Rachel's cabinet

the sketchbook project

2012-01-29T23:30:00.007+11:00

I've joined the Sketchbook Project this year for the first time.

It's a travelling exhibition that shows thousands of artists' sketchbooks across the globe.
The sketchbooks will be permanently archived at the Brooklyn Art Library.

I heard the Sketchbook project will travel around the States, to Toronto & Vancouver, Canada, to London, and to Melbourne!

I had a look at the blog of this project and everyone's doing such beautiful works!!

Here are some images from my sketchbook...

happy new year

2012-01-22T00:07:00.003+11:00

i know it's already past mid-January, but
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I'm having few exhibition in the first half of this year with Damon Kowarsky.
First one will be at Japan Foundation in Sydney from Thursday 23 February.
I'll be posting more information very soon...

Tia and Haniwa

2011-12-13T18:08:00.004+11:00

Tia was my model for a different print in warm and cold colours.
Now she's a little grown up starting school next year.
I've made another print of recent Tia.
This will be my last print in 2011.

She's carrying a Haniwa terracotta clay figure on her head.
It's one of my favorite things I love to look and draw when I go to museums.
There are many different forms - horses, birds, dogs, shields, weapons, men, women etc..

They are ritural funerary figures used to be buried with aristocrats in Kofun period, late 3rd to late 6th century in Japan.
Some are used as a divider to create a sacred space. Some are used to keep the evil and bad spirits away.

Keeping Tia protected and safe!

More info on the print

Kitchen

2011-12-07T22:52:00.003+11:00

My new print with Damon Kowarsky is a busy rats' kitchen!

Damon drew two squids at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.
I added rats working to get their meal ready.
I do like rats, if it wasn't too obvious...

Details

Fish head

Squid eye soup

Famished...

Lemur hug

2011-12-01T19:20:00.002+11:00

Damon and I have a new Japan print.
He drew a squid at National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.
Lemur's hugging it to go to outer space like it's a rocket!

We'll try to print one more Japan edition before he leaves to New York soon where he will have an exhibition

Japan prints with Damon

2011-11-24T18:24:00.005+11:00

Rescue
Damon drew a fallen stone lantern in a Japanese garden in Tokyo.
It's turned into an island floating in the ocean with a small robo trapped waiting to be rescued.

The grove
Damon went to a bamboo walk in Arashiyama, Kyoto.
It is now infested with giant fish!

These prints will be included in our exhibition at Japan Foundation in Sydney from Thursday 23 February - Wednesday 21 March 2012.

Also we are having an exhibition of our Japan prints at Consulate-General of Japan in Melbourne for a month in April.

I'll be posting more information soon.

I'm looking forward to making more of the works from our trip in Japan and show them next year!

Mountain hare

2011-11-21T22:50:00.005+11:00

I drew this mountain hare in National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.

Original drawing

Mountain hare (Lepus timidus) is also called Blue hare, White hare, Alpine hare etc.
I found him in Japan section of the museum as they are native in Hokkaido.
There are also other isolated populations of Mountain hare in Alps, Ireland, Poland and Scottland.

Their coat turns brown in summer and white in winter.
Except their tail. It's white all year around...

It reminds me of okenite, one of my favorite minerals in the collection below.
We often call it "rabbit tail"

More information on this print

Chameleons completed

2011-11-15T21:27:00.004+11:00

Damon and I have completed our Chameleon etching series.
All drawings are from the zine "Talking of a chameleon" EXCEPT this image above.
Space chameleon is an extra and not in the zine.

Other recent prints are below
They are tiny, only 14cm x 10cm image size.

Field

Cat

Fish

All drawings of chameleons were done by Damon at Melbourne Museum and vandalised by me...

Now for the next series!

Saturday at the museum

2011-11-14T23:03:00.007+11:00

I went to Melbourne Museum last Saturday morning.
Always my favorite place!

Raccon was the animal I wanted to draw for my new wood block print.
I found rats in Discovery Centre's drawer instead.

Rats seem to be very unpopular here.
When I was at the table sketching these rats, lots of people were saying "how disgusting" "sick!"
I didn't know rats are seen as such nasty creatures.
I always thought they are cute!

Broad-toothed rat, so fluffy and cute...

Water rat, big like an otter.

Next time I will go in and hopefully draw racoon, if they have one inside.

I didn't know Melbourne Museum charges $10 for an admission by the way.
I remember it used to be a lot cheaper.
I miss Seoul where gigantic National museum is FREE!

Spaceman

2011-11-13T22:25:00.003+11:00

I printed an edition of Spaceman / robot the other day in studio a few weeks ago.
First plate (tone) is Prussian blue + Burnt amber and the second plate (line) is black on BFK Rives papers.

I think I'd like to try different colours also just as I did with Tia etching.

