Studio News - Michelle Walker | Artist | Author | Creativity Coach

0 Items

Home
Podcast – Paintbrush & Ivories
Workshops and Retreats
Paint Your heART
Studio News
About
Contact

Contact

Michelle Walker
Artist | Author | Creativity Coach

michelle@michellewalker.com.au
Phone: +61 407 119 795

Follow me on Instagram

Back in the Laneway Studio… New panels emerging

Back in the Laneway Studio…

New panels emerging in my play with cold wax medium and oils…

This is just a snapshot of a few works in progress… early layers, playing with marks, line and complementary palette.

Isn’t the combo of turquoise and red-orange so striking?? Love it though it won’t stay like this for long!
😊

Teaching at #SpiritArtSchool today, exploring Aust

Teaching at #SpiritArtSchool today, exploring Australian landscape art of the last century and how to mix a range of greens from the co-primaries - warm & cool blues + warm & cool yellows.

This was my activity to bring it all together - the forest canopy in acrylics and gel pen.

Some close ups of my play boards experimenting wit

Some close ups of my play boards experimenting with #coldwaxmedium and oils.

I have been building up layers of contrasting colours and tones and on several of the panels, have scraped back using the side of my palette knife. It makes such an interesting mark. A kind of notch mark that skips down the panel.

The thing is, I’m wondering if it’s a mark that fits with my ideas of connection to place, honouring the nature and the landscape around me…? Wondering. 🤔🤓🙃

What do you see when you see the notched marks? I’d love to know some other thoughts about what it evokes.

Art with girlfriends and the dog out in the forest

Art with girlfriends and the dog out in the forest. One of my favourite spots - great to share with art “artisan fartisan” friends.

Playing and making marks in my sketchbooks. Riffing off the colours and lines I see in front of me.

Love this place. Really windy today. Big air element day. Blustery, blowy.

A new medium… adventures in oils and cold wax me

A new medium… adventures in oils and cold wax medium has begun. I know it’s a good move when I wake up, eager to get back into the studio.

These 4 little play panels are definitely a #workinprogressart. After playing in acrylics for so long, the prolonged wetness is still surprising even when I think I’ve made allowances for it 😜😊😮

So last Thursday was a first- 1st time painting with oils, 1st time with #coldwaxmedium…

It’s been a while since I did something for the first time!!

Back to being a complete beginner 😆

What was the last thing that was a first for you??

Found this case moth on my daily walk in the fores

Found this case moth on my daily walk in the forest… who else finds bugs and insects super interesting?

When I was 11 years old, I became a ‘Junior Ranger’… kinda like scouts for kids who were obsessed by nature. I loved learning about Strangler figs, how bower birds decorate their bowers and the life cycle of elk-horns. Pretty nerdy, huh?!?

Was nature a big part of your life when you were growing up?

If you are a yes, what’s something that fascinated you about the cycles and rhythms of nature?

Back in September, I decided to bury some art pape

Back in September, I decided to bury some art papers in the paddock. I wanted to see what marks and stains I could achieve using the rich black volcanic soil we have here in parts of our farm.

I selected 4 types of papers – Canson, 2 types of handmade papers with flecks of vegetation materials and a fine mulberry paper.

These were soaked in water for an hour or two before I buried them wet in layers of soil in the paddock. The spot I chose had soil that was easy to dig – quite a loamy black volcanic soil that I hoped would give some good staining.

About a month later, I noticed the echidna had been digging around the site. My interest in seeing what had happened with the papers got the better of me, and about a week after the echidna had been through, I dug up the top 2 sheets. After washing and drying, I saw I had achieved a good amount of staining. Soon after that, I excavated the rest of papers. It was difficult to not damage the sheets as I unearthed them, then I realised I really liked the fragmented nature of the pieces as they emerged.
If you want to see the results, follow the link in my bio to my YouTube channel (@michellewalkerart) to watch the process.

Scribbly gums, mangroves and some watercolour pain

Scribbly gums, mangroves and some watercolour paint… Thursday was spent with some art friends for a spot of plein air art (that’s art in the bush!!)

Love the textures in the Scribbly gum bark made by the moth - it looks to me like some eyes closed drawing activity. 😊 I took lots of photos of the different patterns but only included one here (-restraint-)… but found I left my water container back at the car, so it was make do time!

Do you ever make art in the dirt? If yes, what’s your favourite wild habitat?

What do you see when you look at these paper fragm

What do you see when you look at these paper fragments that have been soaked, buried, rinsed, stained, dyed, painted and scribbled on?

I find marks made by nature so interesting… the colour of the black soil that’s left a grey brown stain… the orange red of the lump of clay I scratched onto the surface… it reminds me of time. The passing of time, and the sacred in the smallest of things, like the way the ink blooms into the puddle of water on the surface… the way the grains of the clay sit on the orange marks and are rough and fragile to the touch.

Does anyone else see a tiny bit of the sacred in these?

Watch my art-making videos

Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest

© 2021 Michelle Walker | Artist | Author | Creativity Coach ♥ Websites with a Heart