The Rainbow Serpent

Our final project for TAFE this year was a textile project, and we were asked to make a textile sculpture of a mythological character in a cushion like base.  Having just returned from a trip through Western Australia and the Northern Territory, I chose of course to make a rainbow serpent.  He is about 2m long, so quite large.  He turned out to be very beautiful, with his coloured rainbow spots and his beautiful scales underneath.  In addition, he is totally wired so that he can sit in any position.  Having read back through this, I am wondering if I should be calling my serpent a She!

The Rainbow Serpent

Digital Art

At TAFE this semester, we have been learning a little about Photoshop and using it to create art pieces.  All I can say is that I just love what I can do with Photoshop! Love it, love it, love it!  So far we have just touched the tip of the iceberg in class, but I think my background in computing is helping me to grasp the principles fairly quickly.  I must admit that I just love colour and in "Visit the Zoo"(below) I drew on August Macke (German expressionist early 1900's) for inspiration from his colourful "Zoo" series.  In my work "The Dancers" (below), of course my inspiration was Andy Warhol.

Visit the Zoo
 

The Dancers



 DIGITAL COLLAGE

 Our first digital collage project required us to collect some objects from about the home, scan them into the computer, and then create some digital collage.  Objects I collected included an old pianola roll, old photos of my grandparents, an old crocheted doilley, and various pieces of fabric from my stash.  Here are my efforts so far using these scanned objects in Photoshop. The two works "The Rose 1" and "The Rose 2" are tributes to my grandparents. 

The Rose 1

 

The Rose 2

The work "Tommy" is a tribute to our aboriginal guide at Oenpelli in the Northern Territory - a very quiet spoken gentleman by the name of Tommy. To create this work, I overlaid an Aboriginal flag, a photo of Tommy, a piece of material of Aboriginal motifs I bought in Alice Springs, and a "red centre" landscape of my own.

Tommy

Another Karijini landscape

Here is another Karijini landscape, which follows on from the previous post.  Same spot - different angle (looking down the gorge this time) and different time of day.  I have spent quite a bit of time with the pallet knife to get the bark on the paperbarks looking realistic.  Looks great in the real!

Karijini Framed 2