Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Alternate Craft...


Jen Smith hanging 10: photo Ryan Heywood

Hope we get some waves like this soon. Peeling on forever.

hot turn: photo Ryan Heywood

Love this shot! Look at the angle in that turn...

The Roxy Girls Surf Trip


kassisurfers
Originally uploaded by Roxy Surf
Just discovered the blog and flickr site for a whole heap of east coast surfing pics. Vicariously traveling the east coast. RIGHT NOW!!

This is Kassia Meador.

LOOK AT THAT WAVE!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Take 2

Went down again today after helping mum on the Pute. Didn't look all that great initially. The swell seemed to have stayed fairly consistent throughout the day so I thought I'd give it a go. Ended up being better than this morning. Not too busy and a little deeper. Was able to sit right in next to the groin and catch the lefthanders right from the start. Lots of fun!!!

Swell! Huzzah!

Down to Sandtracks this morning. First day of daylight savings so we were up at 9 which was really 8 after going to bed at 11:30 which ended up being the equivalent of 12:30. Less weed today. Yesterday it was sooo thick that you couldn't paddle because you had to displace all the weed. Not a nice sensation. Didn't hang around yesterday. This morning was nice, Richard was out too. About 16 people all up. A lot of them were learners too. You see an older guy and assume he's an old salt, but then he catches a wave and struggles to stand up and you realise he isn't any better than you! Maybe even greener... Had a couple of nice waves today. Caught a few that I kneeled on - freaking that I was gonna nosedive on. Finally got sorted and made the commitment to STAND and had one really nice ride left until the wave dissipated. Short but very nice and flowing. And another too. Tried to paddle onto a big triangle one coming through, but didn't quite catch it. Caught another that I stood up on and started riding, but don't know what happened after that. Very nice wipe out in the seaweed, but not sure whether my balance wasn't right or whatever because one minute I was facing the green wall, the next I was underwater. Still, that was a new experience and not unbearable...slowly slowly getting braver. :D

Thursday, October 23, 2008

No Swell...

Whipped down to the beach this arvo on the way home from a meeting in Cottesloe. Really would have loved a swim, but had to get home to take the cat to the vet. No surfing waves. Huge clouds looming, perhaps it will rain tonight. With any luck we'll get some swell tomorrow and a surf on Saturday.

September Arch for Pam

I started with hand painted polyester fabric. Nice and shiny! Then added an image that I transferred onto cotton of the celtic cross. I tried to blend this by cutting curved edges and adding organzas over the top before stitching in greens and finally red. Also added the hand dyed lace. This is a stone celtic cross in Ireland at the site of an old monastery. From memory it was made c900. The Pope wouldn't acknowledge it as a relic because the circle around the top is considered pagan... They used to use the carvings to tell stories and teachings from the bible.

Monday, October 20, 2008

A year of arches....

It's October!! The year long swap I've been participating in with 'Textile Challenges on Yahoo Groups is almost at an end. It has been a good process but in some ways it will be good to have it tied up. Lately I have such a small amount of time to sit down and make art, that it ends up all going into the monthly arches. Once they're done I plan to start in earnest on my sample book that I'm working on. More about that later. You can see the beginnings of it here. I'm a bit behind on the arches, what with having been away in the UK for a month. Oo!! Lots of inspiring photos from there too - Old, time worn stone and intricate architecture. yum!! I'm part way through Pam's Arch for September, but have finished the ones for August and October. The top one is for Margaret who has specified and Egyptian theme. Having such a specific theme would probably be really good because it will unify all the arches once you have 12 back from 12 different people. I've hand dyed the fabric then added fabric painting, water transfers, hand stitching and beading. The bottom arch is for Arlee. A little hard to see and the colour isn't quite right, but this one also has beading and hand stitching.

Fibreswest Retreat

The Fibreswest Retreat is a week long retreat held down in Bunbury every three years. This was my first and it was an amazing experience. Adding to this was the fact that it was held at my old school which brought back some memories!! The place is essentially the same with a number of new buildings. I even went into one of the units that I used to live in. The rooms are much smaller than I remember.

So the way it works is you enrol in a class with the same tutor over the 5 days and then have the opportunity to listen to talks and slide shows by the other tutors. Unfortunatley the class I was in just didn't do it for me. The tutor was fabulous and very knowledgeable, but coming out of a rut after my exhibition I really needed something else to help me with where I'm currently at. You know when sometimes you're just in the wrong time and space to take on things. 2 years ago or 5 years down the track - fine - but at the moment, no. That's how I was feeling. So I spent a bit of time wondering around the other classes, watching and absorbing. It was actually a very fulfilling process being able to talk to other workshop participants and hear their perspectives and experiences. Liz Evans, the felt tutor from Canberra was very inspiring teaching ways to make 3D forms with resists. I'm certainly going to have a try at some of these shapes next time I crack out the wool tops. The idea of stuffing the vessels with plastic bags while they dry to help them keep their shape was really useful too.

Some of the vessels made by the class.

