timing no.24

how things change in a world, sometimes you are going in one way, then life takes you along another way, so we move with the time and it-is-exciting…so i, think it is anyhow… so my dear friends due to scheduling of my world this artblog will continue…even if the life of tasha is a little busier than i originally thought it would be, this artblog it is important to me… so it will arrive sometime over the weekend, still every week, just maybe not on a friday night…

i really do like writing these little thoughts about my artworld and what i think about things in my world, i hope it is a positive experience as you read and not too boring… who said my life was boring????? no one did! ha ha… so lately i have been thinking about timing and using my time wisely… maybe it’s a beginning of the year thing too… starting new projects, new paintings, new drawings, and new readings too!

speaking of readings….i am nearly finished this wonderful little penguin book on Matisse by Alastair Sooke, it has been so motivating and inspirational toward my art practice. Matisse was such a goer… he just oozed his artmaking and loved the artform of dance… Sooke said, there is something tremendously poignant about a sickly artist finding inspiration in the aerial lifts and pirouettes of a professional dancer performing for him in private. even matisse in his ancient years got a buzz from his creating… i so know how that feels… and i do so love his collage’.

back to timing… now where i am presently i am aiming to use my time with utmost care, it’s the balance of all things, i am thinking zen like, not that i am buddhist, but we can learn so much from each other…. being in a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort, which i think is quite damn wise…. but with all things we need to put effort in, and i try to do that, my best effort…at all times…

so my art and life is a balance, making time for the 1. loved ones and making time for my 2. day to day work and 3. making time for my studio practice, three things, that’s all…so i am incredibly motivated for this new year and all that it brings, the journey’s i am to take and the people i am yet to meet…

january is nearly done, unbelievable!

spowers & syme no.23

in 2023 (its a sign)…

due to so much wonderful frivolity of renovations and life, being that the sun has warmed my bones this year so much more than any other, swimming has been high on my agenda, lunching  and relaxing and spending thoughtful quality time with my loved ones has been the priority this year thus far… I have felt a control and a freedom that I have not felt before until now… curious i do know but it is where i am…

my artblog has not been imparted to the masses, therefore today i write this and want to share that i had a unique opportunity to see the Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme printmaking exhibition last week with a wonderful and encouraging artist friend of mine at the S.H Irvine gallery in Sydney CBD, the gallery is beautiful, it is right next to the Harbour Bridge and holds a special meaning to me…back to the S and S….these two women were wonderful friends who were artists and worked tirelessly in the area of printmaking, they were pioneers in my mind.

i have always appreciated Ethel Spowers as a young artist, but did not know of Ms Syme, these two seemed to work furiously at their craft, my only thoughts is that what if i had worked at their same pace? how i would have achieved so much more in my art making till now? … but I should not look back but forward, so they say, today is a new day, and a brand new year, and i know that mrs button has come so far, compared to what it may have been… life has a way of planning things for us and i am, well…beholden to the belief of, well, going with the flow, so I just go…

they immersed themselves in their art, in learning technique and i do believe they mastered their technique in specific and unique ways that explored the notion of their time they had here on earth, a note of interest was the repetitive nature of the figures or subjects in their work, this gave the work an impression of movement and works being animated, an artist must keep on moving…they went to the Grosvenor school of art in the UK, and were under the guise and tutelage of Claude Flight who had written a wonderful book on linocuts which i would love to see one day, like, to turn the pages, not just in a glass cabinet… i wonder if it is in the state library?? pondering… so these ladies were into Japan…especially Japanese printmaking… some of thier works reminded me of Japanese woodcuts, so gentle and thoughtful….time, contemplation, patience, it takes me back to when i first learnt printmaking in Mackay, Queensland, over ten years ago now… presently, i am quite enamoured by all things Japanese, the food, the art, i even watched a film on SBS called Tokyo Sonata the other day, it was so quirky and good and cool…

so if you get a chance, look into these two remarkable women and their prints they are a wonder to behold and they have shared so much to inspire me, after the exhibition, i wanted ever so much to start a linocut….so inspo!

i have reflected much on my artmaking and practice and have decided to pop my artworks for sale on bluethumb, i had attempted this once before, but now have decided to step up the tasha button world and journey and see what eventuates, i do know there is a plethora of art in drawers and other places that could adorn another humans’ world or space and give them delight and that’s why one creates, it is what is within that seems to come out pictorially… so if you are a bluethumb subscriber, please follow my page, thank you kindly, for now it is the last week of holidays, then i sojurn back to the books, the books are lovely though…

thanks for reading…

new start no.22

happy new year 2023

dear friends, happy new year, I do hope you had a swell Christmas and New Years Eve. this is my first artblog for 2023. and oh what expectations i do have for this year. rain is pelting at my windows as i write this, quite the tropical storm we are experiencing in Sydney after some lovely warm summer like days, those of which we certainly did not see in 2022. i am feeling a little lighter heading into this year compared to last year. oh what a year it was… i learnt much about myself and have processed immensely and deeply about my practice and my direction as an educator and a practicing artist.

