Hello again

Such a long time has passed since I have written.
It has been a difficult time for me over the past 3 months as my Mum sadly was diagnosed with cancer and then died 6 weeks later.
We also have been working towards selling our house - and my beautiful studio, so that has involved quite a lot of tidying up and thus not much art work!
But...
Soon I will be back into the work in a big way as I will be part of a show at Manningham gallery in September.
 It is very exciting as it will be my first public gallery show - where they asked me!!
It is called Model Urban and will include small sculptural works engaging contemporary urban environments.
My piece Walking the Cinque Terre will be in the show and the rest .. well that is yet to be made. Watch this space. 

Invites are here - well, the e-invites are here.

You are officially invited to.........

put it in your diary!! 

Preparation for art time

The time has come to stop procrastinating and start work. My garden is nearly all weeded and dug over so I really need to knuckle down to some art work. The weather here in Melbourne is hot, so being in the studio is tempting as I have air-con to keep me sane.

To start the process I needed to sort out the many brochures and maps I brought home from the trip. I started this by sorting into a bag per country.  Already I feel less overwhelmed!

Next,  a visual diary. I decided that I would make one and try to make it a well organised and visually interesting diary rather than my usual mess. So i have stitched together pages of different types and sizes of paper so that I have different surfaces to work on and the size may help determine the piece.

The next thing I have done is to print up thumbnail prints of photos from each country, as I noticed when I looked at a country/city's photos all together that there were commonalities in the colours, patterns and textures, so I hope to capture these in my work as I start the creative process.

So now I have no excuse!! Just got to stop being distracted.... oh that short attention span.

Holiday Activity time

Wow, I have not posted anything for ages.
It is summer holidays here and I have been busy firstly preparing for Christmas, then having a lovely  holiday up north in Queensland, and now when the temperature is 35 degrees Celsius it is finally time to get into the studio, finish off small tasks and catch up on the back log of emails and blog posts.

One of my holiday tasks was to mosaic a wall on our verandah, I managed to do this on one of the beautiful days we had before the heat arrived.

Gardening came next, but now it is time to get into the preparation for the next body of work relating to the BIG TRIP. Hopefully inspiration will come ( in between swims in the neighbours pool)

Well to those of you in Australia, I hope you are keeping cool!

Books on display

Some of my little travel books are having an outing, along with some of my other books about travel. They are residing in the window shelves of a lovely little bookshop in Kensington called Wayward Books. 
This gorgeous shop is a treasure trove of new and secondhand books, lovingly cared for by Judy.
If you happen to be over there, take a peak through the window!

Wayward Books

Belair st, Kensington

Victoria 

A little Commission

Well, it's not really a commission, just something I was asked to do by Carol Barton of pop up books fame. She wanted to get ideas from different artists for her pop up party cards, newspaper insert. Due out sometime this year. I had fun making this one, might even make more now.

Today in my Studio

Studio Day today, and I am working a few things at once -  printed things for the next Wonderful Creative Things Fair- to be held on November 27 at Abbotsford Convent again, also working on my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project. My theme is Tree houses so I have been creating tree prints and images.

Cards for "The Wonderful Creative Things Fair"

Here is the beginnings of a drypoint print of a boat, still a fair bit of work to be done on this yet. Something for some of my small collages. 

The Wonderful Printed Things Fair

Coming very soon ( sep 10) to Abbotsford Convent 1pm to 6pm cash sales only , in Melbourne. Come and pick up a few early Christmas gifts or just lovely printed things!!

Opening Night

On a freezing and stormy night when the weather bureau warned not to leave home unless you must, many people braved the weather to help celebrate the opening of "Long Socks". Thanks to all of you who made the night a great success. The other artists , Cameron Bishop , Marita Kelly and Belinda Lane in galleries 1 and 2 have got some great work too, so try to see the show before August 28.

Printing an edition

Very pleased with myself, I have conquered the editioning that has beaten me recently. Finally 3 editions of prints done for my upcoming exhibition.

Long Socks- A new exhibition

Well here it is, the first entry into blogging world.
My next exhibition is nearly ready to go. Long Socks has been 2 years in the making. The work has been printed,knitted, stitched and photographed ready to be presented to the world.
See the videos about my work Youtube. My friend Rod kindly filmed and edited the videos and set up the wikispaces site- please have a look.
Long Socks
Art by Sally Darlison 2010

Belonging
to be a part of a group- have the right social qualities to part of a group, fit in specified place or environment, be a member
Tribe
a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized leader
Team
group of players forming one side in a competitive game or sport.
two or more people working together

Sport typically creates a sense of belonging in its team members and supporters, each sport having an identity that is similar to that of a tribe- linked by a language and behaviour common to each game.
Three sports that each have a strong individual culture and identity are Rugby Union, Soccer, Australian Rules Football.
Each have a strong and passionate following and most supporters follow only one of these sports. To belong to the tribe one must understand the culture- know the rules, wear the team colours, talk the language, know how to react. To an outsider some of the tribal behaviour may be perplexing.
In each of these sports there are identifying marks linking each to the tribe and then individual teams. The types of cheers, songs, names given to certain moves,all are distinguishing differences.
Whilst each wears a uniform of shirt, shorts and socks, there are slight differences in style, fabric and colours.
However, in all three of these sports the team players wear long socks.

This body of work is an exploration of both the similarities and differences in three football games. The similarities of the long socks, boots and a game played on grass and the defining differences in style of shorts, leg movement, athletic build, rules and goal posts.
The artwork consists of lino prints on paper and silk with collaged elements - including knitted socks, maps of the grounds, rules and first aid instructions.

so put the date in your diary- August 11 - 28 red gallery 157 St Georges rd north Fitzroy Victoria Australia