Saturday, June 25, 2011
Another Gardening Blog
If you have found me through blogspot and want to know where to find my garden blog then go to Dirt and Flowers
Friday, September 10, 2010
Making Changes
I have decided to move my blog to another site. I hope you don't mind, but I this site doesn't give me enough options and wordpress does, so I have made the decision to move it there. I will keep this one for the information it does have.
The new blog can be found at
http://leannecole.wordpress.com/
See you there.
The new blog can be found at
http://leannecole.wordpress.com/
See you there.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Returning to Old Themes
Those of you who have known me for many years and have known about my photography for a long time will remember how much I used to photograph the town my mother lives in. I haven't really done any for a long time. Partly because I haven't had a good camera for a while, and partly because I haven't been up there much. I have tried to take photos with my little point and click, but you can't control anything with that.
This last week I went back up to my mothers place, in Woomelang. It is a very small country town, of less than 200 people, I think. It looks old, but really no older than any other town in the area. It was once a thriving town, but not anymore. The community is mainly older people. Not many shops there now, basically just the local community store and one pub.
I have to admit that my view of the town is from my mothers and is probably not a broad view. When I travel there I come across a quiet town that looks like it is closing down slowly. Every time I go there there are things gone, or pulled down. Buildings that were being used and are no longer. Things that have fallen down.
There are two places I have concentrated on, one is a really old shearing shed on the outskirts of town, the second is the train stations and wheat silos. Both are located not far from each other.
The shearing shed, or the old maids shed, no idea why the name, is one of the first buildings you see when you come into town. It used to be the old abattoirs, but that is completely gone. I don't have any idea of when it was built, or even why it was built. It is made of sheets of tin, which are now rusting, and gives the shed its lovely colour.
This photo is from the front, it is what you see from the road. Inside it smells of dead sheep and wool. For those that don't know shearing sheds, the little gaps at the front are where the sheep are pushed out after they have been sheared/shorn.
I took some black and white photos of the shed about 12 or 13 years old and there was one that proved to be popular. It was a photo of the doors at the back, where the sheep are first herded into the shearing shed.
I am pretty certain this image was taken at around the same time of day, it was late afternoon and the sun was pouring in through all the cracks.
I can't remember if the doors were worse than this, but you can see that they do seem to be deteriorating. I would imagine that they would be very hard to open.
I don't know if it is being used at all now. Doors have fallen down and it doesn't look too safe. Though, it was surprisingly clean inside, so who knows. I think it was a hang out for local kids to party at at some time, though don't know if they still do, they clean up after themselves if they do.
The next photo is of the same doors, however taken from a different angle and shows a lot more of the inside of the building.
I played with the settings on the camera here and I put it through photoshop, and tried to highlight the colour. I love the way the rust comes though and seems to flood the whole image. You can see the light flooding in everywhere.
You can get a good look at the floor here and the way there are gaps in the floor. This is where the sheep are first brought in.
This is the area where the shearers work. The sheep are brought out from the yards on the left, and you can't see them here, but the shearers work on the right. At the back, towards that other door, is where the wool is classed and baled.
I have no idea why the wool is on the ground. Perhaps left there because it was no good, I don't know. The metal contraption you can see in distance to the right is the wool baler, and that where the wool is baled into bags for shipping. Not a fun place to get trapped in, as some friends did to me at their shearing shed when I was a kid.
In between the shearing shed and my mothers house is the train station. I'm sure with many country towns the train station is also where the grain silos are.
They are always very large, or very tall buildings, and if you were allowed to go up to the top would offer the best view of all that surrounds it. Especially since it is so flat up there. I did get to go up once, when I was in grade 3, I think it was, in Quambatook. Our teacher organised for us to go up the top of the silos and look around at what happens up there and we got to look at onto the town. Couldn't see us being allowed to do that now. Too many health and safety issues.
My mother was telling me how a company did not came around and build the silos, that plans were given out and eat town built their own. Interesting.
One of the things I love about driving around in the mallee is that the silos always stand as massive sticks letting you know where they are. You can see them for miles and as kids we always had competitions to see who could see the silos first.
