It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a pen and doodled.

I used to doodle a lot. I used to find it relaxing and soothing. I could do it for hours and hours, filling page after page in my notebooks.

This is a picture of my 3.5yo, Sean, his light saber and his funny way of gesturing OK.

Back in my high school years, I was a keen art student overflowing with many artistic dreams. Of course, most of them were quite unrealistic – but a few have stayed with me.

1) To have an art exhibition. In October 2007, I had an opportunity of a lifetime. I collaborated with some friends and we put on our very first group art exhibition. It was such an excellent and exciting experience. And a dream come true!

2) To start an art collection. I love it when a picture takes my breath away – when colours, shapes, and textures inspire every molecule in my body, and I’m left basking in an afterglow of enchantment. To have my home full of these incredible images! To build a collection!

So here I am, at the brink of a new dream.

I now own my first piece of original art! Eeeek!

I am soooo so so so thrilled, inspired and I’m buzzing with excitement! I want to shout out to the world, I want share it with others, I want to buy gifts of art for my friends!

Dreamtime Sisters
by Colleen Wallace Nungari

“The painting depicts the dancing Dreamtime Sisters. Ancestral spirit figures known to the Eastern Arrernte people of Central Australia as Irrernte – arenye. The spirits look after their country and guide their families.”

It arrived from Central Art Aboriginal Art Store, a site specialising in authentic contemporary and traditional Aboriginal paintings.

I was really impressed with their level of professionalism - the painting came nicely rolled up, with a biography of the artist, a photograph of the artist (with the painting), and a Certificate of Authenticity – proving that it is an one-off, totally unique original, not just a print.

My particular work is certainly from the more affordable end of the spectrum …but I still love it! I’ve been told it’s a good place to start an art collection!

I’m holding it in my hand and I can’t believe it’s mine. It’s so stunning. So unexpected. So original. It speaks of a 100,000-year-ancient-yet-still-living culture and an expression that I can’t even begin to understand, but I am truly spellbound.

Here are links to some other particularly amazing Indigenous paintings I found on the Central Art Store.

Sand Dune Country by Maureen Hudson Nampijinpa

Mina-Mina 2005 by Dorothy Napangardi

Awelye & Bush Melon by Minnie Pwerle

Womens Ceremony by Nanyuma Napangarti

…………………………………………

Central Art is holding a competition to win an Abie Loy Kemarre painting valued at AUD$3,000. Entry is free. You just need to signup to the Central Art mailing list, and fill in a simple form. Competition closes 30 May 2008.

This afternoon, we had a garden clean up day. My husband pruned all the overgrown trees in our backyard, while the boys and I dragged all the cuttings to the front verge.

We created a huge mountain of sticks and leaves next to our driveway.

I had an strangely pleasant moment as I picked up a large bundle of sticks. I wrapped my arms wide around the thick cluster of twigs and my fingers couldn’t touch on the other side. I lifted it up, pressed it against my body and walked towards the front yard.

I chuckled to myself, thinking “To do for the month: Hug a tree and like it. Done.”

I was fascinated by the way some branches twisted together. So I grabbed my camera. I stooped close to the pile to take some photos. Unfortunately our darling neighbours saw me and teased me until I laughed so much I couldn’t keep a steady hand.

I told them that I was “I was gathering photographic texture. For my art.”

However, I wasn’t too happy with the shots I took in the end. I didn’t have enough time to plan the composition etc. So I promised myself I’d do something cool with them in Photoshop.

Here is the original photo for the above graphic.

It’s a very crap photo! But it has some interesting shapes and angles.

This is the same image with 5 layers of blending.

Layer 1 : Duplicate of original. Black and white. High contrast. Set to Overlay.
Layer 2 : Duplicate of original. Set to Multiply. Middle of picture is erased with airbrush.
Layer 3 : Duplicate of original. Set to Multiply. Opacity 80%
Layer 4 : Duplicate of original. Set to Overlay. Opacity 70%
Layer 5 : Duplicate of original. Set to Overlay. Opacity 100%
Layer 6 : Original.

During my art school days, some of my specialities were silk screening and textile design.