This spaceman traveled to Aesop Aoyama store wall too...

More information on my website

Annual exhibition at MLC

2011-11-10T21:27:00.000+11:00

I am part of the annual exhibition held at Methodist Ladies Collage (MLC).
There will be my collaboration chameleon prints with Damon Kowarsky as well as my own.

It opens on Friday 18 November and runs until Friday 9 December at common ground exhibition space, 207 Barkers Road, Kew.
Opening party is on 18 November, 7:00 - 9:00pm.

View Larger Map

Moody Tia

2011-10-30T17:37:00.007+11:00

I printed my Tia with different colours at Australian Print Workshop yesterday.
This is a two plate etching with sanguine + warm red for the tonal plate and black + sanguine for the line and tone plate.
This proof shows more tone than the prints in actual edition.

Original Tia
This was prussian blue + raw amber for the tonal plate and black for the line plate.
Very cold compared to the Tia above.

Makes me want to experiment with all other colours available...

Latest chameleons

2011-10-15T12:33:00.000+11:00

aye-aye

#3

RRR
- Roo Rabbit Rider -

Looking up

Damon and I have printed new chameleons for our exhibition next year.

These prints are from the drawings in "Talking of a chameleon" zine we did earlier this year.

Japan and Korea

2011-10-01T23:52:00.002+10:00

Damon and I are back to Melbourne after 20 days in Japan and 4 days in Korea.
It feels so fast but at the same time it feels like I was overseas a lot longer.
We had exhibition, met new friends and visited wonderful places.

Tokyo city from Tokyo Metropolitan Government,observatories in Shinjuku

National Museum of Nature and Science Tokyo
I spent 2 days drawings animals/insects/fish and old tools etc etc!

Artist night at Grantchester House, organised by Cambridge based artist Hiroshi Shimura who also manages this gallery.

Kiyosumi garden - Japanese stroll garden constructed by a founder of Mitsubishi, Yataro Iwasaki

KOREA!

National Museum of Korea
I spent 2 days drawing their collection, I could do more.
Gigantic space!

National Folk Museum of Korea in Gyeongbok Palace

Inside the Palace with Kim (right) and Damon (left)

War Memorial of Korea
Another gigantic place where Damon spent ages drawing airplanes and helicopters.

The greatest Hyun Ju Kim who made our trip to Seoul very special.
She is a wonderful friend and superb printmaker.
We miss you Kim!

We've been very fortunate to have friends and family who welcomed us very warmly both Japan and Korea. Thank you very much for being so generous and kind.
Thank you Tokyo and Seoul - it's been so inspiring!
We'll be back soon!!

Opening in the neighborhood

2011-09-26T01:27:00.005+10:00

Thank you for coming to the exhibition opening of In the neighborhood.

I wasn't able to attend my own opening as I was in Japan, but thank you so much for coming and looking at the works.
I will work hard to create a body of work so I can have another solo exhibition soon again!

Exhibition will run until Sunday 19 October at Brunswick Street Gallery, 322 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.

View Larger Map

In the neighborhood

2011-09-20T17:44:00.008+10:00

Exhibition of my solo works from 2010 will open from this Friday 23 September to Thursday 6 October at Brunswick Street Gallery, 322 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.
Opening party is this Friday 23 September from 6:00pm.

International Printmaking Conference, Impact7 happens during this exhibition.
There will be more printmaking shows all over Melbourne!

Aesop Aoyama store celebration party

2011-09-10T15:37:00.002+10:00

Thank you for coming to our celebration party at Aesop Aoyama last night!
We are fortunate to have so many friends who came to the opening.

Left to right:
Ryotaro Yao, Kyoko, Damon, Justin Cullum, lovely Aesop staff

Fumi and Sonomi from Melbourne :)
Aki (on the left) at Aesop Aoyama store who made this event possible.

Left to Right: Cain Lee, Kensuke Izawa and Tsutomu Suzuki

Thank you so much for making time to visit our party - it meant so much to us!
Thank you so much Dennis Paphitis, Hiroko Shiratori, Aki Kasuga, Ayako Hayashihara, Midori Sakaguchi, Aki Hiraoka,, Wei-Hsuan Hsieh, Yukari Fujii and all extremely sweet and generous retail staff.
This project wouldn't have been possible without you all!!

Aesop Aoyama store part II

2011-09-09T16:12:00.001+10:00

Second part of our installation is now complete!
14 of our collaborative prints are now hung on the wall.

Wonderful staff at Aoyama store - thank you so much for being so generous to us!

The print exhibition is until 10 October but the paste-up is a permanent installation, hope you can pop in!