From a distance they don't look that tall and opposing, but when you get up close to them you are totally dwarfed by them. They are so much bigger than you think they will be.
I love looking straight up at them. This photo doesn't give you a real idea of how big they are, but it is hard to do that in a photo.
I took this photo with the camera almost down on the ground. I couldn't look through it, so just pointed it in the general direction of where I wanted the photo. I took several shots. I decided this was the best of them. I still had to cut my head out of them. Unfortunately my head ended up in all them, wide angle lens really are wide.
Experimenting with different angles is a must. I always feel disappointed when I get home and look at the photos and am disppointed because I missed a shot, then again, it also gives me a reason to go back.
I do enjoy going back to the same places again and again to take photos. You start to learn when it is good to take photos, and when the light will be perfect. Recapture changes in the things you are photographing. Also capture those shots that you missed the first time, or stuffed up.
This last week I went back up to my mothers place, in Woomelang. It is a very small country town, of less than 200 people, I think. It looks old, but really no older than any other town in the area. It was once a thriving town, but not anymore. The community is mainly older people. Not many shops there now, basically just the local community store and one pub.
I have to admit that my view of the town is from my mothers and is probably not a broad view. When I travel there I come across a quiet town that looks like it is closing down slowly. Every time I go there there are things gone, or pulled down. Buildings that were being used and are no longer. Things that have fallen down.
There are two places I have concentrated on, one is a really old shearing shed on the outskirts of town, the second is the train stations and wheat silos. Both are located not far from each other.
The shearing shed, or the old maids shed, no idea why the name, is one of the first buildings you see when you come into town. It used to be the old abattoirs, but that is completely gone. I don't have any idea of when it was built, or even why it was built. It is made of sheets of tin, which are now rusting, and gives the shed its lovely colour.
This photo is from the front, it is what you see from the road. Inside it smells of dead sheep and wool. For those that don't know shearing sheds, the little gaps at the front are where the sheep are pushed out after they have been sheared/shorn.
I took some black and white photos of the shed about 12 or 13 years old and there was one that proved to be popular. It was a photo of the doors at the back, where the sheep are first herded into the shearing shed.
I can't remember if the doors were worse than this, but you can see that they do seem to be deteriorating. I would imagine that they would be very hard to open.
I don't know if it is being used at all now. Doors have fallen down and it doesn't look too safe. Though, it was surprisingly clean inside, so who knows. I think it was a hang out for local kids to party at at some time, though don't know if they still do, they clean up after themselves if they do.
The next photo is of the same doors, however taken from a different angle and shows a lot more of the inside of the building.
I have no idea why the wool is on the ground. Perhaps left there because it was no good, I don't know. The metal contraption you can see in distance to the right is the wool baler, and that where the wool is baled into bags for shipping. Not a fun place to get trapped in, as some friends did to me at their shearing shed when I was a kid.
In between the shearing shed and my mothers house is the train station. I'm sure with many country towns the train station is also where the grain silos are.
My mother was telling me how a company did not came around and build the silos, that plans were given out and eat town built their own. Interesting.
One of the things I love about driving around in the mallee is that the silos always stand as massive sticks letting you know where they are. You can see them for miles and as kids we always had competitions to see who could see the silos first.
From a distance they don't look that tall and opposing, but when you get up close to them you are totally dwarfed by them. They are so much bigger than you think they will be.
I love looking straight up at them. This photo doesn't give you a real idea of how big they are, but it is hard to do that in a photo.
I took this photo with the camera almost down on the ground. I couldn't look through it, so just pointed it in the general direction of where I wanted the photo. I took several shots. I decided this was the best of them. I still had to cut my head out of them. Unfortunately my head ended up in all them, wide angle lens really are wide.
Experimenting with different angles is a must. I always feel disappointed when I get home and look at the photos and am disppointed because I missed a shot, then again, it also gives me a reason to go back.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
A Bit of Background
Among my friends they all know that I'm an artist and I've been interested in imagery as art for a long time. Now days most people I meet think I'm a photographer. I come to an event, I take photos of it, then put them up on my website and they can purchase a copy of it if they want. I have been taking photos on and off for many years, not cycling, but I used to do a lot of photography. I loved buildings that were falling down. I loved looking at decay.