So it’s no surprise that it breaks my heart whenever I’m standing at a shop, about to spend $40 on A SINGLE printed t-shirt for my kid, who will grow out of it next season.

Today was one of those moments. So I grabbed two plain, long-sleeved t-shirts instead and I told my protesting 4.5yo, “When we get home, we’re going to do some art!”

We made our own t-shirt prints! Stencil style. It took us 30 minutes from start to finish.

First we brainstormed a few ideas for the print. Callum wanted a lightning bolt and I began to doodle. After a few sketches, he decided he liked the one with the cloud and raindrops. It was GLOOMY!

We transferred our design onto a bit of glossy cardboard.

You’re supposed to use a special plastic coated stencil sheet – so that the paint doesn’t bleed under and ruin the stencil. But since I didn’t have access to proper silk screening materials or plastic stencil sheets, I just used whatever I had.

Using a cardboard stencil, just means that I won’t be able to use the stencil too many times, as the water from the paint will be absorbed by the cardboard and make it buckle.

One of my readers mentioned that I could recycle and use old xrays (thanks Emma!). That would work really well.

Then I cut out the stencil with a pen knife.

I slipped a bit of stiff cardboard into the t-shirt, behind the printing area.

Then I aligned the stencil onto the t-shirt and stuck it down with some sticky tape. Usually you should do a test print on some scrap paper or material, but, well – I’m annoyingly self-confident.

This is water-based, permanent fabric paint. It fixes permanently onto fabric when it is heat set (with an iron). It’s really good stuff! I’m sure you can pick it up from any art shop. I bought it for $11 from my university bookshop 10 years ago.

The paint’s consistency is supposed to be thick. But because it was so old, it was TOO thick, so I thinned it with some water and removed some lumps.

I used a thick round brush, and applied a little bit of paint at a time, with a dabbing motion. Be careful not to allow the paint to clump and collect at the edges of the stencil.

Finished painting inside the stencil.

Carefully lift off stencil! Let it dry for a few hours.

To set the paint, I placed a plain white piece of paper over the print, and used an iron on a medium heat setting over the top. The heat will set the paint, so it won’t dissolve in the wash or flake off.

Done!

One of my personal goals for the year is to learn a new skill or revisit an old one.

I haven’t sewn anything in years, so I’m pretty rusty at it.

I would love be at a level where I can make my own skirts and dresses. But first I imagine I would have to take some dressmaking classes to learn how to sew a bit more professionally.

The other day I sewed together 6 curtain panels for our neighbours. Just sew straight lines? I can do that. As it so happened, all the curtains needed to be shortened by 15cm, so I cut off 6 strips and hemmed up the rest.

The material was quite a pleasant silky, brown, mock-suede, and it seemed like such a waste to toss them out.

So I sewed the strips together, designed my own cushion cover and it was done in 10 minutes! I made something! I felt so clever!

Every day since my 4.5yo has ended kindergarten for the year, he has been harassing me to DO CRAFT. LET’S DO SOME DRAWING. LET’S MAKE SOMETHING. I NEED PAPER. I NEEEEED TO GLUE SOMETHING.

Thus I decided to let the kids make Christmas cards this year.

Also my parents bought the kids some Magic Marker Pens – markers that change colour when a “magic” pen is applied. The kids had so much fun with them.

Usually during drawing time, I don’t set any rules or guidelines. I let them do what they like. Give them a chance to let their creativity go wild. If they want to colour outside the lines, use only one colour, draw five legged dogs, draw on the same spot until they can’t see what they are drawing, so be it. It’s my NO RULE rule.

Sometimes Callum will ask me, “Mum. Am I allowed to draw a cave with buttons and a door that goes inside the mountain?”

I will answer, “My son, of course you are allowed! There are no rules when it comes to drawing! It’s your picture and you can draw whatever you like!”

So he comes up with some really cool little drawings, such as his Santa Snow Robot on the left, with ice pick hands in case he gets stuck in a frozen puddle, and lots of eyes so he can see through a snow storm.

Unfortunately my 2.5yo doesn’t have the same inclination to drawing as his older brother. Sean is not interested in shapes or forms. He likes colour. Lots of it. He will meticulously colour in pages and pages of flat colour until the marker runs out.