Opening party is tonight at 6pm :)

Aesop Aoyama store part I installed

2011-09-09T00:07:00.001+10:00

It's been 2 days since we arrived in Tokyo.
Today we've completed the permanent installation of Aesop Aoyama store, Tokyo.
We are going to hang our collaborative print works on the wall tomorrow.
Opening party is tomorrow Friday 9 September, 6 - 8pm.

Meeting room

Damon at work

Front view - left: store & right: meeting room

Us at work:)

We are very fortunate to have a great and generous staff team at Aesop Aoyama store.
Thank you Hiroko Shiratori, Aki Kasuga, Aki Hiraoka, Midori Sakaguchi, Ayako Hayashihara and all retail staff of Aesop!!

775 Gallery

2011-09-04T14:18:00.002+10:00

Our collaborative works are now at 775 Gallery in Flinders, Victoria, Australia.

They also have numbers of Damon's solo works.
775 Gallery 2a, 41 cook street, Flinders, Victoria

Collaboration at Aesop Aoyama Store

2011-08-29T18:07:00.018+10:00

Collaborative works and installation by Damon Kowarsky and myself will be on display both temporarily and permanently on the wall from Friday 9 September 2011 at Aesop in Aoyama, Tokyo
We will be creating permanent installation and also having our selected print exhibition.
Media Release

Please join us for drinks to celebrate this occasion.
When: Friday 9 September from 6pm to 8pm
Where: Aesop Aoyama store, 4-8-2 Jingumae Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001
イソップ青山店〒150-0001 東京都渋谷区神宮前4-8-2
More information

View Larger Map

Flowered!

2011-08-13T12:00:00.002+10:00

More information
I must acknowledge Tim Lane's support at Trinity Grammar School in Kew.
New blue colour and new paper - Magnani has been added to one of my favorite papers!
Thank you so much!

MLC Acquisitive Printmaking Exhibition and Print Festival

2011-08-05T21:52:00.008+10:00

MLC, together with Chrysalis Gallery and Port Jackson Press have selected over 80 works to exhibit at the 2011 Acquisitive Printmaking Exhibition, opening Friday 12 August and running until 26 August.
Opening's the same night as my BSG Art Prize Show opening!

My ex-lecturer Jazmina Cininas will open the show and introduce the Printmaking Festival which will be held on the two following Saturdays.
Damon Kowarsky's work will also be on display!

All works will be for sale, and another main function of the Exhibition is to educate students and the general public about Printmaking.

My roobit family will be hopping around too on the wall...

BSG Art Prize Show

2011-08-05T21:43:00.005+10:00

My rat has fallen onto Brunswick Street Gallery Art Prize Show 2011
http://www.bsgart.com.au/
Opening is on Friday 12 August, 6pm and runs until 25 August

322 Brunswick Streett, Fitzroy, Victoria, 3065

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Damon and Kyoko

2011-08-04T01:46:00.006+10:00

Damon created a website dedicated to our collaborative printmaking works!

damonandkyoko.tk

Story of chameleons

2011-07-31T22:35:00.008+10:00

Flower - More information

Pigs - More information

These etchings are from the drawings in zine project we did earlier this year

Fall

2011-07-25T23:30:00.006+10:00

Bye bye Mr rat, see you when you rise again!

More info

dooodles

2011-07-20T22:51:00.006+10:00

it's pretty cold in melbourne, time to stay indoors and doodle...

thank you thank you thank you

2011-06-26T18:32:00.007+10:00

Thank you so so much for coming to Damon and my exhibition opening last Friday 24 June.
It was officially opened by Mr Yasufumi Kotake, Acting Consul-General of Japan in Melbourne.
Thank you Aesop, Asahi beer and Daiwa food for making this opening so memorable!!
Thank you also Port Jackson Press, especially Elizabeth and Sophie for all your support.

It was a huge success and has become a great motivation for Damon and I to further develop our works.

And last but not least, thank you so much Damon Kowarsky for being such a great colleague/mentor!!

Exhibition will run until 17 July at Port Jackson Press on 61 Smith Street, Fitzroy.

new exhibitions in June - prints and cut-outs

2011-06-13T21:27:00.010+10:00

I am having two new exhibitions this month at Port Jackson Press on Smith Street in Collingwood.

Damon and I have a print exhibition from 24 June to 17 July at Port Jackson Press on Smith Street too!
It is an exhibition of our collaboration over the last two years.

Official opening is on Friday 24 June 6:00pm to 8:00pm by Mr Yasufumi Kotake, Acting Consul-General of Japan, Melbourne.

This exhibition is generously supported by Aesop, Asahi and Daiwa Food.
We'd love to have Japanese beer and sake with you at the opening with some Aesop products at the door on Friday 24 June at 6:00pm!

I am also having en exhibition in the front little window at the Port Jackson Press.
Here are some details of new work, Six Realms
it's hard to see the whole work in the photo so please go to the gallery and have a look!