A few years a go I went back to school, or TAFE really and start a diploma in Visual Art at NMIT. I enjoyed the drawing and painting and printmaking. The photography, I think, at that stage, I was over. I wanted to see if I could, if I could paint, if I could draw etc. At the end of the year I applied to the VCA and RMIT to get into fine arts and was accepted for printmaking at both. I don't really remember why I wanted to go to the VCA, probably because of the prestige, oh, also the workshop and studio area were so big and light and just fantastic compared with RMIT. Though there was a lecturer at RMIT that I really wanted to study under, but alas I went to VCA.
There, at the VCA, I studied printmaking, worked a lot on my drawing skills, and became a ceramic artist. Who knew. I think I ended up going down a path that was not familiar and thought, who cares, let's see where it leads. This is what I did for my final project.
Yes, I built a kitchen. It was a small room and inside everything was an off white colour. The colour of the bisque fired ceramic cast items I was making. It was certainly impressive and at our grad show got a lot of attention. It helped me to get a solo show at a very good gallery in Melbourne, Dianne Tanzer Gallery.
I had to come up with a new concept and then work on it for 18 months before the exhibition. My show was called "White Trash".
A rubbish bin, that is painted, and overflowing from it was the consumption of man. The rubbish bin is meant to represent the home and the pieces coming out over the top are all the things we buy and replace and buy more stuff. Our homes are being turned into rubbish bins.
Again the work got a lot of attention, but no sales. Not that this work cost me a lot to make, but it was a lot of time and then I was stuck with all these pieces of ceramic work. This particular piece did go to a couple of other exhibitions, one in Sydney and one here in Melbourne. The work was called "Domestic Bliss".
While doing the final preparations for that show I decided to apply for other exhibitions. I applied to Counihan and was accepted for a show there at the end of the following year, end of last year. The show was to be called, "I want, therefore I need". Another show using the ceramic pieces that I was making.
While I was preparing for the show, I began to realise that I missed making images. I wanted to draw, to go back to painting. The ceramic work was conceptual and I wasn't really sure it was me. It was also hard justifying putting so much money into it and not getting any back. Hard when you have a husband who wants to support you, but also wants you to earn money. Also hard with two teenagers whose lives seem to cost so much.
It was while getting the show up, that I made the decision that it would be my last show with the ceramic pieces. Possibly not the best move, especially after getting a small write up in the Age newspaper, but still not one that I minded. I didn't really enjoy making it, and it was so much work.
The image on the right there, was the show, there are two pieces from the exhibition, and there was also one other. Again, nothing sold, and I knew nothing would. It made the decision so much easier and it seemed like the right thing to do.
I had started taking photos of the cycling at this time. I bought my first digital SLR while the exhibition was one. I was starting something new. Whilst starting something new, I also knew that I wouldn't be happy just taking photos, that I would have to incorporate art into it as well.
I have talked before why I started photographing cycling, and I love doing it. I am really pleased with the photos I'm starting to take, but it is an ongoing process and I continue learning and experimenting all the time. However, it did bring into whether or not I could use these images that I take for other things, like my art practice.
I had also been commissioned at around this time to do a painting of a boy on his bike in a race. Not a large one, but something manageable. The price I gave reflected my uncertainty of whether I would be able to do it. Though, I never thought I would finish it, those who know about the studio and the fence know that while that was going on I didn't want to work in the studio, didn't want to think about it, but now that it is resolved, I am happily working out there again and have now finished the painting. I can't show you a photo of it right now because I don't have permission to do that. Hopefully when I get some more paintings done I can put them all on my website.
I also started a linocut at this time. It was from a photo of my daughter at a race in Shepparton. It was a photo that I had taken. I started it on a new type of lino that was very easy to carve and it made it good to do. I have tried printing it, but I couldn't get a good print, so here is a photo of it, not a good photo, but gives you an idea of the work and what I was aiming for.
I like the way the lino helps with the movement and I like that, if you know Briony you know that it is her without me have to say it is. I have got the press out and tried to print it better, but it won't print on that press, I think I need to find a press that presses down, rather than the type I have.
