Joanne Sketch

We had a tense evening one day this week, while we waited for the studio allocations for the degree show to be posted onto the notice board.

These allocations can make or break your degree show, if you get a terrible spot it is hard to make the best of it. So, nervously we all hung about our studios, waiting for the notice to go up.

None of us could get on with our work, so we all sat around chatting nervously or fiddling about. I spotted Joanne doing her usual when she is agitated, she grabs my scissors and one by one cuts off her split ends. I thought she looked a great subject to draw, so I picked up a pencil and my sketchbook and got her overall posture.

This is the unfinished result, I have been working on it from what I can remember and the information there is in the drawing. I cropped it a bit as the chair was a disaster, LOL!

Oh, and the studio space I have is excellent!

Habits

Well, I got obsessed about the praying girl in my last post. I wanted to make sense of her hands and the way the fingers fitted together and I wondered what she would look like in a habit as a nun.

It was great fun and I enjoyed sketching - maybe a watercolour when I have a little time next.

Third Birthday Card

Feeling much better after a quiet weekend and a detox diet, lots of fruit or veg smoothies and lots of rest have done the trick!

This evening, I managed to finish the third birthday card that is due in the post tomorrow - after a couple of false starts yesterday. It is for a lady who is very fond of nuns and angels, which is why I have used the image of a very angelic girl holding a rosary.

Making Birthday Cards

I have a mental block about making birthday cards. They never seem to look like the lovely cards I see other people make. But today, I have to make three as in ANUK group there are three birthdays in a row. Here are two, one more to finish, but it has caulk drying at the moment.

These two will have tiny tags to go on the top RH corner saying happy birthday, but I haven't included them as they are made of wood and too thick to scan properly.

They are made by making a collage, the first one, with collages of old hand-pulled print proofs and then I did a watercolour wash and a collaged image on top, then sewing to finish off. I have decorated the envelopes too as we are on a mail art kick on ANUK.

I know they don't look like the cards you buy in shops, but I like these!

Kari x

A Peek Into my Studio

I have had a great week with some fabulous news, my tutor told me that she had secured funding for me to have a whole day's one-to-one help on editing my videos.

Filming has been going great these past few days, with archery yesterday and rifle shooting today, plus I got the thumbs up from my tutor yesterday on my previous films.


Here are some images of a selection of works happening in my studio space, the first is of some crumpled pages that I made while reading a book on the history of the world. I read a page, tore it out, scrumpled it up and stuck it to the board in sequence.


This image is of my map people which has been seen before, but this time I have used a stencil and sprayed black around it. Probably won't use it in the final show though (it is so last year, LOL!).

The next image is of a stencil I have made from a chintz design which I may spray directly onto the wall and attach a board or book on top (examples temporarily attached here). As my work is in muted neutral colours, I have to decide what colour to spray: cream, grey, black, pink or light brown.






And the final image is just one I made recently in my sketchbook, the words are from the Ray Bradbury
book that I am re-reading at the moment.

There are many other pieces that I am not showing here, such as tortured books, collages, video clips, sketchbook pages etc, because they are either not finished or not good enough, LOL.

I hope you have enjoyed looking over my shoulder as I work towards my degree show. I am beginning to feel as if things are taking shape now and that the final work will look how I want it to.

Knowing Me, Knowing You

Challenged by Liz to follow in Teesha's footsteps to find out more about our fellow artists, I have answered the following questions.

I would love to hear your answers and any comments on mine.