View Larger Map

London Alternative Press Fair

2011-06-03T10:20:00.007+10:00

With the help of London based curator, Hamja Ahsan, Damon and my zine "Talking of a chameleon" and his another collaborative zine with a Cairo based journalist Nancy Ibrahim "Downtown" went to the London Alternative Press Fair.

Our zines can be viewed from the link above or Damon's website

THANK YOU HAMJA!!!

Tia

2011-05-29T17:28:00.005+10:00

This is Tia - I met her briefly in April when I gave a watercolour portrait of her to her mum Catherine.
With Tia's sparkling eyes and Catherine's strong and sweet smile, I just wanted to make more...
More info about this here

These are some tests and rejects that might travel with me and Damon to Tokyo in September to work on the wall of Aesop's new Aoyama store.

recent works

2011-05-08T14:34:00.006+10:00

figure#1

fish girl

more info about these prints on my website

With big supports from Damon Kowarsky and Tim Lane in the studio, I managed to pull these 2 plate etchings..
Technique I had been avoiding for a long time!
Thank you for your help Damon and Tim!

Rat and strange tree

2011-05-07T19:32:00.001+10:00

Rat with a tree whose fruits appear to be human head.
This strange tree was first illustrated in Toriyama Sekien's Konjaku Hyakki Shūi (Supplement to The Hundred Demons from the Present and the Past), published circa 1781
It's one of the books where he depicted supernatural bestiaries, collections of ghosts, spirits, spooks and monsters, many of which Toriyama based on literature, folklore, other artwork.
The fruits are often smiling or laughing, even when they are falling...
:) :) :) :)

more info on my website

frog claw

2011-04-23T13:25:00.003+10:00

CCC

2011-04-22T13:36:00.003+10:00

troublemaker Cat Crab Claw
it took us 7 months and he finally agreed to be printed

masked penguin

2011-04-10T12:35:00.006+10:00

i love drawing furs with damon's evil mask

baby

2011-04-06T22:40:00.001+10:00

My greatest fear: repetition - Max Frisch

Print with Damon Kowarsky
We are getting all ready for our show in June at Port Jackson Press in Collingwood, Melbourne!!

hanging flamingo

2011-04-04T22:58:00.003+10:00

One cat just leads to another - Ernest Hemingway

another edition pulled with Damon

cloud face and rat girl

2011-03-24T21:53:00.008+11:00

cloud was inspired by an illustration in Illustrated One Hundred Demons from the Present and the Past by Toriyama Sekien in 1781, depicting Ōmagatoki, a japanese term for dusk when the sky grows dark.
it is the time of meeting yokai, ghost and dark creatures.

thank you always damon!

strange friends

2011-03-10T19:29:00.006+11:00

we met new friends in the studio. They must be from somewhere far away.

drawing session with reptiles

2011-02-25T23:58:00.004+11:00

Damon introduced me to Robin Wilson, his friend and also a senior curator in marine invertebrates section at Melbourne Museum, earlier this week.
Damon and I went to the back of the Museum and drew their specimen collection of reptiles.
Robin introduced us to Wayne Longmore, collection manager for Ornithology and Mammalogy.
Wayne let us look through shelves with hundreds of wet specimen in bottles.

We went to a shelf of chameleons and geckoes.

Carefully taking them out of bottles full of ethanol with tweezers and place it on a petri dish, we began to draw and draw and draw.

It was such an intense unforgettable experience.
In the room, there was this human desire to collect, label and know all things in nature.
At the same time it was heartbreaking to see everyone bottled up, and being picked up by tweezers for me to draw.

Life-long dedication and obsession.
Absolute beauty and slight madness.
Abundance and insatiability.
All in one room.

It makes me wonder what it means to know about something.

Drawing there was so intoxicatingly great, I can't stop thinking about when I can go back there and see everyone in the bottles.

Thank you so much Damon always!!
And thank you so much Robin and Wayne for making us feel so welcomed.

they are around us

2011-02-23T00:10:00.001+11:00

crab claw 1

flamingo 1

latest pieces with damon kowarsky

Civitas by Damon Kowarsky

2011-02-21T22:44:00.009+11:00

Prints and drawings made during Damon's extended Artist in Residency at Trinity Grammar School, Kew and inspired by cities as diverse as Chicago, Istanbul, Melbourne and New York.

Opening Tuesday 22 February from 530 to 730pm

Meet Damon at the Gallery!