None of the following photos are very good, in that I took them quickly, but I am planning on setting up the lights and doing them properly, when I find some time.
That print spurred me on and the next one I did was from a photo at the Eildon Junior Tour that I really liked. I think it turned out well.
It amazes me how well they show the rider and the movement. The way the carved out bits can help to gain that movement. I still need to print them better, but am sure if I take them into the Australian Print Workshop that shouldn't be a problem and I should be able to get better prints.
I also did another one, that I had decided to do when I first made the decision to begin doing this work. I found a piece of lino and started cutting, or carving, not sure what you call it.
I made the third print.
It was from a photo I had taken at the Victorian State Championships. Like the other two wasn't especially difficult, but still gave me the courage to continue and keep trying different ones.
There is a lot more skill to linos than I thought. Some of the cutting is very delicate and I realised the tools I had were inadequate so got myself some new tools. I have to admit I had only ever done, I think, about 2 linos before this and one woodcut. Not a great background. So lots of learning that needed to be done.
I did another one of someone from the St Kilda Crit photos that I had taken earlier in the year. Not sure it was as successful, as the original image was out of focus, and it seems to have transferred to this one. Still, it is all experience and it made me realise, that I wanted to do more complicated stuff. Something that would take me longer to do that a few hours.
I had been going through my photos from the bay crits in January. There are lots of them, I never put them on my website, but knew that there would be shots that I liked that I could use. I had found one to use for a painting and have started that, so I went through more to find some others. I found one of the cyclists in Williamstown and they were moving away from me, so it is the back of them that you see. I had a piece of lino that was 30cm x 40cm and I used that. It had to be big enough so the detail wouldn't be too small and end up just a jumble of stuff.
I started the lino and worked on it, off and on, for 3 days, spent about 8 or 9 hours cutting it. Then yesterday I proofed it.
I am really happy with how it is has turned out, though I need to do a little more work on it. I don't like the way the jerseys have turned out and want to cut away more of the lino there so they are more white.
I do like the overall affect and would really like to do a lot more of prints like this. I will have to get myself some tools for doing the more finer detail, but that is OK.
I will finish this image today and then start going through all my photos for more images to use.
The one thing I like is that now when I go to events instead of just concentrating on taking photos that people may or may not buy, I can now also be looking for images that I can use in my artwork. You never know, you might just show up in one one day.
A few years a go I went back to school, or TAFE really and start a diploma in Visual Art at NMIT. I enjoyed the drawing and painting and printmaking. The photography, I think, at that stage, I was over. I wanted to see if I could, if I could paint, if I could draw etc. At the end of the year I applied to the VCA and RMIT to get into fine arts and was accepted for printmaking at both. I don't really remember why I wanted to go to the VCA, probably because of the prestige, oh, also the workshop and studio area were so big and light and just fantastic compared with RMIT. Though there was a lecturer at RMIT that I really wanted to study under, but alas I went to VCA.
There, at the VCA, I studied printmaking, worked a lot on my drawing skills, and became a ceramic artist. Who knew. I think I ended up going down a path that was not familiar and thought, who cares, let's see where it leads. This is what I did for my final project.
Yes, I built a kitchen. It was a small room and inside everything was an off white colour. The colour of the bisque fired ceramic cast items I was making. It was certainly impressive and at our grad show got a lot of attention. It helped me to get a solo show at a very good gallery in Melbourne, Dianne Tanzer Gallery.
I had to come up with a new concept and then work on it for 18 months before the exhibition. My show was called "White Trash".
Again the work got a lot of attention, but no sales. Not that this work cost me a lot to make, but it was a lot of time and then I was stuck with all these pieces of ceramic work. This particular piece did go to a couple of other exhibitions, one in Sydney and one here in Melbourne. The work was called "Domestic Bliss".
While doing the final preparations for that show I decided to apply for other exhibitions. I applied to Counihan and was accepted for a show there at the end of the following year, end of last year. The show was to be called, "I want, therefore I need". Another show using the ceramic pieces that I was making.
