bit of a quiet lunch break after a busy morning preparing, which came to a sudden halt at 1pm exactly when about 10 or more artists came to hang their pieces. Everyone had come by 3pm so within a couple of hours it became a fully hung exhibition. And can I say that it looks great. There is incredible diversity in the artwork, and there are pieces that will suit all budgets and preferences.

Tonight is the opening night so I am really looking forward to it. A nanny has been booked for the evening so my DH can come with me. He built the frame and base for the collaborative project and has been really involved so I think he is actually really looking forward to tonight as well.

I'll get some photos taken tonight and hopefully post these tomorrow. So exciting!

Oh, and here are the details again from the opening night invitation - open to all.

'Make it Memorable'
Opening night:	Tuesday 1st July 2008 at 6:30pm – free entry – all welcome
Venue:	Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna Beach, Auckland
Date:	July 1st - 30th 2008
Open:	Monday to Friday 9 - 5 & Saturday 10 - 4

The NZ Art Guild would like to formally invite you to the opening of the 3rd Annual Members Exhibition "Make it Memorable", which is being held at the Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna, Auckland on the 1st July at 6.30pm..

Not only are we showcasing a stunning array of original New Zealand art by 63 artists from around NZ, but we will also be unveiling this years Collaborative Project, "Reach Out"!

Reach Out is a large, awe inspiring artwork comprising of 90 individual paintings completed by 88 NZ Artists.. At the end of the exhibition this one-of-a-kind artwork will be auctioned off on TradeMe with 20% of the funds raised being donated to the Mental Health Foundation of NZ.

The NZ Art Guild is proud to be working with the Mental Health Foundation of NZ to enable individuals, whanau, organisations and communities to improve and sustain their mental health and to realise their full potential.

We would be delighted if you would join us in the opening celebrations of this fantastic exhibition.

For more information go to

www.nzartguild.co.nz or www.mentalhealth.org.nz

Serendipitious Serenity - completed

I think this is finally finished (after thinking that about 3 times before and then fiddling again). You will see that some of the sand areas are softened and I have fixed up the shadow to reflect the shape of the larger rock. I have also worked on the rocks more and softened the colour of the rocks further back. You can see that better in real life.

I still can't get into wetcanvas (as they have been down with server problems for several days now) so I still can't acknowledge the photographer who graciously allowed this photo to be used.

In terms of the title in case you were wondering...well serendipity is a huge thing for me and my husband. Over and over again, things tend to happen for us and our businesses, just at the very moment they need to happen and things appear at the right time. We have got to a point that we trust that this will happen (which takes a bit of stress away, especially when it is things like financing new business opportunities and properties). So for this piece, it is about finding that moment of serenity when you just need it. And personally it is the sky at sunset that speaks to me most when I think about serenity.

WIP - another seascape

Just giving you a quick update - I thought that I had pretty much finished this but then changed my mind so I've been doing some more work on the rocks today (which you can't tell in the photo as the paint was wet and it's all merged) and I think I still need some glazes to soften some areas too. So hopefully will put on final touches when babies are sleeping tonight.

I was listening to an interesting podcast from the cycling artist last night and she was talking about how different people are starters or finishers. She said that she was a finisher so was talking about the whole white canvas thing and how she gets over that. I think I definitely lean more towards the starter side of things. I love the white canvas and have no problem putting that first mark on it. It is when it is almost finished that I just want it over with so I can start on the next idea and I have to be very disciplined with myself to ensure that it actually is finished. Like the whole painting around the sides thing - I do paint around the sides as I go but when I am doing the tidying up, I often forget about those and then I think I've finished and then check the sides and they are as rough as guts. So I am definitely keen to get this one done as I want to do an oil portrait of my son Carter and I have the reference photo and they idea in my head and a large canvas that I can't wait to start.

Oh, incidentally this one is oil on canvas 800 x 600 x 40mm and is loosely based on a reference photo from wetcanvas (go wetcanvas). I'll check who the photographer is so that I can properly refer to them when this is finished. Wetcanvas is probably the largest art forum in the world and members post photos that are available for other artists to use for reference. Fantastic resource as especially at the moment while my babies are so little, it just isn't feasible for me to head to the beach at sunset or sunrise as they need me at those times of day. I do prefer painting my own reference photos generally, but when you can't get somewhere it is great to have this resource that you can get references off and are allowed to paint them as copyright prohibits you doing this with other photos on the net as it should be.