Hot Day – Watercolour JK.Leahy
“Hot Day”. A study of a Papua New Guinean child on a hot day. I enjoy painting the most when it is unplanned and I use watercolour loosely until the image shows up.
Hot Day – A Watercolour Study
Tag Archives: Art
Sculpted From Books – Cool Stuff
I have not posted any Cool Stuff for a while so I thought, as a treat, I found a collection of sculptures made from books to share with you.
There aren’t too many details available at the time of the search, but I have this link to the rest of the 13 book sculptures. Enjoy!
Click or search for Cool Stuff on this blog to see many other cool things.
Re-visit the Accidental Artwork
Dear friends, I am away from this blog for an assignment. I will be back with loads of stories – I promise. My son Nathan said he may cover the blog for me while I’m gone. He somewhat likes the Mondays Finish the Story fiction challenge and the Cool Stuff. I hope it is not like when he says he would do the dishes and then I find them in the sink when I come home. Jokes aside, don’t despair if you don’t see a post in the next couple of weeks, just think of all the stories I will be telling you when I return. Besides, Nathan may surprise all of us with one of his tales.
In this post before I go, I wanted to revisit the accidental artwork. If you have been wondering what happened to the work I pressed – this was the result when I ‘harvested’ it a few days ago.
I set with leaves and natural dyes in an earlier post (The Accident Artwork – Art Experiments). After three weeks of moist disintegration of leaf fibres on paper with tea, coffee and garden dyes, the work was totally unexpected.
In the work above and below, I used Acacia leaves with tea and other boiled leaves.
In the next two work below, I used coffee and gum leaves. This is what rotten gum leaves look like on paper. The liquid is quite thick and can really stain.
I am thinking of trying the mixture to stain wood furniture next time.
I also would like to wish all Papua New Guineans a Happy 40th Independence Day today – 16th September.
Master Penman – Supreme pen work
The Accidental Artwork – Art Experiments
I love the accidental artwork. That’s why I enjoy art experiments.
I set out to do another art experiment in my garden this morning. It was a beautiful day for it. I ended up accidentally shooting the leaves intended for my experiment in another artwork, totally unplanned. The accident in the experiment looked too interesting to not photograph.
After laying out the materials, I applied water and dyes. Then, I pinned everything down with glass. I noticed reflections and water bubbles sneaking into my work. They had their own colour and shadows. That was when my artwork plan changed. It was the experiment that came out of another experiment, the kind of ‘accident’, we artists love. Something you did not expect, never meant to or planned to create but it becomes yours. A gift from the universe.
The images were shot with a Nikon D5200 using both macro and 18-55mm lenses. We shall re-visit the work, after all the water dries up in a few days. Thank you for reading about my experiments, please let me know what you think of my accidental artwork in the images.
An Artist Grows an Ear on His Arm
Perth artist Stelarc grows ear on his arm, plans to connect it to internet.
Hear for art
ABC News Courtney Bembridge reported it has been 20 years in the making and involves the growth of a human organ, but for Perth-based artist Stelarc, it is just another project.
The Curtin University professor is growing a human ear on his arm.
“People’s reactions range from bemusement to bewilderment to curiosity, but you don’t really expect people to understand the art component of all of this,” Stelarc said.
“I guess I’ve always got something up my sleeve, but often my sleeve is rolled down.”
Stelarc first conceived the idea in 1996, but it took another decade to find the medical team willing to make it a reality. Click on ABC link to watch the video – please be warned, some images are graphic.
The Clash of Religion and Culture
The clash of religion and culture – the fight that almost brought the House down How many times do we hear about religion and culture clashing?Does someone’s personal belief make it right for them to destroy a nation’s heritage? Religion versus culture and vice versa is a topic that often raises concerns around the world. In 2013, I remember protesting against the destruction of 19 cultural objects in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) national parliament house on Facebook, with many others. Our National Speaker who comes from Morobe Province, decided that he did not want the 19 statues that represented the provinces to be in the chamber. He ordered the removal and destruction of the statues, build with the house by the first prime minister, Sir Michael Somare.
Ryan Shram write this very interesting article about the incident and discusses the argument about religion and culture in the material world. Ryan goes even deeper into the history of the house and the country. Click here to read this story. While I am a christian, I treasure the beliefs and good traditions of my ancestors in Melanesia, and especially in PNG. My grandmother was a great believer of both – you learnt the christian ways and you also use your traditions because that is what your identity is. Your heritage is also one that has given birth to you and there are so many great things you can learn from your culture through your beliefs, foods, celebrations, rituals and many more. It is not easy to separate yourself from your culture and your heritage – unless you choose to. Traditional medicine healed Melanesians and other indigenous people before European medicine came. The rituals and spiritual practices provided – food, water and shelter and created sharing, love and healing in a community that was balanced with nature. All the practices were connected to and derived from nature and the environment. There are traditions in Melanesian heritage that are not good. These include sorcery and witchcraft, confusion between what is an ailment and what is a spiritual curse, the Big Man syndrome (the act of thinking you are wealthier and better with more status so you could manipulate and have several wives). The treatment of women and girls as second class is another Melanesian culture I detest. What are your experiences of your culture and religions – please share your comments here.
The Kreod Pavilion: Cool Stuff
Cool stuff – The KREOD
The Cool Stuff this week is a multi-functional exhibition space called Kreod Pavilion. Inspired by nature and organic in its form, this beautiful space was designed by London Architect Chun Qing Li.
Environmentally friendly the Kreod pavilion combines three 20 m² capsules in a variety of spatial configurations. The hexagonal structure is based on a simple recurrent joint connection detail as seen in Chun Qing Li’s sketches below.
Architect: Chun Qing Li & Pavilion Architecture
Location: Greenwich Peninsula, GB-London SE10 0PE (until early 2013)
Kreod is a multi-functional pavilion – its three pods can be combined in a variety of configurations or installed as free-standing forms. It is portable and easily demountable. The wooden structure of KREOD is made of Kebony, a certified sustainable alternative to tropical hardwood. The product is dark, acquiring a silver-grey patina over time if left untreated.
The wood was impregnated with a liquid produced from crop biowaste. The treatment with furfuryl alcohol forms stable furan polymers, which are locked in the wood cell walls and increase the dimensional stability as well as durability and hardness of the wood, giving exceptionally good decay resistance and long life span was obtained after kebonization. This durability was achieved without the disadvantages of traditional impregnation methods using toxic chemicals.
A Song of the Turtle – Children’s story entry
I have submitted this illustration with my entry for the children’s story in the Crocodile Prize, the National PNG Literature Awards.
If you like the title and the picture, be sure to look out for the story on this blog. I would be happy to share the story once the judging is completed.
Johnny Colours Miami Streets – Cool Stuff
Johnny Robles an artist, creates cool street art in the streets of Miami. With a mixture of cartoon and pop style drawings and graffiti techniques, he gives color to the streets. Residents say they love it..and so do I.
Featured here at work where some of his cool stuff happens.
Tribalmystic Stories 