a very sad portrait

By Alice Pike Barney








when I first saw the second painting I thought it was quite a joyous painting, but looking at it closely I believe it is something completely different

New works in progress

sketching again

Thinking about the Han Heysen Painting

Hans Heysen, Australia 1877—1968, Mystic Morn (detail) 1904|

I've been thinking about this painting and what it was like when I saw it.

When I saw this painting I was a little underwhlemed by it....there was just something about it I didn't like. Sometimes I think the scale of paintings can make or break an art work. I had seen photos online and in books of this painting before I saw it in real life....but then in life it was just too big. My eyes couldn't take it all in, no matter how far back I was.

anyway,

I would like to paint a long thin canvas that is longer than it is high. I'd like to paint a portrait of Ben moving through the white trunks of the Eucalyptus and have the light bright and glaring.


my other ideas are to paint Ben turning and paint him semi abstractly in sucession on the same canvas. Not an original idea at all but I need to start representing movement, otherwise I'll stop painting an move on to some plywood sculptures.

night time painting finished

perhaps this is finished

i haven't put damar on this yet so it looks a bit light.

Wip Oil portrait - Anne Lowe

progress shot at 6 hours
(live sittings)

I wasted 2 hours the previous week messing up all the work i started off with, but i'm getting there now.

Allison

Building with shakes.

I've been looking into different roof and cladding construction that used timber and so far my favourite roof is by far shakes. Shakes are a rustic version of wooden shingles. They are about 10mm to 11mm thick and taper at the top. Shakes also last longer than shingles. I'm also looking into making some shakes for my little shed that is 3 x 3m out on my block of land...the idea is to have a grass roof over a traditional colorbond roof and alter the roof to alow grass to be grown of the top of it. The shed is on a hill and should look good in front of the grassy hill behind it. I'm going to do some research on the Australian Standard about types of hardwood used in cladding and ask around to see what type of Australian timber I can make my shakes out of(preferably grown in Tasmania)

Traditional shakes that I've seen have been made out of cedar....but it's not an option for me.



Anyway i will post photos of the little shed when i start work on it again.

at the moment it has a 100 percent recycled Tas oak floor so I'm happy with how it's looking. (all we have to do is join the two sections of flooring together somehow?


p.s watch the video...this looks so meditative.

Portrait- oil painting - wip

It's an exercise to try and free up my brush strokes and I was hoping to get it fully completed in 2 hours but i got half way through, so I might spend another 2 hours on it and leave it at that.


This is the first time I've been semi-successful using a small canvas board....I've had trouble with them in the past.

Oil on canvas board- July 2010



Allison

Life = Time = Money = so how can I afford to live?

I've really become fixed on the idea that a house shouldn't own you...the bank shouldn't own you.

I really want to design truly affordable houses, the type of house that doesn't cost more than
$70 000 AUD

I want so badly to find ways of building that use less materials and to find a way to convince people to think smaller and more functional when they decide what sized house they would like. Preferably these houses will be made of natural materials.

Not building at all is the most sustainable option really..so if this is the case perhaps I will try to incorporate renovation, and the re-use of materials already in the building and on the land that the house is situated. I have very little money and I want to build a home that has a small footprint so I think I'm in for long days and nights ahead....DIY building is going to a very full-on experience, but why not use a personal project as the first experiment?

Allison.

Le Corbrusier -- Cabanon

Le Corbrusier is quickly becoming one of my favourite architects!

I find a building I like in a book and I will look at who designed it and there's Le Corbrusier!

I truly love the cabin he designed for his wife near Nice in France. It overlooks the sea and is situated specifically next to a restaurant where Le Corbrusier and his wife liked to eat (there was no kitchen in the Cabanon)

the cabanon is tiny, it has many built in pieces of furniture and a lovely mirror with a mural next to it that folds back to let the sun and views in through a window. I have a book that shows a detail photo of the exterior cladding of cabanon and it is definitely rustic. I love the fact it is built in a somewhat dodgy fashion...

The inside has all these little detailed features Le Corbrusier designed himself, like little hinges and his murals!

I haven't studied his murals extremely closely yet, but I will leave that for a day when I need a type of inspiring energy.


I need a cabanon!

Allison