instagram, instagrafite and photo of the day

I try and post most of my photos of street art on Instagram.  It's an iphone app that enables people to share their photos through additional avenues like twitter, facebook and flicker.  Images have the same shape as a polaroid and there are a range of filters that can be applied to photos. 


I often classify my photos of street art with the hash tag instagrafite.   Instagrafite is a group, originating in Brazil, that has a strong street art following and awards a 'photo of the day'.  


On 29 November, I won photo of the day!!  I was very excited and pleased.  They feature some great images as photo of the day.  


The photo I took is of a piece in a laneway near RMIT.  I don't know who it's by. It's illustrative and the first thought I had was that I'd seen the figures on the right somewhere before.  One of the comments mentions that it's Chagallesque and I agree. 

http://instagr.am/p/WYo5w/

Diptic

I’ve started using an app ‘diptic’, after seeing images from haikugirloz and asking her how she got the effects.  I have a couple of favourite formats, and am only beginning to explore what can be done. 

acqua 2011.  Images from iphone, put together using diptic

In a way it reminds me of some gouaches from Fred Williams, where he taped off the page and painted a series of related landscapes. 

Fred Williams 1971 'Springbrook, Queensland'
Gouache, watercolour and synthetic polymer paint on paper.

I seem to have two main ideas thus far.  One is to take cropped images of different photos that have strong colour relationships, and the other is to put images together that really relate in terms of their content.  At the moment this is mostly images from urban street artists I’ve seen in different locations.

untitled, 2011. images from iphone, put together using diptic

Not sure who the pieces are by, 2011.
Stencils in Nth Fitzroy, in laneway behind Nicholson Street..

untitled, 2011. images from iphone, put together using diptic

Pheonix the street artist, 2011 'Tipping Point' ArtBoy gallery door
VOice of the blue earth series.

Cosmic Tile Street Art

I have been taking a lot of photos of street art recently.  The first piece that really caught my eye was a ceramic tile that had been placed on the wall above head height on a building on Green Street, just off Chapel Street.

Eta Carinae 2011, Ceramic Tile on Wall.  WIndsor
(ghost and mushroom paste ups have been
sprayed over, but the tile remains.)

I’ve seen five tiles so far and I assume there are more.  All have been dotted around Prahran and Windsor.  Two tiles are close to work, one is on the corner of Greville Street and St Edmonds Road and the other two are off Chapel Street, close to Commercial Road.  Each one has been discretely placed on the wall above head height.  You have to look up to spot them and it’s hard to get a really close look.

Cosmic Tiles, 2011 Prahran and WIndsor

All the tiles are of astronomical features; nebula, stars and galaxies.  I had a look on the Hubble website easily located three of the images.  They’re glossy, reflective and colourful.  I’d love to know who did them and how they were done.  I like the contrast between the smallness of the tile and the seeming vastness of the image depicted.   

Supergiant Star V838 Monocerotis. 2011,
Ceramic Tile on wall.  Windsor 

Spiral Galaxy 2011, Ceramic Tile on Wall, Prahran 

Cosmic tiles 2011, Ceramic Tiles on walls.  Windsor and Prahran 

Nebula 2011 Ceramic tile on wall.
cnr St Edmonds Rd & Greville St. Prahran

5 recent drawings

I bought a small sketchbook while on holiday in Byron Bay.  From early September, I have been trying to do a drawing a day, as a way of getting back into art.  I've now done over seventy.  
I'm still feeling distinctly rusty, but I think I am improving.  
Here are some of the more successful early drawings.  (All drawings are in pencil on A5 size paper.)

Pear. 2011. Graphite on paper

Moira's Buddha. 2011 graphite on paper

Scissors I. 2011 graphite on paper

Maggie. 2011. graphite on paper

Keep Cup, 2011. Graphite on Paper

Drawing Projects - Jeanette Barnes

I've been looking at a new book that arrived in the library where I work.   It's called 'Drawing projects : an exploration of the language of drawing,'  A number of artists profiles are interspersed between the projects that form a drawing course developed by the authors.  One of these profiles is about an English artist; Jeanette Barnes.

I like her style: big charcoal and conte drawings full of movement with lots of erasure and remarking.  Some drawings end up looking like early photographs of street scenes, where there's blurred movement with the hint of the shape of cars and people as they move more quickly through space than the camera can capture on film with any clarity.

Eros - Piccadilly Circus Jeanette Barnes http://www.jeanettebarnesart.com

In writing about her practice, Barnes also provides the following thoughts;

"My advice to anyone starting out would be to have a go and do not think that you cannot draw.  If your drawing does not instantaneously turn out the way you want it to - or is unlike other people's work.  Drawing should always be a personal response.  The more drawing you do, the more confident you will become.  Experiment with different materials - onte type might be more successful than another.   Take creative risks.
Do not be afraid to dismiss your first idea and get rid of the notion that everything has to be right first time.  Trial and error can help you grow as an artist."

                               (Barnes in Maslen & Southern 2011, p.150)

 This is something I need constant reminding of as I start drawing and painting again and is something J has been trying to tell me for a long time. 

Booking Hall - Canary Wharf Jeanette Barnes http://www.jeanettebarnesart.com

Maslen, M & Southern, J 2011, Drawing projects: an exploration of the language of drawing, Back Dog Publishing, London ISBN 9781907317255

reboot

I really need to do something with this blog...

and it needs to be more than "hey, look what i did four years ago! wasn't it great!"

While in future I might show some images of things from the past, I'd like to try and concentrate on developing the now and showing some of the things I've been drawing, writing about some of the art and design books I've been reading, displaying some of the photos i've been taking and also, maybe, trying to write a little about work.  

so, we'll see how it all goes...

purple and red on black

this is part of a frieze.