Painting?

I can't say I really enjoy painting..it was my least favourite subject at Art School (actually sculpture was my least favourite) but I've had 4 canvases and some paint lying in my room for the past few years - so I thought i better attack them and have a go. I've kept with the urban theme and a limited (very limited) colour palette and also created some cool textures. A few of my good friends have some birthdays coming up so, if thats you..you might be in luck with a painting for a present :)

Also - on a slightly related note...The perspective crop tool in photoshop is amazing! I took the photos of my painting on an angle as to avoid annoying lighting - and with the tool it automatically straightens it out for you. WOAH!

Printing Printing Printing

I have officially printed my first new woodcut's in nearly 3 years (since i left Art School!) It has been so much fun getting my hands dirty and carving wood and messing around with ink. Fortunately I'm still able to use the facilities down at Art School so that has been really helpful.

One of the projects that I've been working on is a commissioned print that came as response to my work being exhibited down at University. The brief was to make a big woodcut portrait of actor Steve McQueen and print it in similar style and colours to my previous 'Oranje Fietsen' woodcuts (bright orange and black!) I managed to get this completed last Friday - and will send it off to get framed this Friday once it is completely dry.






As well as Steve McQueen I've also printed a small edition of a new print called 'Pedestrians'. This print is a development from my previous series 'Alone in the Crowd', though focuses more on the 'crowd' part rather than the city as a whole. It has been really good getting back into the swing of things, though i had forgotten how time consuming it is carving out the little stylised people! I'm also thinking more about switching to water based ink (it gets a bit yukky dealing with turps and other nasty chemicals) and am also looking into buying a portable printing press so I can take it with me if I am moving around.

My Life is a Song

As some of you know, I volunteer my time & skills in the Create Team at SouthLife Church. My last project has been an EXCITING one - designing the album artwork for our recent live album 'MY LIFE IS A SONG'. It's been a great project, working alongside the talented David Whitaker (who wrote the music & lyrics for all the songs on the album) to get our finished product...which arrived last week just in time for the Albums launch this previous weekend at BRANDED CONFERENCE 2010!! It's perhaps not your usual cliche design for a live recording (picture photo of band rocking on stage & crowd with their hands up) but we love its cleanness, simplicity, bold colours and retro feel. My favourite part is the CD itself and how it fits snuggly into the same design behind it.
If by any chance you are interested in buying a copy you can email office@southlife.org.nz and buy one for only $20! Bargain!

Of late...

Some other things that have been happening/are happening:

Still working on some paintings...

I finished my website! Got most of my work uploaded on there now :) visit www.simonemariecreative.com

About 2 weeks ago I entered some work into a silent art auction that was raising money for a small church community in the province of Nawalprasi in Nepal. It was a really fun evening and I was stoked that my work sold and i was able to donate %50 of the proceeds to a really good cause! As far as I know money raised went goes towards building a kitchen, installing benches, large ovens, sinks, drainage and roofing.

On a very important note! I'm currently putting my energies into voting for my wonderful friend Roxanna Zamani!

Roxy is currently in Italy after being accepted out of over 700 applicants as 1 of 23 finalist for the prestigious fashion awards
Mittelmoda where she won a prize and will now show her work at Milan Fashion Week along side other Mittelmoda winners. Soon after Mittelmoda she was selected as a finalist for a competition run through FashionTV, won her section and took out the
main prize. The over all prize allows her to show her collection at Perth Fashion Festival in September.
She has also recently been selected as a finalist in Westpac Young Fashion Designer Competition, there are ten finalists and the top three that are voted by the public are able to show their mini collection at New Zealand Fashion Week where an over all winner will be announced. Prizes include 1 year of mentoring by a NZ fashion Designer, $5,000 deposited into a Westpac account and business mentoring for a year. Roxy is extremely talented, a really hard worker and totally deserves to win this! If you google her name you'll see that she is popping up everywhere cos she is amazing! So I encourage you to vote for her!
You are able to vote once a day everyday until the 5th Sep...which is very soon, so get voting! Click on the link below to Vote.

http://apps.facebook.com/contestshq/contests/51881/voteable_entries/7469938?ref=mf

And on an equally important note, I turn 25 in one weeks time on the !st of September! Hoorah! Here is a wee illustration i made for an invite to celebrate the occasion and welcome Spring! I love Spring...!

Wedding Invites

Over the month of July I've had the privilege of working with a client on some wedding invitations. She wanted an earthy, natural kiwiana theme to fit the location of her up and coming wedding at Lake Ohau. It was a really fun project to work on as it involved alot of drawing & illustration work and playing around with different colour schemes (which i love!) and it was great being able to throw ideas back and forth with my client and work on the project as a team. We ended up separating the invitation out into 4 separate cards: the main invitation, a RSVP postcard, a gifting card and a directions card.

Above are some photos of the final proof. The first photo is side A of each card, and the second photo is of the other side of each card (because I want to show the effect of the design printed on a brown recycled paper). For this project I've been working with Lynette from MCK Design & Print who has been super duper helpful.

Under Construction..

So...I'm building a website! It's my porfolio/space for my printmaking, illustration & graphic design :)

I am building it using Adobe Dreamweaver. It has been such a mission figuring out CS5, but I'm getting there! It's rather basic (I don't have all the skills...and flash is a whole other kettle of fish)...but here's what I have so far! Check back soon for the actual images :)

www.simonemariecreative.com

Happenings

Things have become busy recently...

My prints made it to Lot Design safe and sound, and are now hanging on their wall ready to be sold...

Last Monday i hung up my work at the Otago University Law Faculty. They are all ready for the Art in Law IV Exhibition which opens on Tuesday 20th July and runs until November.There is some pretty cool work there by other students, graduates & lecturers of the Art School so you should go have a look if you are wandering around University. I've had some really encouraging feedback already resulting in an early sale of a print and a commission to create a new one. Below are some photos of my prints lining their walls..




It's so cool being commissioned to make a new print because that is now motivating me to make some other new prints. I haven't really had time to make any new prints since I graduated and my focus has mainly been on selling my previous editions ( which has been successful!) and on graphic design & illustration..but I'm keen to start carving up some new woodblocks asap so watch this space!...

I've also picked up two freelance design projects which I am working on. The first involves designing a new logo for a healthcare centre and also a information folder for a nursing initiative. The second involves illustrating and designing a retro kiwiana themed wedding invite for a client i got via my Coroflot Portfolio. They are very fun projects!

So its all go!