On the right is Sean’s Starry Night. (Ok the stars were done by me.)

I also let Callum do my card writing. I wrote out the names of recipients on a separate paper, and he copied each onto a card.

I thought his colour coding for boys and girls was kinda cute.

But I tried to convinced him that he needed SPACES between each word. That he should try to keep capital letters at the front of each word. And that all the letters of each word needs to be next to each other.

To which he shooed me away saying, “Rules! Rules! Too many rules! I just want to do it how I like thanks.”

Our Christmas Cards for 2006

Our Christmas Cards for 2005

Ever wonder why – no matter what you do – your photos always look dull compared to others? How is it that other people’s photos have this very stylish quality to it? Something about the contrast or the colours?

In this next tutorial, I’m going to introduce you to Layer Blending Modes, a very simple function to help enhance your photographs. And it’s really easy.

I will use a photo of my son Sean (left) which was taken against a white wall in my lounge room on a sunny day, and show you the steps to give you the final image (right), which has more vivid colours and contrast.

(more…)

Following on from my Photoshop Tips : How To Put An Object On A White Background, I thought I’d tackle the frequently asked question -
How do I select an object from a coloured background and place it onto a white (or different) background?

In this example, I will use a photo of my son Callum, during Christmas 2004.

(more…)

Raw image from camera

Final image

In this post, I’ll explain the basic steps to create a picture of an object against a white background.

I’ll use a photo of some gumnuts, which I took (in a hurry), and show how I turned it into the image I eventually used in the post, Spider Boy’s Honky Nuts.

(more…)

Last week I introduced the topic How Busy People Take Great Photos and how you don’t need an expensive professional camera to get outstanding results.

This week I’ve written up some tips to help turn an average photo into a great photo!

1) Get in close to the object – fill the picture with the object, play with the camera’s macro setting.

Example 1 : During our recent camping holiday, we stopped by the side of the road to take a picture of a termite hill. It was bigger than I was! It was huge!

In the left photo, I stood some way back and took a standard profile photo of it. Very plain. In the right photo, I’ve gone right up to the object and stooped down low, resulting in a more dramatic photo. I also wanted to bring out the texture of the mound, so I made sure the sun shone at an angle that allowed the lumps to cast shadows.

2) Lighting – as a general rule, natural diffused lighting is always best. Look at how the way the light falls on the object carefully in order use it to your best advantage. Try not to use the flash. I wrote about turning off the flash here.

Example 2 : Left photo with flash - harsh shadows, too bright and lots of glare. Right without flash - crisp and natural image.

3) Composition – Try interesting angles, don’t always put your object in the centre, add some depth, be mindful of how your eye will move through the image.

Example 3 : Again, during our holiday, we stopped to take a picture of this amusing road sign.

In the left photo, although the subject fills the whole frame, it looks very plain. In the right photo, I put the main subject in the bottom left of the frame and added depth by including the striking perspective of the long straight road.

4) Focus on the essence of the object / story – whether it’s the texture, or the strange form, or the eyes, choose one and run with it.

5) Design your photo – Before you take the snap, try rearranging some objects, change the background, add props, or change the position to change the shadow and light.

Example 4 & 5 : The other day, I wrote about Sean’s New Bike and wanted to take a picture for my post.

It was a very sunny day, and after taking a few photos of the bike – by itself – I realised that a boring photo of a bike won’t actually ADD anything to my story. Plus the sunlight was too strong, making lots of distracting shadows, and the colour of the bike got lost against the green grass and the pattern of the brick paving.

So I brought the bike to the deep shade (ie: indirect, diffuse lighting) of my gazebo, set the bike up against a light and plain coloured insect screen, and sat my smiling son on top of it! Although only half the bike appears in the photo, I believe the photo focuses much more on the essence of the image and narrative.

6) Know When To Stop - Sometimes too much changing, experimenting and playing with this and that, can distract you from the essence of the image and make it look fake or staged, rather than capture the natural beauty of the moment. Plus it take a lot of time.

In my experience, I’ve often found that my first or second photographs were the ones I end up choosing, even if I took a hundred snaps!

Lots of people email me to ask, how do I take my photos? What kind of camera do I have?