so i am glad to announce that many new avenues of tasha button art are being produced in 2023 and i am so exhilarated about all my ideas that just well, keep on flowing and moving and oozing from the brain that has been bestowed upon me…and i just can’t wait…i have just re-examined my bluethumb page which is a art selling platform in Australia… and have decided to sell old works, they are works that i have kept for nostalgia, but there is far too many of them, and for one, i have no room, and i want to share my art with the whole world, each day i am uploading a new image to the bluethumb and am making a catalogue of my art, so therefore, one day there will be a digital representation of the artworks and journeys that i have made progressively through the years. there is a little of this here on this website, well a snippit of works and stories under the memoir tag at the top.

today i was going through my camellia studio and clearing out a few things as you do in a fresh new year and was surprised to find some old charcoal drawings from my art school days, all rolled up, i felt i hadn’t seen these for many a decade, so that was a little treat… as you get older the memories are sparked by images and i think that is why visual representations, whether photographs or artworks are vital to our existence. hands up dear friends those of you who have not one artpiece or photograph on your wall, there is my point, creativity is so important to society as a whole.

i made this little happy new year sign quickly this year on an app called procreate, it is a wonderful app which enables one to compose digital artworks with ease. so my friends, the journey of my art in 2023 has begun and thank you for your support in this coming year, more news next week…

good night, sleep tight…

tis the season no.21

dear friends, this is my last artblog for 2022, wishing you all the joy, the peace, the quiet or the loud that this time of year brings to you. happy holidays! sending you love, light, and laughter for good memories and a bright and healthy 2023. i am feeling really glad that i’m back writing again about all things in my life that are to do with my art journey. when you look at our world and the wonder that it is, it makes sense to me to be creative about it all. this showcases ones’ depth of meaning and well, just being.

i would like to

thank all my subscribers for your constant encouragement of my art, artblog and my art practice. hip hooray to you!

this year has been a busy one with all the teaching of art to our youth, and i indeed have had a great couple of years with them, the above artwork was an appropriation created by said students and I was thinking about this tremendous ancient work’s colour palette the other evening as i was composing a painting in my head, and although it is not a christmas scene or theme it does have a christmasy type of colour palette, so here i share this appropriation of a Van Eyck, “arnolfini and his bride” for you to be inspired by, as was i, many times over, all of 16 year olds…who knew??? i think Van Eyck the artist from 1434 would be pretty chuffed to think that these young art students of the future are being inspired by his work centuries later…i am presently preparing for festivities in the next few days, then, when all is celebrated i am back to the canvas and i cannot wait…. it has been too long between paintbrushes, so i will keep you all posted on the goings on in my world of art and projects in the new year of 2023…and finally to share a quote a very wise student of mine shared with me in her christmas card this year…

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others feel” the great Degas.

peace out

tasha

winding up no.20

how the end of the year has arrived and now we head towards the new and fresh 2023. i have learnt so much this year about art, my life and how i want to live it. its interesting that you can think that your life will take you to a place but then how the universe or God has other plans and knows intrinsically what one needs to lead our manifested artistic fabulous lives. in saying that, i think it is still very important to work hard, and do your upmost to succeed at everything you do, how can this line of thought not be advantageous? this is a question i ponder and wonder if i will ever know the answer? maybe when i turn 99 years of age and look back on my life then i will know. the other week we were in darwin and oh it was so hot there, having taught this past year about a few notable aboriginal artists such as jonathan jones, i was very glad to be immersed in the aboriginal art scene, in its essence of place rather than a gift shop in sydney or a book in a library. the stories and painting of land, the patterns, the direction of forms and how each piece is unique, just like every artist is unique, and generations of painting, passing down marks from mother to daughter or niece, father to son or nephew, all sisters painting together, all family painting together, the simplicity of life is expressed and painted on canvas. not complicated, just is. i now have a further understanding and experience of aboriginal art and the depth of meaning it has to a culture of people. just like when you go abroad and see the glassmakers in venice, or ceramics in capri, it is the cultural generational aspect, you see and understand so much more about yourself and the world we live in. this is why travel, experiencing the world is thus so important if you can. just go. i am so looking forward to this christmas season and new years where we get to be with out loved ones and stop the rollercoaster of day to day. then i am moving forward to taking my painting , my creating , and my artistic life to the next level. woop woop. i am excited to see what that may be. thankyou for joining my journey, it all starts now, merry christmas everyone!!

