Teaching Screen printing at Megalo

I love screen printing so much that I also teach screen printing on fabric at Megalo Print Studio and Gallery in Canberra.

I have just finished teaching a 6 week Thursday evening class.  

In the class we covered:

• creating designs using paper stencils and photo emulsion (light sensitive); 
• learn registration marks to create multi-colour prints;  
• experimenting printing onto different background fabrics; 
• and in our last lessons we also explored how to put your design into repeat.

Below are some images of the beautiful designs created in the class.

Marcelle working out paper stencil

Linda experimenting with colour and overlay patterns
 using a photo emulsed design

Jen's delicate hand drawn tree printed on tea towels

Dianna printing 2 colour paper stencil pattern 

Rachel's 2 colour photo emulsion stencil

Close up of Rachel's Escape design. 

Seona's 2 colour paper stencil print

Seona's 3 colour print onto patterned fabric

Marcelle embarking on a repeat print design using 3 colours

Marcelle adding the second colour

PS Marcelle has just sent me a picture of her finished Birds and Hearts fabric. Here is is below

Fabric and image by Marcelle

Vignette Exhibition: Prints on Paper

As promised, here are the images of my screen printed drawings that also featured in the Vignette exhibition at the BSG Gallery in Melbourne.

Bathroom Hall. Screen print on paper. Print size 30 x 23 cm

Bathroom. Screen print on paper. Print size 23 x 30 cm

Kochira Says. Screen print on paper. Print size 23 x 30 cm

Hallway. Screen print on paper. Print size 30 x 23 cm

Chest of Drawers. Screen print on paper. Print size 23 x 30 cm

Kitchen Cupboard. Screen print on paper. Print size 30 x 23 cm 

Kitchen Sink. Screen print on paper. Print size 23 x 30 cm

Kitchen Window. Screen print on paper. Print size 23 x 30 cm

Fireplace. Screen print on paper. Print size 23 x 30 cm

Loungeroom. Screen print on paper. Print size 30 x 23 cm.

Vignette Exhibition at BSG Gallery, Melbourne

 My sojourn to Melbourne last week for my exhibition was delightful!

Setting up the show went smoothly with the assistance of my fabulous friend Nicole. The exhibition was a selection of ceramics, prints on paper and two screen printed fabrics.

The theme for my exhibition was:

vi·gnette  [vin-yet] noun, verb, -gnet·ted, -gnet·ting.

noun

1. an engraving, drawing, photograph, or the like that is shaded off gradually at the edges so as to leave no definite line at the border.

2. any small, pleasing picture or view.

3. a small, graceful literary sketch.

Surface design and printmaking techniques explore images from my sketchbook diaries that document daily life in my cottage and studio, capturing the banal and everyday which are often moments of fleeting beauty.

I am interested in capturing these domestic scenes as a way of recording my life. I have captured these moments throughout my adult life in a series of sketchbooks and diaries.  As I move house and memories fade, my sketches vividly bring to life my sense of place and where I was 'at' at that particular point in time. The sketches often are more poignant than a photo as each line is carefully observed, distilling the essence of the scene before me. 

'Kochira Says' print on paper

Thankfully my artwork suited the space perfectly. Brunswick Street Gallery (or BSG for short) has 10 individual exhibition spaces. The gallery was humming on Friday as the artists and their friends hung the artwork. The opening was fabulous, a delightfully warm evening and everyone was in good spirits (I was having so much fun I forgot to take photos of this!). Best of all I got to catch up with all my Melbourne friends :)

I did however, manage to find time to get my ceramics photographed professionally by Art Atelier before I went down to Melbourne.

Bathroom series. Hand drawn and painted on porcelain.

Bedroom series. Hand drawn and painted on porcelain.

Kitchen series. Hand drawn and painted on porcelain. 

Lounge Room series. Hand drawn and painted on porcelain. 

Ill post some detailed images of my prints next week.... till then, I hope you all have an enjoyable Easter long weekend x

Vignette repeat fabric print

Its hard to believe that my solo show in Melbourne opens tomorrow night. Ive pretty much got everything ready, all I need to do is catch the train this evening. I cant decide if I am more excited about the train trip (I love travelling by train) or the exhibition opening. 

Probably both!

My show will consist of images which have been drawn onto ceramics. In the picture below you can see two of them next to the stencil ....

Preparing fabric repeat stencil

The images have been screen printed onto paper, and also collated into a repeat fabric print.