NaME: Kari Gibson
i LIvE: in the stable area of an old coach house and I sleep in the hay loft
mY PeDiGReE is: part Hungarian: part French born in UK
MY WeBSitE is: sadly out of date
iN 5 wORdS i aM: adventurous, artistic, potty, caring and curious
hApPiNEsS iS: spending time with friends
i WIsH: the human race would learn
i'M MOsT iNfLUeNcED by: my fellow artists and friends
i'Ve aLWaYS wANtED tO: see salmon swimming up a stream, see inside my own body, feel the fur of a polar bear, have trampoline lessons
mY cURreNt aRt PrOJecT iS: displacement, detention and torture on video
i LOvE tHE sMElL Of: babies, new paper, meadows, sea air, turps and coffee
mY BEsT mEMory is: finding I was pregnant after a long time waiting
mY cURrENt OBseSSiOn is: books, books and more books
i LiKE: university life, my wee part time job, my home, my friends
I DiSLiKE: bad manners and cruelty
mY FaVORitE fOOD IS: I adore all sorts of food including vegetables, fruit, pastries, spicy foods, parma violets and highland taffy
sOMeThINg I aVoID At aLL CoSTs iS: facing problems
fAVORiTe VaCAtIOn sPoT iS: Venice
mY FAvORiTe tOY aS A cHIlD: a teddy bear, called, um, “teddy”
My FAVorITe TOy nOW: my sewing machine
cURrENT FaVORiTE qUOtE: If someone gives you lined paper, write the other way (I can’t remember who by)
FaVOriTe pOEm: o purple finch by ee cummings

Kari x

Paper Quilt for Everyday Book

It has been another busy few days. Yesterday I was in Edinburgh at the RSA student show opening which was wonderful, even if I hadn't managed to get something in as my current work isn't ready yet.

Four of my fellow students scooped excellent prizes and my hands are sore from clapping so much! Then, us mature students showed the young 'uns how to party, at the back of the coach, singing loudly and quaffing mysterious alcoholic cocktails (and I use the term cocktails loosely). Then it was back to the "sheds" at the back of the university for more drinks and general celebrations.

It did me good to chill out a bit and we managed to get home safely before the snowfall became too heavy. This morning I woke up hangover free, but very tired and feeling as if I live in an igloo. My skylights are covered in snow and when I look out of my kitchen window all I can see is white everywhere. And still the snow falls. Maybe I won't have to go in tomorrow, here's hoping!

Today, I am ignoring the mess that is my home and playing with some art. I have finished my page for Jill's Everyday Book, which is here and I am eyeing up Elizabeth's Commonplace book now.




This is made by finding images in magazines of blues, greys and silvers and making a large collage of them. then I cut them into 2" squares, glued them onto some paper with some plain silver squares and zig-zag sewed with silver thread. I just love the result.

Later on, I may give my four seasons ATCs a go.

A Work in Progress and an ATC

I know I have been quiet lately, it has been really busy at university. The pace is hotting up and it leaves me little time (or energy) to just play.

Snatching minutes here and there isn't quite as satisfying as a good block of time at my own art table, but I have managed a couple of things this week. I have made some collaged backgrounds in my sketchbook, they are always useful for later works and it is handy to have a stash of these ready to go.



Here is an ATC image I printed out onto paper (it is from a scan of a book spread I did a while ago, I think), I then mounted the paper on a piece of ATC card and coloured it with watercolour pencils. It satisfied my need to draw a little.

And here is a WIP that I want to record as it goes along. So far I have mounted chintzy fabric onto a piece of 6 x 6" plywood, then did a caulk transfer of text on top. After I had rubbed the backing paper off, I sanded it and am now deciding what to do next. This is just the background and most will be covered in later stages.



That is all for now.

Kari x

Old Book Covers

Well, I have had a better few days at university and think I may have finally found my path to the degree show, which after an emotional meltdown earlier on in the week is a bit of a relief!

One of the things I have been doing is sourcing lovely old book jackets - I particularly love the old 40s and 50s ones, they often have great old-fashioned traditional printing techniques and as they age, become dog-eared and faded/yellowed which looks so appealing.

This image is of Kingsley's "The Water-Babies" which I found in a charity shop locally. It will definitely make a beautiful AB.

Burnt Pictish Goose

I used the lemon juice burning method to brand an image of my Pictish goose stamp onto a collage.

The result is quite good and smelled lovely when I was doing it!