More Ballroom

Pencil and collage.  I used topographic and city maps from Canada.

I have been enjoying making some more drawings on the dancing theme.  Here are a couple-




Pencil drawing, I liked the onlookers but they weren't looking at this couple

 Here are the old photos, found at a market, which were used to make the drawings

Ballroom dancing

Self portrait and Dancing, drawing and collage by me

 Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about dancing and happened upon a little collection of vintage photos of people at dances.  The one I have used in this group of drawings was the best as there were details that the others didn't have.  I have used different techniques, the first one is a mono print.  I rolled some ink on a little piece of glass and then used a stick to make the marks.  Then a thin piece of Japanese rice paper was placed on top, rubbed and voila... the image seen here



Mono print by me

Ink drawing using a stick on map of Blue Mountains

Pencil drawing by me

Teri Horton finds a Jackson Pollock?

Teri Horton in front of the painting that may be by Jackson Pollock

Teri Horton is an American former truck driver in her 70's who bought a painting in a Thrift shop for $5.  She bought the painting for her friend because she needed cheering up.  The friend wasn't too keen on the artwork nor could she get it through the door of her trailer.  Teri then tried to sell it at a garage sale.  An art teacher happened to see it and suggested it may be by Jackson Pollock.  Teri hadn't heard of this artist but soon found out and realized it could be worth a lot of money, even 50 million dollars.  She tried to get the painting authenticated but the art community decided it wasn't the real thing and weren't about to change their minds after the original decision was made.  They didn't think that an expensive Pollock painting could find it's way to a thrift shop nor did it have any provenance.  Teri and her son then organized a Canadian art forensic scientist to examine the painting and he found a fingerprint on the back which  matched  Pollocks. He also found that the paint on Teri's painting matched the paint on the floor of Pollock's studio.  This wasn't good enough for the art experts though, they still wouldn't authenticate it.  With the proof Teri did have, there were offers of 2 million and then 10 million dollars but Teri wouldn't accept them.
There is a DVD called Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock? which tells the story.  Teri is quite a character who makes the story even more interesting.
Australia bought a Jackson Pollock painting called Blue Poles in the 1980s which caused a bit of an uproar at the time due to the price and that it wasn't a traditional painting that people could understand easily.  I think everyone is pretty happy with it now.

Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock

Dancing

 

 

 

I love to dance and feel that it is something that should be done far more often.  There has been of a run on this theme lately in my life and I think I will do some more artwork about dancing.

A bit of a funny thing happened on the street last week.  I was walking home and was waiting for the light to change at a busy intersection.  Also waiting at the lights was a van full of guys, the music was blaring and the van was shaking as they were dancing in their seats.  They appeared to be daring me to dance too and not being one for disappointing a dance partner, I did a few seconds of hip, arm and leg movement.  A great deal of clapping and cheering came from the van and I chuckled all the way home.
A couple of Australian artists who have done  work about dancing are John Brack and Garry Shead. I think their work is terrific and I particularly enjoy these series.







John Brack

John Brack



John  Brack



Garry Shead

Garry Shead

Sarah Young

I saw a book about this printmaker while in Melbourne last year and since then notice cards that illustrate her prints... they always attract me.  Sarah Young is a British printmaker and these are woodblock prints.  Her imagery is often from stories-whether dreams, myths or fairy tales.  I love her prints of gardens which may also contain a fox or other creature.  I also really like the movement in the imagery, she really captures that.
The colour in some of the prints is Chine colle' which is thin coloured paper which is pasted on to the main paper before printing.
These images are so charming.  Have a look on the net for more of her artwork.

 

Abraham Palatnik

I love it when I see something which I have never seen before but have a hunch that it is a good thing, buy it, and sure enough, find out it is good.
Yesterday, I went to the Antique and Collectable fair and saw this owl.  The seller said she bought it in a box of mid century Scandinavian things.  She felt it was new because it is made of what she called acrylic.  There was a sticker on the bottom to say made in Brazil.  Those were the clues.




owl drawing on statistic sheet

As well as the owl there were 2 toucan type birds that another buyer had his hands on.  I loved the owl though, particularly how it's eyes could blink and the feathers ruffle as you move your eyes around it.
When I got home I did some research and found it was made by Abraham Palatnik , a Brazilian artist who made a whole series of creatures in the 1960s.  He was born in 1928 and was a successful artist, even showing work in the Venice Biennale .  He was known for his kinechromatic art.  The animals are made out of Lucite.
I did a couple of drawings based on the owl as is my way of investigating something.






Owl drawing on a map with cut outs

This is my owl and the others are also by Abraham Palatnik.



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And another one

Earlwood Hill, Baywood Ave, ink on paper

Her is another drawing, similar but not quite the same as the others.