Saturday 12 February 2011

Learning, always learning!






Wow! What a week its been! busy busy...in a good way. And here I turn for a catch up only to find I now have 100 followers! woooohoooo! A moment that shall definitely not go past unnoticed! So I am sending out a huge THANKYOU to each and every one of you! THANKYOU all so very much! :)

Ok. Now for a confession! This week I learned something new....which is not entirely unusual for me but very quickly heightened my awareness that while I thought I was pretty "cool" and "down with it" (ha!) I am NO WAY near where ever "it" may be!!!!
It all started with browsing through some etsy shops and noticing one shop selling an item titled "OOAK...hand painted wooden doll"...
mmmmmm, me thinks... sounds kind of Ikea/ Scandinavian, must reflect the style of painting, or maybe the type of wood painted on....
left it at that.
Then saw it again this time "OOAK felt fabric flower"...now I'm a bit confused..no wood involved here, must be going for a scandinavian feel again, though couldn't quite see it myself....
oh well...left it at that.
Then saw it again and again..."OOAK plushie , OOAK handpainted valentines card, OOAK silver dangle earrings....the list goes on...
I was totally perplexed.....where's the wood and the scandinavian theme??
what the ***£"!$%&^ heck does OOAK mean ??
:)
You'll be glad to know I found out in the end.....I googled it Hahahaha!!!
Don't think I've laughed quite so much in a while :)
And YES, my 11 year is truly proud of her mother!


Oh well, the learning didn't stop there. I've been on a bit of a learning curve for this weeks "Get your paint on " assignment too. (or should I say GYPO!) We were to incorporate some aspect of an artist's work that we love in our own painting. I kind of cheated myself really, because due to time being short I picked up a painting I'd started on already. I wanted to incorporate a bit of collage inspired by Jennifer Orkin Lewis. Jennifer does these beautiful paintings where her little pieces of pretty paper just merge seamlessly in.

piece by Jennifer Lewis

My attempts were extremely shoddy and I ended up painting over most of the paper.. So now I just have a painting which I'm still not happy with ,but the crown wearing chameleon will have to do for now!

Phew...epic length post..so if you have stayed with me this long BIG HUGS :) xx
Hope you're having a lovely weekend xx






21 comments:

  1. Ok...so now I have to google OOAK...(I'm back) ...LOL

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  2. Don't feel bad--it took me a while to catch on too :)
    LOVE your work!!!

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  3. Aah yes! Where would we be without google? I was also perplexed by that one for a while - thought it must have been some kind of special postcard project or art movement until someone literally spelled it out one day in their shop listing! Well done for finishing your painting/collage for GYPO! love the background you have created on it!

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  4. Oh gawd, you did one of those 'leave em haning posts.' What the heck is OOAK????? You're gonna make me work this morning aren't ya? Anyhoo - I love your chameleon. I think that is the issue I have with projects that ask us to work in the style of or replicate another artist. We lose sight of what makes us and OUR ART special. Your project, I think, turned out great and is identifiable Jenny Blair, so you should be proud.

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  5. Beautiful! Love the chameleon and the hearts are precious. I really want/need to work on my mixed media (paint and book pages)!!!

    Now to google OOAK...

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  6. What does OOAK mean, I haven't got a clue! Off to google it. Congratulations on your 100 followers! Beautiful pictures. Em x

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  7. Haha! I had to google ooak too!
    Love the idea of using little bits of of paper in with your artwork. Must try that sometime. Jenny - Congratulations on 100 followers! How exciting!

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  8. I love your chameleon piece! I like the long composition and your use of text for the hearts! The little lead motifs are lovely...

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  9. Now I learned something new today and am so happy you shared this :)

    BTW, anything you create is truly one of a kind, dahling!!!!

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  10. Jenny, I have that problem too, What do all those abbreviations mean???
    Your work is so lovely and it's great fun to experiment with different techniques, I'm glad I inspired you to play around with collage, the chameleon is beautiful! best wishes...

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  11. I'm really enjoying seeing how your painting course is going. It's good to see how painters work - my pathetic (long time ago) painting efforts always look like a child did it.
    I bought some paints and canvases before Christmas to 'have another go' - still in their wrappings. Probably the best place for them.

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  12. Jenny, I completely bombed out of GYPO this week! Thursday I painted in the style of Elaine Pamphilon and produced the most awful acrylic monostrosity in every colour of sludge. Friday I painted in the style of Angie Lewin and never finished it because it was nose diving before it began! So that balances out my over drive of last week! Am dreading this week now... I like your birds though, esp the blue one on the right. Got to go, my comment is nearly as long as your post! Claire ;)

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  13. LOL i just googles OOAK too. GOing to use that myself to confuse a few peeps now!. love it. So glad to hear GYPO is fabulous, Im seeing Mati on Tuesday in San Fran. SOOOOO EXCITED to see her again. Love to you for Valentines. xx

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  14. OOAK!!!! OMG, thank you! It has been driving me crazy and my IKEA trip made it impossible to look up. Gotta say, it makes your story even funnier now that I know the meaning. Love it.

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  15. I think OOAK is a little overdone if you ask me. Isn't everything that isn't a print OOAK? Anyways, YOUR stuff falls into that category for sure, and you don't even need those annoying four letters to describe your books!

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  16. I think you've done a wonderful painting - imaginative & lovely. I would be very pleased to have painted it! In fact I wish I had painted it. Lol.

    These abbreviations can be confusing. If it makes you feel better I'm not sure what OOAK means. Something to do with original art??? Oh no, now I shall have to google it too otherwise it will bug me. Lol.

    Kat :-)

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  17. You made my heart sing, Jenny, with your sweet blog comment! It means so much coming from an artist I truly admire :)

    Have a lovely day, dahling!!
    Gwynnie

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  18. Very cool painting, and I didn't know what OOAK was for awhile either, your story makes me laugh though. Congrats on 102 followers!

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  19. Hahaha - you had me googling OOAK too! Congratulations on your 100+ followers, although it's not surprising as your blog is so inspiring.....I'm on the wrong post but I love your elephant and heart! xxx

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