GEMMA BLACK : ARTIST / CALLIGRAPHER

The Macs are coming tomorrow ... let's hope the transfers are smooth and we don't loose a beat ... bye for now.

I loved joining in this bookmark collaborative/competition for the Buderim Craft Cottage. For such a humble object to create I had so much fun ... and a tiny frustration getting the books down to size to fit the width. But, I got there in the end. I love books, reading and bookshelves so I took some shots of my own shelves and transferred one of the images to the paper. I have fallen in love with piercing (paper) so I chose an early Roman mosaic design at the time the codex was first created to pierce. The verso sees one of my many book quotes created using my favourite graphite tool the Rotring 0.35 This little labour of love managed to win 3rd prize. Yippee! Congrats to Susan Bradshaw for her 1st and to Anna Day for 2nd.  Well done to all the Highly Commendeds too! The Materials 300gsm watercolour paper (not) Image transfer & piercings Graphite pencil Rotring 0.35 Linen thread & paper bead

Kedumba, Godoomba, Katoomba! Aboriginal for valley of falling waters! Materials: gouache, pen, ink & pencil

 I have just finished this triptych. Materials: gesso, ink, brush, pen and pencil on canvas

Clearly the Minister Tony Burke was impressed!  These are the six Historic Shipwreck Declaration documents I prepared just before and after the Blue Mountains gig.  How wonderful to see the Federal Government supporting the arts as Tony Burke does. Such a shame the ANU School of Music isn't getting the the same! 

The great gold size story … I went to teach two workshops in the Blue Mountains recently. To save on carrying all my art supplies for the participants by air, I either send materials ahead and/or rely on purchasing goods at the local art suppliers. This time I purchased a gold size from the local. A size I have been using for near on twenty-five years. It is a safe, easy and fool-proof size for easy gilding … everything sticks to it – real and imitation gold alike. With a glance at the label, I picked the bottle off the shelf. I held it up and thought “this is very white”. Normally the product is a creamy colour but I though no more of it. Then came the class demonstration. Opened the bottle and the product did not smell at all like the gilding size I was used to and I immediately knew this is not the product the label says it is. I am well experienced with handling gold, gold sizes and gilding both traditionally and modern. In fact, I am teaching a class in Portland Oreg...