hello artblog no.19

well here we are again, how i did miss writing these weekly musings, with a full time occupation this past year my own artwork has suffered, but that is ok… life happens… things happen… onwards and upwards as grandpa used to say…. so here i am…. i am back with bells…thank you to my dearest friends who have missed my artblogs…and told me so… i really appreciate the feedback and saw that it may have meant a little something something. so how exciting that we have a brand new modern gallery wing as a part of the art gallery of nsw, in our city of sydney… right next to the wonderful botanical gardens which i do love to stroll around at my leisure… its all the green i think…cant get enough of the greenery… i was so fortunate to have the opportunity to be one of the first lot of people to step into the gallery through the traditional owners smoking welcome ceremony before it was open to the world… such privileges i do dare say… there is quite a lot of glass in the building and it lets in a vast amount of light, showing off our blue cobalt sky and wooloomooloo bay with Yayoi Kusama sculpture bringing a vast amount of joy from flowers on the horizon… with strong sydney sandstone sweeping walls and twirling and spiralling staircases. these led down to the darkness and depths towards a site specific alien like artwork by Adrian Villar Rojas that aligns mystery of dark hues and light forms, where the WWII bombs once laid… so historical …. so dark…so nice to have a new fresh space to visit and see more art anyways…. maybe one day, my work will be on those walls, one has to dream, do they not? dreamer …dream… breathe….so now i am back in my little camellia studio preparing to create some magical artworks that hopefully will delight some, as long as i like them…. this art… it is but a habit… a need.. an inclination to create… so natural… the art of being… have a nice weekend, ciao

a little rain ? no.18

Rainy rain rain rain…

It is still raining, unbelievable, all of this year has so far been “wet”. I saw a glimpse of blue sky and sun yesterday and I think I nearly fell over. Soon we will be getting a little sleep in which is great, due to daylight saving being all finished and done, presently I am up in the dark… which is different…

so i wrote this on April 1st- it is now 20 days later… due to work/life balance, commitments i am unable to proceed at this time with my artblog… it is not goodbye… it is just on hold for a while… know your limitations….. thanks to everyone for reading this past 18 writings…. i will be back, having a break for a spell

ciao all

artblog no.17 2022

it is importance to balance one’s life, with work and also with the things you enjoy. so i will always try to make time for art pondering, creating and visiting other people’s collections, as a vibrant life does, i have decided to add my love of music, both live and creatively. so….. last weekend I was able to see a wonderful musician called Ami Williamson, i only caught the 2nd act, but that’s ok, as it was better than not seeing her at all. she sang some 1960’s tunes and invited the audience to sing along which was so fun! it was within the folk style which I appreciate very much. instagram:@williamsonami

another cool happening was that i went with a friend to see some art which I haven’t done in a while, by an abstract artist, Reiko Azuma called “Life Force” solo works from 2020-2022, her paintings were so connected, energetic, fragmented and delightful, they would look fabulous in any space they were in. and as I am on a musical inspirational journey too, she also happened to be an amazing jazz musician, playing her tunes with a ukulele to her audience in a little gallery in Camperdown, it was so choice, that weekend. instagram: @reikoazumart

how is this rain my sydney friends? i cannot fathom how my garden has exploded with growth over these past months, my camellias are just about to pop with floral magnificance and carpet the grass with petaled glory, i have never seen so many buds on the trees, it is outstanding i must say, we are nearly mowing the lawn every week and it feels like we live in tropical queensland … and we know what that is like. very wet. my camellia studio is still out of action :( …. but the renovations continue, we are doing some choice tiling- subway tiles seem to take a while???…especially when you take them to the ceiling…i am thinking i will move back to the kitchen table to do my art and maybe some interior like artworks might pop out…i suppose you have to go with the flow and take what comes, and i do know that eventually life does sort itself out, and all the good things happen.

so all in all, how wonderful to have events and life getting back to what it once was before, i do like to go and experience the world around me…

have a creatively fab week…

no.16 2022

well HELLO my dear friends , unbelievable that it is now march and i am writing my first artblog for the year. the year has started rather wobbly and rockily, i started a full-time occupation, then the household got “the covy,” we have been renovating rooms in our home since before christmas and now this week we found termites in camellia studio :(

so on the bright side i went to a cool music festival last weekend just out of brisvegas, “springloaded”, with some dear ole mates from queensland, it was an excellent fun, cruisy, cool frivolity type of weekend. even appreciating bands like frenzel rhomb (which i naturally would not take to), their stage presence was electric and so theatrical and heavy to your soul. the fauves of course gave so much as always and regurgitator, well what can i say you hipster poleyester girls?

