Cherry Fields

Another isometric grid

2011-12-07T13:41:00.002+11:00

Still a work in progress...

Gridworks

2011-12-04T13:03:00.002+11:00

I've taken a break from oil painting and have been experimenting with smaller mixed-media works. I miss drawing and really wanted it to feature more in what I was doing. I've been trying out perspective and isometric grids with the aim of creating strange, exotic and dangerous worlds sometime in the future. Still in experimental phases at the moment.

Gallery Photos

2011-08-01T11:12:00.007+10:00

I got back from Los Angeles last week but am still in recovery mode. I think I was working so hard leading up to the show without taking any breaks that my body has finally said enough is enough. I have been sleeping 10 hrs every night since I got back, catching up on lost sleep from the past months.

The show was great, I was really happy with the work and this it was definitely my best show to date. Thanks so much to all the girls who modeled for me, you guys were so awesome!

I don't have any photos from the opening night, but here are a few of the paintings in the gallery:

Getting ready to install the show

Kigurumi show opens tomorrow night

2011-07-15T11:08:00.003+10:00

Endless Field, oil on canvas, 34x48"

Tomorrow night is the opening for my 'Kigurumi' show. If you're in LA I'd love to see you there. Here are the details:

Kigurumi at LeBasse Projects (Chinatown)

Opening Reception :: Friday, July 15th, 7-10pm

923 Chung King Rd. Los Angeles, CA 90012

Sneak Peek

2011-07-02T22:04:00.006+10:00

The Fallen, oil on canvas, 34x48"

I've been busy working on my upcoming show at LeBasse Projects (Los Angeles) which opens in 2 weeks time. Here is a sneak peek of one of the paintings for the show. This is my first time working with real models and I had this great (?!) idea to make a large group painting inspired by traditional narrative paintings like you find in museums. The painting resembles an ambiguous, imaginary folktale. My sister and I have been making up stories for it ranging from killing the village maiden to finding a snow white girl mysteriously lying in a field.

I have now discovered that painting so many figures is an insane amount of work! It's like doing 6 portraits in the one painting. I think I spent almost 2 months just on this one work, which is why the upcoming show has less than 10 paintings in it.

Some detail images:

Coming soon...

2011-06-29T16:10:00.001+10:00

Not long to go! More info here.

Will write more later. Still painting!! Trying to be calm and not panic.

Momentum @ LeBasse Projects

2011-04-08T16:32:00.004+10:00

This is my painting for the inaugural all-female group show 'Momentum' at the new LeBasse Projects Chinatown location.

The show opens on Sat 9th April, 7:30pm. Details on Facebook.

This could be considered a sneak peak of what's to come for my solo show at LeBasse Projects in July. My friend Neil helped organise a photo shoot of Kigurumi girls so that I could paint them for the show. My sister made a short (but adorable!) video of the girls during the shoot:

Kigurumi - Rad friends unite from Suzie Haslam on Vimeo.

Vernissage @ LeBasse Projects

2011-01-08T13:07:00.004+11:00

I have a couple of works in the Vernissage 2011 group show at LeBasse Projects. It's a one week exhibition giving a taste of what's to come in 2011. Detail are:

Vernissage 2011

Artists Reception, January 8th, 2011, 7-10pm

Exhibition runs: Jan 8 - Jan 15

There is a preview of the show on the gallery website.

Juxtapoz

2010-11-06T18:03:00.002+11:00

Juxtapoz magazine issue 118, November 2010, page 24. Exciting!!

plants from life

2010-09-18T13:42:00.003+10:00

One thing I love about older paintings is that they don't look like they were done from photos. I've realised that I like the non-photo aesthetic and so have started trying to draw more from life where I can. Mostly I've been drawing plant-life from small clippings and pot plants. So far it's working well. During the day I go for a walk and scout out the various plants hanging over fences or by the train track, then go back at night (under the cover of darkness :) with a pair of scissors.

If I had my own garden I think I would use it to cultivate plants specifically for the purpose of drawing them.

Sequoia National Park

2010-07-25T08:59:00.007+10:00

While I was in the US I took a greyhound bus up north to visit the sequoias. I'm so glad I did it, I have been wanting to visit this park for so long and it didn't disappoint. I was only at the park for one full day but did the major sites - the giant forest, general sherman (largest tree in the world), moro rock and the crescent meadow.

giant sequoia tree

meadow in the giant forest

bear cubs in the meadow

cutie!

deer

Opening Night

2010-07-23T07:57:00.010+10:00

I arrived back in Melbourne early yesterday Morning. Los Angeles was awesome. I got to attend lots of show openings which was exciting and quite the experience (next time I'm going to remember to bring some 4-inch heels - I was a bit of a fashion failure at a few of the shows in my t-shirt and 1-inch sandals). I also stocked up on cosmetics and art supplies because they are half the price of what we pay in Australia (!!!). And I got some socks to keep my feet warm in Melbourne's winter weather.