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some techniques I use for getting great images, and also tips and tricks in Photoshop to enhance dull photos.

If you have any more photography questions, let me know and I’ll try to answer them in my upcoming posts.

Firstly. I do have a professional design background, and having an indepth understanding of photography is part of the job – so I know about lighting, shutter speeds, apertures, composition etc. That helps a lot.

But, I’m also a mother – a busy one! Everyday I rush about here and there, carting around two boys, so I don’t have enough room in the pram for expensive, bulky camera gear, lens and tripods, not to mention time, or extra energy or brain space.

So how do I go about getting cool shots that defines THAT beautiful moment?

I’ve had to come up with various photography methods that work for me.

1) Find a camera that works for you!

You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on pro camera gear and gadgets. I use a cheap, simple, compact camera, and carry it everywhere. So when the mood takes me, or a magic moment happens, the camera is there.

I currently own a Canon Powershot A700 which I throw into the bottom of the nappy bag. It rattles around with the water bottles, sun cream and sandwiches. It does get bashed around a bit, so owning an expensive pro camera is completely out of the question for me.

It’s also nice and compact, so when I’m out at a party I can pop it into my handbag.

The previous camera I had was a Canon Powershot S45 – but it mysteriously stopped working one day. The repair guy said that it had been “subject to wet conditions” so I presume my kids must have spilled something on it. The repair bill was more than a new camera.

My current camera was 6 weeks old, when I smashed the front of the lens casing. But it still takes pictures and it works just fine!

2) Turn off the Flash!

This is my number one tip for good looking photos. Most flashed photos produce a stark, over-bright, red-eyed, dark-background look.

I recommend going with natural, diffuse lighting. Pro photographers spend a lot of time getting strong diffuse light. Of course, when I’m out and about, I don’t have a strong diffuse light, so my images may blur a little.

For example – this is one of my favourite photos.

It was an overcast day (producing a nice diffuse light). I was panning the camera with the boys on the bike, so they are quite sharp, but Callum’s legs are blurred, as is the background. But it works, because you get a great sense of speed, and the effort Callum’s making. Flash would have ruined the moment.

This is a more recent photo.

I simply passed the camera (with flash already turned off) to my friend, with clear instructions “TRY not to move when you press the button!” Plus we stood very still.

Since the flash wasn’t set, the camera shutter had to be open for a long time. So the people moving past ARE blurry, and we were not. It has a nice soft light, and a cool effect in the background. This would have been a very ordinary picture with flash. It doesn’t always work, but I love the results overall.

To be continued…

I’ll be writing more about How To Take Great Photos - The Basics of Photography and Photoshop Tips and Tricks, and more!

I am first to admit that I don’t know very much about Australian Indigenous Art – its background, meaning and stories.

But I do know that there are some art pieces that completely blow me away. Dorothy Napangardi is definitely my favourite. Her works are all absolutely stunning and incredible to get lost in. The stories behind her paintings tell of adventure and wonder in the land she grew up in. Plus she has a string of national art awards and art works with whopping price tags!

Ah. I have fruitlessly coveted for one of her works – and unfortunately I don’t have a spare $39,000 sitting around.

Being part of an art exhibition has really rekindled my passion for art. In fact, one of my most secret dreams is to begin an art collection!

Imagine a house full of beautiful, inspiring and breathtaking pieces of original art, collected from around the world, each with a little story, each that nudges at my heart in a different way. What a dream! When I win the lottery! Ha!

Anyway, I found this beautiful hardcover blank notebook the other day. It had a print of Dorothy’s work on it. I instantly noticed it from across the room, and we fell in love.

My group art exhibition starts today, and it is my pleasure to invite anyone in Perth to come and visit!

The Old Royal George Gallery
Corner Duke St & George St, East Fremantle.

5 – 16 October, 2007

Thur - Fri : 11am - 7pm
Sat - Wed : 11am - 5pm

…

Read more about my preparations for the exhibition :

The Official Exhibition Write Up

The Opening Party

How it all started (Confessions and Committments)

My Art / Design Background

How To Start Oil Painting : The Studio

Oil Painting Process for “Watching Waves”

Signing a Painting

Cold Feet - Keeping Things in Perspective

The exhibition opening party was a COMPLETE SUCCESS! It all went down perfectly. I’m over the moon!! I’m completely jittery with happiness and excitement and I’m still prancing around the place with a huge smile on my face.