about my art side of things i have been really appreciating and getting into my typography, style guides, logos of the graphic designers and digital art, so as i said last year i am renovating, you will notice the website is now a fresh colour of natural green, (it was pink before) i am thinking about our natural world and trying to encompass a green attitude both aesthetically and humanistically to my life…

i was especially inspired over the weekend by regurgitatiors’ graphics, a circle of creative coolness behind the drummer at the music festival. think they were their video clips from a few years back, but man they were so choice and the implementation/drawing was spot on. this encouraged me to move forward with my digital explorations… i did visit a bit of digital art last year with fleur de rouge, so who knows what’s around the corner in all this coolness of the life…haven’t lifted my own pen or brush, only to show others… oh the art life is all encompassing…

in january i started bullet journalling, which has been a great thing, it just popped up onto my you tube because i watch alot of art related content, and now I use it as an organisational tool for my art life, to be able to reflect on experiences (even a film you may watch on netflix,) is so important for ones growth as an artist, i am appreciating my life so much of late with all the sadness around, it makes you accept the mundane of the day to day living and knowing of what is, i’m not trying to sound all cliche’ but the world is having a difficult period, and i am looking forward to brighter days,

thanks for reading my waffle,

have a great week, i am back, woo hoo

here’s to 2022,  go us!

no. 15

we are renovating everything… be back in early february, have a nice holiday season and new 2022 :)

over and out.

nearly… no.14

well, here we are, two weeks till christmas, i cannot fathom how we got here, but we did! so last saturday i took a sojurn into the city with a friend to see the portia geach, a women’s only portrait prize. i try to see the portia geach when it is on, some years i have missed it…..in the past, Australian women painters whom i admire have won the prize, i would love to follow in their footsteps, they are so inspiring to me. these wonderful painters are dora toovey, jocelyn maughn, margaret woodward, rosemary valadon, jenny sages, wendy sharpe, lucy culliton, prudence flint, just to name a few. also, i just love to see all of the other artists who have put works in too, one of my friends from art school days- yuri shimmyo was in the exhibition too, you can see all of her beautiful artwork at www.yurishimmyo.com the portia geach its always a motivatingly good show. this year was especially special as i had entered, and to see the other works i was up against made me realise that i have to lift my game, get more serious, although i always do my best where i am. i do think that i am serious, but i need more deep spiritually devotional energy, i think that i concern myself with overworking a painting sometimes that i underwork it, then it does not, well you know, sing…..(even though we are not supposed to sing coz of covid, tee hee) so last year as we went from painting to painting, i said to my friend erina, i am going to paint you for the portia geach next year in 2021. so i did. i entered. and my painting was rejected. i did mentioned this in my artblog a couple of weeks ago, as an unknown artist i am getting used to not getting into prizes. one day, there is always hope! you cannot rush these things… like everything it takes time, and over these last 20 years i have always had my art as a side to other things in the life of mine. which is all ok, i wouldn’t have changed a thing…

which leads me to last sunday, the market, i was involved in the eramboo artist environments’ first ever christmas artisan market. as i said in my last artblog, “it may rain”, and it did, sydney has had an elnininniyay (sp?) type of start to the summer THE WHOLE DAY! :( not ideal weather for a market day out. all i can say is that i met some really nice people who braved the weather and came out anyway to support eramboo and the artists. i showed some of my wares and handed out cards, that was my goal, to be a presence and meet some interesting people, for example: the people in the tent next to me lived on an island, another lady paints from her tinny rather than the land, how cool is that! an island where you have to get a boat to work… one lovely lady who popped along to my tent entered my lucky dip and won an artwork of mine, congratulations Sally! she was quite glad about it too which is nice.

camellia studio has been calling me back into its fold, so i am looking forward to some time over the summer break, moving on the next groupings of creations, so much going on in my mind…

au revoir bella’s

tasha

matisse and a market no.13

so i haven’t written for a couple of weeks, life has been a little bit too hectic, and i must admit, i have just been plain old tired, its kind of like the end of the year has fallen in our laps and everyone wants to meet up, or finalise things, or we are catching up on missed celebrations and so forth. so last friday i had the wondrous opportunity of heading off to the art gallery of new south wales in the pouring rain to see the matisse exhibition. to those of you who love all things french, who love colour, pattern and style most of all, you should attend! one is taken through his early career as a somewhat traditional painter similar to what one would find at a florence academy (julian ashton’s) in style, and then given some resplendent live footage of him cutting out his collage’ and climbing walls painting murals. from portrait bronze heads to bold enmassed bronzed egyptian-like figures…small figured considered one line drawings and prints and decorative paintings of russian women. this exhibition is truly curatorial on steroids, i loved it so much. i went with my sister who has just began painting abstract figures and abstract forms this year and she was truly beside herself with excitement at seeing his work. she was inspired beyond belief which was so nice to see. matisse delved into the human experience, he was raw, the beauty and fragility of the human form, alongside the beauty of nature or a flower patten on a wall or a balcony scene, the brightness of colour, the detailed interior or the leg of a table all sinuous and curvaceous and french… soiree’ , it has only just opened so there is plenty of time to go and see it. so i highly recommend that you do…

