Eat, make art, sleep, repeat.
This has been life lately, and I am loving it! Throw in some renovations (more about that in a separate post) and life has been full.
In among all of these goings on, I finally launched my online art store, Ness Lockyer. If feels good to have a space just for my art originals, fine art prints and the like that is separate from Marley & Lockyer. I imagine at some point I will bring it all together in a new format, but for now it is nice to have a dedicated space for art and one for homewares.
Above is one of my fine art prints from an original I painted called “Aurora”. I love this piece so much, and the print picks up all the little details of the painting and canvas too.
I have been making so many new things, and have finally found a way to get my botanic drawings onto my stoneware in a much better way…I have been trying to get this right for a long time now. Frustration set in, and I left it until recently when I thought a different approach might work – sure did! So, I made some new plates, and little banners. I love that I can get more detail and depth onto the clay surface this way.
The piece I painted up for Petite Chateu
In other news, Karen from French Consul has been restoring a gorgeous old sandstone cottage with her Husband in Oatlands, and asked if I would recreate and old advertisement from the original owner of the cottage, who was a Tailor, on these stunning old drawers….of course I jumped at that opportunity as you know how much I love old typography and calligraphy, and words on furniture is SO up my alley! I painted it in old gold so on certain angles it is bright, and some angles it will appear dull. It turned out so well.
The restoration of the cottage was picked up by Grand Designs Transformations, and Karen even wrote a book about the process where you can see these drawers in situ at Petite Chateu. This photo above is in our house, where I had to keep it totally secret for nearly 2 years! Mic had adopted the piece and was hoping Karen had forgotten all about it!
Recently, I finished this piece which may seem weird, but bear with me….
When I was small, I got Tonsillitis and middle ear infections a lot (learned as an adult that was my dairy and egg intolerance playing havoc), and I used to suffer with very high temperatures. When I had those high temps, I would have these hallucination/dreams where there was a man at the end of the hallway, standing in front of my bedroom door with a paper bag on his head (it was always the same nightmare) with his long bony fingers, and usually with a big coat on. I could never get to my room. I would wake up screaming – he was horrible!
It is called “The Man At The End Of The Hallway”.
Only one time did I ever see his face, and I drew him straight away and have never dreamt of him since getting his image onto paper. Weird, hey? I can’t look at that drawing, and I won’t ever get rid of it either…you know, just in case.
So this is me as a small child, going to my bedroom, and the man with the paper bag hiding behind the door. It represents the innocence of a child and how nightmares can play havoc in a young mind. It might seem odd, but I have always loved Surrealism, and dreams (I used to keep a dream journal when I was a teen), so to those who know me and my work over the years since I was small, this doesn’t seem odd at all. I’ve always had a very vivid imagination.
It’s amazing to me still to this day, that getting his horrible face down on paper has stopped me ever dreaming of him again. It’s so true that art can heal your soul. It’s definitely helped me make sense of things through my life, that’s for sure!
in the car on the way to the framers
A little update on my Archibald entry for this year….
I took her down to be framed yesterday, and I was a bit worried about leaving this piece there. It’s such a hugely important piece for me, and if anything were to happen to it, I’m not sure how I’d cope! Anyway, I walked away with the hopes the framing is finished quickly so I can bring it back home ready for the journey to Sydney with the art couriers (that’s going to be a scary day!). It’s all happening now. If you want to see the varnishing process, and how it brings the colours to life, you can find the videos in my art II highlights in Instagram.
So, that’s mostly what’s been going on. We are cracking on with our renovations too, so I’ll show you some of that in the next post to come. In the meantime, I’d love to know what you think about the new art store, and if there is anything you would like to see of mine as a print, please let me know.
~ Ness xx