We had about 200+ people turn up. It was huge!

We had so many wonderful friends and family members help out with setting up, making food, serving drinks and managing the sales. I really want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone.

Most of all, I want to give a large proportion of credit to Marnie and Wendy - who did SO MUCH work to organise the event. I love you guys!

The team in front of Jane’s celebrated Have You Ever Kissed A Garlic? painting. Left to right : Karen Cheng, Marnie Beissel, Jane Kos, Wendy Tweedie.

My husband gave a speech on behalf of us – and made us all tear.

Paintings were sold! Woohoo!

The moment has come! I’ve put fixtures and rope on the back of all my canvases. I’ve wrapped them up, stacked them up and they are all ready for delivery!

They’ll be taken to the gallery, where Francis, our professional exhibition installer – our saviour – will do all the really hard work of sorting out all the paintings, working out which paintings go where (taking into account the exhibition area, wall space, visual flow, features), THEN he’ll hang each painting, making sure they’re all level and adjust the lighting.

He was adamant that we – the artists – were not allowed to be present during the installation. He was, after all, a professional. And fair enough too. I couldn’t imagine doing that job with 4 artists telling me what to do!

I wish I could say I was oozing confidence towards my upcoming exhibition.

I’m overwhelmed with a mixture of excitement, exhilaration, courage, amazement, but most of all I’M SO NERVOUS!

There’s a small anxious twitch that I can’t shake off – who’s coming? what will they think? what if people don’t like it? What if they hate it! What if they turn their noses up at my so called art?!

Each of my paintings have been a such a personal pleasure to paint. The whole process of painting, and sharing my visual stories with others fills me with passion, inspiration, and satisfaction.

It’s very personal and intimate.

And in a way, I’m not worried if others don’t get it, or like it.

Got to keep things in perspective! I’m doing it for my own enjoyment!

I had a real emotional problem when signing my paintings for the exhibition.

I’ve never signed a painting before. Most of my past work, I considered them as “painting exercises” or “a canvas that I smeared paint on” . I’ve never actually made a FINISHED PIECE OF ART.

And certainly, nothing says IT IS FINISHED, than a signature on a painting. I was a bit freaked out.

How should I sign my name? Where should I sign it? What colour should I use?

I decided that I had no problem being traditional : Bottom corner, in a subtle colour.

As to what name to sign :

Karen – Inspired by Vincent Van Gogh, who just signed his paintings with “VINCENT”. Now that’s absolute rock star confidence – I like it – but I’m not ready for that.

Karen Cheng – A bit long and overwhelming… maybe.

Karen C – Made me sound like a Spice Girl.

K.C. – Bit too obscure.

KCheng - As you can tell from the photo above, I decided to go with this.

I’m working towards a group art exhibition of oil paintings entitled “Journeys”.

Here is the official invite (designed by me) :

And here is the official blurb :

“Journeys” is an exploration of form and colour from four different artists.

Jane Kos is an established and well respected artist who has exhibited regularly over the past 15 years. She has taken the unusual step of holding her latest exhibition with three previously unexhibited artists; Marnie Beissel, Wendy Tweedie and Karen Cheng.

Marnie’s paintings work to capture those moments of quiet solitude that rejuvenate the sense of joy in life, inspired by her love of the raw natural beauty of the Australian coastline. Each image is an exercise in meditation, enabling the viewer to lose themselves in the study of form, colour and atmosphere.

Wendy Tweedie having been inspired by her time living in Europe, Asia and Australia, has created a mixture of traditional and abstract pieces. These rich and earthy images also reflect her journey as an artist over time.

Growing up on Christmas Island, Karen Cheng has enchanting memories of swimming in crystal waters, playing in lush jungles, chasing red crabs, and exploring the flourishing corners of the tropical island. For this exhibition, she explores the images and visual sensations of her magical childhood, bringing together vibrant colours and exquisite textures to capture a sense of playful wonder.