Saturday, June 14, 2014

Mobile phone photography - great for close-ups

Dew drop on banana leaf- Penelope Thompson
Photography with a mobile phone camera is convenient and quick, and surprisingly good for nature close-ups. I've been using my old HTC Incredible S for quick nature shots and getting some good results.
Obviously not magazine print quality, but a great tool for recording those minute observations of nature. The camera settings and edit tools built in to the phone camera are often useful for a quick adjustment of contrast/ cropping etc.

Friday, February 28, 2014

A fun and simple printmaking technique

In the creative art classes at Explore Creativity studio, Towradgi, I have been teaching the students a new simple printmaking technique - using coloured ink on canvas, pressed with plastic wrap.

Simply drop a small amount of coloured ink onto a wet pre-primed canvas (i.e. sprayed lightly with water), cover with plastic wrap (like GladWrap you use in the kitchen), scrunch up the plastic a bit so you get some folds, and leave the whole thing to dry completely. It may take at least 2 hours. Then carefully peel back the plastic, and you are left with a textured ink print on the canvas that can be used as a base for a painting.

Shown is a lovely work by Collette, and you can see the interesting printed textures in green, brown, and purple ink. She then added some stencilled flower shapes on the left hand side in acrylic paint, and lightly painted in  woman's form in white acrylic and white chalk. Very effective.

New students are welcome to join the creative art classes. Mondays at 10am - 12 noon, or 6.30pm - 8.30 pm. $25 per class with most materials supplied. (Just bring paper and/or canvas) To join please email Penelope on info@explore-creativity.com. Check out more student art work on the facebook page: www.facebook.com/ExploreCreativity.studio