I took lots of photos but most importantly I want to share a few of the gallery space and opening night at LeBasse Projects.

I'd like to thank the gallery owners Beau and Christine for looking after me while I was in LA and really going above and beyond what a gallery needs to. They made my time in LA both comfortable and exciting. And also to Yosk and Nate for letting me crash in their studio for a few days at the end of the trip. Thanks guys!

It was also great to meet the other artists who were sharing the gallery space with me for the show - J. Shea and Morgan Slade, it was great meeting them both and getting to check out their work in person.

The show is open 'til August 7 so if you're in LA there is still time to check it out.

Botanica

2010-07-03T20:15:00.003+10:00

Only 2 weeks until the show opens. I'm calling the show "Botanica". It's one of those words that isn't a real word but if you google it everyone uses it anyway. I made this web invite for the fun of it. Next week I fly to LA - exciting!

Right now I'm working on some drawings, mostly in black ink. I'm feeling inspired by wood engravings and all the intricate line work and patterning they get from the carving process. I was going to try wood engraving myself, but found out that they are mostly very small, where as I wanted to do something big. So ink on paper it is.

Packed up paintings

2010-06-22T21:47:00.007+10:00

Last week I finished my paintings for the show at LeBasse Projects opening July 17th 2010. I'm feeling excited about this show and will be flying to LA to attend the opening, so if you're in LA please come and visit. If you want to be on the preview list for the show please email the gallery. More details about the show to come later.

Today everything was packed up and sent. The packing took me 5 hours! I'm so happy everything is done.

Moths Print Release

2010-05-27T11:48:00.003+10:00

Moths print is now available from Paper Tiger.

Title: Moths
Edition Size: 25
Print Size: 12" x 14.25"

Signed and Numbered Edition Print
Printed on Archival textured fine art paper

Kangaroos

2010-05-24T11:50:00.010+10:00

Prints coming soon! I've just finished signing these and have posted them back to the US, they will be available from Paper Tiger, but not yet. I don't know when but I'm sure it will be soon. All proceeds go towards a plane ticket to LA so that I can attend the exhibition I'm in at LeBasse Projects in July :)

A few weeks ago I was in Bright for an autumn break. Bright is a pretty alpine town around 4 hrs drive from Melbourne. This was where we stayed:

And this was the view out the kitchen window at dusk:

Wild kangaroos hanging out on the grass! I took a really short (9 second) video of the kangas hopping around:

LeBasse Projects Gallery: Showcase SF

2010-04-03T11:38:00.013+11:00

This weekend is the showcase with LeBasse Projects in San Fransisco. You can see all the works in the show here on the gallery website. The show is short and only runs 'til Sunday so if you're in San Fransisco you only have this weekend to catch it.

More info is on this e-invite:

Here are my paintings for the show, all 30x24" (big for me) and oil on canvas (a nice smooth canvas that I stretched myself). Thanks again to Neil for taking the photos of my paintings.

Cat and Mouse

Moths

Rabbit

Bird

I've been looking for photos of the show on the net, there are a whole lot on flickr and I found this one with my paintings in it:

Sherbrooke Forest

2010-02-17T16:00:00.003+11:00

One of my favourite places to drive to is Sherbrooke Forest in the Dandenong Ranges (around an hour out of Melbourne). I take lots of photos when I go and I've been trying for a while to work out how to get the forest into my paintings. I've been finding it difficult because I'm not sure how much realism and how much abstraction to use, I also know it will make my paintings take much longer to create with so much detail. I might make it one of my goals for the year to figure it all out.

Here are a few photos I've taken. The tall misty trees in the background are Australian Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) which according to wikipedia is the tallest flowering tree species in the world.

These two photos were taken on the edge of Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens/Sherbrooke Forest.

Three Apples

2009-09-24T18:39:00.008+10:00

Next month is the Three Apples exhibition to celebrate Hello Kitty's 35th Anniversary. The show will be held at Royal/T in LA and feature over 60 artists. I'm excited about this show - the opening sounds like it will be a great night, I'm just sad that it's all so far away and I can't join in the fun.

Wild flowers in WA

2009-09-19T15:45:00.008+10:00

I just got back from a week in Western Australia. I had never been to WA before, it somehow seemed a lot more Australian than Victoria, the botanic gardens was almost exclusively native plants. I finally get why the national flower is wattle. The damn thing is everywhere.

I know looking at holiday photos can be a bit dull, so I've kept it to just a few (I took over 1000!). And this is kind of related to art in the form of inspiration and reference.

I found the wreath flower, it was somewhere in the middle of nowhere (as you can see from the photo). They (the friendly tourism office?) tie pink ribbons around trees and poles that have wreath flowers near them so you can find them more easily.