Exhibition runs from 22 February to 11 March 2011

Gallery hours 0 Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm

Location - Daley Gallery, Trinity Grammar School

Charles Street, Kew

Map

View Larger Map

a bit of happiness

2011-02-17T21:02:00.008+11:00

it was about time i had my own website so finally it's done...
it's s nice to be able to view my old work that no one has seen before.
http://kyokoimazu.com/

cat cat cat

2011-02-13T21:13:00.003+11:00

cats this time with damon!

all things in the universe

2011-02-02T20:30:00.008+11:00

new works printed today with Damon Kowarsky !

i used to let them play sumo in summer
we call them samurai helmet insects

rabbit boss
happy new year of rabbit

laputa

Ben Holmes Quartet live in New York

2011-01-12T00:24:00.002+11:00

Back from a dreamy time with family in snowy Japan, now back to real life in warm and wet Australia.
I received a lovely email from a trumpet player Ben Holmes in Brooklyn, New York.
Now our little old robo is in New York!
I wish I could fly away and see his live but I will most likely listen to his music on his website, http://ben-holmes.com/

Impressions 2010

2010-11-23T01:37:00.005+11:00

Australian Print Workshop is having its major fundraising exhibition of limited edition prints.
We produced a new work specifically for this exhibition.
I made this little cat and catfish print.

Damon and I made a collaborative print for Impression.

Official launch is on Friday 3 December and exhibition runs until Saturday 12 February 2011

More photos from Carbon co dependence

2010-11-15T18:34:00.008+11:00

My colleague Nic created a different world in the Platform Gallery with his photographs.

My work looks pretty different.

All photos are taken by Nic Granleese
Thank you so much!!

Carbon co dependence

2010-11-07T19:12:00.007+11:00

Group Exhibition, Carbon co dependence, is on at Platform, Flinders Street / Degraves Street Subway, Melbourne, Australia. It's a 12 person show curated by Al Ouchtomsky

Detail of my piece in the exhibition

When I have a chance to have my work photographed, I'll put them up here....

One of the artists, Joanna Mortreux, in the exhibition.

Another artist, Finnbarr Shaw

I'll put more works when I have more images!

baby platypus

2010-11-02T13:14:00.009+11:00

Burnished aquatint
hope this doesn't look too dark in the screen..

Life is a twinkling light in the dark, everything is born of darkness and goes back to darkness ~ Nausicaa, from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Trumpet team

2010-10-29T20:49:00.005+11:00

old little robo, out of date in his world.

Kamikiri, old Japanese folklore monster (yokai) who appeared out of nowhere and cut hair secretly on the street.
they disappeared after Japan widely adopted Western culture, people had their hair like westerners'.

they are two of four trumpet prints with Damon.
my little dream is to make a whole orchestra with our prints...

silent bow wow

2010-10-19T19:41:00.002+11:00

mini postcard doggie

City and Space

2010-10-16T20:39:00.002+11:00

Gasha Dokuro, part of Impressions 2010, a fundraising exhibition at Australian Print Workshop, opening in 3 December.
Collaborative print with Damon Kowarsky

Space Seal!

preparatory drawings

2010-09-29T23:03:00.003+10:00

preparing for a cabinet installation at the end of this month.
this is one of the most fun time in any projects for me!

masks

2010-09-10T15:30:00.005+10:00

i guess i really miss my family in japan... it's end of summer over there, must be still hot!

baby mothra

2010-09-05T22:33:00.007+10:00

“the spirit which inhabits these places is bad, inhuman, hostile; it belongs to an exhausting, cruel and constantly accelerating machine. Deep down, everyone… desires its destruction" Michel Houellebecq, Approaches to Distress

#4

2010-08-24T00:48:00.005+10:00

robo

rider

mask

nest

a day in the life

thank you again damon!

"Missing" series

2010-08-18T22:15:00.004+10:00

I've finally made a small edition for each plate.

I'm hoping to make few more to contribute to this series, Missing.

I am at the moment re-writing my artist statement, which I haven't really touched much since last year...very embarrassed. And things like this, the longer you leave, the harder it gets.

I always found it so hard to do this. I got this comments in uni, that I tried to put too many ideas in one work so all of the ideas are diluted.

I know I need to focus on one important idea and dig it deeper, but I found it so very hard, I am too greedy... I'm hating my brain.

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit once again

2010-08-15T17:56:00.005+10:00

I've printed a new addition to the series, Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit.

I've been making this rabbit print series since 2008, very slowly.

Although this one is different from the other rabbits in the series, I hope they will look more complete when I make more and more of these copper engraving rabbits.

I wonder when I can say the series is complete...

Some other images from the series.

Weird fishes 2

2010-08-07T08:14:00.000+10:00

Thank you Damon for printing another edition of a new plate!

Sitting at the bottom of the sea or searching for the air.

Drawing conversation

2010-07-14T19:54:00.010+10:00

Damon proofed some more for our collaborative project.

