Community Ties

My blogging space may have been quite slack lately, but my creative space is still full steam ahead.  I am madly in love with my latest painting.  It doesn’t always feel like this when I finish a piece, but this is the feeling I am always chasing.  Knowing that it can feel this good is what pushes me along through all of the hard work.

"Community Ties"

Kylie Marie Stevens

encaustic, copper and twine on canvas

450 x 550mm

2011

I am embarking on a new series exploring the concept of “Community", for me the copper balls represent the people within the community that are tied together with the twine that symbolises different strands or groups within our larger communities. 

Community Ties - detail

I’m hoping to do a piece soon on my involvement with the bloggy community, but I haven’t yet come up with a way to represent it.  What does community mean to you?  Do you feel a stronger connection with your physical/locality community or your online community?

I hope you are having a good Creative Space day… Pop on over here to join in the fun.

A Fresh Start

"A Fresh Start"

Kylie Marie Stevens

Encaustic on timber

240 x 290mm

2011
$90



I had a really creative day on Tuesday.  I started and finished a new encaustic and reworked two which I had previously thought of as duds...

This is one of the reworked duds, I didn’t have a title for it until this morning, but as soon as I thought of it I knew it was perfect...

I have called it “A Fresh Start”, it seems appropriate on so many levels to me at the moment… 

• I hope that this beautiful sunshiny day is a fresh start for the weather in poor old battered Queensland… 
• I hope the fact that I have now blogged two days in a row is a fresh start for my slack start to blogging in 2011… 
• We put our house on the market this week, as we are soon to make a fresh start in our beautiful purple tree house…

Are you embarking on any fresh starts yourself?  I’d love to hear about them…

New Work

“Create”

Kylie Marie Stevens

Encaustic on canvas

400 x 500mm

2011

$120

No words today, just wanted to share and play along…

Sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye….

 "Byron Bay"

Kylie Marie Stevens

915 x 610mm

oil on canvas

1999

Today I deliver this painting; I thought I was quite happy to let it go... l until I wrapped it up last night.  

It’s been part of my life and home for such a long time now and was painted after a much needed beach escape.  I’m sad to see it go, but I know it will be loved in its new home.  Do you ever feel sad as your creations leave your life?

Inspired

I’ve been inspired by my community as the flood waters receded and thousands of helping hands have been offered to those in need.  It’s amazing the creative ways that people have found to help and contribute. 

The Swich Contemporary Art Space have called for donations of artwork for a flood relief auction and I have painted and submitted this piece for consideration. 

"Community"

Kylie Marie Stevens 

encaustic on linen

450 x 450mm

2011

The background symbolises the receding flood waters and the circle of dots the people coming together to help and contribute as we begin to rebuild.   I hope this feeling of community spirit and strength continues long beyond the clean up and recovery stages.  



Check out our tree house….

Our new house is really starting to come to life.  Work stopped over Christmas and then the floods stalled things for a while, but now it is full steam ahead again.  

The purple isn’t as dark as we expected, but it has grown on us, it is going to look great when the timber stair case and railings are installed. 

Check out the chimney, the fire place is in and we are thrilled!   

We are getting REALLY excited about living there now, it is so peaceful out on the back deck looking over the little creek and listening to the trees rustle.  Not too long now…

My sketchbook is in the mail….

My little book is now on a big trip to America to join 28 000 other sketch books on a national tour and then to take up residency at the Brooklyn Art Library.   

The good folk at The Sketchbook Project granted all participants an extension and boy did I need it!

My theme for the project was “Sleepless” and after a couple of false starts (and completely destroying, rebinding and recovering my sketchbook!) I decided to build my sketchbook around a music festival we attended in December.  The festivals name was “No Sleep Til” and we anticipated a sleepless weekend!  

I must give a big shout out and thankyou to photographer Elleni Toumpas who was gracious enough to let me use some of the shots from her blog as reference, as I didn’t get as much sketching done at the festival as I anticipated…

So here it is without further ado, your very own sneak peek at my sketch book…

 

What an adventure this little sketch book is off on… I wonder who will flip through it and what they will think...