My latest mixed media illustrative works. Bethany and the Owls

These mixed media/collage  paintings are the start of body of work that will be created towards a group exhibition I am intending to have with  professional artist friends, Lyn Hathaway and DeAnne Lawford-Smith in October 2013 at the Taupo museum.

We studied  at the Waiariki Institute of Technology together for three years achieving a Diploma in Visual Arts twelve years ago.  

We have been involved in group exhibitions throughout New Zealand in places which include Gisborne, Hamilton , Rotorua, Tauranga  and Taupo.

We have recently been reunited through facebook and use this medium to encourage and support each other on our creative journeys.

We are open to  the possibilities of travelling our intended exhibition to other venues.

I am exploring symbolism and looking at narrative sequences and allegory.  

 The genre could be defined as edgy- cute or grungy- cute which is a movement being led mostly by women artists from America.

Works are mildly subversive, vaguely foreboding  in a  sense and spiritually uplifting in another.

 My usual way of working is to produce a large volume of paintings  and to cull to the best examples.  Creating a body of work is a  journey of discovery I am looking forward to seeing what unfolds.

Everything is biographical, Lucian Freud says. What we make, why it is made, how we draw a dog, who it is we are drawn to, why we cannot forget. Everything is collage, even genetics. There is the hidden presence of others in us, even those we have known briefly. We contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border we cross.”

― Michael Ondaatje

I would like to make a video for the exhibition on process and performance and display it in the museum along with our exhibition.

The Story of Bethany and the Owls.

                      These works are displayed in Essence Cafe until the end of June along with my advanced pupils works.

                      Did you know that throughout many cultures owls are symbols for intuition

                                 Independence

                             Protection along with  wisdom , intelligence, brilliance and power?

If an owl visits you it is considered lucky because animals are only called to those who share the same energy.

Bethany is a biblical name and it has the meaning of abundance, warmth and devoted service.


I live next to Ngongotaha mountain  which is a native  bird sanctuary and I  am surrounded by Moreporks (native New Zealand owls).
One often lands at night time on the giant Redwood tree next to my art studio classroom.
It calls so loudly that it sounds like it wants to come inside; it is comforting on one hand and eerie on another.

My first encounter with Moreporks was when I was four years old living in the country next to a gully in Te Kowhai, Hamilton.
Their calls used to terrify me and caused myself and probably my parents a number of sleepless nights.

Being older and wiser now I  realise that owls  are totems of  faith and hope, not impending doom.

     

                                Wisdom

                                
Creative Quote of the day.
People expect the clergy to have the grace of a swan, the friendliness of a sparrow, the strength of an eagle and the night hours of an owl - and some people expect such a bird to live on the food of a canary.”
Edward Jeffrey



http://www.jkeen.net/
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What makes you happy with your insect Photography?

Is it a little Wooley Aphid you see sucking on the sap from some succulent  stem of a hydranger  in your organic garden?

Or perhaps hoards  of little wooley Aphids feasting  on white Dahlia stems?
Are the blooms any less dazzling  after donating?

 

 Or is  it that Weta who stays as still as a frozen mouse when you aim your macro lens at this twitching antennae?
How grateful can you be for that golden shot of him perching on a fern frond?

What about the  camera shy Katidid who pops out from behind a stem and spys on you when she thinks you have put you camera away but she fails to take into account that you have a pocket rocket - well in your pocket.

Or is it the  click of a Passionvine hopper  as it jumps  from one red Dahlia petal to another in search of a droplet of juice?

Or perhaps its the Blue ladybird on a lemon tree, so polished  that  you can almost see yourself reflected in the mirror of her shell.

Or perhaps it's not even an insect but a bunch of purple  berries  with a misty background that melts into haze of bokeh that makes your spirits soar.


Creative Quote of the day.
Love has its own instinct, finding the way to the heart, as the feeblest insect finds the way to its flower, with a will which nothing can dismay nor turn aside.


Honore De Balzac

Bird Photography. The Dance of the Gulls

Step By Step

Go down to the Rotorua Lakefront in the morning  after the sun has risen or one hour before dusk.

Take at least two loaves of cheap  bread,

                   your  DSLR camera, a tripod, a 50 mm prime lens or a 50mm  macro lens

                         Set it on aperture priority, iso 200, low f-stop  (f5) so the lens shoots quickly           
              Camera on a tripod and don't forget to turn off image stablisation

Put your camera on burst mode (continuous shooting)

                                               
                                                                       And shoot  away

                    Take hundreds of shots try to get the sun to be at a 90 degree angle to your target

                                          Instruct your husband or designated bread feeder

 To break the bread up into smallish hunks

To throw them high up into the air

 And to be fearless

 about the potential for a Kamikazi gull

 to crash into your face

because the most important thing in a photographer's life  is

to one day get that shot of gold.

In the words of Brian Peterson..." Just keep shooting"

Creative Quote of the day .

For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.”

Richard Bach from Jonathon Livingston Sea Gull

Photographing Vintage at the Tirau Museum

I went with my photographic mates Diana and Joni  and her two boys to the Tirau Museum last Thursday to take shots of old stuff.
I love the texture of old items and the  patina of age.
Here are some of my favourite shots.



Be warned; if you don't like creepy, crawly , spooky things don't read on...


..

                                             The Nomad Photographers outside the Tirau  Museum

                               Diana shoots the Tirau museum owner Jeff.

                          Old hut outside the entrance to the Tirau Museum

                        Old door decaying at the back of the Honey House next to the Tirau Museum

                                Old wheel outside the Honey House at the Tirau Museum

                                            Dead, old Tarantula at the Tirau Museum

                                                   Exotic ( dead)  moths at the Tirau Museum

                                        Beautiful Butterflies at the Tirau Museum

                                            Cute, little stuffed bat with glass eyes at the Tirau Museum

                                      
               Vintage dolls looking tortured on top of a beautiful hand crafted quilt at the Tirau Museum

                                     Vintage Maid (amputee) with some sort of fan  at the Tirau Museum

                    Dolls  (amputees) close up and georgeous quilt at the Tirau Museum

                                 
                                          Bride  and pictures of ancestors at  the Tirau Museum

                                                    Ghost bride at the Tirau Museum

                                    Ghost Maid at the Tirau Museum

              Vintage typography on good old fashioned pine boxes at the Tirau Museum

                                            Old petrol pump, Tirau Museum

                                          
                                      Vintage tobacco poster, Tirau Museum

                  Vintage labels and stickers, Tirau Museum

              Vintage cans and poster, Tirau Museum

                                                    Taxidermy section, Tirau Museum

         Old Beehives, Tirau Museum Garden

                                     Fuschia, Tirau Museum Garden

                            Ornamental Grape Leaves, Tirau Museum Garden

                                       Ornamental Grape Leaves 2, Tirau Museum Garden

                                            Ornamental Grape leaf  Tirau museum garden

  Owner of the Tirau Museum Jeff, will give you a quick tour, then leave you to explore all the treasures at your leisure.

There's something for everyone.
You can take your lunch and have a picnic at his tables in his beautiful garden.
The place is great for the whole family.
Price is $5.00 per person or $11.00 per family, any size.
 He also sells honey and walnuts.
Don't forget to sign the visitors book.

 If you go message me and tell me what you thought.
 The guy is a living treasure and a  real artist, he has a deft eye for composition.
When I told him he was an artist he just beamed and said he was off to tell his wife.
It's great to appreciate the creativity in others.

You can find me on facebook under Janet Keen Artist/Teacher.
www.jkeen.net

Creative Quote of the Day.
We are born at a given moment, in a given place and  like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born.
Astrology does not lay claim to anything more.
Carl Jung