Tanya from FeltWest after her felting frenzy. This lady can felt at the speed of light!!

Nalda Searles' workshop was concerned with natural dyeing, basketry and sculpting with leaves and grasses. Going into this workshop was like heading into another world. Everyone was so engrossed in what they were doing - taking what they'd been taught and making it their own.This is Louise working on the floor.


Nalda's slide show was really inspiring. For many years, she has worked with indigenous Australians teaching them skills like basketry which they have embraced and taken to a new level. Their work is now in high demand. Hearing the experiences she has had with different communities across Australia just leaves you speachless. What a phenomenal woman!!This is a page from Penny (from Northcliffe's) sketchbook. She completed pages and and pages while at the retreat and her stetches are so lovely. That's me in the blue and green. :)
I met a lot of people that I had some connection with - Northcliffe is pretty close to Pemberton where I grew up. Anne who was in my class, used to make my ballet costumes when I was a kid! And she knows my brother in law really well. Another lady I ran into is the Grandmother of my neice! Small world.....
This is Phyllis painting some watercolour paper. I was so inspired from seeing her do this that I've already gone out and bought an A2 pad of the stuff (which I proceeded to carry home on my scootere) and have started painting it. Such vibrant colours!!! Bring on the metallics!
This is a little box created (I think) by Phyllis in Jacinta Leishman's class. Hearing Jacinta talk was soooo useful. Her approach was really refreshing and exactly what I needed to get me back on track. Plus she works a lot with colour, silks and velvets... How can I resist??

Hear are some more images of works from her workshops:

Glen Skein worked with people on boxes - telling a story through artifacts. This reminds me of artist Nick Bantock. Though of course they are different, they both work with found objects. Glen's work is exquisite...


Yet another class did printmaking and journalling a journey. Some of their books were stunning.
The one below used image transfers as well as photocopied images to give a really nice feel. Loved all the different binding styles used too.

Here is the bowl that I spent the week making. Still not finished. It will stay that way for a while I think. I'll come back to it...

In the meantime I've got lots and lots of ideas involving found objects, transfers, watercolour paper, sticks, paper casting and the list goes on!!!

June and July Arches

Here are the arches that I think I made for June and July.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Scabs

We went to Scarborough this morning after fiddle farting around about going to Surf Beach. Initially we were heading down to SB with Ryan and Ryan Hewitt, who needed to hire a board, plus maybe Jess, who I might've talked into going. Then both Ryans weren't going anymore and Jess wasn't keen without Ryan. So it was back to Judy, Paul, James and I - and suddenly we didn't need to go down to SB anymore. So we didn't. Small swell - 1.3m, light SSE winds. Super low tide 0.38m. Still Scabs was fun til it started getting bigger and kept breaking in knee high water. The waves were getting steeper and steeper, but there wasn't any more water to get under. First thing we caught a few. James had some nice ones, scooting along on the angle. He said my pop ups are heaps faster now which is terrific. Maybe on those waves that I bail on I should just trust to standing up and might be fine. Always feels like you're gonna nosedive though. Had a few little rides, but the highlight for me was that I was catching waves today! I think all the stuff that I've been thinking about and Dad's been telling me has had a week to sink into my muscles! So I was paddling deep, using my knees to keep the nose up while still keeping my chin down. I may have piked on them once I caught them, but I was catching them!! Small victory for me!!! :D

Monday, October 13, 2008

Sandtracks

It was busy today! More than 20 people out after work. Had a lot of trouble catching anything but had a chat to a few buys who gave me some tips. Now that I'm trying to keep my chin I'm doing weird things, I'm nosediving while I'm paddling and I can feel that I'm lifting my chin up and arching my back even earlier to compensate so I'm not burying the nose. So I have to try pushing down more with my knees to compensate and see if that does the trick. I'm pretty sure I'm where I need to be position wise, otherwise all sorts of things aren't working. Also realised that for the bigger waves I've gotta start paddling sooner. It's a balancing act between getting the board up to the speed of the wave and paddling too early so that you get too far in front and the wave breaks on you/ behind you. So I've gotta push my knees down to offset my chin and I've gotta work on that paddle strength! My arms were tired today, so that's a good sign that I'm working harder. Plus start paddling earlier.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Habits to change...Things to work on.

So after surfing for almost a year, Dad and Gray came and watched us the other day and gave me some things to work on. some of these I used to do and have stopped doing for whatever reason. When trying to catch a wave I need to: * Keep my legs together * Don't arch back too early - chin down * Therefore move back slightly * Paddle deep not fast and shallow - not like a girl ;P * Stand straight up rather than crouching. I also need to: * Grow some balls and go for bigger waves * Look where I wanna go!! * Keep working on my strength and paddling. I want to start doing some swimming with Jim. This will help both of us get fitter and stronger and less reliant on our boards.

Biff: The Crystal Voyager

Biff is our 1991 Toyota Light Ace Van - a.k.a 'The Crystal Voyager'. Join Biff as we embark on journeys to surf destinations across Western Australia!