i have been lately thinking about my own art and i know that i still really have not arrived, i am on a journey which is so fabulous, i am relishing in the little drawings that i have been composing, picking up this and that, so i am wondering if i need to put all these little things together, rather than all these little ones on their own… i am thinking about combining my flowers with portraits (matisse influence maybe? probably) in a more substantial and unconcious way, so we will see how this comes to the fore, i am on such a travelling wilbury with my art i love the creating when i can and seeing how it all turns out, how colours pop next to others and how others just don’t cut the mustard sometimes…i don’t want to be modern, what is modern ? or contemporary, but we are contemporary as we are now??…maybe it is the label of “the now” that i don’t appreciate, i just want to create what i like to do, i still am trying to work it all out, do we ever work it all out though? i just don’t know… maybe one day

the eramboo market is this sunday, i am really chuffed it is going to be a great day, a day of meeting new people and enjoying all the works of the other artists in the community, i have some cute little business cards and a table and some great stands to display my work on, so it is like a mini exhibition, all christmassy, i am even going to have a lucky dip and a raffle, which is going to be a hoot, i do hope it doesn’t rain, the weather in Sydney has been so topsy turvy of late. and if it rains well…. theres always next year…hope you can make it and support the arts in the community…

have a wonderful weekend and thank you for reading my little artblog…

the next thing, eramboo christmas market no.12

so now i have up my sleeve a new venture, a christmas market. oh! i do love christmas, the glitterings and the happiness it brings, families and friends together and all that. especially the decorating of the home, christmas tunes, so traditional, hearing christmas music in the shops the other day was really sweet. it could be annoying (the music, i mean), but i chose to embrace it, as hope. so the fabulous Eramboo (which is an arts precinct in Terrey Hills, who knew?? ) are holding their annual christmas artisan market. i grew up in Terrey Hills in a little cold-a-sac called cudal close (as a little girl i called it cuddle close) and spent many hours mucking around in the bush behind the park making cubby houses with my friends and playing hide and seek. i was very good at the swing and used to go so high i was literally nearly flying in the clouds like a bird. the park was across the road and now a street or two away from my old home there’s an arts establishment… lining that same bushland of my childhood, love how the suburbs of Sydney progress and provide substantial places for creatives which are accessible to all over time, you just have to find out about them….

Eramboo is an Aboriginal word for tomorrow, it is a place i have mentioned before in my artblog, they have a gallery, run workshops and you can hire the place and spaces, there is an artist or two in residence which is so great! it is a place that is really “in nature”. this i do love so much. in the past couple of years i have been to artist’s exchanges there (when i wasn’t working) and other various things like exhibitions and workshops, and it is part of the Pittwater artist trail which is on a couple of times a year. (people open their studio’s). someone very inspirational to me who i met at Eramboo is basketry artist by the name of Catriona Pollard who has been artist in residence at Eramboo this past year, she is having an exhibition called “the volume of hope”, it is on until the 21st of november. a must see … for those of you further from sydney you can see her work @catrionapollard on instagram. she is such a kind soul and is so willing to share her process and journey with the world.

so when there was a callout for a christmas market i thought to myself “why not? i’ll give it a go…” i knew i would have plenty of artworks from fleur de rouge to display that may go well in a christmassy type of way, so i now have something to further work towards, so fun. i would love to see you at the christmas market, hope all my subscribers residing in sydney can make it to a wonderful day out. have a great weekend…

tasha

visiting galleries, entering art prizes no.11

like anne of green gables said “when one door closes, a window opens somewhere else..” how the life can and does continue….i was so focussed and a lot was all about the exhibition for months. then gone. some people have said to me that i may feel a kind of loss, but i don’t really, maybe a little….. i am just keeping going, onto the next thing…

 this past week I visited two galleries, stella downer fine art in zetland and arthouse in rushcutters bay.  at stella I viewed the beautiful work of viola dominello, who captured the earthy colours deeply of the australian bush with sensitivity. she used abstract forms as representation of light and shape to show the scrubby undergrowth. and tree-forms that were so familiar to many of us who have ventured into bushland, it took me there. brilliant. it is so rare these days to delve into an artwork and go there.

i then sojourned to arthouse, what a space, so modern. here i viewed some wonderful paintings by kate bergin who like me is a still life artist, her work was so BIG and inspiring, she has such skill with the brush and has obviously spent hours at her craft, she paints animals on tables in various poses, almost comical. she even had such a unique thing, she framed her palette, that you could also purchase alongside of the artwork, i am unsure if i would by an artist palette. but for the art collector, well????

