A Little About the Art-Nership Project

Firstly let me put it out there - I am not a sculptor of any sort.  So trying to create characters (namely Harley and Lanlach) in polymer clay is reeeeeaaaally extending myself.

I'm not trying to create an incredible work of art - definately not.  For me, the art is the process of collaboration.  From the instant the pencil goes to paper, to the final photograph of the finished piece - the whole process is a work of art.The polymer clay scultpures are simply a small part of that.

When Dani and Natalia put the word out about their project -  ART-NERSHIPS: ever thought of embarking on an art collaboration?’ I knew it was something I wanted to be involved with.  Dani and Natalia are specifically looking at how art collaborations can take an artist outside their normal boundaries (and hell yeah - it's done it already for me).

So in saying that - you may look at Harley and think "well she's not that special" and "really not that well made" - just remember she is but a very small part in this large project - which I'm sharing with the incredibly talented designer Rachel and now, it turns out, my daughter Dusty.

Let's see how it all turns out.

Let's Introduce you to Rachel

I'm 29 years old :( how depressing boo! .... Born in Geraldton, spent my very early years living in Cue and Leinster. After graduating high school, I completed my BA in Vis Art in 2004. Not long after I submitted a successful proposal to create artworks and mobiles for the Children's Ward of the new Geraldton Regional Hospital. On completion of this, I began working and still do, as a graphic designer.

I have participated in many group exhibitions locally and interstate, and had my first solo show "Monster Mash" in 2010 at ACDC Gallery. I was a successful entrant in the 2013 Midwest Art prize with my digital canvas print "If the world had ended". I have dabbled in many different mediums over the years (print making, sculpture, textiles, jewellery, photography etc) but have returned my focus to illustration which I have always loved and enjoyed.

My artworks (handrawn & digital) are created to be enjoyed by both adults and children alike, with an emphasis on quirky character creation and a bold use of colour. My illustrations are generally created using pens, pencils, markers and watercolour. I find many things inspiring such as the horror genre, retro cartoons, video games and childhood memories.

A Bit About Harley

Harley is a UCI or Unidentified Character of our Imagination.  Rachel and I designed her together - yes, Rachel is the clever drawing one and I'm the polymer one (I'll introduce you to Rachel soon).

This is Harley.

Harley is a pretty classy girl.  She loves arts and craft and bright colours and has an obsession for accessories.  She loves to wear funky makeup and of course......loves shoes (and what UCI doesn't?).

Harley is in a relationship with another UCI (Lanlach) who you'll meet soon.  She's a dedicated partner and is madly in love.  She's excited about moving into their new habitat (which we have yet to design!!) so she can start a wonderful life with Lanlach.

I think she's pretty gorgeous.

Working on Her Shoes

I asked Dusty to help me in the studio making Harley's shoes and yay! for me, she said yes.  Dusty is super awesome at working on a teeny scale.  Let me show you what's happened so far:

Dusty working on the orange gum boot.

Creating the stitch lines!!!!  Who would do that??

The finished gum boot - very cool I think.

and the making of the foot - she's even created toenails!!

a very cool Aussie thong.

making the stilleto with fishnets.  I wondered how she was going to do this one.

too gorgeous.

 One more shoe to go - a sandshoe and stripey socks.  We need to work on refining the stilleto and tweaking the fishnets.

The Making of Harley

Oh my gosh - she's coming together beautifully.

Best to tell you in pictures:

I started by making her body shape then figuring out where her sparkly boob top was going to go.  I had to work out a scale pic with measurements so I knew the proportions were going to be right etc.  These boobs don't stay as you'll see in the end.

Next I had to make her beak.  You'll note in the pic she has teeth - I tried them but they just made her look angry so I made an executive decision to create her "toothless".  I think she'll be okay and I'm sure Rachel will be okay with it too.  By the way - these teeth are soooooooo tiny.  Whoever works in minitures is nuts!!

So now to  create her eyes.  I kept them simple because there were so many.  If she were larger they could have been elaborated on.  We chose the size of the characters at the initial design stage so I wanted to stick with these the best I could.  

I created a leaf cane (ala Donna Kato) and made her head feathers.  The individual pieces worked beautifully spaced around her head.

She's coming along quite nicely.  Note the change of colour of her boob top.  Much nicer......with a hint of green mica for sparkle.

And onto making her pleated skirt.  An inlay veneer - veeeeeerrrrrryyyyyy thin - #8 on the pasta machine actually so was pretty tricky to get those skinny dots out.

Texturing seemed the best way to embed those dots into the base sheet and of course hid all my mistakes.  Texturing is great for doing that!!!

Tomorrow you'll see Dusty working on her shoes.  Dusty is my daugher (13) and is quite incredible at working "teeny".   Happy to have her part of the collaboration or Art-Nership.

First Workshop for 2014

Love having people over to get creative.  I had 11 lovely ladies join me to have fun with alcohol inks and make their own bangles - perfect size as well.  I had forgotten how much I love working with alcohol inks actually......and no ladies! you can't drink them!!!!

Where Did That Year Go???

Oh my gosh - a whole year has gone and I had completely forgotten I started this blog.  2013 was a crazy year and I guess because we were constantly updating the Midwest Millefiori blog, this one got a bit neglected.

If you want to check out what happened with Midwest Millefiori - here's the link
http://athousandmidwestflowers.blogspot.com.au/
....and so new and exciting projects are coming up this year.  Let me tell you about the first one.

Dani Torres and Natalia Garcia de Leaniz are preparing a talk for the upcoming EuroSynergy event to be held in Malta, May next year. The subject is: ‘ART-NERSHIPS: ever thought of embarking on an art collaboration?
I received a lovely letter from them both asking if I'd like to consider an "art-nership" with a fellow artist.....hello!! yay! of course I would!!

I contacted Rachel Weaver who creates the most incredible characters and we've started on a little collaborative journey which is turning out to be heaps of fun.  Just a couple of pics to share today.  Will fill you in on all the details tomorrow.

This is the lovely Rachel getting creative.

and these are our characters.