Saturday, February 1, 2014

How to be happy

This year I feel absolutely amazing and not in the least bit sad. 
I'm sure this is because I left Rotorua, New Zealand for two weeks to the beautiful heart shaped country of spell binding, Tasmania. 
Everyone there was upbeat, focused, engaged and energised. 
I wanted to bottle that and bring it back with me. 


 Rule number one: Surround yourself with positive people. 

A  piece of that gorgeous country with its pure air, unbelievably soft and caring people and the crystal water that made my skin and hair feel like feathers, are all inside me.
 I need to share more photos of that place while the magic is still in me. 

Rule Number two: Get walking out amongst nature and travel out of your own country as often as you can.

Of course there are forces back here, that could be trying to pull you back down and swallow  you  into the bubbling mud.  
But I am making a pact that this year I'm going to rise above it like steam. I'm over it.
And that means all year. 








Rule number three. If you fall off the horse get immediately  up on top of it and focus on your passion 
  I'm just going to attract decent, supportive, open minded and lovely art and mosaic loving people into my life.
I'm ging to remember to be grateful for what I have and not hanker after what I could have had.



Rule number four: Do a protection spell around yourself  or if you are religious say a prayer every day before you go into a public place. 









Rule number five: Feel empathy for others but don't buy into their games. 
Try to remember if they are in a grumpy mood or if they ignore you it's probably not about you, it's about them. 
If it is about you and they don't tell you what's wrong; it's none of your business. 
Even if they do tell you what's wrong and they want you to alter your behaviour and this doesn't fit with your purpose;  don't buy into it. 
Your place is not to be manipulated.

Rule number six: Speak your truth without being offensive.









Let your light shine so others can  as well. 

Have faith and be proud but not arrogant.
Hiding your light under a bushel, especially if you are a woman, never did anyone any good. 
Be a tall poppy and rejoice and encourage everyone you come across to have a passion for something bigger than themselves. 

Encourage others to have hope. 

Creative Quote of the week 
There is no passion to be found playing small or in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living
Nelson Mandela

If you are married give your husband or wife a kiss and a hug every morning and every night, look into their eyes and say I love and appreciate you. 

If you arent married, hug your cat or dog. 

Email jkeen@clear.net.nz
Phone 073463435
txt 0273513887
For mosaic and painting class details. 
Be happy and fly with creativity today, you deserve it.



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Step by Step Whimsical Houses, By Janet Keen, Creativity Queen


 Step 1: 
Cut out house shapes with a jigsaw or handsaw or scroll saw. 

Hint: Raid your husband's wood pile he will never know a few blocks are missing.

Step 2: 
 Sand around all edges and faces of blocks.

Step 3
Coat gesso or Resene Quick Dry undercoat on all surfaces.

Step 4
Give a light sand when dry.

 Step 5
Tear our pages of old books or newspapers. 
Tear into small pieces. 
Step 6
Glue onto blocks, coveringall sides
 Step7
Dry off with hairdryer. 

 
Step 8
Water down some undercoat or gesso and paint a light coat over top of newspaper when dry. 

Step 9. 
Dry off with hairdryer.


 
 Step 10
 Draw on rough guide line of doors and windows.

 
 Step 11
Use Resene red testpot colours, (two shades) and paint in rooves




Step 12
Get some old  music sheets or some contrasting paper and glue in windows.

 

Step 13
Get some stickers and stick on

 Step 14
Glue on a cross

Step 15
Use a fine line black felt pen and draw around the windows.


Step 16
Spray with matt varnish 

Step17
Give one away to someone special or someone random











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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

After school painting and mosaic classes, Monday to Wednesday and Friday, 3.30pm to 5.00pm, enrolling now











 This is Anneke  first day back.
 She is so keen she wanted to come before school started. 
This is the type of pupil, I specialise in teaching. 
They are born artists.
 They love to draw every day. 
They have commitment and drive. 
My classes encourage them to soar with whatever their goals are artistically.
As long as they have the right attitude to their creativity they are welcome in my class. 
And we always have fun
So enrol your special child today 
Call 07 346-3435 
email:  jkeen@clear.net.nz 
Please call for an interview to see if your child likes the look of my studio classroom. 
Numbers small and all people produce work to hang on their walls, like a real artist. 

Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday after school from 3.30 to 5pm. 
Class is an hour long and homework is an option
 I recommend they have a visual diary and photograph their work towards portfolio's. 
374 Clayton Road.
 Rotorua 
New Zealand 


 



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The Secret, Daily Teachings.


From The Secret Daily Teachings 

If you have a problem with anyone who is negative, begin by writing a list of all the things you appreciate about that person. Remember to include gratitude to them for giving you a great desire for positivity in your life; because that is a gift they are giving you.
As you focus with all of your strength on appreciation, you will not only reduce your exposure to the negativity, but at the same time you will be attracting positive people into your life.
Worth a go don't you think?


Let us greet each other with a smile for a smile is the beginning of love 
Mother Teresa
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Friday, January 24, 2014

Mini Feathered Bird Sculptures by contemporary Rotorua, New Zealand Artist, Janet keen

I made these birds for my last DIY article in last Saturdays Rotorua Daily Post. 


I also made a range of feathered water colour cards for my clients and pupils wishing them a Happy New Year.






Here are some pics of birds in progress.  
 I am going to put them in my white painted tree.  



This is a partially completed feathered bird. 

 And the other one. 
They should be finished soon and I will post more pictures.



After school painting and mosaic classes, Monday to Wednesday and Fridays from 3.30pm to 5.00pm
Lessons $25.00 per person per hour including materials.
Enrolling now for February. 
Small classes.
Email jkeen@clear.net.nz or phone (07)346-3435 




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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Goat sculpture research with Janet Keen, contemporary Rotorua, New Zealand Artist .

After finishing the dog sculpture and waiting for it to cure before I can mosaic it. 
I am planning to make a goat sculpture.

Rufus at the workshop
Here is Rufus in my mosaic garden, pointing the way into my studio.

My cat Gary does not like Rufus. 

 The  planning and researching for the nanny goat is exciting.
 I always love the start of a project.




 I want the goat to be communicating in some way with the dog. 
All my pieces will be involved in a narrative of some sort. 
Mainly because I like narratives and children's stories.


Goats  make beautiful little pets, as you can see from the pics I took of our neighbour at Kinloch's granddaughter.  


I had a  pet goat, named Candy when I was young and I loved her. They are intelligent and gregarious.

My husband (the Design Engineer) wants me to make it more correctly proportionate than my dog. 
Since I will probably have to ask for his help for the skeletal stage I am willing to co-operate. 
Instead of just doing it without thinking about it much and seeing what turns up, (which is working intuitively), I am researching and drawing like I was taught to at art school. 


I have discovered this cool Waikato artist whose name is Sam Mathers



 He often depicts rural anumals in his work.

This is what he says about his work...

 


My work is a visual diary of my travels around the world and day to day normal life experiences.
 I create dribbles and scratches and weather beaten marks to add character and a natural look while using an unnatural colour palette. 
I enjoy the immediacy of acrylic paint, the effects of oil sticks and  bold complementary colours and the fun of seeing where the drawn line will take me.



This inspired me to do the following drawing in my visual diary.
 Maybe I will turn it into an outside painting to go with my goat. Maybe I  should do a dog one as well.
 You could turn them into mirrors, the possibilities are endless and almost overwhelming. 
Sam uses Resene paints like me and his colours still look vibrant.
 I like his work because its like a visual diary which I am always doing as well. 
 I  want to eat breathe, smell, (but not taste) goat.
I may go to Paradise Valley and visit the goat they have there and photograph it. 
I'd like to find some goats on the side of the road and photograph them.
 I'd like to go to a goat farm.
The list goes on. 
You could be researching for years before you finally get down to the nuts and bolts of it. 
  
Meanwhile I am unearthing some surprising things that I didn't know about before about  famous goat sculptures so it is very engaging.

 This is a result of my online research so far...