this year i have entered my work in three exhibitions thus far. one with the Mosman Art Gallery – Artists of Mosman, The Emerging Art Prize- Michael Reid and The Portia Geach- S H Irvine Gallery. entering into prizes is suggested and i feel all exposure is good exposure. so one out of three this year ain’t bad considering a pandemic and the world being upside down.

 way back when i was at art school and living near the sea i entered the artists of mosman 2088 exhibition at the Mosman Art Gallery, i was also a volunteer at the gallery in their little shop and worked as a waitress with the food at various openings, it was also a new gallery too, i believe it was the first year of the exhibition in the year 2000. over the years i have entered into it a couple of times and now it has become a selected exhibition which makes it a little more exquisite and unique to be chosen. so that was a tick…

secondly, as i was painting away for fleur de rouge i was inspired by my trip to the american museum of women artists (whom I have mentioned in my artblog before) and painted an interpretation of Rachael Ruysch, from the Dutch Golden Age 1680’s. i do love my painting of this as it was kind of like a dream i have had, this painting is all over the website at the moment…. and up popped on my instagram the emerging art prize with a similar dutch inspired painting as their advertisement, i took it as a sign, as i am emerging….i entered, but alas, to no avail, but am glad i get to keep it anyways…..

finally, last year i went with my friend erina to the portia geach exhibiton and i told her i would enter her portrait for 2021, completing this was an experiment, but I achieved the finished portrait, i had not done a real portrait from life, (like at art school) for a long time, and she is glad of the outcome, so as a painter, i am moving and growing and challenged, portraiture is hard, you want to get some essence of the sitter, i feel that if the subject likes the painting then that is a ‘win’ even if the portia people did not deem it so… just keep going, that is just what i do.

have a great week

tasha

fleur de rouge is happening till nov 1 no.10

well there wasn’t going to be an opening with speeches and all the palaver that goes along with it due to social distancing, amount of people etc… so it was very fabulous that Jen and i got to be in the gallery for the day, last saturday, 23rd October, people milled their way in, people milled their way out. for all the attendees it was a good excuse to have somewhere to go after such a long stint in the homelife, into the big city of sydney, woo hoo, it never before seemed like such a rare occasion. so all in all it was really a valuable sojourn due to the recent opening up of sydney.

we feel like pioneers for the arts, leading the way, at the forefront of normality within the arts that is to reign always, in our being, the art is, anyways  

a gargantuan and colossal thank you to all the family and the friends that came along to support our art and gain some joy from the viewing and showing. some colour, dare i say, to your world. a bit of serge gainsborough to groove along to,  i will be again at the gallery tomorrow Saturday 30th and am looking forward to the day of meeting new people and sharing the enthusiasm i possess for our art. sometimes you never know who you may meet, you just never know…

for my arts practice, i have gained such momentum and new knowledge in the “behind the scenes”. i have hung many a show with other artists, group shows at art school, when i ran a life drawing class at pennant hills, when i was in hornsby art society, usually paintings, framed drawings etc. whereas installation and sculptural forms as i have learned is another beast altogether, oh, but i did like it, such joy and tribulations in the install of the work as i said last week in my artblog.

also a mamoth thank you to the gallerists at gaffa gallery. gaffa gallery is also very unique as it has multiple spaces for exhibitions, the floors are old, like from ships, 1800’s heritage building, it used to be a police station and when you walk in you can even imagine the cells that are downstairs, like a gaol, creepy…..so our exhibition was alongside two other artists whom were also on the journey, naveena gokool who challenges the traditional imagery and concept of “self” through abstraction and distortion, you can follow her work on Instagram @naveena.gookool. and a regional artist from orange, sarah randall who hoped to invoke sentiments of reflection and empathy with her still life small works that displayed images of letters and envelopes, you can also follow her work on Instagram @sarahrandallartist. i am looking forward to following both of these insightful and remarkable artists as they move and shape their art in the years ahead. fleur de rouge comes down next week, sad and glad…

don’t cry because its over, cry (smile) because it happened….. dr seuss

all in all a good time was had by all… hurrah

install day no.9

we have arrived…. jen and i installed our exhibition yesterday and oh what a day. i was truly astonished and the pure joy and jubilations of the day. having worked toward something for many months with a goal and a purpose, and to see it on the wall is such a satisfying position to be in.

