Etsy Stalker feature

I'm loving this feature on O bliss over at Etsy Stalker. 
Check it out and find out how you can enter the draw for the earrings below.

Counting the days...

Australian Native Flowers Cards by Trees4thewoods

I am counting down the days until my long overdue holiday to Tasmania. Our flights were booked over 20 months ago but had to cancelled when my brother-in-law's house went under in the Brisbane floods. Our holiday was instead spent cleaning away mud and providing shelter for a displaced family of 6. 

Well it is now spring school holiday time (although it feels more like summer on the Gold Coast) and I am itching to visit Swallow Nest Farm on the Tasmin Peninsula. Grace is an mother of 5, an artist and grows native Australian flowers with her husband on their glorious farm in Tasmania (her lino print cards are pictured above). We visited them during winter in 2008; as a family of 5 we drove for 20 hours before boarding a ferry for a 10 hour sea voyage and finally a 4 hour drive to their property at the end of a dirt road! That was a memorable family adventure to visit our dear friends. Four year on, the boys are 19 and 17 and have plans of their own. This time around it will just be my husband, daughter and me so we are enjoying the luxury of flying down. 

We will also be visiting other close friends who joined the migration from Queensland to Tasmania earlier this year. They have just purchase 90!!! acres in the Huen Valley - double the excuse to go!!!

Also on the must do list, is a visit to MONA - a major new contemporary art gallery that I am desperate to see (and take my budding artist daughter to).

I will be sure to share pics on my return or you can follow my travels via my Instagram feed - username: breema

A giant giveaway!

Jahje from Baby Jives is a very deserving finalist in Martha Stewart's American Made Awards.  She creates one of a kind, adorable mobiles which decorate nurseries and children's bedrooms worldwide. I am thrilled to be part of Jahje's giant giveaway featuring my own work and a long list of  products from some of my favourite Etsy stores. It is so easy to enter - all you have to do is vote for Baby Jives to go into the draw. The more you vote, the more chances you have to win. With $395 worth of prizes up for grabs, it is well worth taking a moment each day to vote.

Click here for a list of prizes and more info on how to vote.

Printmaking - The real deal

Following a successful printmaking unit with my Year 10 student’s, it was such a treat to spend the morning in a real printmaker’s studio, surrounded by machinery dating back to the 1800’s. My friend Nicole is a printmaker/designer and is fanatical about typography.  Her collection of old printing presses are a sight to behold and the beautiful quality this equipment brings to her work is unrivalled by modern processes.  So I was super excited to commission Nicole to create formal invitations for me. This will be my 4^th year as Year 12 Formal Co-ordinator and each year I have lovingly spent hours hand-making the invitations.  But I think I love these invites the most – they are sophisticated and professional looking while still maintaining a handmade quality. Nicole kindly invited me to participate in the print run. After an awkward start, I got the hang of operating George  (a Gordon Franklin Press made between 1867 & 1869). I truly felt transported to a bygone era.

 Check out Nicole's fantastic graphic prints at her Etsy shop Nicoleap

Today in class

My Year 10's had a fun afternoon printing linocuts, resulting in some great Pop Surrealism art. The students were asked to combine a famous artwork with something from popular culture.

Busy in the art room

It is a very busy time of the year in my art classroom. While the school year is just commencing in America, in Australia we are about to go on our spring holiday. My senior students will soon graduate high school and have just submitted their final major bodies of work (top left and bottom right). This has meant many weeks of late nights for some and a last minute scurry to produce a reasonable submission for others. As usual, the talent, creativity and insight of these 17 year olds amazes me. But my younger students have also been delighting me with their achievements. The Year 9's (14 year olds) have been working on realistic tonal studies of celebrities. The images top-right are progress photos and capture just a small glimpse into the talent of the students I am privileged to work with. I can't wait to see how they develop as artists in the coming years. Likewise, I have taught some amazing Year 10 student's throughout 2012. They are currently completing a surrealism printmaking unit. The image bottom-left is just one of the beautiful etchings produced. 

The photos above are such a small representation of what is happening in my art classes. I have students working across such a diverse range of media, including digital photography, video art and installation art. I love the fact that senior students can choose their preferred media and develop individual responses to a given concept. The beauty of art is that meaning can be visually communicated in so many forms.