Wattle. Is it a flower or a plague? I'm really not sure.

wild flower field:

Lesueur National Park - kinda felt like there should be dinosaurs wandering around for some reason.

Black Kangaroo paw at Kings park. Might be good to draw:

Los Angeles

2009-05-21T09:35:00.009+10:00

I'm now back in Melbourne. I had such a great time in LA, just hanging around, going to shows and getting a feel for the art scene over there. The highlight was definitely seeing my work up on gallery walls in person for the first time. Also seeing the new LeBasse Projects gallery - it's such a great space.

Thanks to Beau, Kim and Christine for putting the show together, putting up with my hanging around the gallery (and drinking all the coke from the fridge...if you're wondering where it all went :) and driving me around to see some sights. And thanks to Yoskay and Nate for letting me stay with them.

If you are in LA and haven't seen the show, it's on at LeBasse Projects or you can view it online (although it looks better in person). I took a few photos before the show opened:

I was showing in the project room, so to give some context here's a photo of the main gallery where Yoskays show being hung. I wish I had taken the photo when the show was up, rather than when it was on the floor and everything was a mess, but oh well:

I took the bus around LA and did some sight seeing on my own - here is Santa Monica Pier:

The Beautiful gardens at the Getty Center:

And my favourite painting at the Getty, a still life by Jan van Huysum. The details are amazing, with the fruit overly ripe and covered in insects:

I can't wait to start painting again, but for the next few days I'm organising and cleaning my flat so that I don't get dust in the oil paint.

Apparition Print Release

2009-05-14T09:35:00.007+10:00

It's been a while since I released a print so I'm excited to announce that online print store A Paper Tiger has just released a print of my Apparition drawing. Details are on www.apapertiger.com, It's only an edition of 25 so get in quick :)

Wild Fields - upcoming show

2009-04-23T08:15:00.002+10:00

Honey Hive (for upcoming show)

It's been a while between posts. I've been so busy working on this show. I'm just about done (1 more week of working to go), I've been working 7 days a week since the end of Dec and am amazed at how little I've produced from so much effort. I will have 3-4 large drawings and 3 medium paintings, I guess art just take a long time with a fair amount of the work being preliminary - sketching, ideas, photographing models (thanks Suzie!), walking around the streets with a camera finding the perfect tree to match my sketch (sometimes I have to take bits from different trees and join then together).

I've decided to call the show 'Wild Fields' because it's the thing most common between all of the works. Maybe that's telling me I need to get outside a bit more?

I'm flying to LA in a week - can't wait! I haven't been overseas for 3 years - much too long.

Honey Hive - detail

On the drawing board

2009-03-19T14:41:00.002+11:00

I'm working on some more large drawings for the show at LeBasse Projects in May, but this time they'll have colour.

Work in progress:

Elle Girl

2009-03-14T00:27:00.007+11:00

I have a little interview in the March 2009 Issue of Korean Elle Girl. The lovely Lilly Piri (also interviewed) sent me this photo. Sadly, I don't think I will be getting my own issue as I'm beginning to suspect my mail is being stolen. My landlady came knocking on my door asking if I had received the rent increase notice she had sent me two months ago (I hadn't), and other things I know of have not arrived either.

If you are stealing my mail, please stop. Or perhaps just take the junk mail, I wouldn't mind that so much.

So busy + Art Basel

2008-11-21T02:10:00.006+11:00

I have been busy. Not normal-busy, but crazy-person-busy. I'm in a few early December shows and am currently spending every waking moment on art (except for watching NCIS, which I'm pretty much addicted to so it can't be helped).

That's all I can really say right now because I need to get back to painting (actually...I need to go to sleep, so I can paint tomorrow). The above drawing (the pond, 30x22.5") will be available from Cerasoli:LeBasse at their show at Aqua Art Miami (Art Basel), 3-7 December.

Super-Kitsch!

2008-10-21T02:40:00.003+11:00

I'm going to blame this one on the contemporary craft revival craze. I have a strange need to include kitschy hand-sewn animal toys in my sketches at the moment. Since these guys are in a pond they needed floaties. Everyone knows plush toys can't swim very well - that's just common sense.

Just a little study at this point, eventually there will be a girl waist-deep in the water too.

'Blender' opening night

2008-10-16T02:29:00.010+11:00

photo by Andrea Shear

It's so hard being in Oz when my first LA group show is happening on the other side of the world. It would be so cool to be there. So I've done the second best thing and pieced it all together from random internet accounts, blogs, and other peoples photos. I'd like to think of it as a private investigation of sorts (when really it's just google... but there is no way I'm admitting to googling myself! omg - how narcissistic would that be?)

So, my private investigator (just humor me) tells me the opening night went really well - packed with people taking very blurry photos of the backs of other peoples heads, with a hint of art somewhere in the background. Arrested Motion gets points for having the best photos. I don't know how you guys managed to get photos of just the art, but you did, so you rock!