 A Rush of Blood to the Head, depicts two goats kissing.
The artist Beth Stichter, 37, is a  contemporary American  artist and her sculpture is featured at the Chazen Art Museum which is at the University of Wisconsin. 
 The sculpture has shocked some viewers and there have been stories of people  in the American media who are outraged. 

The artist stated that her intention was not to shock, which I find  hard to believe.  Look it up if you are interested.

This is what one art critic had to say about it. 

"The outrage fails to acknowledge that Madison is filled with thousands of art objects on public view every day, at museums, commercial art galleries, coffee shops and on and on. 
If you don't like something, don't hyperventilate; just move along. It's a big world out there, and not everything will be to your liking.
The Chazen's offer to partially conceal the sculpture when groups of young children tour the museum is a gracious and reasonable gesture. 
 However, let's not forget that the Chazen is a university art museum, on a campus populated largely by people over the age of 18.
 Adults deserve an engaging, challenging experience with art, not just a child-proof one."
   
Online comments have fallen into predictable camps, from defenders of artistic freedom to those calling it "pure sick garbage." 

Undeniably you will see that her work is beautifully and intricately crafted.  If you want to explore her work further have a look at her website. Google her.




Depicting goats in sensational situations is nothing new in art history.
The British Museum have recently installed one of Pompeill's most highly treasured sculptures. 

 Pan with a She-Goat
Here is the story
An erotic statue has caused the British Museum to install a "parental guidance" warning in their new exhibition, Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum.
The sculpture is of the mythical half-goat, half-man Pan with a nanny goat. The Times  reports that the museum is determined to display the object in plain sight, rather than hidden behind a curtain or in a "museum secretum" – a restricted area for those aged over 14 in the Naples Museum.
Paul Roberts, senior curator, said the statue may be unconventional today, but would not have raised eyebrows in Roman Pompeii: 
Roberts says high-brow Roman owners would have been amused by the statue: "It’s because the owners are cultured that they have the sculpture of Pan and the goat. They also have a sense of humour, because to a Roman that would have been humorous, not offensive."
He added that phallic symbols were commonplace in Roman homes. Images of the well-endowed fertility god Priapus, sometimes weighing his appendage against a quantity of gold, were often found at the entrance to houses as a symbol of success and good luck. 
If you want to see it google it.



Picasso's goat is famous

 She Goat By Picasso

 " Picasso's deepening interest in Classical imagery continued to make its presence felt in his sculpture as well as in his ceramic work. This massive life-size bronze is a wonderful assemblage of a wicker basket body, a palm leaf back, two ceramic flowerpots for the udder, and other metal elements, which was then cast. Apparently most of the objects were found in fields near Picasso's Vallauris studio. He had just had a baby called Paloma with his  young French mistress Francoise Gilot. "

Rauscheberg was a huge fan of Picasso.

 Robert Rauschenberg, "Monogram," 1955-59, oil, paper, fabric, printed paper, printed reproductions, metal, wood, rubber shoe heel, and tennis ball on canvas with oil on Angora goat and rubber tire on wood platform mounted on four casters. 
Critics have said that Rauschenbergs  "readymades" talk about homosexuality.




When I make my goat it  will not shock anyone because I don't really have the urge to confront my audience.
 
I live in a small, conservative, town so it has the effect of watering down everything and making you tread a very straight line morally.


When teaching children you have to make sure that you are completely reliable and beyond reproach because you are dealing with innocent minds that deserve  to be protected and nurtured.


Watch this space for progress and be prepared for more goat references. 


Creative Quote of the Day 
Love is not love without a violin playing goat.

 
Janet Keen Creativity
Mosaic and painting workshops
Monday to Wednesday mornings and Friday mornings 9.30am to 11.30am
Children's after school creativity classes enrolling now for Monday to Wednesday and Fridays after 3.30pm to 5.00pm.
Phone 346-3435 to secure your February place or email jkeen@clear.net.nz
If you are having a creative event in the Bay Of Plenty and you'd like me to cover it photographically; give me a ring on (07)346-3435 or email me at jkeen@clear.net.nz and I will send you a quote. 
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