While I was preparing for the show, I began to realise that I missed making images. I wanted to draw, to go back to painting. The ceramic work was conceptual and I wasn't really sure it was me. It was also hard justifying putting so much money into it and not getting any back. Hard when you have a husband who wants to support you, but also wants you to earn money. Also hard with two teenagers whose lives seem to cost so much.
It was while getting the show up, that I made the decision that it would be my last show with the ceramic pieces. Possibly not the best move, especially after getting a small write up in the Age newspaper, but still not one that I minded. I didn't really enjoy making it, and it was so much work.
The image on the right there, was the show, there are two pieces from the exhibition, and there was also one other. Again, nothing sold, and I knew nothing would. It made the decision so much easier and it seemed like the right thing to do.
I had started taking photos of the cycling at this time. I bought my first digital SLR while the exhibition was one. I was starting something new. Whilst starting something new, I also knew that I wouldn't be happy just taking photos, that I would have to incorporate art into it as well.
I have talked before why I started photographing cycling, and I love doing it. I am really pleased with the photos I'm starting to take, but it is an ongoing process and I continue learning and experimenting all the time. However, it did bring into whether or not I could use these images that I take for other things, like my art practice.
I had also been commissioned at around this time to do a painting of a boy on his bike in a race. Not a large one, but something manageable. The price I gave reflected my uncertainty of whether I would be able to do it. Though, I never thought I would finish it, those who know about the studio and the fence know that while that was going on I didn't want to work in the studio, didn't want to think about it, but now that it is resolved, I am happily working out there again and have now finished the painting. I can't show you a photo of it right now because I don't have permission to do that. Hopefully when I get some more paintings done I can put them all on my website.
I also started a linocut at this time. It was from a photo of my daughter at a race in Shepparton. It was a photo that I had taken. I started it on a new type of lino that was very easy to carve and it made it good to do. I have tried printing it, but I couldn't get a good print, so here is a photo of it, not a good photo, but gives you an idea of the work and what I was aiming for.
None of the following photos are very good, in that I took them quickly, but I am planning on setting up the lights and doing them properly, when I find some time.
That print spurred me on and the next one I did was from a photo at the Eildon Junior Tour that I really liked. I think it turned out well.
It amazes me how well they show the rider and the movement. The way the carved out bits can help to gain that movement. I still need to print them better, but am sure if I take them into the Australian Print Workshop that shouldn't be a problem and I should be able to get better prints.
I also did another one, that I had decided to do when I first made the decision to begin doing this work. I found a piece of lino and started cutting, or carving, not sure what you call it.
I made the third print.
There is a lot more skill to linos than I thought. Some of the cutting is very delicate and I realised the tools I had were inadequate so got myself some new tools. I have to admit I had only ever done, I think, about 2 linos before this and one woodcut. Not a great background. So lots of learning that needed to be done.
I did another one of someone from the St Kilda Crit photos that I had taken earlier in the year. Not sure it was as successful, as the original image was out of focus, and it seems to have transferred to this one. Still, it is all experience and it made me realise, that I wanted to do more complicated stuff. Something that would take me longer to do that a few hours.
I had been going through my photos from the bay crits in January. There are lots of them, I never put them on my website, but knew that there would be shots that I liked that I could use. I had found one to use for a painting and have started that, so I went through more to find some others. I found one of the cyclists in Williamstown and they were moving away from me, so it is the back of them that you see. I had a piece of lino that was 30cm x 40cm and I used that. It had to be big enough so the detail wouldn't be too small and end up just a jumble of stuff.
I started the lino and worked on it, off and on, for 3 days, spent about 8 or 9 hours cutting it. Then yesterday I proofed it.
I am really happy with how it is has turned out, though I need to do a little more work on it. I don't like the way the jerseys have turned out and want to cut away more of the lino there so they are more white.
I do like the overall affect and would really like to do a lot more of prints like this. I will have to get myself some tools for doing the more finer detail, but that is OK.
I will finish this image today and then start going through all my photos for more images to use.
The one thing I like is that now when I go to events instead of just concentrating on taking photos that people may or may not buy, I can now also be looking for images that I can use in my artwork. You never know, you might just show up in one one day.
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