I'm starting to feel ideas for some of my work are based on my dreams.
I have been keeping a dream diary since I was in primary school and I feel like these dreams actually take a little part in my work. I've never used my dreams for my work like Surrealists but I think I've been keeping them in a little drawer in my brain and sometimes I unconsciously (subconsciously?) use them...

I think I suddenly thought about this because a movie Inception is opening soon, next Thursday 22 July in Australia...
Really looking forward to it!

Childhood fear

2010-07-04T17:15:00.008+10:00

When I was a child, I was such a pessimist. I was always thinking about how the world was going to end and cried in my bed at night. Every time I heard airplane in the sky in kindergarten, I feared for WW3 and hid inside.

So I thought I needed to get gas masks for everyone in my family...

I often remember this when I'm using stinky turps and methylated spirits in the studio.
It's about time I got a proper mask to protect myself from these chemicals!

Collaboration in bloom!

2010-06-19T18:22:00.006+10:00

I have started a collaborative project with a printmaker Damon Kowarsky .
I feel privileged to have this project with him as I admire his prints!
And it's been really motivating too.

The process of this collaboration is:
1. he gives me his pencil drawing
2. i vandalise what he's done
3. he draw his parts on a copper plate
4. i do my bits
5. etch the plate together!

This image is the first one Damon proofed.

I feel I have been able to sort of break out from my usual work.
My head has been in blossom!

Small works in progress

2010-06-05T20:24:00.002+10:00

I've started new series of small etchings. I've done my first line drawings and tones etched.
I think I'll add more tones or colour.

I love etching a copperplate in a process room, it always feels kind of like an alchemy.

I just want to keep drawing on copperplate all day long!

I'm glad I can do etching as our print workshop is re-opened.
This press above is a beautiful addition to the workshop. I use it for woodblock, not for etchings but beautiful to look at in the studio.

6:3:1

2010-05-22T20:11:00.007+10:00

New copper engraving print, 6:3:1

Festival

2010-05-09T17:01:00.008+10:00

Cinnabar on Dolomite - it is what makes vermilion red, also known as Philosopher's stone.
It's toxic as it contains mercury even though it looks like a raspberry on a sorbet.
Or it's a drop of blood on snow...

Cavansite - circus pompom

Chrysocolla & Azurite - blue egg from the sky!
(background image: Jan Svankmajer's Alice in Wonderland collage)

Anatomy of living things

2010-04-27T00:45:00.008+10:00

Our Australian Print Workshop has opened from its renovation closure recently.
Because I didn't have access to etching facility, I have been only doing engravings on wood and copper.
And also I've been doing lots of ink drawings in preparation of etching when the Workshop opens.

I'm going to the Workshop next week to start making some etchings using the drawings I've done while it was closed.

These are selections of drawings I want to make etchings of.
They are all like things inside living creatures because lots of references I use are Life's Natural Library books or National Geographic magazines.

As I look at them, my dream grows...
It is to have a Wunderkammer, Cabinet of Curiosity with my prints, drawings and collections of mineral specimens!!

Weird fishes

2010-04-18T23:00:00.003+10:00

I get eaten by the worms
Weird fishes
Get picked over by the worms
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
Weird fishes

Changing the everyday scenery

2010-04-06T23:09:00.015+10:00

I was reading an interview of Hirokazu Koreeda on his movie "Nobody Knows".
It's a movie in 2004, about four children, each a child by a different father and abandoned by their mother. They are then forced to survive on their own.

He talked about one letter he received from someone who watched the film.
The letter said,
"After leaving the cinema, I took a train home. When I arrived at a station near my house, I saw children playing in the park even though it was late at night. It wouldn't have caught my eyes before but I kept thinking about why they are playing at such late time, who is waiting for them at home. So I couldn't help but looked for those children next day."
Upon reading the letter, Koreeda thought he wasn't wrong in making this film.
It is because he believes it is important to create a movie that changes / challenges how people look at everyday life or scenery that they are used to, rather than creating a film that has a strong message itself.

This gave a little sparkle in my head. I hope I could do that in my own work too.
It's not about how loud a work can speak, maybe it's something more quiet. Maybe it's an absence that gives absolute presence.
And I hope my English interpretation is ok to read above...

solitary rain

2010-04-03T17:25:00.008+11:00

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.”
- Albert Einstein

Ever incomplete

2010-03-30T22:25:00.001+11:00

River rubble

2010-03-28T14:04:00.003+11:00

TV stone

2010-03-17T19:03:00.004+11:00

This specimen is Ulexite. It sounds really formal so I always call it its another name, TV stone.
This one is a bit cloudy looking but a good-quality specimen displays an image of whatever surface is adjacent to its other side.

Because the stone is quite cloudy, it almost looks as if I'm looking through a piece of ice.

