JKPP Down Under at The Edge Cafe

The Edge Cafe, Launceston

I've had over had numerous solo exhibitions at The Edge Cafe in Launceston, Tasmania (an island State of Australia)  over the last four years. I sold near 20 oils, acrylics, watercolors in landscapes and figure paintings, and few Conte nudes as well from there, though this exhibition had no prices marked and was really just for show.

But most of all, I have enjoyed a warm friendship with Toni and Chris, the owners.

But sadly, they are selling up and moving on.
 
And fate is telling me it's time for me to move on too.
 
And so for my last little exhibition there I had put up some of my sketches for Julia Kay's Portrait Party - JKPP Down Under.

You can see the works on display here, here, and here, as well as read about the wonderful Julia Kay's Portait Party on Flickr.

The exhibition came down today. The turning of a page.
 

My JKPP work down under and back the front.

Farewell Toni and Chris. Have a wonderful new adventure in the Sunshine State. Thanks for all your wonderful support over the years.

Toni serving at table.

Another for Julia Kay's Portrait Party

Dan for JKPP, pen, chalk and watercolor on paper, 26 x 36 cm

Another contribution to Julia Kay's Portrait Party., the Flickr group of near 400 artists who post photos of themselves and then proceed to draw and paint each other. Great fun. Great people.

The Zefrank Scribbler

 

What A Tangled Web We Weave

This morning while checking out the latest contributions to Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr, i came across the wonderful work of Maureen Nathan. Among her drawings was a one entitled self from memory.

At first i thought it had started life as a doodle but closer inspection revealed it was done with a computer program called The Scribbler by zefrank.com. You probably already know it but it was the first i had ever heard of it.

It is a web-based drawing program where you do some free drawing with your mouse cursor and then, when you are ready, the program re-draws what you have done with those evocative web-like structures.

Needless to say i then also tried a self-portrait from memory, the results of which you see above.

You can have a go on Scribbler for yourself here. Have fun.

And by way of appreciation, i used Scribbler to draw a portrait of Maureen for JKPP from this photo.

This was the result.

more Julia Kay's Portrait Party

some more of my recent contributions to Julia Kay's Portrait Party

Sue, ink, watercolor and crayon on paper, 30 x 40 cm

Raena, watercolor on paper, 30 x 40 cm

Juilia, charcoal on paper, 30 x 40 cm

and a Springer Spaniel, dear friend of a dear friend, that i painted as present

Gemma, watercolor on paper, 40 x 30 cm

Emily for Julia Kay's Portrait Party

Emily, oil on polypropylene, 35 x 45 cm  SOLD

here is a portrait of Emily that i knocked off for Julia Kay's Portrait Party (my semester break fun) over the last couple of days.

The original photo supplied to JKPP by Emily can be seen here.

I painted onto white polyproylene panel knowing the brilliant white reflective surface would contribute a luminous quality to Emily's skin. The painting came out nothing much like an Alex Kanevsky (see my earlier post on his technique here). Seems my mark-making is just more restless and variegated than his calm and methodical layering.

Emily has amazing eyes  and skin, and i wanted to feature them by juxtaposing a finely worked face in a sea of painterly  marks.

Placing idealized features directly beside abstract expressionist fields of impasto alla prima color, where the clothing, hair and background are none realistic,  has the effect of bringing out the porcelain doll quality in her photos. Can one legitimately  mix styles in a painting?

Julie Kay's Portrait Party

the other day i kindly received an invitation to join Julie Kay's portrait painting group on Flickr.

the idea is that one sends in photos of oneself, and then paints and posts portraits of the others who have sent in their photos. The huge attraction for this blogger is that NO SELF-PORTRAITS ARE ALLOWED!

The whole thing is a lot of fun, with 231(last count)  talented members creating a constant stream of brilliant, clever, humorous, beautiful, dramatic, whimsical, insightful, inventive portraits in every imaginable style. Thanks Julia for organising it all.

yahooooo, a holiday for me, and for you, gentle reader, from morbid introspection (it is actually my semester break).

so here are some of the paintings and drawings i completed and posted on the Painters Party over the last few days. They are a mixed bag because i'm using the oppotunity to motivate me to revisit some of my older styles of working and to try out some new ones.

goat transforming, oil on black paper, 23 x 28 cm

Inma, watercolour on paper, 27 x 23 cm

Allan, reed pen and ink on paper, 26 x 34 cm

Herman, brush and ink on paper, 26 x 34 cm

FlickChick, Conte crayon on paper, 32 x 24 cm