Arts and Crafts

Today I would like to show a few items in detail you may have missed in our house tour.

First up are some paintings.

This one is titled Poppies. I did this in a childlike style because it refers to the two Grandfathers who are now no longer with us, my Grandfather, and my kids' Grandfather both who were named Poppy.

And of course referring also to the remembering of the dead from war with the flower Poppy.

The next one is called Interbred.

I painted this while living in New Zealand and seeing how the Maori culture is interwoven into the white culture, especially in Rotorua.

It made me sad to think that our Aboriginal people could have had the same respect.

The next painting is painted to encourage myself.

I painted it to look like heiroglyphics carved in stone, swirling around a centre full of life, and from that centre emerges a force which carves its own way through the stone.

The symbols are those used throughout the queer world, and the letters underneath are 

 LGBT in the Greek Alphabet (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender).

The line is 'To swim against the stream, salmonlike, a silvered gleam, knifepoint slicing its way'

a line from one of my poems.

The following are paintings I've done of The Artist and The Actor.

Now we come to crafts. This is the only thing I, as crafty as you like, could bring myself to make for my unborn first child.

Its a wallhanging of native Australian flowers with faces.

Waratah, Wattle, Flannel Flower, Tea Tree, and Banksia or something like that!

The white objects are two from a series of four I carved out of polystyrene at art college.

We were learning Maori carving techniques and had to invent a design incorporating them on four different shapes.

I got top marks for the cone, but he didnt like the sphere.

It's a lizard hiding in grass...his head...

...his body...

...and his tail.

As part of our Rotorua stay we bought ourselves a piece of glass to remind us of its volcanic nature.

Isn't it gorgeous?

We don't have formal display cases with lights, so we stand it on the little wall behind the sink and the downlight shines into it. I put my rings in it when I cook. I like using precious things.

And right beside the glory of the lava glass, at the other end of the bench, and the other end pricewise!,is my green bottle collection. I look into them and feel like I'm in another world, like underwater or something.

Lastly we have my shoes I was too embarrassed to put up on Sheila's Shoeshine this week!

They are very crafted.

Old boots that are nearly at the end of their life, looked grungy, so I drew on them with oil pastels.

But I wasn't totally happy, so one day when I felt reckless, I cut out the tongue so you could see the socks, and darkened them a little, then feeling I needed to break up the shape, I painted the instep with black shoe dye. It now looks high heeled!

Then feeling still more reckless, I cut off the top of the boot. 

Now they are much lighter with less leather.

The leather is so soft and I have a sheepskin inner sole, they are like walking on clouds!

I hope you enjoyed my micro tour!

Please come again :-)

'Til next time, keep creating,

Jazzy Jack