NEW WEBSITE

Hi everyone.  I now have a new website for all my artwork, so please keep following by clicking here...  www.barbstrand.com

thanks
Barb 

LOCAL INTEREST EXHIBITION

Our art society recently had an exhibition of Local Interest paintings.  I didn't have a lot of time to prepare for it, with all my travelling, so put together a four up digital artwork, having a go at the large number of most inconvenient roadworks going on around Albury Wodonga.  The exhibition was opened by a Wodonga councillor, a friend of mine, who appreciated the dig.

Detours

DIGITAL PAINTINGS

I always like to try something new.  Recently I bought myself a new Kindle,  and since then have been using it to do the odd digital painting.  I took it firstly to London, on my recent trip there, and found it a great way to record my travels, not in photos but in drawings.  So here a few samples:

Roses on the Wall - Sissinghurst

Underground Canal - London

Summer exhibition 2014 - Royal Academy of Art

9 by 5 Impressionist Exhibition

Here are the small paintings I did for our recent Albury Wodonga Artists Society exhibition, celebrating 125 years since the early Australian Impressionists Exhibition.  The early Ozzie impressionists used cigar boxes, 9 inch by 5 inch, for their paintings, and so I too used pieces of thin balsawood cut to size.  I really enjoyed painting these, even though they were somewhat fiddly for me, who normally enjoys doing big paintings.  I did three all  up, each in different styles. 

Falls Creek

Approaching rain - Ceduna

Cable Beach Broome

CATCHUP

Finally I am getting around to catching up on all that work that I've done during the latter part of 2013, and until now in 2014. It isn't all that many, as I have been busy doing other things. So here goes:

Bungle Bungles

Carrington Falls Abstract

Carrington Falls

Emma Gorge

NT

Karrajini

Prue's Birdbath

Still Life Begonias

AN EXPERIMENT WITH STYLE

I have been trying out a new contemporary style, which incorporates my love of bright colour, combined with my interest in painting landscapes.  See below for two paintings completed so far.

Jabirus

Snowy Creek

New Paintings First Quarter 2013

This year has involved a lot of travel, and very little time for painting.  However, here are some of the works I have had time to complete.  I have been taking painting lessons with Anne Collings in Wodonga, which have been very helpful in improving my use of colour.

The following two abstracts  were inspired by the hot bubbling mud pools and hot water pools of Yellowstone National Park.

Abstract Blue

Abstract Brown

This painting was inspired by a photo taken at a cafe in Annandale Sydney, where I was quite taken by the shape of their water flask, and the bright oranges of the OJ and the coffee cup.

Cafe Scene

My daughter is a keen fisherwoman, and this paintings was inspired by her recent fishing trip to WA.

Last Chance of the Day

I am a member of the Albury Wodonga Artists Society, and this painting was painted for an exhibition of local icons.  The painting was inspired by a photo I took at sunrise, as the sun came up over East Albury.

Sunrise - Harold Mair Bridge Albury

This painting was inspired by some recent trips into the mountains near Falls Creek, and Mount Hotham.  I love the use of strong colour, and the mountain stream reminds me of some wonderful camping holidays around Lightning and Snowy Creeks on the Omeo Highway.

Mountain stream

 This painting was inspired by a digital work that I developed from photos of an arrangement of tulips.

Tulips Abstract

This painting, which is quite colourful, was painted just after my husband had a serious accident on his bicycle, and I was feeling quite down.  Just needed the colour, and the peace of the underwater scene, as I recalledl from my student days working at Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef.

Coral

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
 

New Paintings

It's been a while since I last posted something, so a quick fill in about what I have been doing:

• Just before Christmas 2011, I put together some small paintings for the Albury Art and Craft Market and managed to sell 4 paintings there.  Very encouraging.

 

• Then I had a combined exhibition with a friend from the Albury Artists Society at the local Wodonga Plant Farm in February 2012 "People and Places" - sold only two paintings but am not discouraged.

• I have started at Wodonga TAFE doing a Cert IV in Visual Arts and Crafts.  Have included three paintings prepared for that course below.

• One is a painting of daughter Carly - what a headache this one was - lots of people have told me that it's really hard to do a portrait of someone close, and they are definitely right.  It's nearly impossible - you get too picky and far too tight in your painting because you are trying to make the portrait look like the loved one and reflect all your feelings and knowledge of that person.  In the case of Carly, I have tried to reflect her interest in design by giving the background a bit of an edgy look by including the chequered colors. For those of you who know Carly, see if you can recognise her in my effort!! 

Carly
2012

• The second TAFE painting was a still life called "The Conservatory" -  a painting from a visit to the Conservatory at the Hobart Botanical Gardens - I was totally captivated by the building (and of course the Begonias), and hence all the glass and timber members form a key part of the painting. 

