Daydream

“Daydream”  coloured pencils and oil pastels, 215 x 290 mm.  August 2017.

Daydream – a pleasant fantasy or reverie.

“Daydream” is my second drawing from a photograph I took in Pontocho, Kyoto in the spring of 2013.  The first drawing is “Promenade”, February 2016.

Promenade
190 x 250 mm, February 2016

I was persuaded to let Matthew (husband) keep “Promenade” as it is a favourite of his.  However I did so want to exhibit it in my exhibition Entranced next month.  A few days ago I had the bright idea to do another version of it, this time using Sennelier oil pastels as well as coloured pencils and drawing it larger than the first one.

I was curious to see how I would treat the subject 18 months after my first interpretation and after months in the interim doing impressionistic Paris drawings.

Here they are side by side; the new one on the right.  I didn’t look at the first drawing   while I drew the second so as not to be influenced by it.  The dark areas are more intense (saturated) in “Daydream” than “Promenade” and I think the new drawing has more luminosity and power than the older one.

In the new drawing, the figures have a floating quality and the road sweeps up rather than along, but the scene has a gentle dreaminess so I’m leaving it this way.

So Matt gets to keep “Promenade” while I get to exhibit “Daydream”.  This is called ‘having one’s cake and eating it too’!

“Daydream” is the 23rd and final drawing for Entranced opening on 7 September (until 20) at Kidogo Arthouse, Bathers Beach, Fremantle.

 

Treading the Boards

“Treading the Boards”
Coloured pencils and Sennelier oil pastels.
225 x 275 mm.
August 2017

In a theatrical setting; the port of Fremantle lit by morning sunshine, a seagull steps along a wooden plank with the studied deliberation of an actor treading the boards.

This drawing will be one of 21 Julie Podstolski drawings exhibited at Kidogo Arthouse, Bathers Beach, Fremantle, from 7th September 2017 (for two weeks) – with ceramics by Stewart Scambler.   

On the Rocks

“On the Rocks 1”

“On the Rocks 2”

The latest additions to my drawing series headed for Kidogo Arthouse in September 2017 are “On the Rocks 1” and “On the Rocks 2”.    These drawings will be the smallest in the exhibition at 195 x 200 mm each.

In the past three weeks I have been to New Zealand and back twice.  Each time I flew, one of the drawings went with me so that I could work while away.  These well-traveled crested terns were worked on in airport transit lounges, my sister’s house in Wellington and in the hospice where my brother was being cared for in Christchurch.  It was calming to scratch away with pencils in the unusual circumstances in which my drawings and I found ourselves.   They were both completed back home in my studio.

When holding an exhibition it is good to have a range of art sizes.  Not everyone has huge wall spaces (or wallets) for one’s major works.  A small sized drawing (or two) may be just the ticket for an intimate space.

“Entranced” opens on 7th September at Kidogo Arthouse on Bathers Beach, Fremantle.

 

Flames and Rainbows

It is mid-winter in Perth.   Close to my house the flame trees are flowering.

On our way home from coffee Matthew and I stop to reflect on the lorikeet action going on in the trees.

Our delight in watching the Rainbow Lorikeets is such that I have to go home to get my camera and return for some photographs.  Upside down, right way up – any way is a good way to eat.

“And these trees are delicious!”

You could walk right past your local trees and not notice…

…but it is good to stop and observe small miracles in our very midst.

Dedicated with love to my brother, Max Podstolski.  His joy of birds ever since I can remember was inspirational – and contagious!

22 November 1952 – 20 July 2017

Port Authority

Who knows a port better than one who inhabits it night and day?  The ubiquitous Silver Gull is right at home among the ships, containers, bridges and cranes of Fremantle.  Observant citizen of land, sea and sky, he could probably tell us the daily shipping news – if we asked.  He is the port authority.

“Port Authority”
Oil pastels and coloured pencils.   230 x 310 mm.  July 2017.

“Port Authority” is the second drawing of this particular gull.  I drew him last year with coloured pencils only.  This time I wanted to add oil pastels to the mix and do a bigger drawing.  And as you can see, he is looking in the opposite direction in the first drawing…because a bird needs to know what is happening all around him!

“Port Side” 
210 x 245 mm.  August 2016

I chose to put ‘port’ in the title again since these two drawings are clearly related (though I no longer have the first one).

 

 

Entrance

“Entrance”
Coloured pencil drawing of Katsutomo. 370 x 460 mm. June 2017

“Entrance 1. the act or an instance of going or coming in; a door, passage etc. by which one enters; right of admission; the coming of an actor on stage.”                                        “Entrance 2. enchant, delight; put into a trance; overwhelm with strong feeling.”           (The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary)

In September 2015 I took many photos of Katsutomo during her erikae (when she become a Geiko).  This month, June 2017, I have made my third drawing from this auspicious occasion.

Two previous drawings of Katsutomo …

A Reflective Moment
330 x 490 mm, 2015

Being There
365 x 510 mm, 2015

and when she was still a Maiko…

Here she is in my drawing “The Art of Elegance”, 2014

I have recently been invited to exhibit my drawings at Kidogo Arthouse – 7th to 20th September 2017 – hence a return to memories – and new drawings – of Kyoto.  My co-exhibitor will be Ceramicist, Stewart Scambler.  This is a Gallery East exhibition.

 

Once Upon a Wall

“Once Upon a Wall”
Luminance pencils over Sennelier oil pastels.
380 x 540 mm. June 2017

Once upon a wall there was a corroding remnant of street art.  Only a head and shoulder remained.  Whatever the rest of the image was had long gone.  It had presumably cracked up then flaked off, washed and blown away over time in brittle particles.

But look again.  The peeling layers of paint have transformed into tulle!

Once upon a wall there was a princess from a fairy tale; an apparition of Marie Antoinette; a dancer from Les Folies Bergère; a Belle Époque courtesan (maybe Camille herself);  or perhaps Saint-Säens’ Dying Swan.

I was touched by the vision of this tattered graceful wallflower – enough to prolong her life and give her a new audience by drawing her.

During the course of my drawing I searched the internet to find the street artist and see what the paste-up had once looked like.  The artist goes by the name of Sobr.  The original was a head-to-toe paste-up of a woman dancing in bandeau and shorts.  Weather and time have combined to transform the figure from nonchalant female to tragic romantic heroine.

Of course you might simply see a dirty wall.  And you wouldn’t be wrong.  We each bring our own stories and interpretations to that which we encounter.

Here are two more figures by Sobr which I photographed.  The subject of my drawing had been similar stylistically to these.  Sobr made a series of stencils of dancing women which he called his “It’s Time to Dance” project.

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Technical note:  I used Sennelier oil pastels (a French brand) to ‘map’ in the colours on the paper before I put any pencils on.  Here is a detail of Sennelier under-colour before pencils were applied.  The addition of oil pastel adds to the richness and saturation of the finished coloured pencil drawing.

How it began:  initial layer of colour applied with Sennelier oil pastels, using a bristle brush to push the colour into the paper.

This image shows the range of 120 Sennelier oil pastels.

Here are the three sizes the pastels come in (shown next to a pencil to give you a comparison). The biggest one only comes in black and white.  So far I have been using the smallest size.