Vignette repeat in navy

Vignette repeat in sepia

Vignette repeat on the print table

 Next post will include photos of the works hanging in the gallery!

or come along and join me for the opening if you are in Melbourne...

6pm Friday 30 March
Brunswick St Gallery
322 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 3065

Winner of the Centenary of Canberra - a legacy of good design

Photographed by Art Atelier

Im delighted to share with you that I have been selected as one of six artists to design and produce a limited range of quality objects that will be sold locally and nationally as memorabilia for Canberra's centenary in 2013.

The competition is being managed by Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre. For more details on the project and the press release visit their site.

click on this image for a larger, readable version

The announcement was officially made on Monday, as part of the Canberra Day celebrations, by Robyn Archer AO, Creative Director of the Centenary of Canberra. Julia Gillard was also there to launch the celebrations. Wow!

 Some of you may be familiar with my previous Canberra designs, like I heart Canberra

 and the Lake Burley Griffin sketch ....

photo by Art Atelier

The designs selected for the Centenary Competition are under wraps and will be announced in September this year. Until then I have to keep the design a secret.

x

Its Delightful, Its Delicious, Its Delovely

The theme for today's post is inspired by Woody Allen's movie 'Midnight in Paris'. A delightful and magical tale where present day characters step back in time to 1920s Paris. Cole Porter and his music feature (along with many prominent artists and authors) which prompted me to go out and get some of his music. Its catchy, and ever since I have been humming his songs.

Its delightful ......

In desperate need of a coffee and cake fix - Mum and I escaped to Benedict House for a slice of quince and almond tart and passionfruit cheese cake in the delightful outside courtyard which had a very Provence feel about it.

Its delicious ......

I finished making the ginger beer that I started last week. Its hard to tell in this photo, but it had bubbles and everything. And it tasted just like the real thing. This kept us going all weekend whilst we renovated a little cottage.

Its delovely ......

Some of you know about my house addiction. These are some before and after photos of my latest house project. Its old (of course) and cute, although it needed a little TLC.

Before: the hall. 

 Everything needed a serious clean from smoke stains on the walls and ceiling. Gross!

Before: the bedroom 

The renovation team (aka Mum and my sister Sim) hard at work.

 

Because I am the tallest I get all the fun jobs, like cleaning and painting the ceilings!

Before: the lounge room

After: the bedroom. No more blue walls

After: the hall way. 

 The pine paneling was painted which made such a difference and made the house feel much 'lighter'.

After: the Kitchen. 

After: the lounge room. Freshly painted everything!

This is the view from the kitchen window. Cute!

Sketches on Ceramics

This week I have been:

Sketching scenes of my house onto ceramics for my upcoming solo show at the Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne at the end of the March.

Kitchen Series

These are scenes painted in underglaze - the next step is to glaze them with a clear porcelain glaze. Im a little nervous about this next step as the blue underglaze can run if the gloss is too thick... they're in the kiln as we speak. Fingers crossed they turn out ok

Window scene of my kitchen

Sewing some of my fabrics into bags ...

Pink Bitsa Bag www.madeit.com.au/kateward

 Experimenting making my own ginger beer from scratch. The recipe is really easy its:

1tsp sugar
1 tsp dried ginger
1 sachet dried yeast
1 cup warm water.

combine in a large jar and cover with muslin (in my case chux - new and unused)

for the next 8 days add 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp dried ginger.
(Im still at this stage)

After 8 days you divide the liquid into 2 (its now called a ginger beer plant) and you can give one to a friend or use one part to continue feeding the ginger beer plant and with the other half turn it into drinkable ginger beer.

Ginger beer plant 

To make up the ginger beer this is what you do:

Mix together:

4 cups water

24 cups warm water (this is probably about 5-6 litres)

1/2 cup strained lemon juice

then add the ginger beer plant. Bottle and seal. It should be ready to drink in about a week.

I'll let you know how it tastes!

green tomatoes 

 Ive given up hoping that my green tomatoes will ripen this year. With the continuing wet weather I was afraid they would rot on the vine. So Ive just turned them into green tomato pickle using this recipe from the ABC. As is my way of cooking, Ive 'kate-ified' it by adding some stewed crab apples and my own homemade version of curry powder.

This is what it looks like......yum. I love all the tomato seeds scattered throughout the chutney.
I plan to eat this with chunks of cheese and bread.