the hang went pretty smoothly i must say, how fortunate i am to work with someone so in tune and on the wavelength of tasha, of ”lets do this!” and i also being on that same wavelength of jen and with our high-end out there design mentality of “well of course let us do this!”, it was too cool for school. let us follow our own fabulous agenda, float our own tug boat… i had a fantastically tiring wonderfully surprising and movingly productive time. the arranging, the drilling, the ladder climbing, the dancing, it was all there. all for the indulgence of our own, an indulgence of our creativity, sharing our art with the world, the pure excitement of it all, really. hard to put these kinds of feelings into words, i am trying my best, smiling as i write, but those of you who know me, would probs get the gist or the idea. a purely positive creative production.

we were very satisfied with how all of the artwork seemed to gel as well, so different is our practice, jen being an installation artist and me a traditional type painter, drawing etc….yet we are similar too, maybe its the gold… an amalgamation of ideas, sensitivities, gratitude and wonderment of the beauty that surrounds us, it is spring i suppose. everyone would be enjoying flowers at the moment. so we are glad that after such a time we have all had… we are bringing some of our exquisite euphoria to the city of Sydney. our joy in it all is apparent, so that is worth everything, to us it is anyways!

 so… if you are in Sydneytown, i do hope you get a chance to pop into gaffa gallery to see the fleur de rouge extravaganza!

SOIREE!

one more week no.8

its like a play, or a show, like having an opening night at the theatre, the lights, this is a real thing, i have never realised the intensity of putting your artwork out there to the public in such a fashion. i am very chuffed and looking forward to the process. now the paintings are all done, nearly all framed, all varnished and clean, finality of string and hammering, the placement and positioning of items on white walls, of paintings and drawings, of installing and installating.

i only ever had dreamed of having an exhibition one day. and now that day has come, and i am so thrilled. jen is a fantastic friend and a momentous artist to work with too, we have always had a genuinely strong friendship, one that travels deep within the creative realm, it is so very cool to have a friend like that, we have been talking art since we met when we were 17 years old, working on a cotton farm along the wanaaring road just out of bourke, new south wales. fresh out of highschool, giggling young girls, from there our worlds went in different directions, but we always found some time to inspire each other creatively with no effort really. it is i suppose a natural gleaning, our friendship. the smiles and the laughter, it does not cease. so it is only correct that we should have an exhibition celebrating the beauty of flowers together. of course!

last year was the first year i decided to really deepen the devotion of my artistic endeavours. work, life, family responsibilities change through the years or passage of one’s life and i see that alongside these other things we transform as humanity does. we metamorphose into different people than we were before, moving through our lives, with our own memos and itineraries. i love to look back to history, in times gone by. and i also love to look forward to futuristicness. so as an artist i am on this journey, there is no going back, i am here for all that it is, for now anyhow. oh, the creative wonderful life.

onwards and upwards…

fleurs are just around the corner no.7

so now it is 13 days until the exhibition. i am here and there and everywhere, like a chicken, very productive and enjoying it all! i seem to be arising real early, (like a chicken) don’t know if that is because of daylight saving, which is the best thing ever, days go on forever it seems, or the adrenaline that seems to wallow and swirl around me toward the impending soiree exhibition of fleurs. there are things to do ALL THE TIME, little bits and pieces to finalise, odds and ends, bibs and bobs. it is all very fabulous and good…

perfectly timed by the northern beaches council was this wonderful webinar/ zoom thing that you could attend for emerging artists and it was all about marketing your artwork and promoting it and things like that, these concepts that i have never thought about before, being that i have only been in shows that were prizes or groups and it was way before all this social media hype and hurrah… so it was a creative toolkit and it was led by this wonderful artist called Catriona Pollard, she’s a sculptural fibre artist. https://theartofweaving.com.au/ you will find her work on instagram @catrionapollard. her work is lovely and she seems to really enjoy sharing her journey with others which is so refreshing…so she talked all about databases, business cards, endorsements, media releases, blogging (which I do actually do), portfolios etc etc… and man, it was so timely and inspirational, especially when we were not sure if we would have an exhibition and if it would all transmute to the ether and beyond… and how would we let people know about the exhibition??

So here it is……da daaaaa…. the MEDIA RELEASE that I would not have made if I had not attended that event, I have been sending it all around Sydney… tee hee… so thank you Nothern Beaches Council and thank you Catriona Pollard :)

MEDIA RELEASE October 2021

Two Contemporary Decorative Artists come together in Sydney Exhibition to bring joy to many, creatively exhibiting their interpretation of a French Art Garden.

 Fleur de Rouge is an art experience which has grown from a long-standing artist friendship. Tasha Button and Jen Denzin are contemporary artists who have vastly different art practices but have been a significant and constant influence on the other’s creative production.