The Conservatory

•  The third painting for TAFE is called "Ned Kelly's gang hits the Big City".  You can guess we were required to paint a bushranger theme along the lines of Sidney Nolan.  I totally had a great time putting this painting together.

Ned Kelly's Gang hits the Big City"

Finally, we have just got back from three months travelling around central Australia then West Australia.  As a result I have plenty of material and some great memories which I am planning to use in an "All Australian" series.   So I have started to put together a group of Australia paintings, and the first two are included below. 

• The first "Australia series" painting i is called The Olgas, and I must admit that I love  the colours in this one.  For those of you who know me, you will know that my favourite colour is yellow!! I know it's not to everyone's taste.

The Olgas
 

The second "Australia series" painting is called "Karijini Framed" and is an interpretation of the many gorges in Karijini National Park in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.  I was totally taken by the beautiful colourful water pools ( they were an aqua blue colour in reality, but I have taken the liberty of painting the water  a beautiful purply blue, as reflecting the colour of the sky, and the huge gorges. The melaleucas and gums in the gorges were badly marked by damage from floods, so these took my eye. 



 

Karijini Framed
 

Please let me know what you think of them all!! Love to get feedback!


Some Birds

As part of my experiments in the Asian style, I have been practicing painting birds. I have really enjoyed this, and think I will definitely be doing more.   Here are two paintings of cranes - very simple, but fun.

Three Cranes 1

Three Cranes 2

A Touch of Asian

Recently I obtained several books on using the Asian painting style.  I have found the simplicity of colour, and the delicate paintings of the Asian style quite intriguing, and have tried incorporating it into some small studies, which I have included here for interest.  I have been painting flowers, landscapes, grasses, fruits and birds, and have totally enjoyed doing it.  Here are some examples, done in acrylic on canvas. Apologies for the quality, because I took the photos through the glass frames, as I was heading to the market with them.  I have found that they are just the right size to paint for a reasonable price.

 

A Touch Of Paris



Le Consulat - a rainy night



Every now and then I want to paint something real, and in this case I had a lovely photo of Paris at night.  I am a little hesitant at reproducing what is best shown in a photo - I am not a camera.  So I have taken a little liberty with the photo and added my own touches, as well as removed a few.  The Le Consulat restaurant is located in Mont Martre, which is a popular tourist destination in Paris with lots of little back streets and restaurants and cafes.  I have included below a photo of it during the day - pretty dingy I would have to say.

The photo I used for this painting was a very bright and vibrant picture, but I wanted to show dark, wet and lonely.  So with a little manipulation, and use of a very french blue colour throughout, I think I have achieved that.  The dome of Sacre Coeur looms in the background like a ghost hovering in the foggy clouds.


A photo of Le Consulat by day - courtesy of the internet.



"Lost Souls"



Lost Souls 1 of 2



These two paintings are quite different to my normal work.  The title "Lost Souls" reflects my thoughts as I painted these.  In my mind, the blackened gum leaves floating over the red burned landscape, reflect on lost souls and life as a result of the huge bushfires that still loom large in our memories.  For our family, our memories go back to 2003 and the bushfires that severely burned around our home in the Mitta Valley, and destroyed parts of our local community.  The more recent bushfires of 2010 with their huge loss of life also loom large in my mind, and will never be forgotten.

The unspoiled flowers reflect the hope of a new life, the ability of the landscape to regenerate, and for people to adapt to their new circumstances.

Hope you too can understand the depth I felt when painting these two paintings.  It has been very difficult for me to finish them.



Lost Souls 2 of 2






Waterfall Carnarvon Gorge

One of the places we loved visiting during our recent trip to Queensland was Carvarvon Gorge National Park.  The gorge features a number of different walks, and one of  the walks went to an extremely lovely spot called Moss Gardens.  The area was very green and lush, and had a lot of moss and a small waterfall and pool.  I took a photo of the waterfall thinking that it might make something good to paint, and I have included one of the photos for interest.  I have made two paintings of the waterfall - the first being in its original greens and with moss and ferns.  I was very disappointed with this first painting, because it had no zing and was pretty boring.  So I decided to have another go. 

Anybody who has been to Carvarvon Gorge will quickly say that the colours in my second painting are nothing like the gorge, and they are quite right.  The rock colour in the gorge is quite whitish brown, and very washed out looking.  The original photo shows the rock as being brownish white with  touches of red oxide in the cracks, so I decided to exaggerate the red, and thereby give the painting a little lift.  I am told by my husband that it makes it too unreal!!  Too bad because I quite like it.  After changing the painting to reds, I just couldn't leave the moss there anymore, as it looked wrong, so hence the changes.

Photograph - Moss Gardens Carnarvon Gorge

Carnarvon Gorge 1

Carnarvon Gorge 2