Pocket Garden

I am in this exhibition called Insert Coin Here - curated by Nella Themelios & Kim Brockett, comprising vending machines placed around Melbourne CBD and containing 'fashion objects' produced by over 50 Melbourne-based artists.



I didn't want to interpret 'fashion object' literally and also I didn't think I should pretend I know something about fashion, as I haven't really explored that areas in my practice and have no fashion sense myself!
So I decided to make something that can be carried everywhere quietly in someone's pocket or a bag, creating a space for imagination in daily life, and with a material that I'm more familiar with.



I was forming an idea of making miniature books and then I met this quote, Chinese proverb - "A book is like a garden carried in the pocket"





I have to make an edition of 10 minimum so I made book covers first - get all calculations and measuring done first...



I knew each book could never be the same as it's hand-cut but at least I need design of all things to be the same so I made a template by photocopying and cutting the design so I can trace the rest, as shown above.
I haven't finished all of them yet so this would be my priority for this week!

There is my favorite paper weight on the right by the way. It's a black dog, given by my mum.

The exhibition is part of the 2010 L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival cultural program and starting from 1 March.
Please have a look at the blog for this show!
I can't wait to see what other artists are doing for this show, you can see all participating artists in this exhibition blog too.

Bumping into new problems in Fungiland

I'm having a difficult time!

I printed a wood engraving block on a thin Gampi rice paper a few weeks ago, because I couldn't print it too well with smooth rag papers. I thought I would print it and do chin colle ( It's a technique that an image is impressed onto a thin sheet of rice paper which is backed by a stronger, thicker rag paper, usually used for intaglio prints).
I never usually do this technique for relief such as woodblock or lino prints but rice paper can take impression so much better than regular paper so I couldn't resist.



I put thinned rice glue on the back of the paper. I could tell the glue was already making the paper too wet because it is so thin like tissue.



Getting rid of excess glue. I had to be really careful not to tear the paper, the paper's obviously way too thin.
I knew this moment, I'd chosen wrong way to print this woodblock but there is no going back anymore I just had to keep going and hoping some sort of divine power to help me.



Another mistake here, I shouldn't have let it dry a bit. Gampi SHRANK (maybe just wrinkly) as it dried.
So I stopped doing it after this batch.



It may be hard to see in the photo, but actually the surface is very uneven and lumpy.



I do like the idea of chin colle because it can create a subtle tonal difference and richer black in the image but Gampi was not a right choice.
I've actually done this technique for another wood engraving block but used a slightly thicker rice paper. It was a success.
I think that's what I should have used.
I 'll keep trying!
Thank you so much for reading my long whinge...

Home is where the heart is

Husband bird for the pigeon below.
This one doesn't look like a pigeon anymore!

Pigeon wife

What I love about pigeons is how they walk.
Chest puffed up, head bobbing forward and backward.
I did my first pigeon, I might have emphasised the fat round chest too much...with the crooked wing.
This is a wife pigeon waiting for me to draw her husband.

Thunder Egg

This is another interesting specimen called thunder egg.
It is a potato-like rough rock on the outside and inside it contains agate mineral.
I love this stylish cool name and also this surprise factor - secret treasure keeping itself hidden from human's hand. Whoever found this in the first place would never have known there was this beautiful agate if he/she hadn't have sliced it half.
This one originally comes from Brazil and travelled across many different oceans and passed through many different owners and finally arrived in my hand.


There is a little green mineral formation, probably a malachite according to John the Rock guy at the market. Looks like an ancient tree frozen in a huge iceberg.


Back of the thunder egg, looks like an ordinary rock or a potato fossil!

Back to basics

I have been doing lots of watercolour drawings/paintings lately.
Watercolour is a very addictive medium for me, I forget to eat, sleep, go to bathroom...


Although I love engravings and other printmaking methods, I often get fairly tired after a day of engraving or editioning.
It is sometimes feels like I'm competing against my own physical and mental strength.
Whereas for watercolour, it's simply a fun little pleasure activity for me.
I guess it's a totally different matter for artists like Marlene Dumas. Watercolour and ink drawing must be a physical medium like sculpture.

I think I regard printmaking as a "discipline", and even though it's less lighthearted, this is one of the things I love about printmaking.




I've set up my new Etsy shop for watercolour works, called Rachel's Cabinet, rachelscabinet.etsy.com.
I'm hoping to make picture books with those characters in them.
When the picture books are finished, they will be on this shop too.
I'll be working hard to fill my cabinet in the next few weeks!



And this is Rachel, inspiration for my work!

Moss bed in a forest

This mineral is atacamite. This beautiful green colour comes from oxidised copper minerals in dry climate.
Its name comes from the Atacama desert in South America, apparently one of the driest places on in the world.
I want to be a midget and sleep on this moss covered bed or a couch, fluffy and smell of forests!



I had a visitor yesterday morning after the hottest night in Melbourne since 1902.
This little visitor came and drank some water. Cute!

A piece of peacock feather

One of my favorite pieces of ore/minerals in the collection is called labradorite. The colour of labradorite reminds me of a peacock feather or a butterfly wing.


Because it was boiling hot today, I thought it was quite deadly to print (from smell of ink and turps or dehydration) or just try anything outside, so I just sat in my studio and looked at different colours this one makes with different lights.


Shattered ancient mirror!


It is still 37 degrees at 11:20pm.... it'll be a sleepless night.

Living on a calcite island

Finally I've pulled an edition of 15 in Melbourne's heat. I do not have an albion press at home so I hand-printed each one with back of a tea spoon. This is a small print so it wasn't a big deal but the linocut kangaroo I've hand-printed in uni below is about 160cm tall. This was a hard work! Good old days in uni...

Refuge from summer heat

I had an urge to cut papers the other day to make some collage. I just kept cutting circles from a page in a magazine but later I discovered that the negative space on a cut-out magazine page was more interesting than the collage itself.

Magpie family

Another forgotten plate from 2006.