 The exhibition on 21st October at gaffa gallery, Sydney has brought together two artists who have known each other for many years. Fleur de Rouge is less a stroll down memory lane but a modern-day experiment with colour, composition, and form. It asks the question, ‘What happens when two artists decide to exhibit together for the first time after many years of artistic exchange and involvement?’ The idea of making an art garden developed from discussions about nature and light, the cultivation of artistic growth, the propagation of ideas, and a cross-pollination of two different approaches and methods to art-making practice. Tasha and Jen have collaborated in the elements of design and manifested the beauty they see in nature. They use a variety of dramatic forms from traditional oil and watercolour paintings using sustainable materials, and installations using plastic straws, found objects and common-place materials. These two artists understand the exquisiteness of common flowers in gardens from generations of artists gone before. They reflect on their processes and have the ability to represent the diverse nature of flowering plants in an enriching and contemporary way. Jen and Tasha create floral spiritual installation arrangements together with the beauty of French gardens, abstract forms of rouge, gold and greenery.

 Fleur de Rouge is on at gaffa gallery, 281 Clarence Street, Sydney from 21 October – 1 November 2021, hours are from 10am – 5pm, closed Sundays.

 -ends-

have a lovely weekend,

counting down to Fleur de Rouge exhibition…no.6

from tonight there is 20 sleeps until the exhibition Fleur de Rouge with Jen, you cannot believe i am so looking forward to this exhibition coming together, when the world is whirling, it is good to know that what we fashioned from the start of the year over a coffee on the coast is going full steam ahead. it has been a whole year of work, we decided in January that we should have an exhibition together and how we both needed to spread our wings and share our creative spirits with the world. for goodness sakes we have been friends for thirty years, so we now are saying, “why did we wait so long? why has it taken till now?? why didn’t we do this before??? there is a time for everything…and now is it. it is time. Jen has been so fortunate and has had a few solo exhibitions, regional exhibitions, commissions etc…i am so inspired by her production, she works so hard at her craft and is true to herself and her practice. and creates amazing awe inspiring works that are like nothing you have ever seen.

i have floated around in many group shows, studied a bit both here and there, taught a bit, lived overseas, entered prizes and created towards whatever has come my way for a few years now. so, it has been brilliant to focus, to stay on track towards one solid theme and subject matter, flowers, flower-gardens. art gardens and being influenced by the style and beauty of the French, their motifs, stripes and splendour. i feel as though i will stay on this theme/ trajectory for a while moving forward, botanically feeling free to be, to be me, and what i like, what gets my garden groove going.

creating this website and blog and having the name camellia studio, being surrounded by these beautiful flowers has also enabled the flower thing to bud. how i do feel fortunate to be able to grow delightful species of plant matter, to be able to share decoratively with others my elation and pleasure of floral sprays and design. i am working to the wire, i have two oil paintings to complete and i may get some watercolours complete, well i will try…that’s all one can do… so a busy 20 days are ahead, i am relying on social media and emails to get the word around about our exhibition, so if you are in Sydney, or you know someone who lives in Sydney and reading this, please tell your friends, thank you kindly, so thrilled.

systems are go, fleur de rouge no.5

well, it has definitely all been happening in the life of this artist, the marketing to the wonderful gaffa gallery has been sent off, the facebook event has been posted, the advert and blurb is on gaffa gallerys’ website the instagram reels are swinging and all stylish and very cool,

 then there is the feeling of un-assurance that goes with a global pandemic…

 all the daily things, all the normal things, you can’t feel sure, the uncertainty that the whole world has and is going through. what times we live in…., we thought last year 2020 was the wayward year, little did we know that this delta would be the most testing for all of us. 2021. humph. sounds like a novella, like something that isn’t really happening, i cannot truly fathom that today was the first day i went for the furthest i have been from home in the past twelve weeks or more and it was to the next suburb, less than 5 km of my home.

 for fleur de rouge i am now at the process where i am cataloguing and pricing my artworks, gee this is a hard thing to do, i have always struggled with it, i do think a lot of creatives do too, how do you put a price on your heart and soul? how do you buy the sun or the moon, how can you put a price on creativity? one must, i know, still for all, it’s hard, thirty plus years of creating??? really, do i have to price these items that i made? this is the context, the criteria for the creating, the progression of the exhibiting decorative artist.

finally, i have started painting camellias, i thought since i create in camellia studio, i should at least have more than one painting of camellias, i painted it with oil last year, it was the beginnings of my flower study journey, little did i know it would lead me to an exhibition with my very dear friend, Jennifer… which has led me to the place i am now, having an exhibition of an art garden, the plants from my home that surround me throughout the year. fortunately there are still a few camellias left adorning the trees, some have fallen to the ground and shrivelled to camellia carpet, their outer petals are crusty brown, but some of the colours underneath are truly iridescent, it is kind of like you need to peel off the layers to find the beauty underneath- (common in many situations of life, not just floral ) some are camellia bums, whilst some are sprouting still, as buds, little camellia buds.