Some you win…

Last weekend I had my work Unravelling in the Derinya Art and Craft Exhibition (DACE), and although it didn’t sell I did have lots of positive feedback.

After picking it up I’ve put it on one of the gallery walls attached to the studio space here in Artspace8. It looks great (even if I do say so myself) and I haven’t got tired of it.

Unravelling (1,2&3), pencil on paper, Hilary Cresp, 2016

The intricacies of doing a piece quite this large is a challenge but one I’m willing to take up and I have a lot of this on my mind so I think it will form the backbone of a new exhibition. 

At DACE we did make a purchase… Eddie Zammitt and Travis Price collaborated on a limited edition print, which ticked our fancy. It’s a beautiful image well executed by a master of the genre. I love it.

I also took down the exhibition Endless, at Frankston Art Centre (FAC). It had been up there for a while and made a few sales, which was great. The curator there was really supportive as well as being pragmatic, which is of great benefit as I am not alone in being somewhat unsure of myself, so a guiding hand is wonderful. She gave me a couple of leads which I will follow up in the coming days.

Currently, I am working on a groovy little picture book. Hopefully the magic publishing fairy sees it and loves it as much as I do… and publishes it. I haven’t got a title yet but it will be finalised in the coming weeks.

Birdie, Ink, Hilary Cresp, 2016

I used the little darling in a screen printing workshop with Tim Growcott, a fabulous textile artist. Held at Oak Hill Gallery, Tim showed us how to make a screen using photographic emulsion and print on a carousel. The following week he showed how to strip a screen and placement printing - but I missed that day… :(

Cheers,

Endless - will it ever end!?!

My exhibition Endless is currently on display at Frankston Art Centre. 

Open from 9am-5pm  Monday to Friday and on Saturday from 9am until 2pm, it is being shown in the Atrium Gallery now until the 16th July, so if you missed its last showing and wanted to catchup with it or if you just wanted to see it again, you can!

Cheers,

On success and deadlines...

It's been an interesting month. The print put into the local art show sold! Which was unexpected and wonderful. Having no expectation of selling, and printing it for the purpose of getting ready for my own exhibition made this a bonus... and YES, I'm putting together my first solo exhibition.

The studio where I work has a gallery space attached and I've booked myself in and created a deadline. I've even told other people about it so, it is on! 

Dates are to be confirmed but regardless, everything that is to be framed needs to be completed by the end of August. eek! Only a couple of weeks away. 

If you want to be kept informed just sign up to my mailing list or follow me on twitter (@_essayer).

The works will all be about the washing. Yep, I still haven't got it out of my system. Hopefully this will purge it from me and I can approach the laundry with the same disinterest as the rest of the population. But I doubt it. The washing is always there, another load to wash, another to hang out, another to sort. It never f**king ends. You can never retire from the washing. 

Pegs though, are a fascinating bit of kit. Simple, effective, ubiquitous, useful and (dare I say it?...) essential.

Hand study : Roma i

Hand study : Olivia i

Hand study : Rex i

Hand study: Rex ii

AND... This week I'm the featured artist on the Illustrators Australia website. YAY!

I Got the Image in Me...

I've had an image in me, burning a hole in my brain, for quite some time and like anything, it needs to get out.

With the opportunity to prepare for a local art show in the works, I'm using it to justify sending the time on it. 

It was always going to be a lino cut. Funny how sometimes, you just know... sometimes it's clear and not right unless it's done that way. Other times of course you can puddle around for hours trying out different mediums, formats, compositions. Not this time.

I've done a small version to test out my technique and it seemed to go well so I'm looking forward to getting it finished and seeing it all.

Studio Exhibition: Icarus Flying Between the Sun and Sea

Some of you may know this already, I have studio space in Mornington at a place called ArtSpace8. It's a great place to work, with lots of like minded people around and has exhibition space.

There's an opening on Friday night (22nd May) if you're interested. It's been hung and looks fantastic... a new look at icons in Australia.

Melbourne Art Book Fair

Recently the Melbourne Art Book Fair was held and I went to the opening night at the NGV. It was a crowded affair with many beautiful books on display and for sale. It was a fantastic opportunity to see books from boutique and micro publishers as many of these type of publications a not held in bookstores. They're even hard to come across in independent bookstores.

I'm still processing some of the things I saw on the night, and I might discuss the later in other posts. Needless to say though the hall looked gorgeous, we are so lucky to have this available to us... (And I bought a tote bag! I love a tote bag.)

Website

As you can probably see I've redone my website, this time with Squarespace.

I transferred the last two blog posts to this format which is why the dates on both are the same.

Using the new platform was an interesting experience. I'm not technically illiterate but still found it challenging. I think the evolution of 'help' pages in the tech space in general is continuing to be a growth area. And trying to get my .au domain to point to the right place was fiddly, but I did it!

The industry seems to want us to do it all, which I think is the way to go - we then get to have more control in our own presentation on the web, and they try very hard to make it available to a broad audience, but have yet to hit a way of cutting through. I don't know what the answer is, it would be impossible to try and cover all bases of technical proficiency and platforms... and cultural differences (even if we all spoke the same language, semantics are everything) I don't envy their task at all. 

In general though, having used a number of platforms now, this experience has been the best yet. Its clean and simple design, although not intuitive enough for me yet, is the easiest I have had to use to date.

Now that it's done though, I can concentrate on making more art!

Mother's Day

I received an email from one of my sisters last week which took my breathe away with its simplicity and generosity of spirit. Sometimes it just takes a good idea and a bit of motivation...

St Kilda Mums is a  charitable organisation which provides help to mums who find themselves in trouble. Their project for Mother's Day is From one mother to another and your job is to make up a toiletry bag with all the essentials, send it in to them and they'll make sure a mum in need gets something she needs.

So with an open heart I built a couple and sent them off today. I shared it, like my sister, with my own friends and now they're involved too! It's not too late to  contribute, I reckon they won't even care if you're not a mum yourself and just want to help.

You can get more information from their website http://www.stkildamums.org/home/ and http://www.stkildamums.org/donate/from-one-mother-to-another or check them out on Facebook or Twitter

Thank you St Kilda Mums, you're ace!

From one mother to another

Sketchbook Project

I completed a sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project. All posted off on time and everything! The theme I chose was 'In Brief', so I drew everything in briefs... well, I thought it was funny.
It's a great project, check it out and join in for next year!