Doodle time capsules

2010-03-09T22:21:00.012+11:00

I have been drawing every day and night, even at my casual temp job at the reception. (job is priority though, really!)
I often like my drawings at work better than when I'm in my studio concentrating to make something nice.
Not always, but I seem to make things I like when I'm on the phone with someone I don't know about.

I figured that I can work better when I'm not trying and I'm not aware of what exactly I'm doing.
And then I'd come back to the studio after work and try to re-draw from what I got from daytime.
Quite often those little drawings end up being nothing but they always serve other purpose in my studio.

They work really well as my time capsules.
I will look at them in few years time and feel nostalgic / embarrassed / inspired etc...
I actually looked at my 6-years-old sketch books for ideas recently.
I thought I'd use bits and pieces of them as they were unexpectedly interesting.
They are my strictly secret books as they are too embarrassing.

I used to think there is some sort of divine power that descends on to genius artists with some inspirations and ideas.
That's a bit of an exaggeration but I did think I needed to be a super creative inventor of everything brand new.
So absurd!
I believe now that inspiration and creativity come from exploring, re-examining and transforming own experiences and existing ideas, re-thinking about memories or images that are archived in my head somewhere. I don't believe I can ever be a super inventor of original art that no one has ever seen before.
Everyone gets inspired from someone else's great works and ideas.
I guess important thing for me is to create something that people already know or seen but from a new or a different perspective.
So I will keep my daily drawing.... secretly.... at my reception in the office.

Yokai

2010-03-05T23:48:00.009+11:00

Since I was little, I have always been fascinated by Yokai.
My all time favorite comic is about them too.
Yokai is a Japanese supernatural beings often from folklore.
They are kind of like monsters but some of them are treated like gods too in Shinto.

There are many types of Yokai.
Ordinary household items that come to life after many years, humans transformed into one by extreme emotional state or animals that have lived long enough to have magical power, to name a few.

I'm trying to depict Yokai with different media like books and drawings.

Maybe I'll try making a sculpture next time.....

Picnic

2010-02-28T17:26:00.006+11:00

At a picnic, a hard-boiled Thunder egg for lunch.

Rhodocrosite with sprinkles of Pyrite for a desert part one.
A strawberry white chocolate with some dark chocolate sprinkle from a fancy boutique chocolate shop.
Or a little Japanese sweet at tea ceremony.
My partner said it looks to him like a slice of herb & garlic bread...

Witherite for a second desert.
A slice of New York cheesecake or a coconut tart?

Edible trees

2010-02-25T19:50:00.006+11:00

More trees + an island from the obsessive weekend.
Pure Pleasure!

Soul of flowers

2010-02-22T19:55:00.005+11:00

On the weekend, I was obsessed.
Obsessed with drawing what looks like trees.

I felt something had popped in my head!
I don't think I ever did drawing like this.

I looked at them today and remembered a poem I saw when I was in primary school year 4.

Please excuse my poor translation.....

Soul of flowers by Misuzu Kaneko

Souls of fallen flowers,
Born every last one,
In Buddha's flower garden

Because flowers are gentle,
When the sun is calling,
They pop open and smile,
Giving sweet nectar to butterflies,
Giving their scent to people

When wind calls "Come",
They still follow it gently,

Even their corpses,
Become a meal in a playhouse

Rachel's Garden II

2010-02-20T17:14:00.009+11:00

One suffocatingly hot night Rachel is awaken by the fragrance of catnip.

She follows the fragrance, it leads her to a place that seems familiar to her.
It looks like the garden she once visited in her dream.

She comes across some sort of procession.
It is a procession of supernatural beings and monsters that are unknown to her.

She wonders whether she is awake or merely dreaming. Or maybe she has stepped into someone else's dream.

After the procession has passed, she feels as though she has been left behind.
She feels as though she actually belongs to them.

The world around her turns completely silent.

Shadow theatre

2010-02-18T17:33:00.009+11:00

This was a mock-up / practice piece of my artist book called Pocket Garden.

This one didn't get bound so I put it on on a window sill.
It's a shadow theatre or a collage with sky.
It changes its mood constantly. Sometimes it's bright blue, pink, purple.

Rachel's Garden I

2010-02-14T16:46:00.008+11:00

Rachel lives in an apartment in the city so she only has a concrete balcony.

She has always been an inside cat.
A human she lives with often moved home but it has almost always been an apartment.

She has no clue as to where she was born, may be her parents were stray but she doesn't remember.
She met the human she lives with now in an animal welfare centre. Maybe that's where she was born.

She once ran away from home but world outside her little apartment was too terrifying.
She had fights with stray cats in neighbourhood but did not enjoy at all. And the cars were too loud and dangerous.
She was found soon enough but did not try going out again.
Only sitting by a window to see what humans are up to, and stupid stray cats who are trying to scare her off behind the window.