Daily DuJour gets points too, for having not just one, but two write-ups on the show. And also for reporting that my paintings sold out on the opening night - very exciting!

Photo by Arrested Motion

Photo by Arrested Motion

Drawing

2008-10-06T15:16:00.005+11:00

(click for bigger!)

I'm making a drawing based on a painting from forever-ago. I like the painting, but it needed some softness and I think the drawing will do that better. It's 30x22 inches and is taking longer than the painting took.

Lazy animals

2008-09-24T23:25:00.008+10:00

Some more tests with ink and tea. I'm still trying to work out how to make a silhouette shape with subtle detail inside. The paper went all wrinkly. Can you iron paper, does anyone know?

I know, showing experiments is a bit dull, but I'll have lots of new paintings to show very soon to make up for it.

I'm in a show in December at Gallery1988 that has an animal-type theme, so went to the Melbourne zoo to take some photos to draw from. And OMG! Australian Animals are so fricken lazy!! So I guess the animals in my paintings are mostly going to be sleeping.

Emu falling asleep:

Kangaroo, asleep:

Koala...ALSO asleep. Although we don't expect much more from Koalas, really.

I went to the wombat enclosure but couldn't see any wombats in there, but I bet they were asleep too.

This little echidna-guy was awake and SOOO cute. I want one.

Pewter!

2008-09-10T00:36:00.003+10:00

A few weeks ago I entered the Inaugural Super A1 Guessing Competition on my sisters blog and came last (LAST?!). I won this super-cute handmade yellow...er...?? Any way, it's name is Pewter, and here's a few photos of it just hanging around, being Pewter.

I really need to buy some clothes for that doll. Good thing she has Pewter.

GGLF

2008-08-04T18:48:00.005+10:00

Some details of a painting I'm currently working on about a girl who has joined the Garden Gnome Liberation Front (GGLF), and thus, is 'rescuing' oppressed gnomes.

Half the painting is covered with strange, detailed garden foliage (which is taking forever to paint!):

Confessions and foliage

2008-06-03T00:44:00.005+10:00

The other night when I needed to walk to the supermarket for emergency choc-chip cookie supplies, I slipped a pair of scissors in my handbag before I left. Now, I'm not sure if this is wrong (I mean, it is in the name of art) but as I walked home from the supermarket I took out the scissors and began chopping off parts of trees along the train track and adding them to my shopping bag. There was heaps of space because cookies don't take up much room :)

When I got home I photographed the branch bits. The one above is my favourite which I printed out and stuck to my fridge.

Curtis's Botanical Magazine

2008-05-26T16:12:00.007+10:00

These are botanical illustrations from the late 18th century. Someone at the Univeristy of Georgia has photographed every page of the first 20 volumes of Curtis's Botanical Magazine (from the universities rare book collection) and compiled them into pdfs for us to download. There are some really strange and beautiful portrayals of flowers. Copyright is expired so it's safe to use them in drawings, collages etc.

colour and linework tests

2008-05-11T20:07:00.006+10:00

This whole week I've been exploring, experimenting and going back to basics with colour and technique. I'm finding too often that I get halfway through a painting and get stuck with the colours or wish I had done something differently because I only had a vague idea of what I wanted when I began. I have found working like that to be frustrating and not giving me the results I want. I have too many half finished paintings lying around the house because of it. So it finally occurred to me that maybe I was doing something a teeny bit wrong and it's time to fix it.

When I have worked out the separate components (colour, technique, composition, line work, materials), I'll then try and put it all back into a picture and see if it works out any better.

I'm re-reading the book Blue and yellow don't make green. Good book, based on science and research. And I love the satanic book cover with it's burning colour wheel. Makes me want to light my own colour wheel on fire. But I won't. I love my colour wheel.

Ernst Haeckel

2008-04-29T04:40:00.006+10:00

I have terrible insomnia. So I've been wandering the web (its after 4am!) and I found an entire high-res version of Artforms of Nature by Ernst Haeckel on flickr. There is also a link to download the entire book as a pdf. I'm very happy. My hard copy version of this book seems to be an abridged collection and is missing many of the illustrations.

Artform of Nature by Ernst Haeckel

Ernst Haeckel was a German biologist and these illustrations were published between 1899-1904. I love them, so intricate and beautiful, yet also scientifically accurate.

Curiouser and curiouser...

2008-04-27T10:24:00.007+10:00

From the M section of todays Sunday Age newspaper.

Good Weekend

2008-04-25T15:37:00.004+10:00

One of my pictures is in todays Good Weekend magazine (supplement with The Age newspaper). Wow! I didn't even know until a friend called me. I'm not actually in the exhibition it's promoting...but I'm not going to worry too much about that :)