She loves the air outside but now only staying on the balcony where she is safe.
At least she can feel the sun and wind. Some pot plants to nibble and play with.
She dreams about one day having her own backyard though, with trees, flowers and veggie patch, sleeping in the sun and running around.

Why does she miss the outside world so much?
After all, maybe she was a wild stray in the past, just cannot remember it.

Nib!!

2010-02-11T01:10:00.007+11:00

I bought a pack of Arches 300gsm Hot Press watercolour papers.
It's so perfect for not only watercolour but also line work by nib.

I'd been using Saunders Waterford 300gsm with rough surface since I was a student.
It's great for watercolour and a little bit cheaper than Arches. I love looking at this rough surface catching watercolour wash and then slowly creating bleeding effect by itself.
However I couldn't manage to do a nib drawing on this paper. Nib couldn't move on a rough surface smoothly and I'd end up getting blobs of ink and ruining whole image. (I call it nib's poop)

Now I can do nib endlessly. When I first got my nib, it felt so great I couldn't stop drawing all night.
So smooth!

I can imagine me doing more detailed watercolour work on this paper.
Or maybe I could make artist books!

Good reminder for me of how important it is to choose the right materials.

More detailed images are on my etsy shop

Meringue time

2010-02-09T01:15:00.008+11:00

Another collection show-off time...
I have this delicious sugary looking specimen called Aragonite.
Aragonite often looks needle-like and fibrous but this particular one is called flos-ferri (flowers of iron).
This one can look a bit like a coral too.

I might eat it if this was served with my afternoon tea! Vanilla flavoured meringue!

I didn't have any habits of looking at mineral specimens as sweets but one of my favorite authors in Japan does it in her blog. It's all in Japanese but pictures are quite cute.
Since I met her books and blog, I can't help but look at minerals as sweets now.
Always makes me hungry!

Detour

2010-02-04T20:02:00.010+11:00

I had another experiment for this print Fungiland yesterday.

First chin-colle was a total mess (see my post on Friday 29 Jan) so I thought I'd give another chance as I knew what I did wrong. I needed to change 2 things, material and method, in order for it to work.

Material: Gampi rice paper was used, way to thin. This time, I bought a sheet of Iwaki, slightly thicker rice paper.
Method: I watered the rice glue down, this made the Gampi wrinkle / shrink. This time, I used rice glue straight from the tube.

The green tube is the rice glue I use. This was my glue in primary school in Japan, so it's really really cheap, less than 300 yen (about $3.5 AUD). I was very surprised to see this glue being sold at $10 here in Australia! Since then I buy this glue as souvenir for myself whenever I go back to Japan.

After I applied a thin layer of the glue, I immediately placed on my damped printmaking paper.
Then I ran it thought the press with 3 layers of blankets.

??? this is the result......... ??? I don't like it...........
In terms of technique, it worked really well but aesthetically I don't think it works.
The colour of rice paper is too different from the printmaking rag paper.
I tried to reason / justify this print in the beginning. I thought I could say things like it's supposed to be retro hence the colour but NO, I realised it does NOT work.....
So I stopped editioning.

At first I felt like all the effort was a waste but well at least I learnt something here - PRINTS THAT ARE SIMPLY PRINTED WORK THE BEST!!!

I think my very first proof (above and the first photo on top) works a lot better.
I'm always taking detour. Things are actually so simple but I make them all complicated.

Pocket Garden

2010-01-31T23:54:00.012+11:00

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

2010-01-29T15:06:00.014+11:00

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

2010-01-26T18:52:00.003+11:00

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

Pigeon wife

2010-01-22T23:41:00.006+11:00

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

2010-01-18T16:23:00.009+11:00

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

2010-01-15T13:04:00.008+11:00

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

2010-01-13T22:36:00.008+11:00

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

2010-01-11T22:51:00.008+11:00

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

2010-01-09T16:30:00.006+11:00

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

2010-01-05T02:05:00.004+11:00

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

2010-01-02T23:22:00.000+11:00

Another forgotten plate from 2006.

A forgotten plate

2009-12-28T19:29:00.005+11:00

One of the loveliest things about printmaking is that you can go back to an old plate and work on it again.
I made this plate in 2006 but didn't make edition of it, only made a unique state version with some paper cut-outs around the pig.
I found this forgotten plate in my bag and made an edition of 10.
There are more forgotten ones in the bag so I'll be printing them soon too.

Secret of Wild Life
Bleed prints 44cm x 28cm

Steam coming out of my head

2009-12-18T21:28:00.004+11:00

Fungi Land study

2009-12-11T12:54:00.011+11:00

I'm studying mushrooms at the moment as an experiment for background images.